52:15

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Resource: Map of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Jesus, Herodians, people, Pharisees, God, pay, coin, Rome, Caesar, trap, Jews, government, verse, denarius, Sanhedrin, Christ, flattery, men, truth, religious leaders

Table of Contents

Introduction.. - 1 -

1. The Alliance. - 3 -
2. The Attack.. - 4 -
3. The Answer. - 8 -
4. The Amazement. - 11 -

 

Resource: Map of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount

Introduction

 

Well, we're continuing Mark chapter 12. We're going to be in verses 13 through 17 this morning. In this past week I was sent an article by someone. In this article was a letter, a letter that was written by an archbishop of the Catholic Church, who wrote a letter upset with the Vatican's alliance with World Government. He was upset that the Roman Catholic Church (a religious system) was teaming up with politicians to push an agenda of a new world order. In his letter, he says this.

 

In short, it would be understood that the corrupt part of the civil authority (the deep state), and the corrupt part of ecclesiastical authority (the deep church) are two sides of the same coin, both instrumental to establish to the establishment of the New World Order. Simply put, he was upset that corrupt religious leaders are making an alliance with corrupt politicians in order to push an agenda. It's what he's upset about.

 

But this is not the first time that something like this has happened. In fact, we're going to see in our text here this morning, that this is exactly what the Pharisees and the Herodians do. So I'd encourage you to open your Bibles to Mark chapter 12, if you haven't already. Open to Mark chapter 12 and we're going to see how two enemies become friends in order to attack Jesus and put Him to death.

 

And just to set the scene, this is still Wednesday. This is still Wednesday of the Passion Week. It's also the Passover week. Jerusalem is packed with people who have come from all over to celebrate the Passover. Jesus is there on this Wednesday, and He's teaching on the temple grounds. But as we saw last week, He's been interrupted and confronted by the Sanhedrin. That is, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

 

And they come in and they interrupt Jesus, as He's teaching the people they're on the temple grounds. And they ask Jesus, by what authority He does what He does, and by what authority does He teach what He teaches. And then Jesus gives them two parables, two parables of judgment, because they have killed the prophets, and now they are seeking to kill Jesus, the prophet.

 

Last week, we looked at one of those parables, the parable of the vine growers. But we come now to verses 13 through 17. And these religious leaders are not done confronting Jesus. Remember, they're after Him, they want to stop Him. They don't like what Jesus is doing.

 

Over the next three weeks, as we work our way through the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, we're going to see that there are three different groups of religious leaders who come to confront Jesus. This morning, we're going to see the Pharisees, the Pharisees, they are a part of the Sanhedrin. They're these religious men who come to confront Jesus.

 

Next week, we're going to see the Sadducees were another part of that Sanhedrin, they're going to come and confront Jesus.

 

And then the week after that, we're going to see the scribes who were also part of the Sanhedrin, who will come to confront Jesus.

 

These three groups here, they make up the Sanhedrin. That's a 70-member, Supreme Court of Israel, these guys who are leading and ruling in Israel over the Jewish people. And their goal at this point was to take out Jesus because He was a threat to their religious system. They see Jesus as a threat. This morning, we're going to see the Pharisees and the Herodians team up to try and trap Jesus so that He can be condemned and put to death. Now we have to understand also that the Sanhedrin at this point, they want Jesus dead, they want Him dead. And they would have already arrested Jesus at this point. They've come to confront Him. They want Him arrested, they want Him dead, and they would have done it up to this point, but there's something that is stopped them from doing it. What was it? The people, the people have stopped them.

 

If you remember from last week back up in verse 12 of Mark chapter 12, those religious leaders would not seize Jesus because they feared the people. They fear the people, because the people recognize that Jesus was a prophet. They saw Him as a prophet. And so these religious leaders, they have some work to do. Their goal is to kill Jesus, they want to take them out. But they've got some work to do in order to get everyone turned against Jesus, by Friday. It's Wednesday, but by Friday, Jesus is going to die on a cross.

 

They've got to get everybody turned against Him so that they can arrest Him, and then kill Him. But if you remember, the Jews don't have the authority to put someone to death. They don't have that authority under the Roman system, that they're a part of that they're under. They don't have that authority. And so they really have to get the Romans turned against Jesus so that they can arrest Jesus and put them to death. And so here's their plan. Here's the plan of these guys.

 

Get Rome to see Jesus is a threat. That's their first step in this, we can just get Rome to see that Jesus is a threat to them, because He's definitely a threat to us. Then they'll want Him arrested and killed. They know that once Rome sees that, that Jesus is a threat, then they will arrest Him.

 

And here's the thing, once Jesus is arrested, then the Jews will turn on Jesus, because they won't see Him as the Messiah anymore. Why? Why would the Jews not see Jesus as the Messiah if He gets arrested by the Romans? Because what have they been taught that the Messiah is going to do? Come and take out who? Rome. That's what the Messiah is going to do. So if he's arrested by the Romans, well, clearly, he's not the Messiah, and they'll turn on Him.

 

And then they'll realize, and they'll see that Jesus is no longer a prophet. That's their plan. Pretty devious plan, right? These guys have thought this all out. This is what they're after...they want to get rid of Jesus. That's what all hypocritical false religious people do, they will go to whatever great lengths they have to, to shut down the truth. They don't want to hear the truth. The Jews don't want to hear the truth. The Jewish leaders don't want to hear the truth. The Romans don't want to hear the truth. They'll do whatever it takes to take Jesus out because He's a man who speaks the truth.

 

So where do the Sanhedrin start? This group of 70 men? Where do they start? Well, they start with the Pharisees, who are just one sect of the Sanhedrin. And the Pharisees go and they get the Herodians.

1.     The Alliance

Which leads to our first point, our first point this morning, we'll call the Alliance, the Alliance.

 

Look at verse 13. Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him and to Jesus in order to trap Him in a statement.

 

Now, as I said, the Pharisees are a part of the Sanhedrin. And within the Sanhedrin, you have both Pharisees and you have Sadducees. The Pharisees were more in tune with the common people. They were religious leaders who love to hang out with the common people. The Sadducees, though, were the wealthy elitists who didn't mingle much with the people. That is the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, they stayed up in the temple around the temple. They were the wealthy ones. We don't mingle with the common people. That's the Pharisees job, they'll go out and mingle. And so the Sadducees would stay around the temple, and they would take care of the temple. But the Pharisees would go out to the synagogues that were established throughout the land of, of Israel, and they would go and minister there at the synagogues, because that's where the common people were.

 

What's interesting between these two groups is that the Pharisees were the ones who hated the Roman laws. They hated the Romans, and they hated Roman law. And they did not like the Hellenization of the Jews. That is for Jews to embrace the Greek culture. They did not like that, they hated that. The Pharisees were strict Jews.

 

The Sadducees however they were, they were a lot friendlier towards Rome, more accommodating toward Roman laws. Now the Herodians, who are these guys?

 

The Herodians. These were Hellenistic Jews. They were Jews who had embraced Greek culture, and they supported Herod. That's where their name comes from Herodians because they supported Herod, and therefore, they would embrace Rome. But what's interesting here is that it's not the Sadducees who team up with the Herodians. But who teams up with them? The Pharisees, the very people who hate Rome, the very people who despise Roman law, and say that if you want to be a Jew, you must be a strict Jew.

 

But it's those Pharisees who team up with the Herodians. And as the ancient proverb says, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. They both now have a common enemy. Their common enemy was who? It was Christ, their common enemy is Christ. And so they team up and they become friends, the Pharisees and the Herodians. They make an alliance. And what's the goal of their alliance? Look at what Mark says in verse 13.

 

He says he was to trap Him to trap Jesus in a statement.

 

Their goal and making this alliance and coming to Jesus was to trap Him. That's what they wanted to do. Now, what's interesting is, this word trap is what is called a hapax legomenon. Simply that means it's the only place that is used in the New Testament. If you were to study the Greek, this is the only place that Greek word is used in the entire New Testament. And this is a strong word. When Mark writes that they were seeking to trap Him, he uses a strong word there. It's a word that means to hunt, or to capture, or to catch animals. They weren't just trying to trap Jesus, and just say, I gotcha. It wasn't that. It wasn't "Aww, did you guys hear what he what he said? He's wrong. We got him." That's not what they were after. They were seeking to capture Him. They were hunting for Jesus. They're out to capture Him. They want to trap Him as a hunter traps an animal.

 

They're coming after Him. What do the Pharisees do to accomplish this? They form an alliance with the Herodians. And then they come and they bring a question to Jesus.

2.     The Attack

Which leads to our second point, point number two, we'll call the attack. The attack.

 

Look at verse 14.

 

They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” 

 

Now if you were just reading through this, if you were just reading through the Gospel of Mark, and you were to read through this, these two verses here, it seems as if they're being nice to Jesus, just asking Him a simple question. We just have a simple question for you, Jesus. Seems like they're being really nice to Him. And if we're not told that their intent in Mark was to trap Him, and if we were sitting there and we're just a part of the crowd watching this interaction take place between the Pharisees and the Herodians and Jesus, if we're amongst the crowd sitting there watching this happen, we would think wow, what nice guys. They got a question for Jesus, but look at how kind they are, they are so nice to Him.

 

Seems just like a cordial conversation between these guys. Look what they say to Jesus. They call Him teacher. They call Him teacher.  Now this title teacher, this title teacher would have been used for the most honored rabbis. You didn't just say, teacher to anyone. They would say, teacher to the most honored rabbis. And so what are they doing? By calling Him teacher here? They're giving Him honor, as a rabbi as one who teaches the words of God. But is that how they really saw Jesus? Of course not.

 

They go on and look what they say, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one.

 

 And what they're saying here is that Jesus is a teacher who doesn't lie to anyone. He is one who is always telling the truth. He cuts it straight. He speaks it straight. He always teaches that which is correct. And then notice what they say, and You defer to no one. Meaning Jesus doesn't care who He is speaking with. He's always going to tell them the truth. Someone’s status in life won't change the truth that He is speaking. He's not going to say one thing to the rich people. And another thing to the poor people. He doesn't care about status, He defers to no one, He just cuts it straight, and always speaks the truth.

 

Does He do it gently? Of course He does. Out of love? Of course He does. He always speaks the truth. And He's not partial to anyone. He's a man who speaks the truth. But that's not all that they have to say about Him. There are more kind things that they have to say about Jesus, they go on and say, but You You teach the way of God in truth. You defer to no one and You teach the way of God in truth. That is to say, You always speak the will of God to people. And what higher praise for a teacher than to say that He always speaks the truth of God to the people, right? There's no other higher praise that a teacher could get from someone than to say you always speak the truth of God.

 

But did these Pharisees and Herodians believe this? Of course not. Of course not. What are they doing here? This is called flattery. Flattery. It's the opposite of gossip. Listen to what R. Kent Hughes says about this. He says their strategy was perfumed with flattery. Flattery is the reverse mirror image of gossip. Gossip involves saying behind a person's back what you would never say to his face. Flattery is saying to a person's face, what you would never say, behind his back.

 

That's what these guys are doing here. Flattery, flattery, flattery and gossip. Both of those have the same goal. Both are used to tear someone down. They're an attack on a person.

 

And that's what they're using their flattery for, to attack Jesus. That's what they're doing. They're trying to set Jesus up with such a high standard. They're trying to lift Him so high, that when He answers their question, He would be caught in a trap, and fall and fall hard, and fall fast and ultimately fall to His death. That's what they're doing here.

 

But Jesus isn't thrown off by their flattery. Why? Because He knows what's in their heart. He knows exactly what's in their heart. John 2:24 says,

 

But Jesus on His part was not interesting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

 

He knew what was in the heart of these Pharisees and He knew what was in the heart of these Herodians, He knew every thought that they were thinking and He knows every thought that you think. He knows what's in your heart. He's not thrown off by this flattery. But these guys flatter Him, and then they think that they're going to trap Him with their question. What was their question? Look at the end of verse 14.

 

Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay?

 

Now why this question? Why would these guys come up to Jesus? And ask Him this question? Well, we need to understand some context here. Hold your finger in Mark, chapter 12. And turn over in your Bible to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. In Acts chapter 5, Peter and the apostles, they've been arrested for preaching Christ. And they're told not to preach in the name of Christ anymore. And when they're told that they answer with this famous line that we know, in Acts, chapter 5 and verse 29,

 

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)

 

They're confronted and said, do not speak in his name anymore. Don't talk about Jesus anymore. And they look back at those men, and they say, we must obey God rather than men. We're not going to listen to you because God has commanded us, Jesus has commanded us to go out and preach the gospel. And so guess what we're doing? We're preaching the gospel. And these guys are about to be killed. They're about to be killed. In fact, look at what it says in verse 33.

 

 33 But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. (Acts 5:33)

 

They wanted them dead. They're about to be killed. But there's a man named Gamaliel, who stood up. And he says something in verse 35, look at verse 35. 

 

 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.  (Acts 5:35-27)

 

Now Gamaliel gives two examples here of these men, Theudas and Judas of Galilee, Judas of Galilee is not Judas Iscariot. It's a different Judas, Judas of Galilee. And he gives these two examples. And it's the last example that Gamaliel gives that we need to know about that sets the context for us. According to the historian, Josephus, this man, Judas of Galilee, led a revolt in 6 A.D. And he led this revolt when a new governor imposed a new tax on the people. A new governor comes in and he says, Well, I'm going to put a tax on the people. Judas of Galilee rose up, and he caused this revolt, and got people to follow after him. But what happened to Judas of Galilee? He was executed. He was taken out. He was executed, and the revolt died too, the people scattered. They left.

 

And the Jews still remember this revolt. Remember, we're in about 30 A.D. here, this only happened in 6 A.D. The people know, they know about Judas of Galilee. But the sentiments of the revolt of Judas Iscariot, were still alive in Judaism. Although he was taken out, although he was executed, and his people scattered. The sentiment of that was still alive in Judaism in this time. The Jews did not want to pay taxes to Rome. They didn't want to pay taxes. But who's standing there in front of Jesus? The Pharisees and the who? Herodians. The Herodians who are favorable towards Rome.

 

They're there and they're asking Jesus if it's lawful to pay the poll tax to Caesar. What's a poll tax? A poll tax is simply one denarius. It was worth one day's wage, that was their tax. Be nice if that was our tax today, right? One day's wage. It's all you you give to them and you move on. That was the poll tax. And the tax would be paid every single year to Rome.

 

Turn back over to Mark chapter 12. And notice the question again in verse 14. Notice what they say in verse 14, they ask Jesus, Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar? Is it lawful? And what they're asking here is, what does the Torah say? What does God's word have to say? They're not asking about Roman law here. When they say it's lawful, they're not asking about the Roman law. They're asking about God's law. What does God have to say about this? And what are they thinking Jesus is going to say?

 

Well, the Pharisees want Him to say that you should not pay the tax to Caesar. And if Jesus does that, then the Herodians will get word back to Rome, because they love Rome, they're favorable with Rome, they will get word back to Rome, that Jesus is trying to start another revolt. And they would then take Him out, just as they did with Judas of Galilee, you see that? That's what's going on. That's the context of all of this.

 

They're trying to trap Jesus. And they want Jesus to say that you should not pay taxes to Caesar. But they're also trying to trap Jesus in the other way. If Jesus answered that you should pay taxes to Rome, then that would mean He is a false messiah, who is a traitor to the Jews into their religion. Because all the Jews, although they were forced to pay taxes, they didn't do it willingly. They didn't love to pay taxes to Rome, they hated Rome. They hated that they were under the law and the authority of Rome. And so if Jesus says, pay your taxes to Caesar, the people that are sitting there that see Him as a prophet, all of a sudden, they would turn on Him and say, You're not a true prophet. You mean, we should be favorable toward Caesar toward Rome? You know, what the Romans are doing to us as Jews?

 

And so either answer that Jesus gives here, these guys think they've got Him trapped. We've got Him. Ultimately, again, they want Him to say that you should not pay the tax to Rome, because that would carry with it the quickest and most severe consequences. If He says, "Don't pay Rome," the Herodians are going to go tell Rome, and He's done. Arrest Him and kill Him. He's trying to start a revolt here. Take Him out. Either way, they think they've got Him trapped. They've attacked Him. They've attacked Him.

 

And now they press Him again in verse 15, shall we pay or shall we not pay? Tell us we want to know. And all the people you can just see the people that are there just sitting in silence, watching this interaction happen between them. And they're waiting for this answer. What is He going to say? He's a prophet. We know that He's a prophet sent by God. What's He going to say? Well, what does Jesus say?

3.     The Answer

Leads to our third point, point number 3, The answer.

 

Continue on in verse 15. It says this,

 

But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.”

 

Jesus knew the hypocrisy of these men who were standing there. He knew exactly what these guys were up to. Remember, they had just acknowledged that Jesus was a truth teller. So implied would be that they are looking for the truth from Him, right? You are a teacher of God, you always tell this, tell the truth. Tell us what the truth is. That wasn't what they're after. They weren't after that. They're seeking to trap Him and to destroy Him. And Jesus knows this, and so He calls them hypocrites. These guys are hypocrites. Mark says Jesus knew their hypocrisy. But Matthew's account. in Matthew's account, Jesus responds, why are you testing Me, you hypocrites. Jesus confronts them in front of all these people, and He calls them hypocrites, because He knew that they weren't seeking the truth, but they were trying to put Jesus to the test. And then He tells them, bring Me a denarius to look at.

 

What's what's amazing at this point is that Jesus doesn't have a denarius. He doesn't have one on Him. And so He asked for them to go get one for Him.

 

Now, what's interesting here is you have to understand what's going on with the Jews and how they viewed the denarius and how they they viewed the coinage of this day. If you were to study the coinage of these days, whenever there was a new Emperor in Rome, it was the job of that new Emperor to mint new silver coins with his face on it. It  was called a denarius worth one day's wage, and so on that denarius would be the image of the Emperor. And it showed the people that he was in charge, he was the king, that was one of his first jobs, mint the coins, put your image on the coin and get it out, disperse it to the people so that they know you're the new Emperor, you're the king, you're in charge of Rome. The Jews though they had their own coins, their coins were copper coins, and they had shekels, which were used for the temple tax. But the Jews would refuse to carry around a denarius because it had the face of the Emperor on it. And to them, that would be idol worship, you see that? It would be breaking the second commandment. They wouldn't carry a denarius with them. And so Jesus asked them to produce one of these coins for Him.

 

Now the Herodians, although they are very favorable to Rome, they are Jews as well. You got the Herodians who are Jews, the Pharisees who are Jews, and all Jewish people in front of Him who were there for the Passover, and He tells them produce for Me a denarius. Show Me one. And what do they do? What do you think the Pharisees in the Herodians do at that point? Get one, hurry, find one. But isn't it idol worship? We don't care? Not at this point. Get us a denarius? We've got to show it because we want to get Jesus to answer this question. They find one so fast. They have one brought to Jesus. Why? Because they still think they're going to trap Him. They think they're going to trap Him.

 

Verse 16, says they brought one, and He said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this.

 

And whose likeness was on that coin, who was on there? It was the emperor. At that time, it was Tiberius Caesar, he was the emperor. And on the backside of the coin was him sitting on a throne with priestly garments on designating him as the high priest. And so on one side of the coin, he says, I'm the king. I'm the Emperor here. And on the other side of the coin, he's saying to the people, and I'm also the high priest. I'm in charge around here. And there would have been an inscription that was on this coin that read this "Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus". Augustus was his father. And Augustus established himself as God over the Roman Empire, he established himself as God and so his son Tiberius, then would be the son of God. Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus, was written on these coins.

 

And so Jesus asked, whose likeness and inscription is this? And what did the people say? What did they say? Caesar, all of them at once "it's Caesar", and especially those Pharisees and Herodians. They want to say it as fast as they can. Well, that's Caesar, so answer our question, Jesus, what are You going to do here? Again, they still think they've got Him trapped. We're going to take Him out. They want to make sure that they get that right. They want to make sure that everyone knows that it's Caesar on the front of this coin because they think they've got Him. We've got Him trapped. You can just imagine the Pharisees and the Herodians are just waiting there eagerly to hear Jesus answer. It's Caesar, now tell us, give us the answer. And what do they want Him to say? They want Him to say, don't pay Caesar don't pay him.

 

They want Him to say that because then that to Rome would be a revolt, and then they've got Him. They can arrest Him and kill Him. Right then. But what does Jesus say? What's His answer? Look at verse 17.

 

Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

 

And these guys must have been thinking, what kind of answer is this? That's not the answer we're looking for. What do you mean? We want to hear Him say that you should not pay taxes to Caesar. Or at least tell us only to pay Caesar our taxes, and therefore deny God, and Judaism and God's rule in God's kingdom. I mean, just tell us one or the other.

 

But Jesus, in His brilliance, knowing exactly what is going on in the hearts of these men, Jesus gives an answer that is not only straightforward, but it's also truthful. Which is exactly what they just said about Him, right? They're using flattery. And little did they know that every word that Jesus speaks is the truth. They're trying to flatter Him. Jesus gives the answer and He says, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

 

And what does Jesus do here in His answer? What is He doing here? Two things.

 

1. Jesus establishes that government is to be paid back, what is owed them. I've heard many Christians who have denied paying taxes, because they think that it's within their constitutional right to not have to pay taxes. But that goes against Jesus clear teaching here. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, pay your taxes. Government is a God-ordained system. Romans 13 is clear about this. Government is a God-ordained system. Government has been established as a common grace for all of us. Think about the roads that we have to drive on the water that we drink, and all of the other things that the government does for us that's a common grace to You and I. When you go home today, and turn on the faucet, that's a common grace from God. It's been established for us. And all of these common graces are there and are given to us by the government. And while we might not always like the government, or agree with their policies, God tells us that we are to pay to them what is due to them. That's our duty. That's our obligation as believers, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. Now we might want lower taxes. So we don't have to pay as much, but that's where our voting comes in. We can use our vote for that. But when the government says, to pay up your taxes, we are to do that as those who are under their authority. Paul reiterates this in Romans 13:7 "render to all what is due to them tax to whom taxes do custom to whom custom fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." To do to them. Pay it. And listen, Christian, I know that the flesh wants to rise up to a tyrannical government and fight the system. And there are legal ways to do that. But Jesus says, give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. God calls us in Romans 12:18, to live at peace with all men, not just brothers and sisters in Christ, but with all men we are to live at peace. That means when the government says pay up, we pay up even if we disagree with them.

 

Look, Rome wasn't a democracy. You think the Jews liked hearing Jesus say pay to Caesar what is Caesar's?  You think they liked that? They hated that. They didn't like hearing that. But Jesus spoke the truth.

 

One commentator says their use of the coin proclaimed their obligation to the government it represented, they use the coin, and therefore they were obligated to pay up to the government.

 

We're obligated to give to the government, what is due to them. That's our obligation as believers. But notice, Jesus doesn't stop there.

 

2. He goes on and says, and render to God, the things that are God's. We don't have an obligation just to the government. But we also have an obligation to God. Their question that they asked seem to imply that it was either one or the other. Either Caesar, or God, which one is it, Jesus? And Jesus says what? Both. It's both. You're obligated to both. Now is our duty to God more important than our duty to the government? Of course it is. Of course it is. And that's why in Acts 5:29, when Peter and the apostles are told not to preach in the name of Jesus, they say, we must obey God rather than men.

 

Our obligation is to God, first and foremost. And when the government tells us to do something that is sin, when they tell us to do something that is in violation of our relationship to God, we obey who? God, we obey God. Why? Because just like that coin, has the image of Caesar on it, and therefore are obligated to the government to a greater degree, you and I have the image of God stamped on us. You realize that? We have the image of God stamped on us, Genesis 1:26,

 

God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

 

And as believers, we bear the image of Christ. We've been bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, and therefore we need to glorify God, with our bodies, with everything that we have, everything that we do, everything that we say, we have an obligation to God, and to bring glory to His name. This calls for complete obedience to Christ in our lives. This means we live for Christ, so that Christ will be formed in us.

 

Are we a part of the kingdom of this world? Sure, in that we live in it. Therefore, we're obligated to give what it demands. But more importantly, we are a part of the Kingdom of God. Right? As believers we’re children of the King of God where Christ rules and reigns as King. And as God's children, as God's servants, as God's slaves, we are obligated to give exactly what He demands from us in His Word. When Jesus gives this answer to the Pharisees who are standing there, they should have stopped and examined themselves and thought, am I rendering to God what is God's? But they didn't do that. What did they do?

 

4.     The Amazement

Point number four. The amazement. The amazement

 

Look at what it says at the end of verse 17,

 

and they were amazed at Him.

 

Luke tells us that they were not only amazed by His answer, but that they also became silent. They became silent before Him. They came with an attack thinking that they were going to trap Jesus with another question, but instead, they are amazed by His answer, and they walk away in complete silence. Jesus silences His enemies. And I'm sure they have to be thinking as they walk away in silence. They've got to be thinking, "How did he escape that question? That guy's good."

 

Yeah, He's the son of God. And He knows exactly what's in your heart. You weren't going to trap Him. He's the Messiah. And instead of falling on their knees in worship of Him, they went back and continue their plot to try and kill Him.

 

Have you fallen on your knees before Christ? Do you know Him as Lord and Savior? Is He the King of your life? These guys should have recognized that on this Wednesday, they missed it. And what did they do? They hardened their hearts towards Him, and sought to kill Him, to destroy Him, because they hated the truth.

 

If Christ is not Lord of your life, if He is not the King of your life, I urge you this morning to repent of your sin, and come to Him, in trust, and faith. Fall on your knees before Him and declare Him as Lord and as Savior, and ask Him and beg Him to save you from your sins from an eternity in hell. And when you do that, He will answer. Come to Him today. Don't harden your heart, like the Pharisees did, like the Herodians did, but come in repentance and faith and give your life to Christ today.

 

These guys are amazed by Jesus' answer. But would that amazement lead to repentance? They wouldn't. How do we know? Turn over to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. This is the trial of Jesus before Pilate. This is amazing here because this is only two days later. They questioned Him on Wednesday, and now it is Friday, two days later. And look at what it says in Luke 23 and verse 1.

 

Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him, that is Jesus, before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him saying, we found this man misleading our nation, and notice this, forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that He Himself is Christ a King.

 

What did they do? They lied. They lied about Jesus. And instead of believing their own words of flattery, and recognizing that Jesus does only speak truth, and that He does only speak the Word of God, and falling down on their knees before Him as their king, their hearts were hardened even more towards Jesus, and they lied about Him in order to get Him killed.

 

Either fall on your knees and submit to Christ, or reject Him and pay the consequences. That's what these guys did. They rejected Him. They lied about Him. And that's exactly what the world does. The world does this. They deny His authority. And they deny His kingship because they don't believe in Him.

 

But we recognize it, right? As believers, we recognize that Jesus is the King, that He is Lord over all. And as those who are made in His image and have been stamped and sealed with the Holy Spirit as His children, that means you and I are obligated. We are obligated to live for Him, and to worship Him, and to obey Him in all that we do.

 

May we reflect this heart of obedience to this dying world and render to God that which is God's.

 

Let's pray. Father thank You for Jesus who only speaks the truth. Little did these Pharisees and Herodians know that what they had said, was actually true. While they used flattery to try and attack Jesus, the words that they said were actually true. Because Jesus does only speak the truth. Father, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for what happened to Him two days later, on Friday, when He willingly went to the cross, although they sought Him to kill Him and destroy Him, we know that He went willingly because He is the ultimate sacrifice. It was His blood that needed to be paid, that needed to be shed to make the payment for our sins. And we thank You for His obedience to You. And the picture that He is for us the illustration the example that He is to us and what it means to be obedient to You. Father, we thank You that He died on that cross, and that He was buried, and we thank You that He did not stay dead, but that He rose again, and He lives today. Father, I pray that our lives as we live our lives today that we would live in Thanksgiving and honor and praise and glory to You in Your name. As we are obligated to render unto You what is Yours. Father, we are Yours. We thank You for the salvation that You've given us. I pray that You would help us to live in obedience to You. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.