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Part 12 of 16
ENTRY & END TIMES (Week 9)
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Before we dive into today's message, I want to share something that happened this week. I was pouring into a young woman—someone my wife and I have been helping to lead deeper into discipleship in Jesus Christ. Yesterday, she and I were talking about those moments when you simply lean into God's presence and sit there for a while.
You know, we live such busy lives in America. Jobs, businesses, kids, schedules—we're so occupied that we practically die quick because we're constantly rushing. In all that busyness, we crowd out the very thing we need most: sitting in God's presence long enough for Him to whisper something that can change the entire direction of your life.
When the Holy Spirit moves in moments like that, don't just push past it. Don't say, "I've got to get to the sermon" or "I've got to get to my restaurant." You have no idea what God would do in your heart when you lean into those moments. He'll say something to you that I could never say from a sermon. He'll mend something that's broken. He'll wrap His arms around you and remind you that you are a son and a daughter before you're anything else—before you're a mom, an employee, or whatever role you play.
When you sense Him, lean into His presence. Don't be a spectator watching from the sidelines. Lean in. You have no idea what God would do in your heart. It could change the whole trajectory of your life.
We are in a series called Entry and End Times, and we're walking through Matthew chapters 21 and 22 together. I don't think there's a book you're going to read, a movie you're going to watch, a person you're going to talk to, or anything you're going to download that's more significant than the words of Christ Himself.
In this series, we're looking at the final words of Christ in the last days of His life and the final actions of Christ in His final week. We're marveling at what He said and what He did.
This is an important time to commemorate. Last Sunday, we remembered that Jesus came into Jerusalem during the feast of the Passover and disrupted the established order. He confronted the Pharisees. He backed them down with three pronouncements of judgment. Then their disciples came with the Herodians. Now another group is rising up against the Lord.
Matthew, an eyewitness, tells us about this third group. In Matthew 22:23, he says:
That same day Sadducees came to him who say there is no resurrection.
Who were these people? Socially, they were very wealthy and well-connected in the highest echelons of society. They were among the ruling class. Although a small group, they had great power in Jerusalem. They served on the Sanhedrin alongside the Pharisees. In fact, the highest priest of the day was a man named Caiaphas, who came from the Sadducees and would be responsible for putting Christ to death. They came from aristocratic families.
Theologically, they were very selective. They only believed in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They did not believe the Psalms were authoritative. They did not believe the prophets were authoritative. If it wasn't in those first five books, they did not believe it was true.
Many of us operate the same way. We love parts of Scripture that fit our preferences, but if something doesn't fit what we want to believe, we turn the page. You love passages about blessing, but you don't like passages about sacrifice. You love passages about receiving, but you don't like passages about being generous. You love passages that make you comfortable, but you don't like passages that confront you.
We read God's word, and if we see something attractive, we claim it for ourselves. But if we see something that goes directly against what we're doing, we say, "That's not for me. That's for somebody else." We engage in what I call "gospel à la carte"—we only want the parts that make us feel right, and we throw out anything that steps on our toes, makes us feel convicted, or forces us to change.
Now, this conversation between the Sadducees and Jesus is critically important. In just a few days from this incident, Christ will be crucified on a cross for your sins and mine. Three days after that, He will be resurrected from the dead.
There is nothing that our Christianity stands on except the resurrection of Christ. Paul says it plainly: If Christ is not raised, we have all believed in vain. The anchor of the Christian faith is not just God's word or the gathering of saints. The anchor is the resurrection of Christ.
Here's what makes Jesus different from every other religious leader: Muhammad is still in his tomb. Joseph Smith is still in his tomb. Buddha is still in his tomb. Confucius is still in his tomb. But there is one man—one founder of a world religion—who was not found in His tomb.
I've been there. The tomb is empty. They never found His bones. He was seen alive by over 500 eyewitnesses who wrote down accurate historical accounts: "We saw the man who hung on a cross. We touched His scars. He cooked fish and ate breakfast on the seashore." These are preserved historical documents.
If Christ is not raised, then you and I right now are wasting our time.
So the Sadducees come to Jesus and set a trap. They quote Moses, referencing the practice of levirate marriage. In those days, if a man died without children, his brother would marry the widow so that the first son would carry on the dead brother's lineage.
Then they present a scenario: "Suppose there were seven brothers. The first married and died with no children. He left his wife to his brother. Then the second brother died, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and the seventh. Finally, the woman died. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For they all had her."
They're trying to trap Jesus. They're thinking: if the afterlife really exists, how would this woman be married to seven men at the same time? The crowds are probably silent, thinking, "They've got Him trapped." If there's a heaven, if there's anything after death, then how does this work? The whole point is to prove that the resurrection doesn't exist, that there's no afterlife, no heaven, no hell, nothing after the grave.
And Jesus answers them straightforwardly:
You are wrong.
I love that. He didn't try to comfort them or massage the truth. He said clearly: "You are wrong."
It's like the Spirit of God says to us, "You are wrong." And it reminds me how loving God is. He wants us to know when we're deceived, when we believe things that aren't true, when we hold onto strongholds built up in our minds. There are people under the sound of my voice right now who believe things that are not true. You have preconceived notions about God, about life, about the afterlife. And you are wrong. Yet you will fight for your preconceived notion even when you're actually wrong.
Why are they wrong? Jesus gives two reasons:
Neither do you know the scriptures or the power of God.
First, they don't know the Scriptures. The more Scripture you know, the wiser you become, and the less wrong you'll be about things in life. There are people confused about life who ask, "If a loving God exists, how could He allow wars? How could He allow sickness and disease? How could He allow death and cancer? A loving God can't exist!"
But you're wrong because you haven't read that the world God gave us was perfect, and then we ruined it with rebellion and sin. God, who is holy, is watching us in a marred world, but He went to prepare something better for you and me.
Second, they don't know the power of God. They don't believe God can create something better than what we experience in this life.
Listen to me: If you're going to be strong as a believer, you need to know both the Scriptures and the power of God. When you separate them, that's dangerous.
You have people who know the Scriptures but don't believe in God's power. They can quote Ephesians 6, but they don't believe in the Spirit, in healing, in miracles. They have loved ones dying of sickness, but they won't even have the faith to pray for them because they don't believe in the power of God. They think all that died with the apostles.
But my wife has laid hands on the wombs of barren women who have children now. I have laid hands on a man with stage four cancer who is walking right now, healed and in his right mind. We, the elders and I, have taken oil and laid hands on the sick and received testimonies of miraculous healing. What argument do you have against that?
Then you have other people who love power but don't love the Scriptures. They run around doing backflips, swinging on chandeliers, speaking in tongues, but they know no Bible. It's wildfire with no teaching.
You need doctrine and dunamis. You need the Scriptures and the Spirit. You need the word and power. Both.
You need to quote Ephesians 6 and lay hands on the sick. You need to know you have spiritual armor and know how to pray warfare prayers against the devil. You need to hear the doctor's report and then go to God's word and lay hands on it, saying, "Lord, according to what You did for Hannah, if You give me a son, I'll give him back to You." That's the word and the spirit.
Don't just read your devotional while the devil is beating you in your soul. You need the courage to pray against him with warfare prayers. And don't just pray down authority and principalities if you can't tell anyone what Scripture says about forgiveness.
Jesus corrects their doctrine:
For in the resurrection, neither do they marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.
He confirms everything they don't believe in. They don't believe in angels—He confirms them. They don't believe in heaven—He confirms it. They don't believe in resurrection—He confirms it.
Now, I know some of you feel uncomfortable hearing that in glory there will be no more marriage. Some single people think, "I better get married quick before I die!" And some of you feel your marriage is wonderful. You love your spouse so much you don't want to be separated from them. You're thinking, "I don't want to go to heaven and not be married to my spouse." Others going through painful marriages are actually looking forward to death as an escape.
But here's why there's no marriage in heaven: We have perverted marriage in the earth. The original purpose of marriage was for one man and one woman to be joined together in a covenant union for the purpose of procreation—to make children and populate the earth.
But in heaven, there is no birth and no death. Therefore, there will be no need for marriage. We will be like the angels—sexless—because there's no need for procreation. Heaven will be populated by all the saints who have been redeemed.
Some of you worry: "What about the bond I have with my spouse?" You don't know the power of God. I believe God will create bonds in heaven so strong they will surpass anything we've ever felt with another human being on earth.
The only marriage in heaven will be all of us as the bride, married to Christ the Bridegroom. The church united with Christ is the only marriage in heaven.
Now watch how Jesus, the master teacher, corrects their faulty doctrine. The Sadducees reject everything outside the first five books of Moses. In the Psalms and the prophets, there are teachings about the resurrection. But because they reject those books, they claim there's no teaching about resurrection in the first five books.
So Jesus quotes from one of those first five books—Exodus—the very text they claim to believe:
Have you not read what God said to you: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
This is brilliant. He's quoting from Exodus 3, when God appeared to Moses at the burning bush. God says to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham." Notice the verb tense.
He did not say, "I was the God of Abraham." He said, "I am the God of Abraham"—present tense. He said, "I am the God of Isaac"—present tense. He said, "I am the God of Jacob"—present tense.
These men had been dead for hundreds of years when God spoke to Moses. You can't talk about dead people in the present tense. If they were dead, you'd say, "I was their God." But God speaks about them in present tense, which means when God is speaking, they must be alive.
If God can talk about these men in the present tense, that means they are alive. And where are they? They're with the Person who's speaking. They're with God.
Right there, in the Old Testament, Jesus proves the resurrection exists. And then He says:
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Why? Because God is a God of covenant. He does not abandon His children at the funeral. You think God will come into a covenant with you and then abandon you at a funeral? No. The covenant relationship you have with God transcends the funeral. It goes into eternity.
A day is coming when you're going to be at my funeral. You're going to be shedding tears over a box. And I'm telling you right now: don't stand there and cry all day. Go get fried chicken and cornbread, because Philip Anthony Mitchell will not be dead. That's only his body.
I will be more alive than ever before. I will have gone into the presence of Almighty God. While you're crying over my box, I'm running the streets of gold with the God who is the God of the living.
A day is coming when He's going to call your name. He's going to say, "I am the God of Philip. I am the God of Cheyenne. I am the God of Jessica. I am the God of Rosio. I am the God of Milton James. I am the God of Demetria." Is anybody thankful that a day is coming when God is going to call your name?
He's going to be your God forever. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." Because Christ is alive, I will be alive. Because Christ is alive, you will be alive.
He can resurrect a marriage. He can resurrect a relationship. He can resurrect a business. He can resurrect a ministry. He can resurrect hope. He can resurrect vision. He can resurrect peace. He can resurrect comfort. There's nothing that is dead that Christ can't resurrect.
Today, for the believer in this room, we celebrate the resurrection. We go to dinner and we celebrate. We celebrate what Christ has done. We celebrate that we have hope beyond this life. We celebrate that we won't be standing in the parking lot forever.
A day is coming when we're going to walk out of the parking lot and burst through the tape of eternity. We're going to walk through the portals of glory and stumble into the arms of our Savior who said, "I went to prepare a place for you. A place much better than the earth. A place much better than what you're experiencing right now. A life with no problems."
Go home tonight and read Revelation 20, 21, and 22. Get a glimpse of the new earth that God is going to create. New water, new trees, new animals, new relationships, new nations.
The only thing not going to be there: pain.
The only thing not going to be there: sorrow.
The only thing not going to be there: tears.
The only thing not going to be there: sin.
The only thing not going to be there: the devil.
The only thing not going to be there: depression.
The only thing not going to be there: suicide.
The only thing not going to be there: drama.
But I know not everybody can celebrate. My question is: Is He going to call everybody's name? No. There are some of you He won't call your name. Why? Because you're going to perish in your sin.
Listen to me. You may not believe in all this talk of revelation. You may not believe in all this talk about the afterlife, heaven, or hell. That's fine. Don't believe it. Just die and find out. Was your theology right, or were the Scriptures right?
The only difference is this: if you pass through this life without Christ, you won't be prepared for what you're going to find on the other side. A wrathful Judge who won't listen when you say, "I was moral. I was a good man. I was a good woman. I did this." He's not going to listen to any of that. The only thing He's going to say is, "I don't see Christ on you. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity."
And the only place you're going is to have a body fit for destruction. Because if you're not in glory with God, you're permanently tormented in the lake that burns with fire.
But God gave you an exit. Here it is:
You and I are sinners. You and I have broken God's laws. Scripture says if anyone dies in their sin, you will wake up after that funeral separated from God for all eternity. You will suffer in punishment forever.
But God, not wanting you to perish, sent Christ into the earth. He died a sacrificial death on the cross, exchanging your unrighteousness for His righteousness, and He gives you an escape. Scripture says in Romans 10: If anyone will place their faith in Christ, they shall be saved.
It's not magic. It's divine.
Right now, before we walk out this room, I'm asking you: don't go to hell. If you feel like I'm talking to you, if you feel something welling up on the inside, if you're saying to yourself, "I believe in the afterlife. I want Christ. I want to be saved"—you already feel God tugging at you.
You say, "Man, I'mma do this next year." Really? You could get clipped in a car accident on the way home. You could get clipped in a plane crash. Tomorrow ain't promised to you. You can't get right next week. Today is the day of salvation. You don't have tomorrow. You have this moment right here.
If that's you, if you feel God wooing you, I want to pray for you. I'm going to ask you to lift your hands on a count of three. I just want to see who I'm praying for.
One—God is calling you.
Two—This is the moment that's going to change your life.
Three—Put your hands in the air. Lift them high. Don't be ashamed. Lift them high.
Hundreds and hundreds of hands lifted high.
Father, in the name of the Holy One, I pray for everyone you are sovereignly saving apart from me. I thank you that you're making them right now sons and daughters. I thank you right now they're passing from death to life, just like you did for me in November 2003 in the bathroom.
I thank you that you're filling them right now and sealing them with your Holy Spirit according to the book of Ephesians. I thank you, Lord, that you're wiping away every tear from their eye. You're making them brand new creatures.
I pray, God, right now in this moment they would feel an assurance and a peace that something has happened. They have passed over. I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, you would draw them to yourself. Reveal yourself to them. Teach them your ways. Lead them in the paths that lead to righteousness.
Father, you said when one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices. So Father, right now we rejoice.
We rejoice. We rejoice. We celebrate. Hallelujah.
Everybody who had your hand raised, listen to me. I want you to know what family sounds like.
Welcome to the family of God.
After today, you're going to make mistakes, but just ask God for forgiveness and keep moving forward. The Bible says about you that all your sins have been forgiven—past, present, and future—and that you are a brand new creation.
The Scripture says about you that God is your Father.
The Scripture says about you that you are a son.
The Scripture says about you that you are a daughter.
The Scripture says about you that you are a brand new man and a brand new woman.
The Scripture says about you that your name has been recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.
The Scripture says about you that when you die, you will enter into glory with the Lord Jesus Christ, who has gone to prepare a place for you.
When you leave today, there is a black tent outside the building. We want you to stop at that tent. There is a bag there for you—a gift. Inside that bag is a copy of God's word and material to teach you your next steps in your walk with the Lord Jesus.
If you flew here from another city or drove here from another city, when you get back to your home city, find a church where Scripture is being taught and plug into that church.
If you live in Atlanta, you don't have to look far. You could make this your family. We don't do membership here. We do discipleship. So just keep coming back every Sunday. Hang out with us for six months. If God has not transformed your life in six months, we pray you end up where you need to be.
I know what spiritual warfare feels like. I know what it is for the devil to punch you in your soul. But I also know what it feels like to take a shot back at the devil. It's a good feeling to preach this glorious gospel and watch the Spirit of God open cages and watch people run out of prison, watch men and women run into the arms of a loving Savior.
You take shots at me, enemy, and I'm going to take shots back at you. That's how you fight back. When the devil gives you hell, give him back hell. Pray more. Read more. Win somebody to Jesus. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. Mighty, mighty God. Hallelujah.
