Welcome to this week's Weekend Sermon. I am so glad that you have taken the time to read the sermon this week. I hope that everyone is doing well.
I still need your prayers this week. We have had a tremendous amount of rain. We are having flood warnings all around my area. There is more heavy rain expected tonight. Please pray that this rain will stop. I thank you for your prayers.
Let us all pray for those who were hit by the tornadoes in Missouri this week. Pray that the people will be able to recover.
Please pray for those in Mozambique who are still recovering from the storm damage. People in Zimbabwe and Malawi are still recovering as well.
Congo is still in the midst of an Ebola virus outbreak. Pray that those who are sick will recover and that the epidemic will swiftly come to an end.
Let us continue to pray for peace in the troubled areas of the world. Syria, Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan all need our prayers for peace.
For our prayer focus countries this week, please pray for the nations of Bangladesh and Mauritania. Pray that many will hear of the love of Jesus.
Today, we are beginning a new series of messages here on the blog. In the New Testament, there were many false ideas and beliefs that were part of the religious life of the times. Jesus had to deal with false teaching while He was on this earth. Paul, John and Peter had to address false teaching coming into the church as well.
In this series of messages, I want to discuss some of these incorrect beliefs and see how these teachings are relevant to us today.
The first message in our series will focus on Jesus' encounter with the Sadducees as recorded in the Luke 20. In Luke 20:27-40, the Sadducees come to Jesus asking a question about marriage in the resurrection. The first thing that we need to understand is that the Sadducees weren't really asking about marriage and the afterlife. They were actually mocking the people who did believe in the resurrection because they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.
The Sadducees were one of two main religious parties in Israel at the time that Jesus was ministering on the earth. The group that we hear about the most is the Pharisees. They were strict adherents of the law of Moses.
The Sadducees were very different than the Pharisees. The Sadducees only believed in the validity of the first five books of the Old Testament. They did not believe in angels, demons or the devil. They did not believe in miracles, and they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Their's was an ethical religion. They believed that one served God, and one received a reward from God in this earthly lifetime.
In this encounter with Jesus, they were mocking Him. They brought up the Old Testament concept of levirate marriage. This was when a brother had children with his dead brother's wife in order to allow the dead brother to have an heir.
In the Sadducees' example, the woman ended up with seven husbands. They probably laughed when they asked Jesus whose wife she would be in the resurrection.
Jesus quickly dismissed their argument about marriage in the resurrection. Jesus said that in the world to come, there would be no marriage.
Jesus went on to refute their main false belief. Jesus pointed out that God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is in the present tense. Jesus said that God is the God of the living and not the dead.
When Paul was carrying out his ministry for the Lord, he had to deal with this issue of there being no resurrection as well. In I Corinthians 15, Paul said that some were teaching that there is no resurrection.
Jesus clearly stated that there is a resurrection of the dead. There is an afterlife. This life is not all that there is.
Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday in order to defeat the power of death and the grave. He has prepared a place in heaven for those who put their faith and trust in Him.
When Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead, He told those around the tomb of Lazarus that He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him though he be did, yet shall he live. Whoever lives and believes in Jesus will never die.
I have staked my life on the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead and that He will raise up to eternal life all those who have called upon Him for salvation. I believe with all my heart that those who have died and trusted in Jesus are with Him right at this very moment.
The reason that I believe that is because I trust in the words of Jesus my Lord. Jesus made it quite clear that there is life after death. He rejected the false ideas of the Sadducees.
In our day and age, there are some who have an idea of religion that is all based on ethics. For them, serving God is about doing good in this life. They don't think about the world to come.
The way I see it, and I believe the Bible backs me up, is that this world is not what it should be. It is hard for those who follow the Lord in this life. But, we have the assurance that beyond this world with its hardship and grief, there is a new life that we will spend forever with the Lord Jesus.
I look forward with all of my heart to the day when I am with the Lord. I will be with Him forever, and I will be those who I have loved who have also placed their faith and trust in the risen Lord.
Next week, we will continue with the next message in our new series. I will post the message on Saturday once again next week, Lord willing. On Tuesday, I will post the verses. The library is closed for Memorial Day on Monday. I will try to post a review sometime in the middle of week. May God bless you all. Amen.
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