The Reality of Life After Death Matthew 22:23-33

Some businesses have become so big in our world That they're in just about every community. The most popular restaurant in the world is McDonald's. Think about how many we have in our area. St. Croix Falls Chisago City Forest Lake Wyoming and that's just to name a few.

By the place where I went to seminary was in between two interstates. One interstate was 494 and the other was not an interstate but a highway a highway 169. There was one McDonald's off of one exit and one McDonald's off the other exit and these two.

Roads were only about three miles. Apart from each other now, that's restaurants, but think about the prevalence of churches. Keith is from the south. He can tell you that in the south on just about every corner of a town is a church.

And usually it's a Baptist Church in America. It's hard to find any community without a church. Most towns have multiple churches, but there are rare places that don't have a church. But there is one place.

One location that every community has. Every community on earth has at least one cemetery. Even the most remote places have cemeteries. The death rate since the fall of mankind is still holding strong at 100

There have been two people. Who didn't die in world history? Elijah and Enoch and those who are raptured at Christ's return. Where they are caught up in the air also will not die. But everyone else in world history is going to experience death or has experienced death.

And what's interesting is that if you think about it the most secure industry that there is is the funeral industry. Because death is going to happen and people are going to use funeral services if things get tight.

You don't go out to eat, but everybody in some way uses funeral services. Walking through a cemetery is one of the most sobering things one can do. Every grave you walk by marks a life once lived and since death their body has laid there below the ground.

But humans created in God's image are eternal creatures. Everybody in a cemetery was once occupied by a soul and that soul is still living. Every grave you walk by in the cemetery Marks a person who still lives and these people live either in heaven or in hell.

But this body below the ground will not remain there forever. What is interesting is that the word cemetery in Greek means a place of sleeping. It is a Christian word since the Bible describes death as sleeping.

A Day is coming when the graves will be ripped open and that dead body will come to life again. Some will rise to eternal life while others will rise to experience judgment forever. This is what God's Holy Word says.

But not everyone believes this many Don't believe this. Some secular people believe that once this life is over.

That's it.

That's all there is. I remember when I was a kid one of my friends said isn't it? So sad that once we're dead, we're just dead and our bodies just lay there forever. He didn't understand the gospel. But these people believe that once one takes his or her last breath life ceases to be.

The Bible is aware of these types of people. During Jesus ministry he ran across a group that did not believe in the afterlife. This morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew We will see Jesus have a conversation with those who deny the afterlife and we will see the unshakable truth that Jesus responds with.

So this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 22. We'll be looking at verses 30 23 through 33 and if you're using one of those Red Bibles is on page 984. The sermon is titled the reality of life after death.

And I'm going to begin by reading the text Matthew 22. Verses 23 through 33. The same day Sadducees came to him Jesus. Who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question saying teacher Moses said if a man dies having no children His brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

Now there were seven brothers among us the first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother so to the second and third down to the seventh after them all the woman died in The resurrection.

Therefore of the seven whose wife will she be for they all had her. But Jesus answered them.

You are wrong.

Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead have you not read what was said to you by God.

I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. Here's our big idea now what this text is calling each of you to do.

Understand that the only man who has true answers concerning the afterlife is the God man. Understand that the only man who has true answers concerning the afterlife is the God man. And we're gonna see three answers.

How. But before we jump in let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago. We looked at verses 15 through 22 of Matthew 22. And this is the passage where a different group of Jews the Pharisees Had a question for Jesus and once again, this was not an innocent question.

The question they asked was meant to test him. They asked him. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? They tried to trap him with this question. The Romans taxed their citizens heavily and Some Jews believed one should not pay the taxes to the Romans.

So if Jesus said yes You should pay taxes the Pharisees thought this would cast him in a negative light among the people. But if Jesus answered that one should not pay taxes. This would make him look like an insurrectionist one who wanted to overthrow the Roman government.

But Jesus answered the right way as he always did. Even if he was going to be unpopular with some people he was going to tell the truth. He answered them. Rendered the to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.

What Jesus is communicating is that God's people are citizens of two places? Heaven and earth and As kingdom citizens on earth Christians are to be law-abiding citizens. God created human governments and while flawed human governments were created for Society to function properly and so Christians should submit to God's design governments and only when government egregiously goes against God's design.

Should Christians not submit? Now this leads to our text this morning that we've already read, but now we're gonna take a close look at. Let's begin by looking at verse 23 where we read that the same day Sadducees came to Jesus who say that there is no resurrection and They asked him a question.

It's interesting that one group of Jews follows another in bringing a question to Jesus. It's like they're saying okay. Let's try it out here the last group failed. Let's see if we can fool them. Let's see if we can trap him.

I've already explained the difference between the the Pharisees and Sadducees and previous sermons as we have seen these groups appear on numerous Occasions, this is the third time that Matthew records the appearance of the Sadducees where they asked Jesus a question.

To remind you of the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees the Pharisees were the ultra conservatives of Jesus day. Now to be a conservative is a good thing. It means you're holding to the Bible that we are conservatives.

However, the Pharisees did not truly hold to the Bible, but rather made up their own man-made rules. They left the true faith outlined in the Old Testament and created a religion of their own. They had great hostility toward Jesus because Jesus taught the truth and they did not.

The Sadducees were on the other end of the spectrum. The Sadducees were Jews.

Ethnically.

Okay, just like you're Swedish or Norwegian or English. But they the Jews have a certain DNA. Even to the present day going back thousands of years the Jews have a distinct DNA. The Sadducees had that DNA and They also had a significant role in the priesthood where the sacrifices took place at the temple.

But when it came to following the Old Testament, they didn't. They had some appearance of religion, but they were secularists as truly who they were. This reminds me of many churches in America today, and I put the quotations churches.

There are people who call themselves Christians, but they don't believe what the Bible says. If you were to go to a service at one of these churches on a Sunday morning, you would see that they sing hymns.

That the scripture is read and a sermon is preached. If you want to call it that. The whole service will have the presence of Christian lingo, but God's presence is not there because they have left God.

They like some things in the Bible they like love your neighbor. Do not judge. And then they impose their own beliefs on to what the Bible says and they view people like us who believe the whole Bible through and through as Pharisees when we're really just true followers of God.

The reason we know that the Sadducees had some religious appearance. But we're really secularists is because of what the second half of verse 23 says. They are those who say that there is no resurrection in The introduction I mentioned that some people don't believe there is an afterlife.

The Sadducees who were really Just Jews ethnically and not by practice. They did not believe in life after death. They believe that when you died, that's it. They believe that God created the world but that humans don't go on forever.

Once one is dead. One is dead. In this way the Sadducees were secularists. The Sadducees despise Jesus every bit as much as the Pharisees. This is interesting the Pharisees the Herodians as we saw last week the Sadducees.

They have vast differences between their beliefs, but they have one important thing in common. Every one of them despises Jesus and so they come together as a team. To try to take him out. So we just saw.

The Pharisees and the Herodians asked a question in order to test Jesus and now the Sadducees do the same. Let's see this question in verses 24 through 28 again. Where they say teacher Moses said if a man dies having no children his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his.

Brother.

Now there were seven brothers among us the first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So to the second and third down to the seventh after them all the woman died in the resurrection.

Therefore of the seven whose wife will she be for they all had her so here's that's the question they ask him as The Sadducees asked this question they refer back to the law of Moses when we say the law of Moses.

It's referring to the first five books of the Bible Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 5 through 10. There is a law that is called a Leverant marriage. The word lever in Latin means brother-in-law.

In this law the man whose brother just died Was required to marry his sister-in-law in order to take care of her and to preserve his brother's family line. What the Sadducees asked Jesus is this. What if this happens seven times?

Where in each case of the seven brothers dies and the woman never has any children if this occurred which man would she belong to in the age to come as. Those who don't believe in the afterlife the Sadducees think that this law leads to a problem.

With the belief that there is life after death that problem is that the woman according to scripture can only belong to one man. A Man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two Shall become one flesh.

It doesn't say the seven shall become one flesh. The two shall become one flesh and. So they're asking in the age to come which man will this woman? Belong to what Jesus is doing is letting foolish men talk.

Fools have one thing in common. They like to talk. They're very chatty and eventually they get themselves in trouble with their words. Wise people tend to be very Selective. Wise people have two ears in one mouth, right?

They like to listen and they choose their words wisely. Fools love to talk and they're talking here and their goal is to make Jesus look foolish. But the only ones they are making look foolish are themselves.

They think they are so wise that an afterlife doesn't make sense. Human wisdom we know better than what the Old Testament says there is no afterlife. We see this in our world. Do we not? Human wisdom abounds people elevate themselves above God trying to do the impossible to be wiser than God.

But everyone who does this fails. Fools love to talk. Fools love to present what they believe is wisdom. But as they talk all they are doing is proving what fools they are. They think that in their sophistication they can prove there isn't an afterlife.

First Corinthians 319 says the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Jesus lets them talk as they present their so-called wisdom, but he is about to respond to their foolishness in the next point.

But here's the first point. Understand that the only man who has true answers concerning the afterlife is the God-man. The first way how is by letting foolish men show their ignorance. Letting foolish men show their ignorance.

You know it's interesting what ignorance. All of us have a certain level of ignorance. Do we not we're all limited. There's lots of things. We don't know. Ignorance is only bad. When the information is there and you don't care and you go your own way.

That's when it's bad. You can know the truth. You just don't want it and that was the position of the Sadducees. The second way how You are to understand that the only man who has true answers concerning the afterlife is the God-man is this through responding frankly to the false beliefs of skeptics.

From the scriptures, okay. This is Jesus second answer how. Responding frankly to the false beliefs of skeptics from the scriptures. Let's see how he responds to the Sadducees in verses 29 and 30, but Jesus answered them.

You are wrong.

Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. Now if the Sadducees asked this question, they think they are going to trap Jesus.

Everybody else has failed, but they think they're so smart. They're so Sophisticated they're so wise in their own eyes that they are going to be the ones to finally trap him. They don't believe in the afterlife.

But they know that Jesus does and the Sadducees make the mistake of thinking that those who believe in heaven Think that heaven will be just like earth. What they think is that people will still be married.

To a spouse. Just like they were married on earth. As I was studying this it made me think that this can be a hard conversation. That a married couple still very much in love can have. The reality is that married people will not be married forever.

Once death happens the marriage ends in Heaven. Two Christians who were married will not be married when they reunite. Brianna and I have talked about this and we have wondered will we still have a close relationship in the age to come and I think.

The answer is yes. But we won't be married. Those whom you were closer with on earth you will have a head start with than those who never knew. And so these friendships will continue in the age to come.

Especially your friendship with your spouse. You might still be best friends. But as the Sadducees asked this question to Jesus they don't understand this. They think that they are trapping him because their understanding is faulty.

They think that to believe in the afterlife has intellectual problems and the problem they point out is the problem of multiple spouses. To whom will that spouse be married? We just saw the Pharisees try to trap Jesus concerning submission to earthly authorities and in that passage Jesus gave the controversial but correct answer that believers on earth should pay taxes to the government.

Whom God has put over them. But this case the response is easier because the Sadducees misunderstand the afterlife. In the afterlife the lever at marriage. Where this the the widow marries the brother-in-law?

This doesn't present a problem because in heaven no one will be married in Verse 30 Jesus once again says in the resurrection. They neither married nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

So what are angels like? Angels are spirit beings who can take bodily form. But they don't hold permanent bodily form like humans do. You may run into a person Who is actually an angel. Have you ever thought about that?

Scripture says that Hebrews 13 2 says you may entertain angels unawares. Because angels can take on human form and they do take on human form, but angels are different from humans. They don't have a gender.

With humans we have male and female but with angels we do not. Since angels don't have a gender they don't reproduce and therefore they don't marry. Every angel that exists was created at the beginning of creation.

Humanity is a race. Meaning that people are born at different periods of time. We started with to Adam and Eve and here we are. We have eight billion people on planet earth and many many billions have died over the years.

What Jesus is saying is that in the eternal state Humans will not marry and will not reproduce. Just like in this world angels do not marry and do not reproduce. But let's go back to what Jesus says in verse 30.

He bluntly says to the secular Sadducees. You are wrong. Jesus is the best preacher and best prophet this world has ever seen. The responsibility of a prophet is to proclaim the Word of God. What prophets do is they not only proclaim the truth.

They also defend the truth. I Heard it said that pastors are like prophets. We talked about that this morning and that they proclaim the revelation of God in the scriptures afresh. Okay, so they're not foretelling like they're.

They're there's speaking things that nobody knows about and they're speaking new things. They're forth telling they're preaching. What is already there. They're bringing it to bear on the present day in That way it's prophetic.

One of the responsibilities of a shepherd in the church is to defend the truth. Titus 1 9 says he must hold firm to the trustworthy where it is taught. So that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those Who contradict it?

One of the key responsibilities of God's Shepherd is to defend the truth. There's the sheep farm. Maybe you saw me post this on our church page. There's the sheep farm. Up on the hill a couple miles over there.

It's probably 300 sheep out there and There's two llamas. It's really funny because they stand out like a sore thumb these giant llamas are out there with these with these with these sheep. You know, you know how those llamas are there.

They are there to defend from coyotes and the in the rare wolf that comes by. When we drove by on the golf cart the llama.

Charged.

Toward the fence just to make sure we weren't a threat.

I'm thinking.

Pastors can learn from this llama. This llama is doing his job. It's amazing. God shepherds defend the truth and This is frankly lacking in our world shepherds have the enormous responsibility to defend the flock of God from false teaching.

Jesus is the best example of this. Jesus flat-out tells the Sadducees you are wrong and Then he tells them how they're wrong. He tells them you're wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

Let's break these two things down that they're wrong about. When Jesus says they're wrong about the scriptures what he's saying is that they don't understand the Old Testament. They miss what it clearly teaches.

Remember the Sadducees were ethnic Jews, but they were Jews who picked and chose what they liked. They were very earthly. They were not interested in the supernatural. So they rejected what the Old Testament said about the supernatural.

Well, the Old Testament teaches is what the New Testament teaches that there is life after death. The Old Testament describes not only that the spirit leaves the body and goes to be with the Lord after death.

But it also teaches the future bodily resurrection from the dead in Job 1926 Job said after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I shall see God in Psalm 16 10 David. King David predicted the resurrection of the Messiah when he wrote you will not abandon my soul to Shaul or Let your Holy One see corruption.

The Holy One is the Messiah. His body would not decay. Isaiah 26 19 says your dead shall live. Their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust awake and sing for joy. For your due is a due of light and the earth will give birth to the dead.

And then Daniel 12 verses 12 and 3 many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness.

Like the stars forever and ever. So so does the Old Testament talk about the bodily resurrection from the dead this future resurrection.

Yes.

Very clearly it does and The Sadducees should have known this. These are ethnic Jews. They had the Old Testament, but they didn't care. They didn't believe it. In their foolishness. They rejected the clear teaching of God's Word and how often that happens in the present day.

It's right here all the answers right here. People don't care as nothing Jews. They should have believed that there is an afterlife that there is a final resurrection, but they didn't. But Jesus also goes after something else about the Sadducees.

They denied the power of God. The secular religious system that they had established was a weak one. It was so earthly so lacking power. But scripture says that since God is all-powerful the resurrection of humans Is a piece of cake for him as Philippians chapter 3 verses 20 and 21 says.

Our citizenship is in heaven and from it The Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power That enables him even to subject all things to himself. What the verse says is that Christ along with the Father and the Holy Spirit has the power to raise the dead.

That which is in the ground Will come to life and never die again. How is it that God could create the world but not keep it going forever. It doesn't make sense that things would just end for everyone.

If he creates such magnificent creatures as humans are he will certainly not blot them out of existence. We are his image bearers. Humans hold such a place such a special place in God's plan. Every human ever created will live forever.

Even those who die in the womb will live forever. Think about how important it is to preserve life. These are eternal souls from conception to forever. It's amazing God's power is able to do this. God is able to raise from the dead every human who has perished.

The body does not even need to be preserved for God to raise the dead. There's been people who've been lost at sea who he will raise up people who've been dead for thousands of years. Who he will raise up.

Everyone will come alive as scripture teaches and people will be raised to the glorious power of God. Every person who has died will have a new body one day and the new body given will be one that is indestructible.

This goes not for the righteous only but also for the unrighteous and this is sobering. Daniel 12 as we just read describes both many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The power of God will give every human an indestructible body one day for believers. This will be wonderful. But for unbelievers, they're gonna wish that they cease to exist. Because God will raise them up in an indestructible body that will never be able to go out of existence that will suffer forever in hell.

Isaiah 66 24 says. Their worm shall not die their fire shall not be quenched and they shall be in abhorrence to all.

Flesh an.

Indisputable fact of life found clearly in Holy Scripture is that people will live forever. Scripture teaches this but people also know this from what is called general revelation. In in feel and theology in the study of in the study of God if people call it general revelation.

Everyone has a sense that there is a God and there is an afterlife. Scripture is special revelation. That what we see in the in the creative world. That's general revelation. And everyone knows there is a God there is an afterlife, but some people suppress the truth as Romans 1 says.

So the question for everyone is this. Where will everyone spend eternity. And if you're here today and you have not put your trust in Christ we invite you. I invite you. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today.

He conquered the grave. He died for your sins. He arose glorious from the gloriously from the dead. He paid the full penalty for your sins and by believing in him you will live forever. You will be raised in this body that will live.

Forever and.

You don't want to miss out on this. But we see here is that Jesus puts skeptics of the afterlife in their place. He tells them you don't know what you're talking about as Jesus speaks. He speaks as the God man.

He speaks the very words of God every word that comes from his mouth is truth. He wants everyone here to ignore the skeptics who say that there is no afterlife. He did this to the Sadducees during his ministry and he does it to every skeptic today in our time.

Who in their hard hearts? Say false things about the future and what happens after death. Whatever Jesus says it's true. He says the afterlife is true. He says there is a resurrection. It is Absolutely true.

So understand that the only man who has true answers concerning the afterlife is the God man. And the second answer how is by responding frankly to the false beliefs of skeptics from the scriptures. The third and final answer how we are to understand that he's the only one who has the true answers about the afterlife is this through declaring That every saint is presently alive.

Every saint is presently alive. Now I've already given you the large data from the Old Testament that talks about the future bodily resurrection from the dead, but Jesus goes to another place in the Old Testament to prove his point further and This focuses on the reality of every saint in the present.

Let's read this in verses 30 31 and 32 and as for the resurrection of the dead. Have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living a Few years back we went verse by verse through Genesis in the book of Genesis.

We saw That God made a covenant with Abraham the Lord promised Abraham land and offspring. The promises that God made to Abraham he will fulfill the land promises will reach their fulfillment in the Millennium.

When Christ reigns over the world from Jerusalem with the people of Israel and also with the church. The offspring promise was fulfilled partially in the Old Testament when God blessed Abraham with many physical offspring.

But the offspring promise is also fulfilled through Abraham's spiritual offspring. Included in the spiritual offspring is every saint down through history. The promises that God makes to his people. He will always fulfill what Jesus is saying in this text.

Is that God is committed to Abraham Isaac and Jacob forever. These are his people. He is their God. And what Jesus quotes is Exodus 3 6 in that passage. The Lord is talking to Moses and he's telling Moses that even though Abraham Isaac and Jacob have been dead for several hundred years He is still their God in the presence in Our text in the Greek Jesus shows that this passage is to be understood in the present tense.

It is not accurate to say that God was the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. That's past tense. It's correct to say that He is their God now in the presence and not just for Abraham Isaac and Jacob. But for every believer.

Down through history every believer in this room. God is always your God whether you're alive now when you die.

Forever.

He's not the God of the dead but of the living. When believers die, they are very much alive. In fact, they have never been more alive. Doug Schmidt has shared this wonderful quote from DL Moody with me.

DL Moody was a famous evangelist from the 19th century. Moody once said. Someday you will read in the papers that DL Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don't believe a word of it. At that moment. I shall be more alive than I am now.

I Shall have gone up higher that is all out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal a Body that death cannot touch that sin cannot taint a body fashioned like unto his glorious body.

End quote.

Jesus is preaching to the Sadducees and he's saying. You don't get it. God loves his own. He keeps his own and his own have everlasting life. As A follower of Christ you are always alive. It's just that you go through different stages.

Until you have your final indestructible glorious body. When Jesus described the future by the resurrection in John 11 25, he said this. I read this earlier in the call to worship. I Am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me though. He died yet. Shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. What Jesus is saying in our passage and in John 11 is That believers only have one death and that is physical but unbelievers have two unbelievers.

Those who have rejected Christ are Spiritually dead now and will experience spiritual death. When they are sentenced to hell. Revelation calls it the second death. God is not their God, but their judge and They will forever sit under his wrath in hell.

These are the two roads you either belong to God or you don't and those who belong to him forever belong to him as God and his people live together forever. As Jesus corrects the Sadducees and shoots straight.

The Sadducees like everyone else who tried to test Jesus is caught flat-footed. Now it's so interesting. Jesus is a straight shooter, isn't he? He's so honest. He's so direct. And that's you know, if we're ultra sensitive people don't ultra sensitive people don't like that.

But if you love the truth, you love honest and direct speaking and that's what Jesus was. It's so interesting. Mickey's dad was reading the Bible. He's reading through Luke and the one comment he made at the end was.

He's not exactly an easygoing guy, is he? It's so different from how our society views Jesus. Jesus tells him you are wrong. And here's why you're wrong. And here's the truth. And it's so refreshing to hear that and they marvel at him.

Verse 33. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. Jesus is different from the teachers. They had at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. They said that Jesus spoke as one who had authority and not as their scribes.