STEPS AND MIS-STEPS

MARK 12:18-27                                                 

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

The Sadducees had made several errors. They didn’t know the Scriptures. They didn’t know the power of God. They didn’t know the Saviour.

In recent days I had two different people comment on the status of a Christian who had passed away but they kind of missed the boat with their remarks. The one said they “are in a better place, soon to see our Lord.” Well, I am soon to see our Lord, they have already seen the Lord.

The other said the deceased was “resting peacefully, without pain, asleep, awaiting Christ’s return.” That’s the same mistake the thief on the cross made.“

 

What’s the answer then for this error and other errors?

 

I. BE SURE YOU KNOW THE SAVIOUR [1 COR. 2:9-16]

 

1. Listen to the Saviour [Luke 23:42-43]

 

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

 

2. Learn the Meaning [Mt. 9:10-13]

 

And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house , behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

 

3. Look Behind the Curtain [Luke 16:22-31]

 

II. BE SURE YOU KNOW THE SCRIPTURES [MARK 12:24] And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

 

1. Search the Scriptures [John 5:39]

 

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

 

2. See the Saviour [John 5:39, Acts 7:54-59]

 

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart , and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

 

3. Simplify the Separation [2 Cor. 5:1-8]

 

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

 

III. BE SURE YOU KNOW THE POWER OF GOD [MK. 12:24]

 

1. Study to Rightly Divide [2 Tm. 2:15] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

2. Dividing Body & Soul/Spirit [Genesis 25:8] Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 35:29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

Genesis 49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

 

3. Dividing What is With Christ and What is With Us [1 Thess. 4:13-18]

 

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.