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Verse 12, Due to the hardness of their hearts
the vine-dressers before Jesus, these religious leaders respond
to his parable. The way they respond is that they’re
provoked to anger. That’s their hearts, man. A hard heart
is when you don’t get things your way and you get angry,
and they just get angry. In fact, Luke tells us that they
seek to lay hold of Jesus at that very hour. But they’re
unable to because of his popularity at that moment. They certainly
don’t know what it means to be longsuffering because
they are just teed-off with Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 13, thinking
about the love of God again, 1 Corinthians 13 says that love
is not easily provoked. And you know, God is looking for fruit
in these people’s lives. And obviously you see by reading
these Scriptures they didn’t have it at all, because
love is not easily provoked. And these guys are just teed-off
and trying to get a hold of Jesus. And also we know in 1 Corinthians
13 that love does not behave rudely. And of course they’re
pretty rude in their behavior here, they’re trying to
take hold of him. But that’s what God desires to see
in your life. You know if you read this and you consider these
guys, in some cases we can see some of us in these guys, you
know. You know, you just press me to a point, I get provoked,
I get angry, I fly off the handle. That’s not the love
that God desires, that’s not the fruit that he desires
to see in your life. Or you just behave rudely, you know.
If there’s anyone you’ve behaved rudely with I encourage
you to go and repent and ask for their forgiveness. Because,
man, love does not behave rudely, just doesn’t. God wants
to see love in your life.
Verses 13-17, “Then they sent to him some of
the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch him in his words.
When they had come they said to him, ‘Teacher, we know
that you are true and care about no one, for you do not regard
the person of men, but teach the way of God and truth. Is
it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall
we not pay?’ But he, knowing their hypocrisy said to
them, ‘Why do you test me? Bring me a dinarius that I
may see it.’ So they brought it and he said to them,
‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ and they
said to him, ‘Caesar’s.’ And Jesus answered
and said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.’
And they marvelled at him.” I wonder if some
of these guys came to Christ maybe later and reflect back
to this time, trying to trap Jesus. But the Herodians and
the Pharisees have joined together. Before this, they weren’t
the best of friends, these two groups. But you know, enemies
will join together for a common cause, and these guys have.
And now they’ve really thought this one through, they’ve
got Jesus there in Jerusalem, and if they can get him to in
some way say something against the Roman government, well
they can go to Pilate and the Romans will take care of him.
But if they get him, if they can get him to say something
that maybe would anger the people-maybe paying homage to the
Roman authorities. And the Jewish people obviously didn’t
like the Romans. So if he can say something that maybe would
make the people angry, then they’ve got some grounds
again to get hold of him. Well, Jesus, you can never trap
him. He takes care if it pretty clearly, and they say ‘Listen’,
they say, ‘you know, is it right to pay the poll tax,
is it right for us to go and pay taxes to Caesar, a Jewish
man? You know, you’re a guy who doesn’t really pay
respect to anybody, and you kind of do what you want to do,
and seem to just teach the way of God.’ And of course
they’re hypocrites in what they’re saying, they
don’t really believe this anyway, trying to set him up,
butter him up so he’ll respond in a certain way. But
he says, ‘Hey man, give me a coin. What’s on this
coin? You see Caesar, the picture of Caesar? Give to Caesar
what is Caesar’s. But give to God what is God’s.’
Clearly we read in the Bible God’s instituted a government,
he’s instituted the government and we read, and it's
hard to even comprehend, but he’s appointed the leaders
that we have [this sermon given while Bill Clinton was in
office as President of the United States]. And then he says,
‘Pray for them without ceasing.’ He says, ‘Honor
the king.’ So he says, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s-that
fits into my plan-and give to God what is God’s.’
These few guys that have come, Luke and the other gospels
tell us they’ve come like spies, they’ve been sent
just to trap. And I think of again, love, you know. Jesus
says, you know, ‘You guys, there’s no fruit, so
you’re gonna be cursed. You’re like the fig tree.’
And here you just see their thoughts. The Bible says in 1
Corinthians 13 that God’s love thinks no evil, and obviously
all they have is evil thoughts. They’ve gotten together
conspiring, you know, ‘How can we trap this guy, and
how can we even do it dishonestly if we need to?’-bunches,
bunches of evil thoughts. Also we read in 1 Corinthians 13
that love does not rejoice in iniquity. Man, they would have
been just parading in joy if they could have trapped him here.
It says, “Instead, love rejoices in the truth”,
and they just don’t rejoice in the truth. They want their
own way. We’re told in 1 Corinthians 13 that “Love
believes all things”, just trusts. That’s far from
their hearts. Now where are you today? Are there some folks
that maybe, well you had some evil thoughts against. Maybe
somebody’s done something against you and sometimes when
that happens thoughts can come into your mind and you can
just start thinking things that just are evil, you know. If
something bad happened to somebody that you know [that you
don’t like], well, you wouldn’t have too much trouble
sleeping at night, if you heard the report, ‘Tommy, he
got hit by a car, Oh well.’ You know, we can do that
in our thoughts, can’t we, people that have just these
evil thoughts, rejoicing maybe in iniquity rather than rejoicing
in truth and in the love of God. Well, God wants to see in
your life, God wants to see in my life, he wants to see fruit.
He doesn’t want to see all the other stuff, he wants
to see fruit, and the fruit is love. He wants to see love.
He wants to see it in your thoughts. He wants to see it in
your actions. And that’s what tells it all, that’s
the whole picture, man. Are you a Caleb, can you say you obeyed
him fully? Had his different Spirit in you? Or are you more
like the Israelites, just in your thoughts and in your heart?
God wants to see fruit in our life, and it’s love. Who
are you more like? Are you at times more like the guys before
Jesus? Or are you more like the love that God desires in 1
Corinthians 13?
Here, Jesus, as a side-point, does say this truth about honoring
Caesar. And we’re to honor ‘Caesar’, certainly
that’s obeying God [cf. Romans 13:1-7, Daniel 4.], except
when Caesar gets outside of God’s law. But when we’re
told to pay taxes, if it’s 95% of our income, we’re
to pay 95% of our income, because that’s not outside
of God’s law. Obviously it’s warped if we were to
pay that much, but that’s not outside God’s law.
We’re to pay taxes. And the laws of the land, if they,
if you can’t go to Scripture to find one that says the
law is outside of God’s will, you’re to obey the
law, whatever it is-in all that you do, that’s obeying
God, that’s loving God. Obeying him, that’s loving
him with your life.
You know, this marriage thing has come up a lot, over the
last number of weeks. I’ve been in a lot of discussions
about marriage and what marriage is and what marriage isn’t.
Sometimes people think that marriage is really just this agreement
between two individuals. You know, if you live together eight
or ten years, you’re married, you’re an Adam &
Eve basically, you’re married together [common law],
you know, you’re spending time together, you love each
other, that’s marriage. But God has instituted the government
[i.e he’s instituted the physical governments over people
in the world, as evil as some of them are-this is a mystery
that baffles some, but read Romans 13:1-7 and Daniel chapter
4.] He’s given the laws of the land. Marriage today,
the equation of marriage today includes the law, it includes
the legal aspect. Marriage today includes that certificate,
you’re not married today [except in one state where common
law is still on the books]-if you don’t have that certificate
today, you’re not married. If you don’t have the
state’s approval, you’re not married, because God’s
instituted the laws. If the laws get outside of God’s
plan then it’s different [i.e. gay or same-sex marriages
are outside of God’s plan, for sure]. When today we’re
heading down the road where evidently in our state [Massachusetts]
not long from now and in other states [Vermont, so far], you
know, there’s gonna be this same-sex marriage thing.
Well, clearly that’s outside of God’s law. And so
therefore the Bible says that’s depravity, that’s
not God’s desire at all. So in that case I don’t
give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, because it’s outside
of what God has desired. But in all the other cases it’s
part of God’s will, it’s God’s desire for me
to obey Caesar.
Verses 18-23, “And some Sadducees, who say there
is no resurrection, came to him and they asked him, saying,
‘Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother’s
brother dies and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children,
his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for
his brother. Now there were seven brothers, the first took
a wife and dying he left no offspring. And the 2nd took her
and he died, nor did he leave any offspring, and the 3rd likewise.
So the seven had her and left no offspring, and last of all
the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection when they
arise, whose wife will she be, for all seven had her as a
wife?’” Now it’s important to understand
that the Sadducees do not believe in angels, they do not believe
in spirits [demons], they do not believe in the resurrection.
They believe that when you die, you die and that’s it.
That’s why they’re Sad-You-See, a pretty sad belief
to have [Sadd-U-Cee’s, ha, ha]. And, they’re trying
to trap Jesus, they’re trying to trap him in this little
riddle. But also they’re trying to prove a point in front
of the Pharisees, because the Pharisees and them debated.
The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, the Sadducees
didn’t. So they’ve got a clever way here to prove
a point, make themselves look good, but also trap Jesus. Well,
you could only imagine them trying to come up with this, trying
to think this one through. “Jesus answered and
said to them, ‘Are you not therefore mistaken because
you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. For when
they rise from the dead they do neither marry nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven. But concerning
the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of
Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him saying,
‘I’m the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God
of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead, but the God
of the living. You’re therefore greatly mistaken’”
(Verses 24-27). They only believed in, really, the
authority of the Torah, the first [five] books of Moses, so
he goes right to the book of Moses to prove that there is
a resurrection. He says ‘God said in the burning bush,
I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ He wouldn’t
say that if they were dead, he would say ‘I was
the God’, past tense, they’re dead, they don’t
exist anymore. He says ‘I am the God, meaning they still
exist. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still were living he says.
They were with him, of course. And, so he goes right back
to their Law showing them that right in their own Word that
they didn’t even know, he said, ‘You guys didn’t
even know the Scriptures. You study it, you miss out on the
beautiful truth of it. “’And therefore, because
you do not know the Word of God, you do not know the power
of God.’”-because you’re not walking with God
and seeking him in his Word, truly seeking him, just the power
of God. And the power of God includes rising, taking folks
and rising them up from the dead, he can do that. And he will
do that, and in fact he’s gonna do it again in a most
beautiful way in just a few days. He’s gonna take a man
and pull him right out of the grave, Jesus Christ himself.
He says ‘You guys just don’t know the power of God,
man. And therefore you’re short-sighted, and man, you’re
pretty sad, because, you have such a hopeless faith.’
Love, love we’re told in 1 Corinthians 13, that “love
hopes all things.” If there was no resurrection, man,
there would be no hope, that’s what Paul said. Paul said
[in 1 Corinthians 15-the resurrection chapter] “If Christ
is not risen your faith is futile, you’re still in your
sins. Then all those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If in this life alone we have hope in Christ we
are of all men the most pitiable.” He says, ‘Without
the resurrection, without eternal life, it’s just silly
to be a Christian.’ But then we read in 1 Corinthians
13 that God’s love includes hope, “it hopes all
things”, and of course that tells you and I that we have
a great hope, and that’s in a risen life later when we’re
gonna be with the Lord. We’re gonna get raised from the
dead, man. We’re gonna go in the twinkling of an eye,
we’re gonna get new bodies and we’re gonna be right
there in the throne room with God and just praise and worship
and live like we’ve never even comprehended to a degree
what it’s gonna be like. [Click
here to see what Paul had to say about the 1st resurrection
to immortality .] So because of that, you and I have a
great hope, a great hope. Paul concludes 1 Corinthians 15,
he says “But thanks be to God who gives us victory through
our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore my beloved brethren, be
steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”-because
you have a great hope. God loves you so much, he’s gonna
give you eternal life if you’re a Christian here today.
You’re gonna spend eternity with him, so you have a great
hope. Just to serve, to be steadfast, be immovable. Sometimes,
you know, when things get certain ways in our lives, you know,
they get kind of crazy, we start to get in despair, and we
don’t have a lot of hope. As Christians we got a tremendous
hope. No matter how dark it gets outside, no matter if the
stock market crashes and America really gets kind of weird,
we’ve got a great hope, because of where we’re going,
because of the Lord. So therefore we keep serving, we keep
loving and praising him. He’s given us eternal life.
Our love, the love of God that he’s given to us, will
not disappoint us. God is the God of the living, and that’s
the greatest hope. [And I might add here for those who are
a bit confused, the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6 said
in talking about some of the saints who had actually seen
Jesus, but were now dead, he said this of those Christians
who had died, “…after that, he was seen of above
500 brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto
the present, but some are fallen asleep.” In Luke 8:41-42,
49-52-55, Jesus came to the house of Jairus, whose 12-year-old
daughter had just died. The crowd gathered around the girl
was wailing and weeping (verse 52), but Jesus said, “Weep
not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” She was dead. In
verse 54 it says “and he put them all out, and took her
by the hand, and called saying ‘Maid arise’. And
her spirit came again and she arose straightway: and he commanded
to give her meat.” Now what is the lesson here? Was Jesus
lying about the girl being dead? Well, no. To God (and the
apostle Paul) we see the dead are just sleeping-why??-because
it is God who can “wake up the dead.” In Isaiah
26:19 it says about those (Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, and
all who are to be in the resurrection to immortality, “thy
dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for
the earth shall cast out the dead.” If you read
verses 20-21, you see this is written in context with the
2nd coming of Jesus Christ [cf. Revelation 19] and the resurrection
to immortality of the saints [cf. 1 Corinthians 15:49-54].
So to the very One who can raise the dead, “awake”
the dead, yes, the dead are merely sleeping. To God the dead
are not really dead but sleeping. Are you going to argue that
point with Jesus, God the Son, or the apostle Paul? I guess
you can if you want to. In Acts 2:29 it says, “Men and
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with
us unto this day.” In Psalm 16:10 this same patriarch
David himself prophecied of his own resurrection when he said,
“For thou wilt not leave my soul [Hebrew: Nephesh :flesh,
body] in hell [Sheol, the grave]; neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption.” (read vs. 9-11) David
is considered one of the patriarchs, along with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. The Jews say they are dead, even Peter said David
was dead and buried “and his grave is with us to this
day.” But to God, they’re all asleep, awaiting his
wake-up call (Isaiah 26:19; 1 Corinthians 15:6,49-54). So
this is what Jesus means when he’s stating that God is
the God of the living, and names Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
who naturally, to us, are quite dead and buried. But to the
God who can “awake the dead” they’re not dead,
just sleeping. The Sadducees clearly didn’t understand
the power of God here.]
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