Reasons for Doctrinal Error

But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. When the multitude heard this they were astonished at his doctrine. Let’s pray together. Father, this evening, Lord, we come to you again.

We ask you for your blessing and help upon the reading and study of your Word. Lord, help us to profit from it, to understand it. Lord, I pray that you help us to grow as believers. I pray for our church that you would help our church to grow and to be strong. Lord, we pray as well for the nation of Iran and those people, some 80 million people there.

Lord, there’s just absolute turmoil and great fear, no doubt. Lord, we don’t know exactly what you’re doing on the world stage. Lord, we’re looking for you to come and we expect to see you. We expect you’re appearing at any time. But Lord, as far as world events, we can’t claim to know exactly how this fits into your providence and your plan. But Lord, we do know that you want the Iranian people to know about Jesus.

And Lord, we pray right now as a church that you would so work and bring to pass change in that government so that the gospel would be allowed into Iran. And Lord, that you would raise up laborers and you would send them forth into your harvest there in Iran where they haven’t been able to go for quite some time. And Lord, that you would open the hearts of the Iranian people to the gospel and that their disgust with Islam would be ready so that they would be ready to turn from it and to seek something real and true.

And so Lord, we pray that you would save souls there and that you would send people there and that you would make a way so that the gospel can go there. For we ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

Now, you’ll notice in verse number 23 here, it says this, the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection. And so we’re familiar with the Sadducees. We’ve studied them as we’ve been through Matthew. We’ve looked at the Herodians and the Pharisees and the scribes and the different groups. In fact, even last week, last Sunday night, we talked about that a little bit. Just to add to that though, just with a little addition, Acts 23 verse 8 gives a little bit more information about what the Sadducees believed.

And again, the Sadducees were the group that was most closely associated with the priesthood. Acts 23 verse 8 says this, for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. But the Pharisees confess both. So that helps you understand from a biblical perspective, the Sadducees denied the idea of the bodily resurrection. They denied the idea of any kind of spiritual beings or of angels.

And so all of that, they just refused. And that’s clear enough. But I wanted to read something to you from Josephus, who was a Jewish historian, that adds a little bit more information, but it is perfectly consistent with what we read in Scripture. So the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the body, but there was something else they denied that was closely tied to the resurrection of the body.

They also denied the idea of final judgment. They denied the idea that there would be a judgment. And also attached to the resurrection, they did not believe that there would be rewards or punishment. They didn’t believe people went to hell or anything like that. They did not believe in the immortality of the soul. So they thought, and this is the quote, they thought that the soul dies with the body.

The soul dies with the body. And let me read you these two passages. And I don’t mean to bore you by reading this, but it’s important to us because it’s directly relevant to what we’re looking at tonight. Because these are the people that Jesus was talking to. And so in order to understand the passage, those of you that are in the school of Scripture, this is one of those historical contexts that throw light upon the passage.

Okay? Okay, so this is from the Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 1, Section 4 says this, But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that souls die with the bodies, nor do they regard the observation of anything besides what the law enjoins them. That is, Genesis through Deuteronomy. So basically the Sadducees rejected all the rest of the Old Testament. They only accepted the first five books.

Now keep that in mind. For they think it is an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent. But this doctrine is received by but a few. So that tells you a little bit about it, but the Sadducees were not very popular. Okay? Yet, by those still of the greatest dignity, but they were the people of clout. Okay? That’s what he’s saying here.

But they were able to do almost nothing of themselves for when they became magistrates, as they were unwillingly and by force, sometimes obliged to be, they addicted themselves to the notions of the Pharisees because the multitude would not otherwise bear them. Remember what I told you about how the multitude thought a lot of the Pharisees and they were the largest group that had the greatest support? The Sadducees weren’t that way.

Okay? So that’s one quote. And the second quote is from the Wars of the Jews. It says this, and this speaks of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But then as to the other two orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws and introduce the first sect. These ascribed all to fate and to God and yet allow that to act what is right or the contrary is principally in the power of men.

Although fate does cooperate in every action. So they believed in fate, providence, however you want to describe it. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men are only removed into other bodies, but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order and take away fate entirely and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil.

And they say that to act what is good or what is evil is at men’s own choice and that the one or the other belongs to every belongs so to everyone that to do as they that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul and the punishments and in Hades which is hell. So you can see from this he describes both the Pharisees and the Sadducees he says plainly not only do they deny a resurrection they deny any afterlife.

Basically you die, poof you’re gone. No soul that continues beyond that. And you can see that in this conversation that the Lord is having he is focusing on the resurrection but they are related. So you’ll see that in just a minute. Look at verse 24. So here is their example. They’re raising the Sadducees come to the Lord and they raise a hypothetical that’s based out of Deuteronomy chapter 25 which we’ll look at in a minute.

It says saying, Master, Moses said if a man die having no children his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren and the first when he had married a wife deceased and having no issue left his wife unto his brother. Likewise the second also and the third unto the seventh. Last of all the woman died also.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 25 if you would. I want to show you where they get this and then you can see the meaning and then we’ll also look if you want to go ahead of me we’re going to go to the book of Ruth as well because you can see a little bit of it there as well. Deuteronomy 25 verse 5. Now you remember the Sadducees accepted Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy so this is a part they would have believed.

Verse 5 says this, if brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of her husband’s brother unto her. So it’s pretty simple right? Man and woman are married. The man dies. If they had no children then the man’s brother who died would then marry his brother’s wife.

Verse 6, and it shall be that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. So the offspring, the firstborn child of that second marriage now would not be counted as the second man’s son but as the first man’s son so that the line of that son is continued. Verse 7 says, and if the man like not to take his brother’s wife then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say, my husband’s brother refuseeth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel.

He will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him and if he stand to it and say I like not to take her. That just strikes me kind of funny. No thank you.

Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face and shall answer and say, so shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother’s house and his name shall be called in Israel the house of him that hath his shoe loosed. Alright, now go to Ruth chapter 4.

Right before 1 Samuel. Ruth chapter 4. Because this kind of situation actually happened in Ruth to Ruth. Now let me give you a little bit of background here. Naomi went with her husband Elimelech down to Moab. They left, they were of the tribe of Judah which is where Bethlehem is. And they left Judah and went down to Moab and while they were, and they took their children, and while they were down there all three of the men died.

And so Ruth and Orpah and Naomi prepare to return. So Ruth and Orpah and Naomi are not actually related by blood. That is her sons in law. But Orpah decides to stay back with her family in Moab. And so Naomi, that’s when entreat me not to leave thee nor, you know you’ve heard that which they quote in weddings but it has nothing to do with marriage. It has to do with Naomi and her daughter-in-law.

So Ruth is faithful to Naomi and so Ruth who is now a widow as well as Naomi return back into Israel. And that’s where Ruth meets Boaz. Okay now Boaz is a relation to Elimelech who died. So they’re not like, they’re not brothers but they’re related. So chapter four, look if you would at verse number seven. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing.

For to confirm all things a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. So this is, he’s referring to Elimelech’s property, land, which was Naomi’s now because her husband died. So now Naomi has it. So Boaz is now offering to buy all of, because remember Elimelech has no children.

They both died. So he has no offspring at all, no descendants. And so Boaz is coming and is going to buy that property. Okay, everybody, you still with me? All right, verse nine. And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, ye are witnesses this day that that was Elimelech’s and all that was Tileon’s and Malan’s of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Malan, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

You see that? That the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception and she bear a son. Now that son is actually counted as the son of Malan, who is the son of Elimelech.

So in the line of, legally it goes from Elimelech, Malan, now this child. So this child is not considered to be Boaz’s child. The later children will, but not this one. Okay. Then said Boaz, I’m sorry, let me get back to my place here. Verse 14, and the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord which hath not left this day, let thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.

And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons hath borne him. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse son to it. And the women, her neighbors gave it a name, saying, there is a son born to Naomi. Notice the saying to Naomi.

Naomi is actually not genetically related to this child. Because her son died and Ruth is now married to another man. But they’re calling this child her son because it’s her grandson-in-law, by law rather, by law. Okay. Notice this, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. So Limelek, Maalan, Obed, Jesse, David. So this is how this kind of fits into the, and of course we know David is in the line of Christ, and this is where Ruth kind of gets inserted into the line of Christ.

And Ruth is a Gentile, which there’s a lot we can go in there. So even though this baby, Obed, is not genetically related to Naomi and Limelek, yet legally this baby is counted as their son. Okay. So that is what the Sadducees are referring to. So the question the Sadducees are posing, going back to Matthew 22, the question the Sadducees are posing is this. If Ruth was married to Maalan, and then she was married later to Boaz, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?

Will she be Maalan’s, or will she be Boaz’s wife? You see, here’s what I want you to see about this, and that’s what they ask in verse 28. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her. So the goal of the Pharisees was to present a hypothetical scenario. It’s not actually hypothetical because we have an example of it in the Bible.

But this scenario that they designed was to discredit the idea of the resurrection. So by posing whose wife would she be, their idea was if we can present an example, a hypothetical, that was unanswerable, where there’s no answer, where it didn’t make any sense, where if the resurrection of the body were true, if they could present a case where if the resurrection of the body were true, it would create a fallacy, like it would make a case where it didn’t make sense, that would then discredit the idea of the resurrection.

That’s kind of where they’re going. And the Lord answers, even though He answers the question, so there’s actually two questions here. There’s actually the question about marriage, and then there’s a question about resurrection. The Lord answers both of them. He answers the first one first and the second one second. But here’s what I want you to see. Is just like the previous conversation we saw in verses 15 to 22, the Pharisees are not asking a sincere question.

And in truth, they don’t deserve an answer. Because even if they got an answer, that doesn’t mean they’re going to receive it. Anytime someone asks an insincere question, the answer is not going to satisfy them. Because they’re not in search of the truth at all. So you’ve got to keep that in mind, and that’s what the Lord deals with all the time. But notice the Lord does answer the question, and He goes to the very heart of it.

He goes to the very heart of it. All right, He says, verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. So the Sadducees were in doctrinal error. They believed a lie about the resurrection. They believed a lie about the soul. They believed a lie about the afterlife. That is, they believed something that was not actually the truth.

There were two reasons that they believed them, that Jesus gives in verse 29. Number one, not knowing the scriptures. Number two, not knowing the power of God. See that? And really, we can use verse 29 as kind of a pattern. Because many, many errors, doctrinal and errors of belief and faith, are caused by those two things. They’re caused by not knowing what the Bible says, ignorance of the text of scripture, and not believing in the power of God.

A lot of error, maybe even all error, goes back to those two things. These are the two basic causes of misunderstanding and error in Bible truth. Biblical ignorance. And I’ll say it like this. The first one is biblical ignorance. Now, there is no reason, there’s no excuse for biblical ignorance. You have a Bible, I have a Bible, we ought to study it, we ought to read it, we ought to know it.

And if we come across a question we can’t answer, we ought to search it out until we can find an answer. You know, there have been many, many people that have been part of Baptist churches on whose door Jehovah’s Witnesses have knocked and offered a Bible study. And because those people did not know the Bible, they went to church every Sunday, but they did not know their Bible.

They were deceived by those who claimed to be using the Bible due to their ignorance to the Bible. And eventually they kind of crossed the threshold into total error, but it was all based upon not knowing what the scripture actually taught. First of all, as an example, I know probably some of you are like, man, why do you go through all the dude around me 25 and Ruth 4 and go through all that to give the background, you know, because every, listen, I understand everybody’s not keyed in on all those details.

I get it. That’s fine. It doesn’t interest everybody. But that, what we do in Sunday school, we go through the verses and we look at what the text of scripture says and we make note of it and we learn. That’s part of knowing the Bible because what you’re doing is brick by brick building a doctrinal or an edifice of faith, brick by brick, not just one big thing, but something that has multiple layers and is complex and strong, not just proof texting everything.

And so that’s why we go through these various verses. So the first reason for error was biblical ignorance and the second was this, not knowing the power of God. What does that indicate? Here’s what I think it indicates. People err because they don’t know the Bible and sometimes also people err because they cannot logically explain something. And that’s what’s happening here. The Sadducees are denying the resurrection because they cannot logically explain the resurrection.

They cannot logically explain it. And I’ll show you what I mean in a minute. So the idea is if I cannot logically understand it, then it must be that the Bible doesn’t teach it. Okay, stomp the brake a minute. Where in the Bible does it say that in order for something to be scriptural and true, we must be able to understand it? We must be able to comprehend in a logical way with reason and rationale.

We must be able to understand it. The Bible does not say that at all. In fact, many, many, many dozens and dozens of things in scripture are not logical. I mean, I’ll just give you a couple. I’ll give you a couple. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not logically possible. It is logically impossible. There is no way that a human being could die, be dead three days, and then rise again.

It is not logically possible. Do you doubt that? You don’t doubt the resurrection. You believe it on the basis of scripture. You think about the stars, you know, just as a little tidbit. Did you know there are stars that according to the speed of light, the measurement of the speed of light, they are further away from the earth? In other words, the light from that star would take far, far, far, far, far by millions of times longer than the age of the universe to arrive at earth.

So that doesn’t make logical sense. How can a star that is supposedly that far away from the earth, how could its light get to the earth if the earth was only created by God about 6,000 years ago? That’s not logically possible, yet that is what the scripture says, that God created everything in six days. So do we doubt that because it’s not logically possible? There are many people that doubt that.

You know what they do? They take that, they can’t logically explain it, and then what do they do? And now they start to tinker with the text of scripture. You see, I can’t explain it so the Bible can’t mean it. Well, what we’re doing is we’re putting our logic above the text of scripture. We’ve got to be careful. So I’ll say this, and we’ll see this in just a minute, we’ll see this again very clearly.

Generally speaking, when you say, well that’s just not possible, when someone says, well that’s just not possible, or that’s a logical impossibility, this is not a good ground to hold or deny a doctrine. Whether you can explain it in full or not explain it in full, that is not solid ground to determine, well does the Bible teach this or not? There’s a lot of that that goes on.

Does the Bible teach it? Well, can I make sense of it? I’ll give you another example regarding the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is a very common, actually this is one that is probably, I can’t say for certain, but this is probably taught because I’ve heard it multiple times. If you say to a Jehovah’s Witness, Jesus is God, is that true? Is that true according to scripture? Jesus is God?

Yes. We don’t qualify that at all. Yes. And so they’ll say something like this, they’ll pose this insincere question just like the Sadducees pose. If Jesus is God, how can he pray to himself in the Garden of Gethsemane? You see, this is a, so the idea is Jesus praying to himself is not logical, therefore Jesus can’t be God. What’s the problem with that? The problem with that is whether I can make sense of it or not, whether I can rationalize it or not, the text of scripture says it, full stop, period.

Do you understand? This is so important for us to get. This is exactly what the Lord is dealing with here. If the text of scripture says it, it is true. we can make sense of all the details of that matter. It is true because the scripture says it, not because, not the scripture says it and I can make rational sense of it also, therefore it’s true. No, no, no.

The scripture is by itself, without my understanding, the basis for truth. Everybody with me? You see, the scripture is the ultimate factor that determines the truth of a doctrine. It is not whether I can rationalize it, but whether the scriptures teach it. If the scriptures teach it, it is true, period. The resurrection of the body, the scriptures teach it. Even if they, listen, even if someone can ask you a question about what you believe and you don’t have an answer, that doesn’t make it false, so long as the scriptures teach it.

You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t. You don’t either. But you do have the scripture. You see, and this is where we go where it says, you do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. You see that part of those hard things that are hard to explain, that gap of logical understanding, that is what is spanned by the power of God.

How can someone who died 3,000 years ago, whose body, bones, and everything, every atom of his body is disintegrated, how can that person rise from the dead? I have no idea. But I don’t have to be able to explain it. What will span the gap of my lack of knowledge will be the power of God, because the scriptures teach it. Is everybody following me? So our logic and our rationalization can’t be the foundation and basis for what we believe.

It must be the scriptures first. First. If we get those switched, we will mess ourselves up. Look at verse 30 if you would. God indeed had a solution about this problem with the resurrection. In verse 30 says, for in this resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. God’s solution regarding this marriage hypothetical is, you got it all wrong.

You got it all wrong. You think, oh well, you stumped God. Oh no. No, it’s just that there is no marriage after this life is over. And that should have been clear because Genesis 2.24 says, So so long as the flesh persists, so the marriage relationship persists, and when the flesh dies, so the marriage ends. I hate to break it to you, Sam. I hate to break it to you.

You’re only married as long as you’re alive. So much for the Mormon doctrine of eternal marriage. If you get married in the temple with the vows in the temple, then you’re married forever. You’re married in heaven too. What’s said at the scripture? It is a temporal thing. And that’s just something to keep in mind. It says, notice that in verse 30 it says, they are neither in the resurrection, neither married nor are given in marriage.

So there is no marriage in heaven. There is no marriage after the resurrection. Once you die, your marriage is over. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it works. I know married couples are like, oh, can you put your mansion next to mine? How many of you have had a silly conversation like that? Kind of give me a little nod. Almost everybody has had a silly conversation about where their mansion is going to be and all this stuff.

I don’t know anything about that. But you won’t be married. Maybe you can be really, really good friends. Whatever. I’m not going to argue that. But notice in verse number 30, it says, but are as the angels of God in heaven. Notice in Luke 20 verse 36, it says they’re equal unto the angels. Notice it does not say they are angels. So when a person dies, it doesn’t say they are angels.

So nobody’s waiting to get their wings or anything like that, like TV and movies describe No, human beings are human beings, angels are angels. But they in this characteristic, they’re not married in the same way. That’s all it’s saying. So that’s it. Humans aren’t angels. They won’t be angels. They don’t turn into angels. It’s just not how it works. Marriages are earthly institutions with spiritual and eternal implications.

But they are earthly institutions. But of course, like we saw this morning, we will give an account to God for how we treat our wife or husband, right? Even though marriage is an earthly institution, yet there are spiritual implications to it. All right. Look at verse 31. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. I want you to take a peek at a couple of places. I want you to go to Luke chapter 20 and Exodus chapter 3. We’ll look at Luke 20 first.

Luke 20 verse 38. This is the parallel passage in Luke. There’s one little extra part I want you to see. Verse 38, Luke 20 verse 38 says this, for he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him. Now the all there is referring to what? What do you think? This is a challenge. He’s talking about the dead. For all live unto him, he is not a God of the dead, but those who have physically died, for all live unto him.

Now go back to Exodus chapter 3. This is the story of the burning bush. Now I’m going to read you the part that Jesus quotes. Why did they err? Two reasons. They did not know the scripture. They did not know the power of God. The reason the Sadducees got the resurrection wrong, and the afterlife wrong, and the judgment wrong, and the soul wrong, is because they didn’t know the Bible.

Had they known the Bible, they would have known what Jesus points out. So what does Jesus do? He informs them of what the Bible says. Just that simple. Exodus chapter 3 verse number 5. And he said, Verse 6. Moreover, he, this is God, said, 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.

Here’s the point that Jesus, our Lord, is making, which is this. God said, And this has been four to five hundred years since they died. Remember? Egypt, they were in Egypt about four hundred years. This is Moses now. They’ve been dead a long time. Their bodies are long since gone. Right? Yet God, speaking of them, says, And then he says, So what God is essentially saying is this.

God is saying, Not, I was the God, but I am the God. In other words, all of these men are, even though to us they’re dead, we call them dead, they’re dead men, to all live unto him. They are all alive to God. That’s why he says, That means that God was, God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though they were dead. Because they were dead in body, but they had a soul that still lived.

This is the consciousness and eternality of the soul. And a lot of people these days are denying, actually denying this doctrine. They believe, and I covered this several months ago, the idea of annihilationism. That God just cancels people out. You know? And so what Jesus is saying, what the Lord is saying is, when Abraham died, his soul did not. And so God calls himself presently, I am the God of Abraham.

Even though Abraham’s been dead all of this time. Now go back to Matthew, if you would. Matthew 22, he says, verse 32 says, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Which is to say Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive. Now they’re not alive physically, obviously, but they’re alive in that they have a soul.

To God, they don’t cease. Now think about this. Here’s, you say, well what does that, what does their soul being alive have to do with the resurrection? Alright, here it is. If Abraham died, and his soul died with his body, and he just poof, he just ceased to exist like the Sadducees believed, there would be no resurrection. Because the person’s gone. If, on the other hand, they have a soul that continues to live like the Bible teaches, which is indicated by a simple present tense verb.

That’s all. That’s it. Present tense. That’s the only thing that tells us that. Which is what Jesus quotes. Then that means they have a soul that is disembodied, right, away from their body, body’s dead, that is waiting for a resurrection. You see, that’s how the two are connected. And this is the point that Jesus is making. Now think about this though. Who are the Sadducees arguing with about the resurrection of the body?

They’re arguing with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And I would say that this particular doctrine was of significance to Christ himself. Wouldn’t you say? Why? Because he was going to rise from the dead. He himself was going to be the first that would be raised from the dead. The first that would be resurrected. He’s the first fruits of the resurrection. So if they say, well, there is no resurrection.

Well, of course Jesus is going to argue this point. Because in like four days, five days, he’s going to do this thing. Yeah, so it does matter what you believe. It does matter what you believe. But they couldn’t explain it. Well, who they’re going to be married to, that doesn’t deny it. The Scriptures say it. That’s it. God said, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That means he is the God. They’re alive. Though their body be dead, they’re alive. To him, they are alive. So that means they’re alive. Full stop. That’s it. You might not understand it, but it’s true. But it’s true. Now, lastly, I want you to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to look. This is, of course, the resurrection chapter. And we’ll finish here. I want you to see that Paul uses the same arguments.

He does the same thing. You see, the Lord argued this point because if the resurrection of the body is not true, then there’s no way that Jesus could have risen from the dead. So how does Paul argue it? In 1 Corinthians 15, how does Paul argue the resurrection? Here’s how he argues it. I’m going to just give you the very brief version. In the first, say, nine verses, he goes through basically the gospel and the witness testimony of the risen Christ.

In other words, he’s establishing the scriptural truth that Jesus rose from the dead. Okay? He’s establishing the scriptural truth that Jesus rose from the dead. Now, look at verse 12. Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain?

Look at verse 16. For if the dead rise not, that’s exactly what the Sadducees said, then is not Christ raised? The resurrection of Christ is not a thing. And if Christ be not raised, that is, Jesus is dead, you know, following the logic of the Sadducees, Jesus ceased to exist. Your faith is vain, I would agree. We would be at this moment trusting in a person who 2,000 years ago ceased to exist.

Yeah, that’s vain. You’re yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. All those who have died thinking that Jesus rose from the dead, they’ve gone poof too. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, is that not what the conclusion you’d be led to? There is no afterlife. What you have is here and that’s all.

You know what that means? That is the pretext needed to just throw yourself at sinful pleasure. If that’s it, if that’s it. In fact, if you look down at verse number, let’s see here. Verse 32, If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it me if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Be not deceived.

Evil communications corrupt good manners. You know what he’s talking about? You believe in wrong is going to mess you up. You believe wrong about this doctrine, he said, oh doctrine, doctrine. That is going to mess your life up. That’s why correct doctrine leads to correct life. So he establishes the importance of the resurrection. Now notice down in verse number, verse 35. You know what’s interesting about verse 35 is Paul addresses an objection.

In other words, he’s established the scriptural truth that Christ rose from the dead. Now he’s going to address the logical problem. You remember, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God, he establishes the scriptures first because the truth depends solely upon that, whether you can explain it or not. Well, he is going to address the logical problem and the logical problem is this, but some will say how are the dead raised up and what body do they come?

In other words, their body is disintegrated. It’s gone. And then I’m not going to read it all. And then he goes down to several different examples down from through the stars and a seed and all these different things, terrestrial and celestial bodies and all these things, the earthly, the heavenly. He goes into a lengthy dissertation about the resurrection and how logically it is possible. The first thing is the scripture.

That’s the first thing. That determines the truth of the matter. The rest can be answered later. And here’s the thing, with the example given in the Sadducees, the Lord did answer the primary question from the scripture, and he also answered the logical question, whose wife are they going to be? So he answered both, but the proof of it was by the scripture. The scriptures always come first.

And that’s what we take away from this argument with the Sadducees. Yes, there is a resurrection and it’s proven by the Word of God. And then we’ll deal with the rest, the hard parts, after that, after we’ve established the truth of it. We’ll try to make sense of it. All right, let’s pray.