Main Argument: Live now and forever in the eternal life and resurrection of Jesus that is promised in God’s Word.

Today’s text leads us into a sparing discussion about the resurrection. One group claims, “There isn’t one!” Why would they make such a claim? No resurrection?

Before we get into their claim, let’s start with our personal conviction and practices in relation to this. Do you believe in the resurrection of the dead? Who will be resurrected? What happens after that? Why does it matter?

How does the resurrection affect your daily life? Should it? I submit that it should. According to scripture, you will be resurrected.

And at the resurrection, we will give account to God. The good news is that if our names are in the book of life, our accounting has to do with the eternal life we live with God and His people. This is true of all who repent from sin and trust in Christ as Savior and King.

The warning news is that if our names are not in the book of life, our accounting has to do with the eternal death we experience cut off from God in hell. This is true of all who do not repent from sin and trust in Christ as Savior and King.

So, the resurrection should prioritize our:

1. Interest in the Gospel of Jesus

2. Faithfulness to the lordship of Jesus

3. Trust in God’s faithfulness

But this group of Sadducees that come to Jesus strike out in all those priorities. I hope no one here follows in these footsteps of these sacred elites who do not know God.

SACRED ELITES

Mark 12:18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,

FAITHLESS SCOFFERS

The Sadducees denied:

1. Immortality of the Soul

2. Resurrection of the Body

3. Angels or Spirits

4. God’s Providence

Note: One or more of these are emphasized in practically every chapter of Mark.

Mark 12:19–23 19 Master, 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 seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

Levirate Marriage: Genesis 38:8; 49:8-12; Deuteronomy 25:5-6; Matthew 1:3-6

Q: How many good arguments against the claims of scripture have you heard that amount to more than scoffing?

DECEIVED IMPOSTERS

Mark 12:24 24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

OT Resurrection: Psalm 16:11; 17:15; Psalm 73:23-24; Job 19:23-27; Isaiah 25:8; 26:19; 53:10; Ezekiel 37; Daniel 12:2-3; John 5:28-29

Both resurrection and true religion are defined in scripture and powerfully accomplished in Christ .

Q: How important to you is studying the scriptures in the power of the Spirit in order to follow the risen Christ?

CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY

Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

In the resurrection…

God's people will no longer marry because the marriage to which our human marriages now point will be fulfilled in the promised union of Jesus and His ransomed people.

For Further Reading: Ephesians 5:22-33; Revelation 21-22

God's people will no longer reproduce because the commission to fill the earth will be complete with God's renewed people then filling God's renewed earth and never dying.

The resurrection swallows up everything—including marriage—into the victory over sin and death in Jesus.

For Further Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:41-57

Life without death by its very nature and purpose must be both different and superior to life with death .

Q: What else existed in the innocence of Eden that will not be a part of life after the resurrection?

Q: What about the resurrection motivates how you live today?

THE GOD WHO IS

Mark 12:26–27 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

OT Allusion & Quotation: Exodus 3:1-17

Every promise of God depends on God being Who He has revealed Himself to be in scripture.

If the LORD God claims to be the eternal Redeemer, Ruler, Provider, Defender, and Lover of His people, then His people must be eternally redeemed, ruled, provided for, defended, and loved.

Not only is the resurrection of the redeemed our sure hope but also, the resurrection of Christ is the greatest evidence for why we should trust the God of the Bible!

NT Way of Saying It: Romans 8:35-39

Q: How would you describe death for those whom God calls His people?

In a real sense, death for the believer is the passing of the old and the coming of the new!

THE GOD OF THE LIVING

Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

The resurrection will mean eternal life for some and eternal death for others.

Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

NT Resurrection: Colossians 3:1-4; Ephesians 2:4-7; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2; John 11:25

As followers of Christ, we have the very life of God in us—now and eternally.

Even though we have not experienced the bodily resurrection, God is our God, and God is the God of the living, not the dead.

Q: Is the living God your God and life ?