If you would, turn to Mark chapter
12. Mark chapter 12. And I wanna
begin reading in verse 24 through 27. This is the tail end of an encounter
of our Lord Jesus Christ with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. But what I'm gonna read here
is his answers His answer to the Sadducees. And that's what
I want to preach on today, if I can. Mark chapter 12, verse 24. And Jesus answering said unto
them, do ye not therefore err? Because ye know not the scriptures,
neither the power of God. For when they shall rise from
the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but
are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead
that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses how
in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham,
and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not. the God of the dead, but the
God of the living. Ye therefore do greatly err. And guess what? That's the title,
Paul. You do greatly err. Now in this place, we try to
place our primary emphasis on our Lord Jesus Christ. And the only, I hate to use the
word, proof that we have, the only authority that we have,
the only guide that we have, are the scriptures that we've
been given in this book. That's the final authority that
we can appeal to, if you want to put it that way. I don't really
want to, but that's it. It's what the scriptures say,
not what I say. It's what the scriptures say,
it's not what Walter says. Because I can err. I have erred. Walter and I were
just talking about that before service. You can be up here preaching
and be talking about Moses and all of a sudden say Abraham.
That's an error. Now, it's not the same thing
as being in error, but I can mess up just like anyone else.
But the scriptures never are wrong. Men are often wrong. Some men I know are always wrong. But the scriptures, all the scriptures
speak of Jesus Christ. All scripture is true. The problem
has always lied with man and no one else. Our understanding
can be wrong, And sometimes just our understanding can be lacking
of the scriptures. And sometimes our explanation
can be wrong, but, and I emphasize this is a big but, the scripture
is always true. Because we say, and for this
reason we say, the scripture is our final authority on preaching
the word of God. or this soul authority, the sola
scriptura. That's one thing they had right,
for sure. Because if the scriptures don't
say it, it's not thus saith the Lord. If the scriptures say it,
it is thus saith the Lord. And why do we act that way? Why
do we think that way? Why do we try to preach that
way? Because we don't want to err. I don't want to be in error. I try very hard not to speak
in error, but I am very well aware of how my tongue can betray
me because it is an unruly member. I make errors, hopefully not
all the time, but I do make errors. But thankfully, like I said,
that's not the same thing as being in error. However, this
is the truth. as it stands, and I'll stand
behind this 100%, the only way I can be sure to speak the truth
is to speak in accordance with the scriptures. Because error, this is the thing,
error leads to more error. And it can lead to other things,
such as heresy and blasphemy. But here we have this account
Jesus had already answered the Pharisees' questions about whether
or not it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar. And he said,
whose picture's on the coin? And they said, Caesar's. And
he said, well, give that to Caesar. But give to God. What is God's?
And then the Sadducees showed up, and they asked their question.
They were actually both there together. It seems kind of suspicious to
me that they both showed up at the same time, and they both
showed up with questions. It's almost like they planned
it that way. Actually, I believe they did. But they wanted to
know whose wife this woman would be who had married seven different
brothers and had no babies with any of them. There were no children,
no progeny. So in the resurrection, which
the Sadducees didn't believe in, whose wife would she be? This is the answer of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He replied to these Sadducees
in the form of a question, Now yes, this is a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is a question
with only one possible answer. And it's supposed to be obvious.
And in this case, it is, if you know Christ. He said, do ye not
therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the
power of God? It's in the form of a question,
but the answer is, oh yes, they do err. Because they don't know
the scriptures, and they don't know the power of God. And this is the thing, he asks
it here as a rhetorical question, but about three or four verses
down, he just baldly states it out, flat out. Because Jesus
Christ asked them a question and then he answered his own
question. But here is where we find with
our Lord Jesus Christ saying, error comes because you know
not the scriptures and because you don't know the power of God. That's just a fact. That's just
a fact. Do ye not therefore err because
ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? Yes, that's
the answer. This is where error starts. You
don't know. The Sadducees didn't know. They
didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't know about it from
the scriptures. This is where it started. Now
the reason they don't know the scriptures is because they don't
know God. nor the power of God. That's where it starts. And then he said this to them.
I just want to get on with this part here. For when they shall
rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels which are in heaven. The Sadducees themselves
asked a question about the resurrection, whose wife shall she be? Christ
told him, you don't get it. That's what he said, you don't
get it. The resurrection from the dead
is not the like life on this planet as it is now. He told him flatly, he says,
there will be no marriage of men and women in the resurrection.
So they were thinking wrong things and they were asking wrong questions. The reason they asked this question,
just as the same reason the Pharisees asked this question about the
coin, is they wanted to trip up our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only reason they did it. They wanted to see where he would
answer something which would offend the people or offend the
Jewish religion, and he did neither. But that's why they asked these
questions. They call them nowadays, they
call them gotcha questions, where you're darned if you answer yes
and you're darned if you answer no. Well, Jesus Christ answered
both with the truth. And he was right and it made
him mad. But they were thinking about
the wrong things. They were asking the wrong questions
because they didn't believe in the resurrection. So they thought
up this whole silly thing about, oh my goodness, how many angels
can fit on the head of a pin? They were trying to trip him
up. because Because they don't know the scriptures and they
don't know the power of God This is what they were concerned with
and Here's the thing The natural man man as he is born is always
concerned with a wrong thing They're always concerned with
the wrong thing and We see it around us still today. Baptism, there are people that
get wrapped up in baptism. Now, whether you can baptize
babies or whether you baptize adults. Whether you baptize for
salvation or whether you baptize because of salvation. Or you
are baptized because of salvation. Does water baptism baptize you
into Christ? I heard that this morning on
television. This is what people get wrapped up in. They get wrapped
up in baptism, free will, election, the Holy Ghost, you have to say
it as one word, Holy Ghost, whatever. But what they are not wrapped
up in, what they are not asking about is the truth of the scriptures
and of the power of God. And that's where they err. Christ told them, you don't know
what you're talking about. What's that mean? Well, it means
men don't know the scriptures or the power of God. And those
men that don't know the scriptures and don't know the power of God,
don't know what they're talking about. Because here's how bad it is.
The natural man, Man as he is born doesn't even know how, or
excuse me, doesn't even know which question to ask. They're talking to the Lord of
glory. They're talking to the Son of
God. They're talking to a man who had done miracles, had healed
the sick. raised the dead, gave sight to
blind eyes, made ears open up, he had cleansed lepers. And these
are the questions they come up with. Should we pay taxes to
Caesar? And whose wife is gonna be in
the resurrection when she's married seven brothers? You'd think they
might want to ask something else. But they don't. Because they
have, man always has, his own agenda. Man always wants to know
something that he wants to know, and here's the other point, man
always wants to bring God down. That's where it is. They want
to bring God down to their level, and they wanna raise themselves
up. They were trying to stump the
one who made the universe and win a point against the Pharisees.
That's what the Sadducees were looking for. They didn't even
know the right questions to ask. That's how bad man is. That's
the depravity of man. And Christ said it was because
they don't know the scriptures and they don't know the power
of God. And as touching the dead that
they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in
the bush God spake unto him saying, I am. And I'll tell you what,
that I am, that am is in italics. So if you want to leave that
out, you can still say this, I, what? The God of Abraham. the God of Isaac and the God
of Jacob Here's the point where the Sadducees
aired they didn't believe in the resurrection and They don't
understand life after physical death So what scriptures are they not
knowing I What scriptures are they not known? I'll give you
one from the Old Testament. It's in Job chapter 19 and verse 23 to 27. Now, these are the words of Job. In 19, chapter 19, verse 23. Oh, that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. How about that? that they were
graven with an iron pin and led in the rock forever. For I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and that 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 reins
be consumed within me. I know my Redeemer liveth. And
listen, if your Redeemer lives, you live. If your Redeemer lives, you live. Know my Redeemer lives That makes
everything better. I Know he shall stand upon the
earth Now we know Job's Redeemer is
a person and where he shall be He is going to stand upon this
earth he Where's Job? Job says that if my Redeemer
comes after I physically died, my body physically destroyed,
though the skin worms devour this flesh. Yet, in my flesh,
I'm going to see God. Now, why didn't the Sadducees
ask Jesus Christ about that scripture? Because they don't believe it.
They don't know it. And they don't know the power
of God. because if the Redeemer's living, those whom He has redeemed
shall live. That's the thing of redemption. Yet in my flesh shall I see God. One, resurrection, and two, my
Redeemer is God. My Redeemer is God, the Holy
One of Israel He shall be called. And Job is going to see him.
Somebody else is not gonna see him for Job. Job says, I'm gonna
see him with my own eye. Even though this body has been
destroyed. That should make you happy. But
the Sadducees didn't want it. That's a scripture the Sadducees
didn't know. And this is a power of God. the
power of God that the Sadducees didn't know. And because of that,
they're standing here in front of the Lord of glory asking goofy
questions. Jesus continued on in verse 27. He is not the God of the dead,
but the God of the living. Ye therefore do greatly err. See, we've gone from err to greatly
err. He's not the God of the dead.
That's the negative first. Then you get the positive. He's
the God of the living. A believer's physical death is
not the same as an unbeliever's physical death. That's a fact
of scripture. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. And I'll give you another Old
Testament scripture if you want. Enoch walked with God and, and,
you can't separate those two things. It's a conjunction thing,
and. Enoch walked with God and he
was not. For God took him. That's another scripture the
Sadducees evidently didn't know. Because here's the point. In
Christ, in God, there is no death. Now how can I say that? People
die all the time. But in Christ and in God, there
is no death. How can I say that? How can I
mean that? Ooh, it's easy, there's scripture for it. John chapter
11, verse 26. He's talking to Lazarus' sister,
and he says, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Now by that, Jesus Christ means
that whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. There is no death in Christ or
in God. Because He, He is life. And none that are in Him are
dead or ever shall be. Not in God's sight. There is
a physical death. I'm not ignoring that, I'm not
denying that. But our Lord Jesus Christ said
this. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die That's true Now very carefully he is speaking
here and he said it it's written down that those that have been
brought into Christ Those that live and believe in him Because
if you don't live in him, you don't believe in him You have
no reason to believe he is speaking to you And notice that conjunction there,
and. Joining these two words together,
living and believing. Those are joined together here.
Okay? There is no living without believing. And there is no believing without
living. It can't happen. It won't happen. He's promised that it won't happen. How can it be so that some will
never die? Well, actually I did this on
purpose. I read verse 26 and didn't read
verse 25. Because what he said before verse
26 shows how it's all possible. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. How's it possible that those
who live and believe in Jesus Christ shall never die? I am
the resurrection and, put that conjecture, put it together,
I am the resurrection and the life. Sadducees did not believe in
the resurrection from the dead Because they did not believe
the personified resurrection They did not believe the Lord
Jesus Christ when he was standing there talking to him Not believing in the resurrection
is the same thing as not believing in Christ He's the resurrection
I didn't say that, I just said it, but I didn't write it. He
said it. And everything he said is exactly
true. He is the resurrection and the
life. What? No man cometh to the Father
but by me. But him that cometh, what? I
will in no wise cast out, I'll raise them up at the last day. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians
5. I'm gonna turn there. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 6 through
9. Therefore, we are always confident. Now our confidence is in Christ,
but we get to be confident in Christ. Knowing that, whilst we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. Verse seven, for
we walk by faith, not by sight. Now, where it says we are home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord, we are not absent from
his presence, but we are absent from his person. We don't see
him. We walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body and to be present with the Lord. To be absent from the body, writing
of physical death, what happens? If you live and believe in Him,
you are present with the Lord. So you can just throw that whole
thing out where they talk about soul sleep. It's nonsense. The reason people talk about
soul sleep is what? They don't know the scriptures
and they don't know the power of God. I mean, Jesus Christ, while he
was here, he talked about a man named Lazarus that died and a
rich man, and Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom being comforted
right then. You understand, things aren't any different now. Other
than the fact that we're not going to Abraham's bosom. He told that thief on the cross,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. He that liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. And Paul carries it on here.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We are present with the Lord
if we are absent from the body. If so be that he has given us
life and faith in him. And he's coming again. The dead
in Christ shall rise first, Paul writes. Thessalonians. And those
that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds, what? To meet the Lord in the air. And what does it say? And so
shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the resurrection. And
at the end of that statement it says, wherefore comfort thou
one another with these words. Don't greatly err. Don't greatly
err. To deny the resurrection is to
greatly err. To deny the power of God is to
greatly err. Not just plain error. Greatly
err. And I can tell you this right
quick. Error is no comfort at all. We are to comfort one another
what? With these words. the words of
Scripture. He's promised it. And you know,
He has never failed in a promise yet, and He never, ever will. And He has promised never to
leave us, never to forsake us, and that means even if you die.
Because that's a certainty. In this world, unless we're here,
when He comes back, we're all gonna die. and he's promised
never to leave us, never to forsake us. Knowing the scriptures and knowing
the power of God is not natural to man. Understanding the scriptures
is the gift of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. I got scripture
for that too. Luke chapter 24, we'll close
with this. I love this scripture, I do.
This is after what? He was resurrected from the dead.
And he's back with his disciples and he's talking to them. And
then in verse 44 he says this, and he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you.
I told you about this before I left, before I died. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. The Sadducees greatly erred not
knowing the scriptures. Everything had to be fulfilled
according to the scriptures. Then verse 45, then opened he,
Jesus Christ, their understanding that they
might what? Understand the scriptures. And said unto them, thus it is
written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the
dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem
and ye are witnesses of these things. And right now we are
witnesses of those things by faith and in the scriptures. He opened their understanding
of the scriptures. And if he doesn't open your understanding
of the scriptures, they're closed. They're closed. That's what that
means. It's either open or it's shut.
There's not a half open door. Now that doesn't mean you're
gonna understand everything all at once. But I can guarantee
you this, you will understand more than you used to. And by
his grace, you will not greatly err. Because he gives the understanding
of the scriptures. He gives life and faith in him. Jesus opened their understanding. That, with a purpose, that they
might understand the scriptures. And those scriptures, what'd
he say in verse 44? They speak of me. They speak concerning
me. What? Moses, that's the law,
the prophets, and the Psalms. That's about everything. That's
about the whole Old Testament. Concerning him. All the scriptures concern him.
Now, if you don't see what the scripture says concerning him,
that's your problem. That's my problem. But all the
scriptures relate to him. This is the story of our Lord
Jesus Christ, from beginning to end and everything in the
middle. Now we have the Gospels and the
New Testament, epistles of letters written, by his apostles. And guess what? Those letters
written by his apostles, these four gospels, they agree perfectly
with the Old Testament. There are some people that see
discrepancies and they see some things that are at odds. That's
their problem. That's their problem. You understand? This morning it was on the TV.
preaching the gospel in Genesis chapter three. They're still
in the Garden of Eden. It's still just Adam and Eve
and the serpent. What? And God. From beginning to end, this book
is a book of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It's our problem if we don't see it. And it's the world's
problem that they don't see it and they don't understand the
scriptures and they don't understand the power of God because it takes,
here it is, it takes the power of God to understand the scriptures. He opened their understanding
before it was closed, but he opened it. Because if you don't
see that, if you don't see all the scriptures concern Christ,
you can't understand the scriptures. You may not understand all scriptures,
but you can understand that all scripture concerns him because
it's what he said. It's what he said. It's not me
making this stuff up. You understand? That's the reason
we say solo scriptura, solely the scripture is our authority
because what? And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. And everything else in the New Testament concerns him. You can see him in the scriptures
if you know the power of God. Now the question is, do you see
him in the scriptures? And do you know the power of
God? By his grace, I hope you do. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this day and this time. We try to preach, I try, to extol
your holy name because you are worthy of all
our praise. Your son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
gave his life and rose from the dead, the resurrection, to give
to us newness of life. Thank you, Lord. for all that
you've done and all that you're doing. Be with Walter as he comes
to preach and give him the words we need to hear and the understanding
to understand. In Christ's name we pray, amen.