Latest / HBCWestminster / 1.16.22 Luke 20:27-40 Pastor Danny Gardner

Transcript

1.16.22 Luke 20:27-40 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, if you have your Bibles open to Luke chapter 20, I'm going to read verses 27 to 40. That will be our text. I would ask you to stand if you're able in honor of the reading of God's word. Begin in verse 27. It says,
• 0:29
  Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children, and the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward, the woman died also. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. And Jesus said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore.
• 0:58
  because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. Then some of the scribes answered, Teacher, you have spoken well, for they no longer dared to ask him any question. Pray with me, Lord Jesus, we ask that you would do your work in our lives through your Holy Spirit.
• 1:27
  And through the power of your word preached, Lord, search our hearts and know us and see if there be any wicked way in us. For you, Lord Jesus, are our rock and our redeemer. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. We left off last Sunday with the thought that Jesus must have the final word on all matters, including matters of who owns what.
• 1:53
  We said that Jesus' enemies were determined to rid the nation of him using any means available, including trying to trip Jesus up on political grounds. Their desire was to have the Roman government execute Jesus as a traitor. That way, they could claim innocence. And so they, in a deceptively flattering way, asked a question they believed there was no right answer to. Should we pay taxes or not?
• 2:23
  But Jesus, in a shrewd move, reminded them that everything that legitimately belongs to the government, they can have. Like what? Like what? Like money. He says, you know what? They put their face on it. They put their name on it. If they want it back, they can have it. But then he said, everything that legitimately belongs to God should be given to him. Like what?
• 2:55
  Like everything else. Everything else. Like us. Our bodies, our minds, our souls, our churches, our worship, our lives, our families, our time. In fact, Jesus said it this way in Mark chapter 12 and verse 30. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all of your strength. In other words,
• 3:25
  Caesar can have our money, but the rest of us is devoted to God. Our passage this morning takes place in the middle of the Passion Week, maybe 48 hours or so from Christ's crucifixion. In it, Jesus will answer two main questions. In our text this morning, Jesus is answering two main questions. Number one, what about the afterlife? And number two, why does the afterlife matter? And honestly, consider this church, this is some pretty heavy stuff.
• 3:55
  It's crazy to me when people claim that the Bible is irrelevant, that the Bible is no longer needed, that the Bible is no longer useful, that the Bible is obsolete, that it does not apply to our lives today. Why do you read this archaic, ancient text? It has no bearing on modern life. Just consider the last two weeks of questions that Jesus answered. Last week,
• 4:23
  Can the government tell us what to do? That's what he answered last week. And you say, well, how is that irrelevant? You call that obsolete? Our nation is being torn in two over that exact question. What authority does the government have? Jesus answered it this week. What happens when we die? We are a people suddenly obsessed with our own mortality. At least...
• 4:55
  never before in my lifetime have people become so preoccupied with their own deaths. People are scared to death of dying. And in my not so humble opinion, and I will admit that, their fear is driven by the fact that they, despite their confidence to the contrary, they actually have no idea what's going to happen after their inevitable demise. Because they have no idea what happens after death, they are terrified.
• 5:26
  to die. They don't know what's coming. And so they're afraid to leave. And so church, with our Bibles open, let's talk about heaven. My grandma told me once, Danny, when you preach on heaven, let your face shine like that of an angel. I thought, okay, that's probably pretty good advice. But then she said this, but when you preach on hell, your normal face will do. I'm like, what? I'm pretty sure I know what you mean. That's not very nice.
• 5:59
  Can I ask you, how often do you consider the afterlife? Maybe a better question would be this one. How often do you consider your afterlife? Maybe we think about heaven frequently, but how often do you think about the fact that one day if you are in Christ, you will actually be there? It's an actual place that you will actually go if you've been washed by the blood of the sun, amen? How often do you consider that you will be there? How often do you think about, I wonder what I will be doing 100 years from now?
• 6:30
  We're preoccupied. We are very concerned with what we've got to do this week. But how often does 100 years from now come into your mind? Years ago, in the fall of 2011, about 10 years ago, I saw an interview with a man named Christopher Hitchens, and perhaps some of you will know who that is. He was a renowned atheist. He was an author whose books include God is Not Great and The Portable Atheist. He was, during the time of that interview,
• 6:58
  within a matter of months, going to die of cancer. And he did succumb to cancer in December of 2011. Hitchens had written on the certainty of death many times. In fact, in his book, The Portable Atheist, he said this. He said, death is certain, replacing both the siren song of paradise and the dread of hell. In other words, there is no heaven, there is no hell, there is only death.
• 7:26
  That's what you can be certain of he continues life on this earth With all of its mystery and beauty and pain is then to be lived far more intensely Right because if this is all there is then you better live it up. Do you understand what he's saying? We stumble we get up. We're sad. We're confident insecure feel loneliness and joy and love there is nothing more And then he says but I want nothing more in his
• 7:55
  autobiography called Hitch. He said this, I try to deny myself any illusions or delusions. I think that this perhaps entitles me to try and deny the same to others, at least as long as they refuse to keep their fantasies to themselves. So as long as those crummy Christians keep talking about why they believe in God, I'll keep talking about why I don't, is what he said. He continued. He says, faith is the surrender of the mind.
• 8:21
  It's the surrender of reason. It's the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It's our need to believe and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something. And that is the sinister thing to me. What he's saying is that if you are a person of faith, if you believe in the afterlife, if you believe in the God of heaven, you are an unthinking person.
• 8:51
  And during that interview, he was asked if being so close to his deathbed would cause him to change his mind regarding the existence of God. I thought, what a great question that is. That is a good question. You're two months from dying, is what the interviewer said. Hitchens said, yeah, that's right, I will die. Months away. Is being so close to your deathbed, does that cause you maybe to rethink your position on the existence of God? And he said this.
• 9:19
  No evidence has yet been presented that would cause me to change my mind. You guys all read ahead. But I like surprises. I like surprises. Is the afterlife really deserving of our time and attention? Should we just take Hitchens' approach? Just kind of wait and see. Like, I don't really know. I guess I'll find out when I get there. Just kind of this.
• 9:48
  laissez-faire, like hands off. I'm just, whatever happens, happens, and I'm just not even going to worry about it. I'm just going to think about today, or does the afterlife actually deserve some focus? You know, there are three central issues which hang on the reality of the resurrection. In fact, I even think demand the existence of an afterlife. First, if there is no afterlife, if there is no life after this one, that means there is no accountability before God, right?
• 10:22
  If you say there is nothing else, then this is it. That's a logical conclusion. By extension then, if there is no accountability before God, that means there is no final justice. Like, okay, what does that mean? Hebrews 9.27 says, it is destined for man to die once and after that to face the judgment. It does away entirely with reincarnation. You're going to die one time, you ain't coming back.
• 10:47
  There's no never-ending, everlasting merry-go-round of life. If you fail, you fail. If you flunk, you don't repeat the grade. You die one time, and then after that, you stand judgment. And you say, I think that's pretty good news. You're like, well, why would that be good news? The reason is this. It means no one gets away with anything. No one gets away with anything. When God said in Romans 12 and verse 18 that vengeance belongs to him, that's what he was talking about. There will be...
• 11:17
  justice and in our hearts don't we demand justice when you hear about unfair treatment when you hear about evil on earth doesn't your heart cry out like do something that that we don't tolerate that we don't stand for that and justice in case you haven't noticed isn't always served on this earth but we can take comfort in the fact that our heavenly judge will execute justice
• 11:49
  In the afterlife. But also, if there is no afterlife, let's say we scrub the whole thing. If there's no afterlife, that means there's no eternal life. Right? And if there's no eternal life, then there is no purpose in this present life. If there is no eternal life, then there is therefore no purpose in this present life. Even the simplest among us understand that we were not meant to die. How do you know?
• 12:20
  You want to know how I know that everybody thinks we weren't supposed to die? Everybody avoids death. Everybody does. Nobody wants to do it. Everybody wants to live as long as possible. We avoid death. Now, if evolution were true, if we were the mere result of random processes and happenstance, if that lightning really did just strike that primordial goo and it became...
• 12:47
  an amoeba, which eventually became a fish, which became a reptile, which became a bird, which became a mammal, which became an ape, which became you. If that actually happened, then our search for any kind of meaning is meaningless. There is no meaning, right? You get struck by lightning. It was by chance.
• 13:10
  There is no purpose. Our search for purpose is purposeless. Our search for legacy is completely invalid. In fact, more than that, if you were to try to search for purpose, if evolution is true, and you were going to try to search for purpose, meaning in this life, that search would actually be contradictory to what you claim to believe. Remember what Hitchens said? There is nothing else. I want nothing else.
• 13:38
  This really is meaningless. There is no meaning. But Ecclesiastes says that eternity was written onto the hearts of man. We know in our heart of hearts that there is more. We desire more. We long for more. More life, more love, more relationship, even beyond this earthly existence. The reality is that we must consider.
• 14:07
  heaven, and I would say as soon as possible and long before you get there. J.C. Ryle has described it by saying, holiness and spiritual mindedness, which follows after this life, will be the very atmosphere of our eternal abode. The fear of death shall no longer bring us into bondage. Oh, I can't wait for that day. Can you imagine? What if you just get to stop living in fear? All fear. It's just gone. It's eradicated. I can't wait.
• 14:37
  With heaven in mind, he says, we can press on and bear our cross patiently. And I love the last statement. It's the best thing he says. Heaven will make amends for all. Heaven, he says, fixes everything. If there's no heaven, there's no fix. In other words, he says, the only way this life makes any sense at all is in light of that life. And if there is no that life, then this life will never make any sense. Daryl Bach.
• 15:07
  It's often been said that death is the great equalizer. Since we all must die, yet resurrection is the great opportunity since we all have a chance to enter into eternal life. Heaven is laid before us this morning and we pick up in verse 27. It says there came to him some Sadducees. We're introduced to a new group here. The Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection and having come to a dead end politically. Remember last week, Jesus would not spring the tax trap.
• 15:37
  His enemies decide instead to test him theologically. We're introduced to a new sect within Judaism, the Sadducees. Understand what I mean by new. It's not new in that they were just recently formed. It's not new in that they've never been on the scene before. Rather, they're new in that they don't show up very often. Most readers are probably even unfamiliar with the group. So who were the Sadducees? The Sadducees ran the temple, which means...
• 16:06
  that Jesus was already on their bad side, right? Why? You guys okay late night? You with me? Okay. Because Jesus was a table flipper, right? Jesus, you remember this? Walks into the temple and he says, how dare you? This was meant to be a house of prayer for all nations, but you've made it a den of robbers, a house of thieves. And so he goes in there, he makes a whip and he starts beating on who? Sadducees.
• 16:39
  And he walks over to their money-changing tables, and he starts flipping them over. And he goes over to the big pen where they had all of their sheep, and he starts letting them all loose. I mean, he is ruining things. And not only did he do that once, he did it twice. John 2 says he began his earthly ministry that way. Three years later, he ended it that way. He bookends his earthly ministry with ticking off the Sadducees. Now, that temple business was lucrative.
• 17:08
  They made a lot of money doing that, and it made them very powerful as well. Where Jesus assaulted the Pharisees, everybody knows the Pharisees, they're famous. He assaulted the Pharisees theologically. He assaulted the Sadducees financially. Now, politically speaking, the Sadducees eagerly cooperated with Rome. We see it in our text. They didn't believe in the resurrection, and so they lived as if this life was all that there was.
• 17:37
  They pursued wealth, power, position, control. Because of their alignment with Rome, they were hated among the common people of Israel. These were not their spiritual heroes. The Pharisees were. The Sadducees were hated. People from ancient times, I think, have often been accused of being unthinking and naive. We do this all the time.
• 18:00
  People who lived in generations past. Oh, they were just simple-minded. They didn't understand things. They didn't understand how the world works the way that we do. And so we can often discredit them or discard the way that they thought, the way that they spoke. Modern society, we often think, has now put away the childish reasoning of yesteryear. We have progressed. And how often do you hear that word preached?
• 18:23
  Progress, progress, progress, progress, progress, progress. We have progressed beyond the simple concepts of our fathers and are becoming more and more enlightened every day. And yet we find that the Sadducees, who lived 2,000 years ago in the Middle East, were basically modernists. Living out of time, they questioned the existence of the supernatural, just like modern thinkers.
• 18:48
  They denied the existence of angels and life after death, just like modern philosophers. They were committed materialists, living only for the here and now. Maybe they paid lip service to God, right? They wore a little jacket that said, yay, Jesus. But other than that, it's nominal. There is no faith. Their faith was not transformative at all. They lived entirely for themselves and entirely for today. In fact, J.C. Ryle called them bold.
• 19:18
  avowed unblushing skeptics man that's a great description of most of my neighbors bold avowed unblushing skeptics nominal faith lip service to some kind of church somewhere in the ether right but other than that what what does it really have to do with their heart transfer nothing nothing it only goes as far as their lips and that it ends
• 19:48
  And if that is the definition of a Sadducee, a bold, avowed, unblushing skeptics, then church, we are surrounded by Sadducees today. They're everywhere. They're our neighbors. They're our classmates. They're many of our friends, our family members. Now doctrinally,
• 20:07
  The Sadducees were actually opposed to the Pharisees. In fact, they very rarely agreed about anything. They fought all the time. The Pharisees and Sadducees did not like or respect one another. The only thing they really had in common was what? I'm going to make you talk. I keep asking questions. I'm going to make you talk. What did they have in common? They both hated Jesus. They hated this guy. They were enemies. They had a common enemy. And so every now and again, their agendas aligned as we see.
• 20:37
  here this morning they denied the legitimacy of the entire old testament other than the first five books what are called the first books the five books of moses genesis to deuteronomy if you guys have been doing the bible reading plan with the church then this morning you should have finished genesis right genesis 48 49 and 50 you read psalm 15 who may ascend to the holy hill of the lord what a great great question that is well they only believed in those first five books they kind of dis
• 21:07
  regarded everything else they denied the oral tradition of the pharisees and scribes they tended to be wealthy and aristocratic but most important for our discussion this morning the sadducees denied the existence of the resurrection and so they come up with their own what they think is an unanswerable question just like last week they enjoyed posing this question to any who disagreed with them doctrinally in order to show how ludicrous the idea of a resurrection or afterlife
• 21:37
  And so you see in verse 28, they're going to quote the Bible to Jesus. Imagine the audacity of quoting the Bible to the word of God, right? Quoting the word to the word, quoting the Bible to the one who wrote it. It reminds me of that scene from the Chronicles of Narnia. Do you remember? Lying the witch in the wardrobe in the movie version.
• 22:03
  where the white witch shows up demanding blood from Edmund, who is a traitor. She shows up and begins to quote the law to Aslan the lion, who is Jesus. You remember him barking at her? Puts her in her place. Don't be quoting the book to me, witch. I was there when it was written. You remember him saying that? You can imagine. That's exactly what's going on here. Verse 28. They asked him a question saying, Teacher, Moses wrote. Surely you've read your Bible, Jesus. Surely you didn't stop your Bible reading plan early.
• 22:34
  Right? You guys all right? That was funnier than the laugh that I got. Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies having a wife but no children, the man, that is the man's brother, must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. They quote Deuteronomy 25 and verse 5, talking about what became known as leveret marriage. A leveret marriage takes place when a married man dies without having a child.
• 23:04
  leaves his widow with no kids. If that married man had a single brother who would be eligible to take his widow, he was to take his widow as his wife and begin to have kids in his brother's name. It was meant to ensure that a man's name would continue. It was also meant to ensure that a widow would be taken care of. God's heart has always been for widows. He wanted them taken care of. And so she had no kids. The idea was if she had kids, the kids would take care of her.
• 23:33
  But if she had no kids, then the man's eligible brother would step in. Now, we know this probably a little better as the idea of a kinsman redeemer, right? There is a famous kinsman redeemer in the Old Testament. Remember his name? That's Boaz. Boaz takes Ruth. She was widowed. And the idea was, I'm going to protect her. I'm going to kind of...
• 23:55
  cover her. I will be her spiritual and physical covering. I will be her husband because she has none. And the idea is awesome in the New Testament. That's exactly what Jesus does for us. We are all widowed. We are without the ability to protect ourselves, to defend ourselves, to provide for ourselves. Jesus has become our kinsman, redeemer. But I digress. So the Sadducees quote the Bible. Then they create an impossible hypothetical situation.
• 24:25
  And then they demand a definitive answer to it. Look at verse 29. There were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children. The second and third took her. Likewise, all seven left no children and died. If you heard about this, let me ask first, is that a real situation? Did that actually happen? No, everybody agrees, right? They're making this up. This is a hypothetical situation. There were no names attached, okay? If this were a real situation,
• 24:54
  What question should be asked? Think about it. You've heard about this woman who marries a man. The man dies. So she marries his brother. He dies. Marries his brother. He dies. Marries, right? Seven. You get to the end. What question should be asked? Somebody call 911. Like whoever the eighth brother is, don't marry this lady. She is offing her husbands. Right? Open an investigation. That's what should be asked.
• 25:24
  If this really happened, this woman should be in jail. There is something wrong with the oatmeal. You see what I'm saying? Okay, verse 32. Afterward, the woman also died. She ended up eating the oatmeal. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. Hypothetical situation. This never happened. This would never happen. But we want you to answer it as if it's real. Ha, you can almost hear them say, we've got them.
• 25:53
  What now, Jesus? Jesus quite easily set the record straight by correcting their theology. Notice verse 34. Jesus said to them, The sons of this age, Marian, are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
• 26:20
  But the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now, he's not a God of the dead, but of the living. For all live to him. Some of the scribes answered, teacher, you have spoken well, and they no longer dared to ask him any questions. In other words, Jesus says, you know nothing about heaven and the inner workings of the afterlife. You don't understand how it works. That's not how it works at all.
• 26:50
  Let's deal quickly with a couple of phrases that Jesus uses that might trip us up. Notice in verse 35, what did Jesus mean when he said those who are considered worthy? Do you guys see that? What a weird way to say that. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead. What did Jesus mean when he said they are worthy? He was referring here not to their inherent worth.
• 27:19
  but to their inherited worth. Here's what I mean. Every man and woman who has ever lived, including you and I, was made in God's image.
• 27:33
  You bear the fingerprints of God. There is something about you as a human that is different than anything else in all of God's creation. You, as a man or woman, bear the image of God. You are a reflection, although broken because of sin, you reflect at least to some small degree the glory of your creator. Now, this is one of the reasons that the enemy of our souls hates us so much.
• 28:01
  Like, why does he hate us so much? The reason is because when he sees you, at least to some small degree, he sees the God who kicked him out of heaven and to whom he rebelled, right? He rebelled against that God. Because you have been made in God's image, you therefore have inherent worth.
• 28:23
  You have worth simply because you are a human. Human lives are to be valued on the simple basis that they reflect their creator. Does that make sense? You are valuable simply because you're human. Your life should be cherished and protected simply because you are a human. You are not like other animals. But for unbelievers, their worth stops there. Because of the degradation of sin, they are not worthy to what verse?
• 28:51
  35 describes as attained to the age to come. They can't go to heaven because they don't have any other worth other than inherent worth. Believers in the gospel, however, Christians, you and I, who are covered by the blood of Jesus, have an additional worth, an additional value, that which is inherited, given to us through faith by the merits of Christ's atoning work on the cross. In other words,
• 29:19
  When we put our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, his perfect life and sacrificial death provide a way for us to attain to the age to come. If someone doesn't have that inherited worth, then that person is not worthy to go to heaven. Notice also the next verse. What did Jesus mean? And I know you guys, I know you saw this one. This one's weird. What did Jesus mean when he said they are equal to angels? You guys see that in verse 36? What did Jesus mean?
• 29:50
  He meant simply that, like the angels, they will never die. Now, contrary to funeral theology, and I've heard it preached at almost every funeral I've ever been to, at some point somebody says something like, men and women, when they die, become angels. Now, what Jesus says is we only become similar to angels in some aspects. In fact, Scripture actually says,
• 30:19
  that believers will be exalted over the angels in eternity. In other words, listen, don't settle for becoming an angel. Because what the Bible says is that in eternity, you and I who are in Christ will actually be glorified, exalted above them. You'll have authority over angels. This is what the Apostle Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 6 when he says, do you not know that we are to judge angels?
• 30:48
  Glorified believers will be seated with Christ. You will be called co-heirs with the Son of God. You will therefore be exalted to a status even higher than the angels. 1 Peter 1 says it this way, Concerning salvation, the prophets preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Look at how it ends. Things into which angels long to look. This is weird.
• 31:19
  You guys follow me here. This is awesome. Probably the best thing I'm going to say this morning, okay? Angels, right now, understand God to a greater and deeper degree than do you and I. They are in heaven. They have been in his presence. They understand kind of the nuances and inner workings of the Trinity to a greater degree than we do. We see through as a glass, but dimmed, right? We can't really see it.
• 31:46
  They are in the presence of God and therefore can see him face to face and so know him better than we do for now. But there are some things that you and I as humans, that you and I enjoy and understand about our creator that angels will never understand. Things like what? What have you experienced from God that angels never will? Salvation. That's the big one.
• 32:17
  You know, angels are already in their eternal state. There are no redos. There is no angel gospel. The angels either rebelled and were kicked out, or they obeyed and stayed. And that's it. There is no crossing over from death to life for angels. That's it. It is determined. That was a once, one and done, once for all. That was it. There is no gospel. But you and I,
• 32:48
  Although we rebel, can be saved. We have experienced salvation, redemption. Think about this. Angels have never experienced grace. They have no idea. They've seen it, but they've never been recipients of it. And so when you were nine years old, and you said that very simple prayer, and you thought, well, it's not that big a deal. No, you became the recipient of God's grace. And even angels looked at you and said, what in the world?
• 33:20
  How does that feel? The love of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God. Angels have seen from a distance, but they've never been recipients of. And so there will be a day, 1 Peter says, that we will all be glorified in heaven and the angels will be curious about what it's like to be us. Isn't that awesome? What a cool concept. I love that. That's what he meant by we will be equal to angels. Well, what did he mean in verse 38?
• 33:50
  When he said that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. I love Jesus' response here. It's brilliant. First, he quotes Moses. Even Moses, he said, showed in the passage about the bush. He quotes Moses. Why is that important? Why was this so brilliant? Because they only believe in Moses. Do you remember that? And so he quotes Moses to them. He says, okay, if those are the only bullets you're handing out, those are the bullets I'll use to shoot you.
• 34:22
  okay so that's what he says i've got okay you like moses let's talk about moses he quotes moses is saying that the patriarchs abraham isaac and jacob were still alive in heaven he says if there was no resurrection from the dead why did moses use the present tense describing these three guys abraham isaac and jacob who had been dead for centuries at that point the reason is because they're not dead they're still alive do you remember when
• 34:53
  Jesus' friend Lazarus died. You guys remember that? You guys remember that Jesus had friends? You remember that one of those friends was Lazarus? Remember that Lazarus dies, right? Do you remember that Lazarus' sister Martha runs out to meet Jesus on the road, and she's all in a tizzy. She is upset.
• 35:15
  She's here to complain to him about how he could have saved her brother Lazarus if he had just shown up two days earlier, but you delayed and now he's dead. You could have saved him and now he's gone. And do you remember what Jesus said to her? He said, well, your brother will rise again. Remember what she said to him? Well, I know that he'll be resurrected on the last day. And then you remember what he said to her? John 11, I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die yet shall.
• 35:50
  he live? Why do you keep saying that your brother is dead? Just because his body died doesn't mean your brother's dead. I'm the resurrection and the life. Even if you die, you will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And she just kind of stands there in a stupor. What are you talking about? And he says, finally, you know, just show me where they buried him. All right. And they get into this argument. He's been dead for four days.
• 36:21
  He stinks already. He's decomposing. You want us to do what? Show me where he's buried. There was no argument about, well, maybe Lazarus was just holding his breath. No, he was decaying already. And Jesus says, so that you can know that your brother is still alive. You know what I'll do? I'm going to reattach his soul to his body. I'm going to reattach it. I'm bringing him back. Lazarus, come forth.
• 36:52
  What an unbelievable statement. I am the resurrection and the life. Heaven we find here in our text is completely different. And so Jesus says there's no need for marriage the way that we know it now. And for those whose marriages on earth are a struggle, perhaps this is good news. Marriages will last forever, right? You're like, amen. I mean, don't say amen. That would be a bad time. You're going to want to sit on that amen, okay?
• 37:18
  For those whose marriages are a joy, just keep in mind, our relationships in heaven will be even better. There'll be no need for them. In heaven, there's no sin. There's no need for the communal and protective aspects of marriage the way that we need it now. The joining together of man and woman becomes superfluous. There's no death, which means there's no need for continued propagation of the human race. Because nobody dies, there's no more need for babies.
• 37:46
  I get asked frequently, Pastor Danny, what will heaven be like? In fact, my 11-year-old son, Chase, actually asked me this week, this week, Dad, will there be seasons in heaven? Like winter, spring, summer, fall, will there be seasons? I'm like, I don't know. I'm trying to think of Bible verses that talk about the seasons. I can't come up with anything. I'm like, I don't know. I said, Chase, if there are seasons, they'll be different than they are now. There's not orbits and there's not that 23 degrees.
• 38:13
  axis tilt and whatever that causes seasons now that's not going to be the same so if there are seasons it's just because god wants it to be so and then he said dad what temperature is it in heaven are you packing a bag like should i bring a light jacket you know like it's not a bad question what temperature i'm like you know what chase the question of what will it be like isn't a bad one maybe a better question will be
• 38:43
  What will I be like when I get there? Again, one man has said, it's not just where we're going that makes the hope of heaven so great, but who we will be when we get there. That's what matters more. And respectfully to Mr. Hitchens, I don't want to wait and see. I don't like surprises. Not when it comes to eternity. I'm not anxious just to get up there and just see what happens. You know, my hometown.
• 39:14
  I came originally just north of LA, grew up there. There's an event venue called Elegant Affairs. It's still there, I looked it up. It's like one of those big halls, you know, you can rent for the family gatherings, reunions, wedding receptions, bar mitzvah, whatever, you know, you can have it at this big hall. They've got a big marquee sign, one of those old school ones out front, you know, the ones that you can take the letters off and you replace them like the black and white, you put the letters in and whatever, one of these old marquee signs out front to announce the next party they're going to be hosting.
• 39:44
  When it's a wedding reception, they put the names of the couple being married. So it'll say something like Jordan and Becky married on this day or Justin and Tiffany. One time I was driving by it and the sign said, and I was actually driving by with my two older boys who were very young at the time. In fact, Pearson was just old enough to start reading. Jace wasn't even born yet. And so I'm driving by it and they can see it. Pearson sees it from the back. And the sign said, Andrea and Jesus forever.
• 40:12
  Andrea and Jesus forever. He read it. He said, Daddy, what does that mean? I said, well, it either says Andrea and Jesus forever and it's announcing a wedding. Or it says Andrea and Jesus forever and it's announcing a funeral. You know, church, someday, the reality is someday that sign is going to read your name and Jesus forever. Are you ready for that day? Lord, we thank you.
• 40:45
  that there are no surprises. You don't leave us guessing. You tell us exactly what to expect, exactly what's coming, so that we can have hope, so that we know how to respond now, Lord. We don't like surprises. And so, Lord, we long for the day when we will see your face in heaven, where we will enjoy eternity with you. And until that day, Lord, I pray that the hope of heaven would help us to make sense of this earth. In Jesus' name, amen.