The God Of The Living

Q: What does the Bible say about the resurrection?

The Bible teaches that the resurrection is assured, with Christ as our representative and hope. In Mark 12:18-27, Jesus argues for the reality of the resurrection by affirming that God is the God of the living, not the dead. He uses the example of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to illustrate that they are alive to God, as indicated by His statement, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Furthermore, the resurrection is not merely a doctrine but is rooted deeply in the person of Christ, affirming the core of salvation that is through Him. The resurrection, represented in believers through Christ’s death and resurrection, signifies hope and eternal life for those who believe.

Q: How do we know salvation by God's grace is true?

Salvation is based on God's free grace and accomplished through the person of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of salvation by grace is firmly rooted in the teachings of Christ and the apostles. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states, 'For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.' This emphasizes that salvation is not a product of human works but is entirely an act of divine grace. The New Testament consistently declares that Jesus accomplished salvation for His people through His life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, the assurance of salvation rests on Christ's finished work, underscoring our reliance on Him and not our own efforts.

Q: Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

Understanding God's sovereignty reassures believers of His ultimate authority and control over all things. God's sovereignty is foundational to the Christian faith as it affirms His ultimate authority and control over the universe. This is illustrated in numerous scriptures, including Romans 8:28, which assures us that 'all things work together for good to them that love God.' Recognizing God's sovereignty gives believers comfort in the midst of trials, knowing that He is in control and has a purpose for all that occurs. Furthermore, it fosters a deeper trust in God's promises and the assurance that His plans for salvation and redemption will be fulfilled.

Q: What does it mean that Jesus is our resurrection?

Jesus embodies the resurrection as He is the source of life and hope for believers. Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life' (John 11:25), indicating that the resurrection transcends a mere event and is fundamentally about a person. Believers are united with Christ in His resurrection, promised to rise like Him and experience eternal life. This union signifies that through identification with Christ’s death and resurrection, the believer receives newness of life and hope beyond the grave. This centrality of Jesus in the resurrection assures Christians of their future resurrection and eternal fellowship with God.

Q: How should Christians respond to religious infidelity?

Christians should uphold the truth of Scripture and remain steadfast in their faith amidst religious infidelity. Religious infidelity, as seen with the Sadducees, often stems from a rejection of the essential truths of Scripture and a relationship with God. In facing such challenges, believers are called to respond with discernment, adhering firmly to the teachings of the Bible and proclaiming the gospel clearly. The Lord's admonition to the Sadducees highlighted their ignorance of Scripture, which Christians should endeavor to avoid by growing in knowledge and understanding. Engaging with infidelity should be done with boldness in truth, while avoiding fruitless arguments with those who despise the message of Christ.

Let's turn together to Mark chapter
12. Our text will be verses 18 through 27. Mark chapter 12 verses
18 through 27. In this portion of scripture
we have the Sadducees following upon the heels of the Pharisees
who had come and asked the Lord Jesus a question attempting to
entrap him in his words. And now the Lord answered the
Pharisees plainly, clearly sent them away in humiliation. They
marveled at his words and the same day the Sadducees come. The Sadducees and the Pharisees
were two dominant, predominant sects among the Jews. But the
Sadducees were the liberals of the group. The Pharisees were
strict, what we would call fundamentalist, extremely conservative people.
They like to carry big Bibles, you know, and stuff their shirts
full of facts and paint Jesus saved on rocks in the park, that
kind of stuff. But the Pharisees, they thought
themselves to be the intellectual superiors. They were certainly
the ones who were the aristocrats of Judaism. They maintain control
of the priesthood and of the temple. They were the ones who
were looked upon by others as being intellectually superior,
and they certainly liked the title and took it pretty well,
but they were not respected. They were commonly looked at
with disdain because these Sadducees, though they were the ones in
control, though they were the ones who were looked at as being
the intellectuals of the Jewish church, They were absolute liberals. They denied the resurrection.
So their religion, though it was a religion of convenience
to them, and a religion that they took great pride in, their
religion was by and large a religion of infidelity. And so the Sadducees
and Pharisees now get together and you think to yourself, well
how on earth can that be? These folks don't even speak
to each other when they cross each other in the street. They're kind of
like the conservatives and the liberals of any modern denomination.
They have nothing to do with each other. But now they've gotten
together. They got their heads together
and they said we're going to take this man Jesus of Nazareth. We're going to pull a will over
his eyes. We're going to sneak up on his backside and we're
going to track him with his words and everybody will know he's
a fraud. The Sadducees and Pharisees got together because they both
despised the Son of God. They spoke now and were united
together in this effort as one voice and one people, because
in reality they are one. They really believed essentially
the same thing. Oh they acted different, they
talked different, they had different creeds and different confessions
and so on, but they really believed the same thing. Both the Pharisees
and the Sadducees ultimately believed that salvation acceptance
with God was finally determined and ultimately dependent upon
something you do. Whereas the Lord Jesus Christ
came declaring plainly that he is God's salvation and salvation
is accomplished through and by God's free grace in him and in
him alone. When our Lord Jesus came into
Jerusalem the Sadducees joined the bandwagon because when he
came into Jerusalem He now turned their religious world upside
down. He went into the temple and claimed it to be his house,
for he is God Almighty. And he threw the money changers
out of the temple through which they made their great wealth.
And he turned their religion upside down, demanding that God
be worshipped in God's house and that men and women quit playing
games in the name of God and come to the house of God to worship
him. Now everybody was up in arms.
Everybody who was anybody turned thumbs down on the Son of God,
said we've got to get rid of Him because He's going to destroy
our religion. He's going to destroy our church.
He's going to destroy all we believe. He's going to destroy
everything Mom and Dad ever taught us. And so they all got together
and decided to entrap Him so that they might find a reason
for crucifying Him. And so they come to the Lord
Jesus with this stupid question. I mean, more ludicrous than you
can imagine. Let's look at it. Beginning in
verse 18, I want to show you four things that stand out obviously
in this text of Scripture. First, we have a clear picture
of religious infidelity. Now the vast majority of people
in this world, and I look that over, I'm not speaking out of
order. The vast majority of religious
people in this world, those who profess the name of Christianity,
Either this is true of them, or I have absolutely no understanding
of what Christianity is. You can take your pick. Including
the most powerful and most influential religious leaders of the day
are really infidels. They're really infidels. Preacher,
how can you say that? The religion is a matter of convenience,
not conviction. It is, for the most part, a religion
which holds the word of God, the truth of God, the gospel
of God, the glory of God, and the will of God in utter contempt. Those things are always subjected
to what men think, and what men want, and what men have pleasure
in. The Sadducees here laughed at
the doctrine of the resurrection. They were, you know, just too
smart to believe that tomfoolery. Well, you know nobody who's been
educated believes in the resurrection. You know there's nobody who,
you know, maybe some hillbilly somewhere, backwoods people,
country bumpkins, they might believe that stuff, but we're
too smart for that. We don't believe in the resurrection.
And they come to the Lord Jesus imagining themselves smarter
than God and pose a question which illustrates their arrogance
and infidelity. Look what they said. They come
to him, then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is
no resurrection. And they asked him, saying, Master,
Master, what preacher? Master. They couldn't have given
him a higher title, and yet they hold him another preacher. Master,
Moses wrote unto us. We hold Moses. We believe Moses. They were particularly fond of
the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, the books of
Moses. They said, Moses wrote unto us, if a man's brother die
and leave his wife behind him and leave no children, that his
brother should take his wife and raise up a seed unto his
brother. Now, there were seven brethren. And the first took a wife and
dying left no seed. And the second took her and died,
neither left he any seed. And the third likewise, and the
seven had her, and left no seed. Last of all, the woman died also
in the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife
shall she be of them. For all seven had her, the wife.
Boy, we've got it now. We've got it now. He can't answer
this. there's several things that stand out to me in this
question that they pose. Their pretended reverence for
Christ is a mockery. Their pretended reverence for
the word of God is an absolute mockery. They use Moses for convenience. Moses did indeed write these
things. It was written by the law of
God, not only to maintain the property rights of the tribes
of Israel, but to maintain the proper genealogy of the Son of
God who would come into this world through the human flesh,
through Abraham's seed, through David's seed, to sit upon the
throne of God in heaven as the God-man, our Redeemer. But their
pretentious piety was something else. Whose wife shall she be? these fellows who denied the
resurrection come and ask this question as if to suggest that
maybe we could be convinced otherwise. Now we don't believe in the resurrection
but we might. When they when these seven arise and this woman
rises whose wife is she going to be? Now the question that
they ask they supposed and put to them or put to the master
as if it were a factual thing. But I got to looking at this.
I didn't write any of them or call any of my friends who are
statisticians. I know a few. I'll guarantee you any statistician
will tell you it's more likely that you would win the Powerball
lottery than this would happen. Seven brothers have one wife
and all of them be impotent or be sterile. None of them have
any seed for the wife. Why that's nonsense. But they
put it as though it were a factual thing. The only thing these men
were interested in was raising a question which they thought
would be a confident, confident question to entrap the master
that would confuse him altogether and make him look silly. I've
been the object of a few questions myself of just that kind. We
will be wise to mark the things that are recorded here and learn
from them. not to allow modern religious infidels to entrap
us. When you meet with coughing religious
infidels who want to argue with you about the things of God,
best thing you can do with them is to answer them plainly one
time according to the Word of God and leave them alone. Don't
try to argue with them. Don't try to answer their quibbles. It doesn't take anybody to ask
a foolish question. Any idiot can do that. These
things are obvious. Such people always try to press
difficult, abstruse, confusing points of religion. They'll find
something that they think you say, or they think you teach,
and they'll say, how do you explain this? Not even worth answering.
Just let them think what they want to. Leave them alone. They
always act in dishonesty. They handle the word of God deceitfully.
They ask questions deceitfully. They have a deceitful agenda.
And such people deserve your contempt. That's exactly right. Well, I think we ought to at
least give them the respect of an answer. Why? We ought to at
least respect their questions. How come? Their questions aren't
respectable. They're not respectable. They're
contemptible. Don't argue the things of God with men who despise
God. All right, now look at verse
24. Here's a picture of spiritual ignorance. This is how our Lord
answered them. Now if you've got backbone enough
to answer this way, then go ahead and answer them. The Lord Jesus
said, do you not therefore err? Because you know not the scriptures. These are the power of God. What is this carpenter, this
son of Joseph, this ignoramus, saying to us? Why, who taught
him? Who instructed him? Who gave
him his degree? For did he go to seminary? How
does he dare say such a thing to us? Our Lord Jesus here declares
plainly that these who ask this question because they denied
the resurrection were totally ignorant of the scriptures and
totally ignorant of the power of God. You can trace all heresy,
all religious error, all spiritual ignorance to these two facts. Those who do not understand the
things of God are ignorant of the Word of God and of the power
of God. I don't doubt for a moment that
these folks knew the letter of Scripture. No doubt They could
quote huge passages of the Bible from memory. I don't doubt that
they were keenly aware of the historic facts and events that
took place in the Old Testament. Perhaps they could even sit down
and give you the chronological order of all the kings in Israel
and Judah and all their bondage and captivity and all their deliverances. They knew the history of Israel
and even the prophets of the Old Testament. But they had absolutely
no knowledge of the message of the book. And that's where it is, brother.
That's where it is. Spiritual knowledge is something
more than carnal reason. Spiritual knowledge is something
more than what can be passed along to you from one man to
another. Spiritual knowledge is something
more than you can get from your mom and dad. Spiritual knowledge
is something more than you can get from this preacher. Spiritual
knowledge you get from God. Do you know the message of the
book? Turn over to Luke chapter 24. I want you to look at it
one more time. Our Lord Jesus, after the resurrection, is walking
down the road to Emmaus with his disciples, two of them. And
they didn't recognize him. He hid himself from them. And
as they walked along, we read in verse 27, beginning at Moses,
that's back here where the Sadducees began, Moses, that's Genesis
chapter one, verse one, beginning at Moses and all the prophets. Which ones does that take you
at? All the way to the end of Malachi, all of them. That's
all the Bible they had then. That's all the Bible there was,
New Testament had not yet been written. He expounded unto them
in, look at it, all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Do you understand the message
of this book? The message of this blessed book is Jesus Christ
himself, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, down in verse 44.
He said unto them these are the words which I spoken to 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. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the truth. Oh may God open your understanding
and cause you as you open this book to see Christ crucified
in this book. You listen to me now, listen
carefully. Spiritual knowledge is not merely
doctrinal knowledge, creedal knowledge, logical knowledge,
and factual knowledge, though certainly it may include all
those things. Spiritual knowledge is revealed
knowledge. Spiritual knowledge is the knowledge
of a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of The resurrection is
more than a doctrine. It's a person. You can believe
the doctrine of the resurrection and still not believe in the
resurrection. That's exactly right. The resurrection is a
person. Listen to this. Our Lord Jesus
speaks to Martha. The Lord said your brother is
going to rise again and Martha said well I know he's going to
rise in the resurrection. I got my head full of that stuff.
Been taught that since I was a little girl. The Lord Jesus
said unto her I am the resurrection. Do you understand? The resurrection
is standing here looking at you. The resurrection is standing
here talking to you. I am the resurrection and the life. He
that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
You cannot know the person without knowing the doctrine. But I promise
you, you certainly can know the doctrine without knowing the
person. The Lord Jesus Christ is my resurrection. Let me show you how, from the
Word of God. We won't look at the references, but you can mark
them down and look at them later. He is my resurrection representatively
in redemption. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
6, the scripture says that God has raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. What does that
mean? When the Lord Jesus Christ lived
on this earth, as our representative. All God's elect lived in Him,
perfectly obeying God's law. What we could never do, Bob,
but we did it in Him because He did it for us. When He died
at Calvary and our sins were imputed to Him, God's elect died
in Him and paid their debt to the full satisfaction of divine
justice because He's our substitute. the infinite God-man. When he
was buried, we were buried in him. And when he arose, we arose
in him. And when he took his seat at
the right hand of the majesty on high, we sat down with him. He's our representative. Christ
in my resurrection experimentally as well. The new birth is a resurrection
from the dead. If folks could ever get hold
of that, if they could just get hold of that one point, the new
birth is the resurrection from the dead. They quit talking the
nonsense of salvation by man's decision, man's free will, man's
choice, man's doing, man's prayer. Oh no, no, no, no, no. If a man's
dead, the only way he can live is if God comes and gives him
life. And this is what the scripture
says, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,
on such the second death hath no power. We've been made partakers
of the first resurrection, and we're anxiously awaiting the
second. And then, the Lord Jesus is my resurrection prospectively. For it is written, when Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. There is a day coming when the
Son of God shall come again, and we shall rise from the dead
to be with the Lord forever. Now the truth of the gospel,
the truth of God, the gospel of his grace, is much more than
doctrinal historic facts. And yet the gospel is Christ
himself. Just that simple. Just that plain.
The Lord Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Without question, this person
is revealed and made known to us and in us in the context of
revealed doctrinal truth. But life and salvation doesn't
come by knowing about Christ. It comes by knowing Him. This is
what he said. This is life eternal. that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ is thou
himself. Do you understand what I'm talking
about? Salvation is knowing God in the
God's name, our substitute. Salvation is knowing God in Jesus
Christ, who is our substitute, our savior, our king, our prophet,
our priest. are everything. Of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, whom God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Now let me say something also
about the power of God. Spiritual ignorance, doctrinal
error, heresy of every kind, according to this statement by
our Lord, must be traced to three things. ignorance with regard to God's
sovereignty. That's what his power represents.
The word power means authority. The Lord God Almighty is the
absolute sovereign of the universe. That means he's got authority
over you, Buster, and he can do with you whatever he will.
Not only can do, he's going to. He's going to do what he will.
The power of God also suggests his omnipotence. And so spiritual
ignorance comes from an utter ignorance of God's all-mightiness
as God. Not only is he God with authority,
he's God with power. Irresistible power, unconquerable
power. unalterable power in God Almighty. And spiritual ignorance arises
from, and must be traced to, an utter ignorance of God's gospel,
which is according to the Apostle Paul, the power of God under
salvation. The Sadducees did not believe
in the resurrection because they were totally ignorant of God's
sovereignty. totally ignorant of God's omnipotence,
totally ignorant of God's gospel. All heresy, all spiritual ignorance
must be traced to these things. These Sadducees were a, how can
I say it, not perfect, because nothing perfect about them, an
exact representation of the religious world around us. They had a form
of godliness. a form of godliness. You go around,
visit wherever you want to, visit wherever you want to, visit churches
of every rank, denomination and kind, visit them all. I really
don't suggest you do, that's a horrible waste of time. But
what I'm saying is this, you find folks with a form of godliness.
Sometimes the form has a silly looking collar, sometimes it's
got robes and crosses and miters all that sort of stuff. Sometimes
it's very simple and sometimes it's very ornate. Sometimes their
form of godliness has a liturgy and sometimes they downplay and
decry liturgy. Sometimes their form of godliness
has a rule book by which you must live and sometimes they
say we don't have a rule book. But they have a form of godliness.
Their form of godliness may differ greatly, but they all have one
thing in common. They deny the power thereof.
They deny the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace which
declares redemption and salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ
alone. Not redemption and salvation
possible, not redemption and salvation provided, not redemption
and salvation given opportunity for, but redemption and salvation
accomplished by the crucified Redeemer. All false religion,
all free will works religion, denies the sovereignty of God's
will and purpose in election and predestination, the omnipotence
of his power and grace in redemption, regeneration, and effectual calling,
and the gospel of his good news of redemption and salvation accomplished
by the blood of his dear son. Now, one more thing. Our text
speaks of the resurrection life, verse when they shall rise from the
dead. They neither marry nor are given in marriage, our Savior
says, but are as the angels of God. What a remarkable statement. As the angels which are in heaven,
as touching the dead, that they rise. Have you not read in the
book of Moses, how in the bush God spoken to him, saying, I
am the God of Abraham? The God of Isaac and the God
of Jacob. Now, isn't it just amazing that our Lord chose Exodus
3, 6 to be the place from which he would declare the resurrection
of the dead? If I had read Exodus 3, 6 from
now till the end of time and just read it, just read those
words, I'd have never got that out of that. I'd have never got
it out of that. But our Lord Jesus gives the
key. He said, God said, I am. Not I was. I am right now the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. Well, wait
a minute, they've been dead a long time. No, they're alive. They're alive. And the fact that
our Lord chose this text of Scripture as the basis from which he would
teach the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead when he could have
chosen multitudes of others in the Old Testament. Why he chose
this is to demonstrate to us that there is a death. in the
Word of God in its utter simplicity that we shall never fathom while
we live on this earth. Our Lord says, you want to know
what Scripture teaches? Moses said, God declared to Moses,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. And then our Lord concludes, he's not the God of the dead,
but the God of the living. You therefore do greatly honor
us. You're just as stupid about these
things as I told you you were. You don't have any knowledge
of God whatsoever. You don't have any understanding
of the things of God at all. Our Lord here declares there
will be a resurrection of the dead. He said when they shall
rise from the dead. When our Lord Jesus comes again
there will be a resurrection of the just and of the unjust. Now this fact is inscribed indelibly
in the Word of God, page after page after page after page describes
the resurrection of the dead. When Christ comes again, the
dead shall rise up. Now you can argue about the different
phases and different parts and all that stuff, all you want
to. I'm content to know he's coming and we're going to rise
from the dead. More than that, this fact is inscribed upon your
heart by the finger of God. man gets up and hollers, I don't
believe in the resurrection. I don't believe in the resurrection.
I don't, I don't believe it. You don't believe that heaven,
hell stuff, do you? Yes, sir. And you do too. You're
a liar to say you don't. I know you're a liar because
God stuck it in your heart. You can't deny it. You can't
deny it. In the resurrection, God's saints
shall be as the angels of God. I got to look into that. I'll
come back and preach on this a little another time because
I, this is kind of like that passage in Exodus, I found a
whole lot more here than I ever thought before. What does this
mean? We shall be as the angels of
God. It means that we will be completely free of all carnal
distinctions, weaknesses, cares, needs, and faults. There'll be no need for marriage
and procreation Because there won't be any more sickness, sorrow,
bereavement, or death. And there will be no imperfection
of love and unity among God's saints. Oh my God, I long for
that. This dear lady sitting over here,
much as she loves me, distinctly loves me, dotes over me, in the
resurrection Paul then goes, that you and her both are his,
she will love you the same way. You understand that? No, no distinctions. In the resurrection we will be
like the angels of God, possessing the constant full knowledge and
assurance of God's approval. There's not an angel
in heaven who ever wonders I wonder if God really does approve of
me. That's been said a long time ago. In the resurrection, like
the angels, we will have the unbroken assurance of absolute
security. Not a question. Not a question. And we will enjoy perfect, uninterrupted
communion with our Redeemer, just like they do. In the resurrection,
we will have a suitable engagement in gratifying service to our
God, like the angels worshiping him, singing his praise, celebrating
his wonderful works, doing his will, always in the resurrection
we will have unbroken everlasting death. And in the resurrection,
like the angels of God, we will behold his perfect. Now blessed be his name, he who
is the living God is the God of the living, and they who trust
him shall live forever. Amen.

The God Of The Living

What does the Bible say about the resurrection?

How do we know salvation by God's grace is true?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does it mean that Jesus is our resurrection?

How should Christians respond to religious infidelity?

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About Don Fortner

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The God Of The Living

What does the Bible say about the resurrection?

How do we know salvation by God's grace is true?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does it mean that Jesus is our resurrection?

How should Christians respond to religious infidelity?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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