In Luke chapter 20 today, verse
27, again down to verse 38, I'm repeating that on purpose, for
the purpose of making this message available on Sermon Audio. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse 38. For He is not the God, He is not For He is not a God of the dead,
but of the living. He is our living God. For all
live unto Him, for all live with Him. Our God is the God of the
living. His people live and move and
have their being in Him. The God of the living. Our God,
as He's revealed in the Word of the Lord, our God is eternal. From everlasting to everlasting,
Thou art God. He has no beginning. He has no
end. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the eternal God and salvation is in Him. He has no beginning. He has no end. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He ever lived to intercede for us. He has all power in heaven
and in earth that ought to comfort us. He has all glory both now
and forever. and all of salvation is in Him
and Him alone. He will, by His power, For His
glory, by His purpose and will, He will raise up our body, that
is the bodies of believers, in the glorious resurrection day,
and make that body just like the Lord Jesus Christ. When He
came forth from the grave on that third morning, He had a
real body. A real glorified body. And we
are predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll be just like Him in our
body, in our soul, in our spirit. As He is, so are we in this world. We'll be like Him both now and
forever. Forever. And the salvation that
He gives us is not a temporary amnesty. Nothing temporary. Whatever God gives, it shall
be forever. He gives unto us eternal life,
and we shall never perish. Believers who have died in Christ,
and we have many of our dear, dear brethren and sisters who
have departed this life, believers who have died in the Lord Jesus
Christ, The Lord said, blessed are those who die in the Lord. Believers who have died in Christ
are blessed to behold and worship the living and true God right
now while they're awaiting the resurrection of their body. While
the bodies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are nothing but dust
in their redeemed soul and spirit. They are alive and well, enjoying
the presence of the Lord right now forever. And that is true
of every believer who has died in the Lord. The Apostle Paul
put it this way, to be absent from the body, is to be present
with the Lord. To live is Christ, to die is
not loss. Not for the believer, it's gain. As I've often said, at your dear
wife's funeral, at your dear husband's funeral, to die is
not penalty, it's promotion. It is promotion. Now again, in
this chapter, we see the Lord Jesus Christ under the relentless,
vicious attack... of the enemies of God, the enemies
of the gospel of God, the Lord having put the Pharisees and
Herodians to silence with their questions about paying Roman
tax, is it lawful? And the Lord said, you render
under Caesar the thing which are Caesar, under God the thing
which are God. Now the Sadducees attack him.
The Sadducees attack him about a question of the resurrection
from the dead. Again, their designs are only
malicious and mean. They're only given to entrap
the Lord of glory, to catch him in his words, and to discredit
his person, to discredit his ministry, to discredit his work. They didn't want to know about
the resurrection. They didn't even believe in the
resurrection. But they thought to embarrass
him. They thought of this clever question, well ask him about
this one woman who had seven husbands in the resurrection.
Who is she going to be married to? And they thought they had
him. But the Lord too wise for that. The Sadducees were the
most liberal thinkers of their day. supposing themselves to
be smarter than God, they denied the resurrection of the dead.
And it says there in verse 27, then came to him certain of the
Sadducee, which denied that there is any resurrection. And yet,
what did they ask him about? They asked him about something
which they didn't even believe. I have people do that to me quite
often. They ask me something about which
they do not even believe, just so they might embarrass me. They
denied the Sadducees, they denied any afterlife at all. They denied
the immortality of the soul, they denied the resurrection,
they believed there was nothing after death, no judgment, no
glorious heaven and life. Certainly no eternal condemnation
of the wicked. Now, they really didn't believe
anything, did they? They believed in themselves,
but they were righteous. The Sadducees, it says in Acts
23 verse 8, well, the Sadducees say there is no resurrection,
neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees, now they confessed
both, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection. You remember
over in Acts chapter, what, 24, 25, when Paul was confronted
with that crowd of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they sought
to accuse him, remember he brought up that issue of the resurrection
of the just and the unjust, so as to divide them. Now he did
that, he did a wise thing. The Pharisees and the Sadducees
were bitter enemies, yet we find them joining together against
the gospel of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can
this be? Why did they do that? Because
essentially they believed the same thing. They sought God's
acceptance upon their works of religion and their works of righteousness. Remember what the Lord said of
them, the Pharisees and the Sadducees? He said of them, you or they
would justify yourselves before men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men, is an abomination in the sight of God. Now, many
people today, while they may have differences in religious
practices, essentially believe the same thing. That's why there
are so many different denominations, and they all seem to gel and
get along together, don't they? Now, they don't get along with
people who believe salvation by grace. But essentially, they
all believe the same thing. All these other denominations,
they essentially all believe the same thing. They believe
that salvation, their salvation, is left up to them. Don't they
believe that? They think they make the difference. It's their free will. It's their
works of obedience. It's their righteousness by which
they think they gain God's favor and remove His wrath. The record of Scripture is clear
on this matter. Salvation is all of grace. all
of grace. From election, it's the election
of grace. Salvation, salvation by His grace. To eternal glorification, it's
all of God's grace. The creature's will, work, and
worth have no bearing in the matter of salvation. You mean
my works have nothing to do with my salvation? That's exactly
what I'm saying. That's exactly what I'm saying.
Salvation, now listen to me. It's God who saved us, right?
If we're saved, God did it. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose, His own grace, giving us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Now, that's not my theology,
that's the word of the Lord. I believe it. 2 Timothy 1.9,
my favorite verse. I quote that every time I preach.
Salvation is always determined by God, dependent upon God, accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and always given sovereignly as a
gift of God to whom he will. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. That's what God taught Moses
when Moses asked him, Lord, show me your glory. Remember what
he said? I have mercy on whom I will. Salvation is a gift of
God, not of works. When the gospel is clearly set
forth, believed in the heart and contended for publicly, do
not be surprised if your religious lost family and friends turn
on you like a pack of wild dogs." You remember what they did to
Stephen? When Stephen, the servant of the Lord, stood and preached
the gospel, in Acts chapter 7, we read about it, they ran on
him and gnashed on him with their teeth like a pack of wild animals. Why did they do that? Why did
they do that? We know why. The carnal mind
is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. By the works of the flesh shall
no man please God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. We know the heart of man. is totally depraved and sinful. And when we say the heart of
man, Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. When we talk about the heart
being wicked, that includes your mind, your soul, your thinking,
your emotion, your will, your affections, everything that makes
you you. By nature, it's sinful, depraved,
and wicked before God. Do you think that of yourself?
Well, I know you think that of others. But you really don't
believe in what we call true total depravity unless you see
that in yourselves as totally vile, wretched before God Almighty. Now, let me call your attention
to three things we see in our text this morning. The first
thing is a ridiculous and bizarre and totally fabricated question
that these Pharisees ask the Lord Jesus Christ about the resurrection
in order to crush him and to discredit him and to destroy
his ministry. They asked the Lord a question
for information about things they did not even believe about
the resurrection of the dead. And the story they bring, we
won't read it again, but we've read it several times. If a woman,
they say, is married seven times, one woman, to seven different
brothers, then in the resurrection, whose wife is she going to be? For it says here, and last of
all, the woman died, Verse 31, and the third took her in like
manner, seven also, and they left no children and died. And last of all the woman died,
verse 33, therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? or
she was married to all seven of these different brothers."
Now, the chances of that even happening are just ridiculous,
aren't they? I mean, they bring up the absurd
to try to accuse the Lord and to discredit Him. Now, several
things we see here. They pretended to reverence the
Lord. They called Him, notice up here in verse 7, Master. Master. pretended to reverence him, they
addressed him as master, which means doctor or teacher, while
in their heart, what? They despised him, didn't they?
They despised, they hated him. They went out and took counsel
after this how to destroy him. They pretended to reverence Him,
but believers do not pretend. Believers do reverence the Lord. Holy and reverent is His name. To the believer, the Lord Jesus
Christ is not something of their salvation. To the believer, the
Lord Jesus Christ is everything in their salvation. He is altogether
lovely to you who believe. He is precious." They also pretended
to reverence the Word of the Lord. They said, Moses wrote
unto us. You see that? Moses wrote unto
us. Now, they didn't believe what
Moses said, but they pretended to reverence the Word of the
Lord. Deuteronomy 25, verse 5. It is true that they had the
Word of the Lord, the word of the law of Moses, but they did
not believe what Moses by inspiration had spoken of, did they? Turn
over here to John chapter 5. Look at John chapter 5 with me.
John chapter 5. What did Moses write about? What
was all the Genesis, and Exodus, and Leviticus, and Numbers, and
Deuteronomy, those five, what we call the Pentitude? What is
all that writing about? John 5 verse 39. You search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. They are
they which testify of me. Moses wrote about who? Who did
he write about? Christ. And you will not come
to me that you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you. that you have not the love of
God in you. I am come in my Father's name, you receive me not. If
another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How
can you believe which receive honor one of another, and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me." Moses' writing
is all given to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. They pretended
to reverence the Word of the Lord, but they did not believe
Moses' writing. Believers in Christ do believe
the record of Holy Scripture. They do believe the Gospel as
it's revealed in the Word of Truth. We say with the Apostle,
This I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things, believing all things which are written, which are
written in the law and the prophets. They also thirdly pretended,
to have a righteousness before Him, a righteousness before Him. They pretended that they were
zealous to see the law of God honored, and they thought they
did so by their obedience. They had a pretended righteousness. Believers and lovers of the Lord
Jesus Christ do not have a pretended righteousness. They have a true
righteousness in Christ. For He is called the Lord our
righteousness. How righteous do you have to
be to stand before God justified? as righteous as God." Well, how
can that be? Only in Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness. He's made unto us our righteousness. That's our hope. That's our hope.
Now, the second thing I want to point out here in our text
It's not given here in Luke, but in Matthew and in Mark, the
Lord declared unto them, as we read earlier in those references,
the Lord declared unto them their total ignorance of the Word and
of His character. In Matthew 22, 29 and in Mark
12, 24, we read earlier, the Lord answered and said unto them,
Do you not therefore err because you know not the Scriptures,
Now, they knew the letter of the law, but they didn't know
the message of God. You know not the scriptures,
neither do you know the power of God. Ignorance of the Word of God,
all spiritual ignorance and doctrinal error can be always traced back
to at least these two things. Ignorance of God's Word and ignorance
of the total sovereign power of God. These men did not believe
in the resurrection because they did not know the teaching of
Holy Scripture. They did not know the true and
living God who has all power in heaven and in earth. They had the letter of the word,
but they did not know the message of the word of the Lord. They
were ignorant of the message of the Bible. What is this book
all about? Sixty-six books. Each of these
books tell us something of the glorious person and work, the
successful redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who He
is, God Almighty, and what He accomplished. All of our salvation. That's what this book is about.
And when you look at this book and try to preach something else,
you have made a serious, serious, fatal mistake. It's all about
Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. We're going to study in Luke
24 and beginning of Moses and all the prophets. He expounded
unto them and all the scriptures the thing concerning Himself. This book is all about. How the
Lord Jesus Christ put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. How His faithful obedience, even
unto death, is our very righteousness before God that's freely given
unto us. And how God justifies us freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, my friend, the resurrection
is more than just a mere doctrine. Now it is a doctrine, but the
resurrection is more than just a mere doctrine, the resurrection
is a person. A doctrine. And it is a true
doctrine. It's a biblical doctrine. Salvation
by the grace of God. But my friends, salvation is
in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. It's knowing
Him who is the resurrection and the life. It's knowing Him who
has life and is eternal life. Salvation is not merely knowing
about Christ. Salvation is knowing the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord said to Martha and to
Mary, They said, we know our brother will rise again in the
resurrection in the last day. You remember what the Lord said?
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he are dead, yet shall he live forever. And that's our
hope we have in Christ. It's a resurrection hope. You
see, it's not just to know about Him. We know him who is life
and salvation. Now, I illustrate that by saying
this. I know a lot about Abraham Lincoln. Don't you? I know a lot about
Abraham Lincoln. We traveled last week coming
back home through Springfield, Illinois. And we talked about
that being the home of Lincoln. Now, he was born in Kentucky,
lived in Indiana, But he basically was an elected senator from Illinois. And he lived there in Springfield,
Illinois. I know a lot about Abraham Lincoln. But I don't know him. I've never
met him. I've never sat in his presence.
I never shook his hand. I was never introduced to him.
I know a lot about him, but I don't know him. Believers know the Lord Jesus
Christ by intimate, vital union with Him. It's not just that
we know about Him. A lot of people know about Him.
My friend, we know Him who is life. We are intimately acquainted
with Him. We have a vital union of faith,
and we are one with Him, for we are in Him, and He is in us,
and we're made perfect in one. That's a glorious mystery, but
it's so. We know Him and He knows us. John puts it this way. This is
a record that God has given to us, the eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
believe in the name of the Son of God. And we know, because
He's given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is a
true and living God. We know Him who is life and who
is salvation. So God's people are not ignorant
of the Word of God. We've been taught of God. God's
people are not ignorant of the power of God. Anything too hard
for the Lord? Who then can be saved? With men? It's impossible. But not with
God. With God all things are possible
with Him. Christ is the power of God unto
salvation to every sinner that believes the gospel. Now, here's
the third thing I want us to see. Notice what the Lord says
here in verse 34. as his answer to this absurd
question. The Lord answering said to them,
the children of this world, they marry, and they're given in marriage. They marry. Marriage is of God. It's a picture of Christ and
his church. The children of this world, they
marry, and that's what they should do, and are given in marriage,
and that's what parents do. But they which shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world, the eternal life in Christ, and
the resurrection from the dead, they neither marry, nor are they
given in marriage. There is no such thing as a husband
and wife being married in that union like we have here in eternal
glory. Now we may know one another.
That's the subject of something else that we may know one another. Certainly that is so. Abraham
was Abraham. Jacob was Jacob, Isaac was Isaac,
we'll retain our identity and we shall know one another, but
we won't have that relationship of a husband and wife because
we're married unto the Lord Jesus Christ. They're neither married
nor they're given in marriage, neither can they die anymore. Death shall be no more. For they
are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being
the children of the resurrection, now that the dead are raised."
A fact. Already done. Notice how that's
written in past tense. Now that the dead are raised.
How are they raised up? In Christ. In Christ. Even Moses
showed at the bush. That burning bush. Exodus 3.
When he calleth the Lord God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
the God of Jacob, for he is not the God of the dead, but of the
living. For all live with him or unto him. Now, a couple of
things here, I'll let you go. In the last day when the Lord
returns, there shall be a general resurrection, both of the just
and the unjust, a resurrection of those who have believed the
gospel unto everlasting life, and a resurrection of those who
die in their sin, unto everlasting condemnation." Our Lord said,
if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sin. Know this, if you die in your
sin, You'll be raised in your sin, and you'll face God in judgment
in your sin, and you'll spend eternity in your sin, being eternally
tormented before God. That's so. The Lord Jesus Christ
taught there was a resurrection of the dead, and He is that resurrection. If you want to turn, you can
read it with me, John chapter 5. Verse 24, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, John 5, verse 24, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is when the dead, shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Now
there he's talking about regeneration, salvation. "...for as the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life
in himself." Verse 27. "...and hath given him authority
to execute judgment also, Because he is a son of man, marvel not
at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the
grave shall hear his voice. Now that's the effectual call
too, is it not? And shall come forth they that
have done good unto the resurrection of life. How have they done good? By being in Christ. That's how
they are counted worthy. unto the resurrection of life,
and they that have done evil, who have died in their sin, unto
the resurrection of damnation. There shall be a resurrection
of the just and of the unjust. Our Lord said, if you turn over
to that scripture I quoted earlier in John chapter 11, we'll read
it together, John chapter 11. The Lord said, thy brother shall
rise again, verse 23. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
He got it, John 11, 25. The Lord said to her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. The Lord, the resurrection,
is more than a doctrine, it is a person. The apostles, all through
the book of Acts, you check me out on this, in the preaching
of Peter at Pentecost, all the preaching of Peter, all the preaching
of the apostle Paul, in every sermon, what did they talk about?
The resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Christ and
those who are His people being raised up in Him. Job rejoiced
in it, did he not? He said, I know my Redeemer liveth,
and in the last day He shall stand upon this earth, and though
the worms shall devour the skin of this body, yet in my flesh
I shall see the Lord. He believed in the resurrection
from the dead, did he not? David wrote about it, I put it
in the bulletin today. Psalm 17 verse 15, As for me,
I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Thy likeness. Daniel wrote about
it, Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, some to everlasting contempt. All believers declare the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ and us in Him, justified in Him,
and complete. For He was delivered from our
offenses and raised again for our justification. Because He
lives. Now how important is His resurrection? If He be not raised up the third
day, as this book declares that He did. If He be not raised up,
We have no hope. We have no forgiveness. We have
no salvation. And we are yet in our sins. If He be not raised up, but thank
God He is. He said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys
of hell and death. He has power over all things
in heaven and in earth. I want us to be called this,
accounted worthy, verse 35, to obtain Accounted worthy to obtain. How
can we obtain unto the resurrection of the dead? How can we be accounted
worthy? To be found in Christ. To be
found in Him. And then how can we be called
the children? I love this statement here. The
children of God being the children of the resurrection. How can
we be called sons of God? And that's what He calls us.
Beloved, now are we sons of God. We're sons of God by His election. We're sons of God by His adoption. We're sons of God by His choice. He said, you didn't choose me,
I chose you. That's good news. That's good
news. We're counted worthy and we're
called children of God, being the children of the resurrection,
and they are equal unto the angels. Now, it doesn't say that we are
turned into angels. How are we equal unto the angels? Well, what do the angels do?
What is their purpose? They minister unto the Lord,
and they worship Him, praising the Lord. That's how we'll be
like the angel, serving His purpose, worshiping Him forever. In that glorious and eternal
day, all believers will be as the angels of God, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ, like the holy angels, unto them
service and worship unto our glorious Redeemer. And then,
notice this carefully, and I'll be done. Now that the dead are
raised, verse 37, even Moses showed at the bush when he calleth
the Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. For He is not the God of the
dead, but of the living. For all live with Him and unto
Him." He is God our Savior. God is a God of the living, the
true and living God. The Lord Jesus Christ uses the
very record of Scripture to show unto us again that believers
who have died do not go into a state of non-existence, but
rather into the presence of the Lord. While their bodies go back
to the dust, their soul and spirit is with the living and true God. I quote again what I said earlier,
we are confident, I say willing, rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord. When Moses, when the Lord
spoke to Moses out of that burning bush, we read about in Exodus
3, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been dead for hundreds of
years, yet the Lord says they're living with him. waiting for
the glorious resurrection of their body. Know that Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob all represent who? Believers, the elect of
God, chosen by His grace, redeemed in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, called to Christ in faith. They all lived by faith, walked
by faith, died by faith, believed in God, and their lives were
taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Revelation chapter
20. And here's what he's talking
about right here in Revelation chapter 20. Revelation 20 verse 1. I want us to look at Revelation
20 first of all. Verse 6. Blessed and holy is
he that hath part in that first resurrection, That's regeneration. "...On such
a second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of
God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."
And that means we reign with Him forever. Now, Revelation
21, turn there, verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more
death. No more sorrow, no more crying, neither shall there be
any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he
that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. The resurrection to eternal life,
of which the second death has no power. May the Lord bless
His word to your heart. and cause you, I want you to
personally in your heart, right now, look to Christ for all salvation. Christ is all our atonement for
sin, there is no other. Christ is all of our righteousness
before God, there is no other. And Christ is all our resurrection
and life, both now and forever. He is our hope. He is all our salvation.