Setting The Stakes: Heaven And Culture

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You're listening to Heed the Word with our pastor and teacher Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study the Gospel of Luke verse by verse.

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A society that didn't believe in heaven would be obsessed with youth. It would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to look, stay, and feel young through plastic surgery, diets, and exercise programs. A society that didn't believe in heaven would spend billions of dollars on life support systems to delay facing an unknown future. In a society that didn't believe in heaven, crime would soar without fear of eternal judgment. The theology of a society that didn't believe in heaven would be based upon the here and now, on health and prosperity. Wait a minute. We are that culture.

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The Gospel of Luke is the third account in the Gospels of the life and teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As believers, there are few studies that will benefit us more spiritually than studying the life and teachings of the Master. A large portion of people today, if asked, would tell you that they are a good person, that they fully expect to go to heaven when they leave this earth. However, most people fail to realize what heaven really is. Heaven is a special place prepared for the bride of Christ, a place that we can only have access to if we have been washed in the blood of Jesus. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about He the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verse 19, as we join Pastor Ken.

Who The Sadducees Were

The Trap Question About Marriage

You Don’t Know Scripture Or Power

Marriage Ends; Resurrection Life Begins

Moses And The God Of The Living

Do We Really Believe In Heaven?

Paul’s Glimpse Of Glory

Closing Encouragement And Resources

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Some of the Sadducees who deny that there is a resurrection came to him and asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now, this was, yes, something that Moses in fact had commanded them. In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter twenty-five, verses five through six, the law commanded, When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. How many of you can say, Amen, to the fact that we no longer carry on this practice? Amen. Well, those who want to keep the law need to remember that there are things like this in the law, and so if they seek to find righteousness in the law, then this is another one of those rules that they would want to keep. It was a social practice that was done there in order to take care really of widows, you see, because they didn't have a social welfare program. And usually if a husband died and the woman was left and she had children, well, her children would, of course, then take care of her. But what if she had no children? Who then would take care of her? Well, in that day, what they would say is, hey, this is how we're going to handle this. And so the scenario that they're setting is a legitimate one. And the question here that they're going to ask, however, is not a legitimate one because it's one that's based upon something they believe to be false. And so they're asking a question about something that they don't even believe in, as we'll see here in a moment or two. Now, first of all, who were the Sadducees? The Sadducees were really the elitists of Jewish society. These guys were the materialists, those guys who were like, you gotta show me if I'm gonna believe it, type of guys. They were very often, funny enough, in the priesthood. Many of the priests were Sadducees. And the Sadducees, among other things, did not believe in the bodily resurrection. There's an old saying that they didn't believe in the resurrection. That's why they were so sad, you see, is because they didn't believe in that. You can't tell me you haven't heard that before. Now, come on. That's an old one. But they were. Didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in any of those things. They did have a couple things going for them. They did believe in the law of Moses, and they believed that you should keep the law, but unlike the Pharisees, they hadn't added this whole list of how-tos in obeying the law. So they weren't really into all of the purification rites and all these other things. So there was a great division between them and the Sadducees, both in belief and in practice. But here are these guys who do not believe in the resurrection are coming to Jesus and they're questioning him about how something will work in the resurrection. So you see the insincerity in their questions from the very beginning. And as much as the Sadducees and the Pharisees disliked each other, they were drawn together by their equal hatred for Jesus. And so they come to him, they said, If a man's brother dies having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now, there were seven brothers, so they've set the scene, they said, This is the law that we're going to ask you about. And here's the question There were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also, and they left no children and died. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife. The question they're asking is one that is designed to point out how ridiculous the resurrection or the idea of the resurrection is. They thought, you know, there being a resurrection just presents too many complications, doesn't it? I mean, take this complication, for example, and then they spin out this little scenario. And so they're asking him a question that they don't believe he's going to have a good answer for, because they can't imagine any good answer. And so if they can't imagine it, certainly he can't say that that's what's going to happen. And so they're setting him up to make statements that they know based on his previous statements he would believe were false. And so they they they're trying to prove him wrong. But Jesus does something that they weren't expecting, in that as he turns the tables on them. I love how Matthew begins this section of scripture in Matthew 22, 29, Jesus answered and said to them, You are mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. He's saying, Listen, you're asking a really dumb question. You know, there are no such things as dumb questions? Yes, yes, there are. Questions that you don't really want an answer to, those are dumb. Because why are you asking a question you don't really want an answer to? You ever sit and talk with people like that? You know, they come to you and they say, Listen, I have a question I need to ask you. And so you give them the answer, and it's an answer they don't like. And they're like, no, no, no, you don't understand. And then they want you, they keep asking the question until you give them the answer that they're wanting to hear. Can I tell you that was a dumb question? And the Sadducees are asking an equally dumb question right now. They're saying, you know, hey, you know, we don't really believe in the resurrection, but presuming that there was one, what would happen if such and such? And so Jesus brings them straight to the point. He says, You're you're mistaken. You're wrong. And you're wrong for two reasons. Number one, you don't know the scriptures, and you don't know the power of God. You know, a lot of people have problems with the idea of the resurrection because, oh, you know, that's amazing. Or maybe they have problems with the miraculous things that Jesus did. You know, they look at all the miracles of the Bible and they they just find it difficult to believe. There's this group called the Jesus Seminar. How many of you have heard of the Jesus Seminar? There's this group called the Jesus Seminar, and there are these group of scholars, these brilliant men, according to education standards, and they'll come together and they pick apart the gospels and they have these little marbles, like one black marble and one white marble, you know, and and they'll take a little vote and they'll say, you know, we think that Jesus didn't really say this thing, but this other thing he really did say. And they'll take a passage of scripture and they'll examine it and they'll determine whether or not they believe that it was something that actually was said or done by Jesus, or if it was perhaps something that the writers of the gospel just made up as they were going along. And so they'll go down there and they'll they'll vote. If they think it's something Jesus did say, you know, they'll put in the white marble. If they think it's something that he didn't say, they'll put in the black one, and then they'll tally it all up. Frankly, I think they've lost their marbles. Now, tell me you saw that one coming because they're crazy. They have no basis upon which to determine what it is they think Jesus did or didn't do or didn't say, other than their own opinion of it. They have no evidence. And can I tell you, the things that they deny, they're sadly mistaken in because they don't know the word of God? How is it that they don't know the word of God? These great scholars, these men who know Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic and can read things in the original language, how is it that they don't know the Bible? Because they don't have the Holy Spirit living inside them. Without the Holy Spirit living inside of us, it is impossible for us to understand the scriptures. It is impossible for the light of God to be shed abroad in our hearts and in our lives without us knowing him through his Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is what opens up the word to us. Have you ever noticed that that's the way it is? You remember before you were a believer, maybe you read the Bible, and it was like reading, I don't know, like the instructions on how to put together a bicycle. I mean, it was just, you it was dry. You didn't understand it, you didn't feel anything about what you were reading, and then all of a sudden something happened in your life. Maybe someone witnessed to you, maybe you heard the gospel preached in a way that you hadn't before, whatever the case might be, the Holy Spirit moves on your heart and you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you're born again. And then you go back and you begin to read the Bible, and all of a sudden it's like it's a totally different book. It's like you had no idea that it was so amazing and so wonderful, and you're just overcome by the beauty of God's word because for the first time you understand it. How many of you have had that experience? You know what I'm talking about. And the difference there is that now the Holy Spirit lives in you and is activating that word, so you are understanding it. So these guys in the Jesus seminar, they don't understand it and they deny the power of God. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about here. If we believe that God created everything that there is, that God said, Let there be light, and there was light. If we believe that, then how does it become difficult to believe that he did any of the miracles here in the Bible? You see, how hard would it be for Jesus to transform water into wine if he's the one that made water in the first place? How difficult would it be for Jesus to turn, you know, one loaf of bread into enough to have 12 baskets left over if he's the one who created the substance from which that bread was made in the beginning and he created it from nothing? How difficult would it be for us to believe that God could take mud and put it on someone's blind eyes and tell them to go wash and come away seeing when he's the one who made the eye to begin with? It's not difficult for us to believe that, is it, when we understand just who it is that we're talking about. We're talking about God, about the creator of the universe. And so Jesus says to the Pharisees, he says, You're mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. And Jesus proceeds to answer their questions. Let's read his answer together, starting in verse 34 of Luke 20. Jesus answered and said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. He's saying, Listen, marriage is an earthly institution. Marriage came into being on earth when God created Adam and Eve and he put them together there in the garden. That was the first marriage. There was no marriage prior to that. And when we go on to be with the Lord in heaven, we're no longer of this earth, but we're of heaven, and there will no longer be marriage at that point in time either. That's why when we have the marriage ceremony, we say, till death do us part. Right? You see, if marriages were carried over from this earth into the heavenly realm, then when a woman died, her husband would not be free to remarry because he's still married and he's going to be joining his wife later on, isn't he? That would be like saying, Well, my wife moved from Texas to California, so now she's in California, so I'm gonna get married again because she's no longer in the same place that I'm at. Well, that's ridiculous. It'd be bigamy, right? It would be ridiculous. Now, speaking of bigamy, this particular verse really presents a lot of trouble for our Mormon uh neighbors. Those who believe, you see, the Mormons teach that marriage does go on for all eternity, and that you'll be married to that person that you're married to, not just here on earth, but also there in heaven, and that God will give you a planet to populate or some such nonsense. And they really believe that, and it's not necessarily one of the teachings they might like to talk about very often, but it is one of their doctrines. And when you encounter one, I encourage you to ask them about this verse where Jesus says, Hey, you know, in heaven that's just not the way it is. Let's look at it again. The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Now there's something else that doesn't happen in heaven. In heaven, you're not going to be married. In heaven, you're not going to have weddings, we're not going to have any of that. But also there aren't going to be any funerals, because it says here, nor can they die anymore. For they are equal to the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. And so Jesus paints a very clear picture here that the Pharisees just have asked this question because they don't understand the resurrection, and in fact they deny it, and he goes on to prove the point that they are in fact wrong, that there is a resurrection. Verse 37. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. Then some of the scribes answered and said, Teacher, you have spoken well. Now you know what? I think they meant that, because I think that the scribes that are talking here are very likely the Pharisees that had been here before, and that he has shut up the Sadducees, and they love it. They're not thrilled that he's getting away with anything, but they're really happy to hear this answer because the Sadducees have plagued them with that question for time immemorial. It's been a battle between them, and so they hear him and they say, Hey, you have spoken well. But after that they dared not question him anymore. Now the verse that Jesus is using to prove the fact that there is a resurrection is from Exodus chapter three, verses one through six. That's Exodus chapter three, verses one through six, starting in verse one. Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I must turn aside and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. He said also, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. God was saying to Moses in that moment, not I was the God of Abraham, or I was the God of Isaac, or I was the God of Jacob, but he was saying, I am right now, in this moment, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and he was saying this over 400 years after those men, those patriarchs, were no longer here. They had been dead for over 400 years, as the children of Israel had been in bondage there in Egypt. And yet, there in that wilderness, in that burning bush, God spoke to Moses and he said, Right now, at this moment, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. What does that mean? That means that though they were dead, yet they lived, right? Jesus said the same thing to Martha. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He said, I'm the life. I'm the one that brings life. I'm the one that gives life. He told her, Look, if you believe in me, you're never gonna die. And if you do die, you're still gonna be alive. Because God is the God of the living. Amen. Hebrews 11 speaks of this as well. Let's turn there. We're gonna look at verses 12 through 16. And the writer of Hebrews says, All these died in the faith. He's referring to the patriarchs and those that went before them in the faith. He says, All these died in faith without receiving the promises. So did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the patriarchs. Did they die? Yes, they did. These all died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And if indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. He had prepared a city for them. Do you remember? In that last night when Jesus was breaking bread with his disciples, they were there in the upper room, and he had just told them that one of them was going to betray him, and he had told Peter that he was going to deny them, and then he had told them that he was going away. These guys were having a really bad night. And in the middle of all that, he says, But don't be troubled. Don't be worried. It's going to be okay. He says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will return again and take you unto myself. That where I am, there you may be also. And so Jesus was telling them he was going away to prepare a place for them, and that place is the heavenly kingdom. And there's a day coming, guys, when we will be there with him in that kingdom. And that is going to be an awesome and a wonderful time. Now, in his application commentary of the New Testament, John Corson has this to say about the resurrection and about our belief in heaven. According to an April 24th, 2000 Washington Post article, 88% of all Americans believe in a literal place called heaven. That's an important statistic because Imagine what our society would be like if we didn't believe in heaven. I mean, think about it. We look at the world now and we say how bad it is, right? And yet 88% of Americans say that they believe in heaven. Well, John goes on to imagine what it might be like if people in America did not believe in heaven, and this is what he says. A society that didn't believe in heaven would be obsessed with youth. It would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to look, stay, and feel young through plastic surgery, diets, and exercise programs. A society that didn't believe in heaven would spend billions of dollars on life support systems to delay facing an unknown future. In a society that didn't believe in heaven, crime would soar without fear of eternal judgment. The theology of a society that didn't believe in heaven would be based upon the here and now, on health and prosperity. Wait a minute. We are that culture. Because although our generation gives lip service to the idea of heaven, we do not live out the reality of heaven. You see, if 88% of the people in America really did believe in heaven, would our society look the way that it does? No, it wouldn't. Because though we say we believe in heaven, we do not live as though we believed in heaven. How many of us really know what heaven is like? How many of us really even begin to think about what heaven is like? So often we think of heaven and we think of what it's not. You know, in heaven I won't have to get up and go to work and pay all these bills, right? Or in heaven, I won't have all these aches and pains, or in heaven I want this or I want that. But how often do we really think about what it is like? My sister-in-law once told her young son, when he asked her mom what is heaven like, she told him, Son, heaven is like getting to eat all the cheeseburgers you want and never getting a stomachache. It's a simplistic answer, isn't it? And it's probably not a very theologically deep one, but it is true in this sense. If you imagine the most wonderful, incredible, happy, and fulfilling experience that you can possibly imagine. Just realize that that isn't even close to what heaven is like. Heaven is that much better. Turn, if you will, to um 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now Paul was a man who had actually seen heaven. In the epistles, he talks about the fact that he was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the flesh or not, he didn't know, and that he saw things that were there that would be unlawful to even speak of. Paul had seen what it was that awaited him and all of us. Because of that fact, Paul was the type of person who, when faced with death, said, Hmm, let me see. I think I might just want to go ahead and do that because I really don't want to hang around here anymore. But there's still work I have to do. So I guess for your sakes, I'll have to stay. But you see, he would rather have gone on to be with Jesus. Paul was the one that told us that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord. And so Paul had no fear of death. In fact, he looked eagerly towards it, saying, Man, I cannot wait to get home and be with Jesus. Now, it might be something if a person that had never seen what heaven was like said that, then we might have some hesitation and say, Well, I don't know, you know, you may not know what you're talking about. But here was Paul, a man who had with his own eyes seen the glories of heaven. And having seen it, he wanted nothing more than to get back to it. But he recognized that God still had work for him to do, so he had to remain. Well, Paul gives us some wonderful insights into what it's going to be like for us and how it's going to happen. And he recognizes the fact that there are those that would scoff and that might have a hard time believing. And so here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting in verse 35, he gives us some insight. He says, But someone will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?

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Do you ever feel like the circumstances you're going through are more than you can bear? That God is in some way punishing you? Well, consider the words of Paul, and we know that all things work together for the good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. So we learn from this verse that all things, not some, but all things work together if we love God and are called according to his purpose. Just something to think about from your friends here at Heed the Word. Heed the Word is the daily Bible teaching ministry of Ken Davis, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Burleson, Texas. There's a great deal more that Pastor Ken has to share with us from the Gospel of Luke, so please join us again. Now, maybe you'd like to add today's message to your study library. Our online media is always available and free of charge. CD copies are also available upon request for free, but supplies are limited, so order today. To order a CD, simply log on to heedtheword.org and select the order a message option. There you'll find a convenient order form to fill out. The only information you need to remember is today's date. This ensures we get you the right teaching. So log on to heedtheword.org and place your order today. Or better yet, join us this Sunday for worship at 10.30 a.m. Directions are available on our website. That's heedtheword.org. Well, we've run out of time today, but tune in next time as Pastor Ken will continue teaching verse by verse through the Gospel of Luke. That's next time on Heed the Word.