Can't begin to tell you what
a delight it is to be back here in Michigan again, to see all
you Michiganders. Had a fairly uneventful trip,
though the I-75 is pretty messed up right before you get to Lexington
and all the way to Cincinnati, but we had a little trouble getting
a motel that first night. We usually split up the trip,
ended up going to four different motels before we finally got
one, but we did get one. Other than that, it was a great
trip, enjoyable. It's always enjoyable that my
wife gets to travel with me. And it's just a blessing to be
here. It's good to see every one of
you. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew 17, beginning with verse 24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received a tribute,
a tribute money, came to Peter and said, does not your master
pay tribute? And he said, yes. And when he
was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest
thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth
take custom or tribute, of their own children or of strangers? And Peter said unto them, Of
strangers. Jesus said unto thee, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding,
lest we should offend, go thou to the sea. and cast a hook and
take up the fish that first cometh up when thou hast opened his
mouth thou shalt find a piece of money that take and given
to them for me and thee. In this passage of scripture
there's no doubt that this is a miracle performed by the Lord
Jesus Christ He and his disciples have come
to Capernaum. In one scripture, in Matthew
chapter 9, this is called Christ's own city. And it's where Peter
made his home, according to Matthew chapter 8. And at that time,
Peter was approached by a man who collected tribute money. Now the money he collected was
not for taxes to Rome. as our Lord had dealt with that
in Matthew chapter 22 when he said, Written unto Caesar that
which is Caesar's, and unto me that which is mine. Nor was this
the atonement money paid for every man in Israel when Israel
was numbered, which signified that where atonement was not
made a person was not counted among the people. This was tribute
money. It was money given for the support
and maintenance of the temple. And it was a custom. And over
the years, it changed from being a voluntary act into becoming
a tradition and even like a law among the Jews, which to many
Jews was the same thing as being God's doctrine. Their traditions
often became what they called God's doctrine. You'll remember
in Matthew chapter 12, our Lord rebuked the Pharisees. for teaching
their traditions as if they were the doctrine of God. He says,
you teach the traditions of men as if they were doctrines of
God. However, this tribute was not a useless tradition because
it did maintain the temple and it did keep it in good repair.
It made sure that there was oil for the lampstand and bread for
the table of showbread. The man who approached Peter
asked if Christ had paid his tribute Probably asking Peter
because he did not know if Christ had met the requirement of 12
months citizenship in Capernaum in order to pay tribute. Now Peter was known as a resident
of that city. Our Lord then takes Peter aside and says he prevented
him or stopped him or preceded him even. Takes him aside and
asks him a question designed to have Peter reach a conclusion
about Jesus Christ. which is the purpose of all miracles
to begin with, this miracle included. So this miracle is going to tell
Peter who Jesus Christ is. Our Lord says, who pays tributes? Who pays taxes? Does the king
require taxes of his own family? Or does he require taxes of his
subjects? Simon Peter says, well, of course,
he retires taxes of his subjects. Our Lord says that the families,
the children of the king, are free from paying tribute. By saying this, our Lord is asserting
who He is. His words hold a two-fold meaning.
First, as the son of David, He is of the royal family and therefore
is not required to pay tribute at all. Secondly, as the son
of God and owner of the temple in truth, tribute should be paid
to him in truth. Thus, if he pays tribute, it
will be a voluntary act wherein he may not be accused of breaking
the law because he fulfilled every precept of the law. And
declaring his right not to pay the tribute, he nonetheless does
not desire to make it an issue at the time, lest we offend some
folks, he said. He does not wish to needlessly
offend this fella. So he directs Peter, who was
a fisherman, to go down to the sea and cast a hook. And in the mouth of the first
fish he catches, he will find a coin. that will pay tribute
for both he and Simon Peter so Peter does so and sure enough
there's a corn in that fish's mouth and tribute is paid this is nothing short of a miracle
it's a miraculous thing but as with all miracles they authenticate
common and reasonable lessons Miracles are not something unto
themselves. Off time men and women spend
time observing these miraculous things at the expense of what
these amazing things really mean and really teach. There are several things here
in this passage of scripture. First thing is this, it is important
for the believer to use the scripture with care, to use the scripture
with care. Sometimes in the desire to be
right, to prove some point, a believer will be guilty of trying to press
one point of scripture to prove another. There are all these
examples of this in religion. Some men who are believers endeavor
to use the law in an unlawful manner as a rule of life and
guide for the believer. The law is not the rule of life
and guide for the believer. In fact, the believer according
to scripture is dead to the law and he's dead to the law by the
law. The law requires him dead to
the law because the law has been satisfied on his behalf. The
law of Moses belongs to the old covenant, not to the new covenant. But some can't seem to separate
the two. Many believers who are trusting wholly in the merits
of Christ for their salvation, endeavoring to be good and moral
people, often err by applying to the law for a time. We do
it in different ways. We may not call it Moses' Law,
but if we call it stealing, and our own
mind is stealing, we'll try to pay it back. We'll try to do
something. That never works. Simon Peter fell into this error as well as did Barnabas and James
at Antioch, didn't they? They went back under the law. Those Gentile believers had been
saved by grace. Paul did not preach the law to
them except in the sense that the law was fulfilled, satisfied,
and finished on Calvary's tree. And then the Judaizers came in
and said, well, that's right. Christ did die and he saved us,
but you still have to keep Moses' law. You have to be circumcised.
And Peter and James and Barnabas fell under that error. And they
walked away from the Gentiles and began having fellowship with
the Judaizers. And when Paul came, he stood
Peter face to face. eyeball to eyeball and said, you despise the grace
of God. That's quite a rebuke, isn't it? He said that to Simon
Peter and James and Barnabas. You despise the grace of God
because you're going back, trying to get believers to go back under
the law. Paul would later tell Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter
1 and verse 7 through 10 that these who do this don't know
what they're doing or the ramifications of what they do when they do
it. By trying to bring a believer back under the law, you're actually
saying that Christ's work did nothing for the believer. Christ
said He put away our sins. He put away our sins and He did
not quantify or qualify them or list them what they were.
It was a generic term that involved every sin. that we've ever committed
or ever will. All our sins. He put away all
our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. He died for our sins
according to the Scripture. And Scripture teaches plainly
that He has been made by God unto the believer wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He bore our sins in His body.
He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. The child of God is righteous. He is perfect. He has been perfected
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and he stands accepted in the beloved
without spot, wrinkle, blemish, or any such thing. And for you
to say, no, you must go under the law, you're saying to that
one whom God has made clean, you're not clean. That's what
you're saying. Paul says it this way, to those
who've been, he says, the law is not for the
righteous man. Who's the law for? It's for sinners. Who's the law for? It's for adulterers. Who's the law for? It's for fornicators.
Who's the law for? It's for manslayers and murderers
and anything else that's not of sound doctrine. But, being the human beings that
we are, frail and faulty and full of fear we often do what
we ought not in these things human beings apply human logic
to spiritual things and it simply does not jive with faith and sometimes it wins the battle
in the concept of righteousness. For example, some have asserted the disciples
weren't really saved until they heard the gospel, so they weren't
really saved at the time they walked with the Lord Jesus Christ.
They didn't have a full understanding of the gospel, and that's true.
You look at Antioch, not Antioch, but Pentecost, you'll find that
they believed a whole lot of stuff after Pentecost they didn't
understand before Pentecost, before the Spirit came and showed
them Jesus Christ. But it must be remembered that
when the disciples walked with Christ, the New Testament had
not been written yet. So what is ours by God's grace,
the full revelation of Christ, was not yet theirs. And it's
a waste of energy to press what we know to be true because we
have at our disposal upon those who lived in a time when those
things did not exist. We have the Bible. They didn't
have the whole Bible. They had the Old Testament. Now, the gospel
is in the Old Testament, and that's what they used to preach.
But they didn't have the New Testament. Not yet. The Old Testament was Christ
in picture, and type, and shadow. The Old Covenant was a visible
and physical covenant, building ceremonies and rites. And it
was a conditional covenant. Basically, it said this, if a
man under that covenant would naturally obey God, they would
receive natural blessings. That was what that covenant said.
That covenant was not of faith, that covenant was of sight. The
law was written on stone, tables of stone. So that made it outside
the adherent as a watcher and a reminder of what men are doing
wrong. The time of Christ was a time
of transition. It was an amazing time, this
time in the Gospels, recorded in the Gospels. before the New
Testament began being written. The Gospels were written after
most of the New Testament epistles were penned. They were written down. When these men came preaching
the Gospel in the early days, when our Lord Jesus Christ came,
He required men to believe. To believe that the Kingdom had
arrived and that meant the sovereign rule of Christ had arrived in
person. But he accompanied all these
things he said with signs and wonders and miracles. That accompanied
the preaching of the Word of God. Thus that time was a mingling,
if you will, of faith and sight for that short period of time.
Then came the time of the apostles after Pentecost when the Word
of God was finished and sight was put away. All things visible
Don't matter. If you can see it, you can't
count on it. If you can see it, you can't
trust it. It's as simple as that. People
talk about being literalist. I believe the Bible literally.
Probably not, but they say that anyway. You know what's literal
in the world? What can't be seen. What can be seen is passing away.
It's temporary. What's literal? Spiritual things. Things that God has spoken and
declared that we've never seen at all. People talk about, show
me some evidence that you're a child of God. I can't. I don't
have any evidence because anything I can do can be duplicated by
the devil. How do I know I'm a child of God? I believe. There's got to be more to it
than that, no? I believe. Isn't that amazing? Think about
that. The world has all kinds of evidence. All kinds of evidence. They wear
it on their persons. They decorate their cars with
it. They put it inside their church buildings. They walk a
certain way and talk a certain way and hang their head a certain
way and carry their Bible a certain way. They talk about the praying
they do, and the singing they do, and the giving they do, and
all those things they do, the church attendance and so forth.
They have evidence. But that's not evidence because
the whole world does that who has no interest in Jesus Christ
whatsoever. You think, I drove by an assembly church down on
the way here this morning and it was packed, that lot was packed
full of people. And it was the kind of assembly
that most assembly are, it's one of them full contact gospel church,
where they just go into all manners, don't know Christ from a goose.
You gotta guarantee if you went up and down there and preached
Christ one time too, they'd throw you out of the church. Throw you out of the church.
We have the Word of God. What do you do with it? You believe
it. What a wonder. The children of
God are believers. that distinguish them from what?
From unbelievers. That's the only thing that does.
The law, the Word of God is written in the hearts and minds of believers
upon, I believe, upon regeneration. And when that believer hears
the gospel, they just believe it. They say, that's it, and
that's true. And now no credentials are needed
because the Word is complete. God has given His people faith.
I don't have to do something so you'll believe the gospel."
But back then they did. Back then they were given these
things to authenticate the message that they preached. And so the
purpose of this miracle that our Lord does here is to authenticate
what He said to Peter concerning Himself and concerning His children. Our Lord is the temple, isn't
He? His body is the temple of which
He is head, and He could have rightfully, utterly discounted
the physical temple. Pay tribute to the temple. You
kidding? I'm the temple. He could have
said that and been right. Are you kidding? My church, those
whom I came to save, mine elect, they're the temple. But He didn't. Why did he even bother to give
tribute to a thing that would soon pass away? The temple was
going away. It was going to be destroyed and fulfilled in his body because
it wasn't time to do it. It wasn't time to do it. The
offense would come and he would pay for it at the hands of the
temple worshipers. But his hour was not yet come,
so for the time being he paid tribute, lest he offend." You
know our Lord wasn't afraid of offending religious folks. The
only people he gave a hard time to was religious folks. But he
paid the tribute. And that's a simple lesson. Choose
your battles. Choose your battles. Take care
that you do not press the fact of the full revelation of Christ
upon a time when he was not fully revealed to prove a point that
is really of no value. He says, notwithstanding, lest
we offend. It's a wise thing to pick your
battles. Lest you become a soldier who
lives for war, not peace. Sometimes the side of your back and the dust of your feet as
you walk away are the most effective testimony and rebuke against
a false teaching." Our Lord said, lest we offend, we'll pay this
tribute. The temple said that. The head
of the temple said that. Let's pay tribute to the temple.
Secondly, Christ is set forth here as the sovereign king. King
over his creation. He is king. When you see the
words, the kingdom is come, that means not only the king has come,
but his sovereign rule has been established clearly. It means
he reigns over all. He's the king of all kings and
the Lord of all lords. And all his creatures are subjects
to him. They are his subjects. And all
creatures, whether they believe him or not, All creatures, whether
they love Him or not, all creatures serve Him and do His bidding
and fulfill their purpose. Religion likes to say, God loves
you and has a wonderful plan for your life. God may not love
you, but He's got a plan for your life, whether you love Him
or not, or whether He loves you or not. All His creatures serve
Him. They do exactly as he bids. Our
Lord taught Peter an important lesson. First, he told Simon
Peter that he was a member of the royal family. He was a child,
a son of David, because he didn't have to pay tribute. Made Peter
see that before he paid tribute. Secondly, he taught Peter that
even the fishes of the servants are the most high. We are called
fishers of men. One fish. You remember when they
cast out the nets? Our Lord said, cast the nets
on the other side and they brought in 153 different species of fish
in that one net so they couldn't even bring it in the boat. A
lot of fish in that sea. A lot of fish in that sea. He
said, go throw a hook in the sea and bring out a fish. And
he did. One fish among all the fishes
of the sea was used by Christ to pay the tribute. The fish
paid the tribute. It was useless to try to figure
this out. Don't try to figure out miracles. Don't try as some
to designate that the corn was miraculously created in the mouth
of the fish. That may have been the case.
Or that it laid on the bottom of the sea under some shipwreck
and was scooped up by the fish while he was bottom feeding.
Or was tossed as a coin into that sea as a big wishing well. This is a miracle. God going
beyond what nature can do, doing things with nature that's super
natural. It's a miracle designed to authenticate
the message of who Christ is. At the appointed time, this fish according to the purpose
and predestination of the master, bit the appointed hook and was
cast by the appointed man at the appointed time and showed
up with the exact change to pay the bill. And fish is God's fish. It's
that simple. Why? Because Christ Jesus is
king. Sovereign king. And a tribute
is exacted upon the subject and not the children of the king's
house. Peter would later in his epistle call the believers a
royal priesthood. I believe that there is also
an intimation that the children of the king are not required
to pay tribute to any temple but to Christ. They pay tribute
to the temple. For they sacrifice the sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving. All believers are predestinated.
And all believers are predestinarians. Until sometimes providence doesn't
fit their thinking, then they kind of fall away. But they always
come back. this was God's fish and he had
to write change. Thirdly, our Lord teaches the
lesson that he is the God of means. Now the fact that is of his sovereignty
is often used to teach that he does not need means and he doesn't
do anything out of need. That's an error in trying to
apply human logic to sovereignty. You know, we can only go so far
with that. Our mind just is not capable of going too far with
that. We can go about as far as the scripture does, and sometimes
we let our imagination run here and there, but I'm telling you
this, it's bigger than we are. It's bigger than we are. He's sovereign, there's no doubt. Could He have made a coin materialize
in His hands? Of course. He spoke the universe
into existence. He could have made a coin appear
in his pocket. He owns the cattle on a thousand
hills and does as He pleases in heaven and earth and all the
deep places and the sea, it says in Psalm 135. He does heaven
and earth and the sea and all deep places. he has all the gold and silver
in the world, they're his, they're just another piece of metal to
him, but they're all his, so you do the math if he needed
a coin. But he didn't. Why? Because he has a lesson
to teach. He's in his sovereign majesty,
he's not out of any need, but according to his divine scheme
and purpose, he uses his means to teach people that which they
need to know. I stand before you as an example
of that very thing. He can use a fish to pay a dove,
and He can use a sinner to preach the gospel. No wonder it's saying
that. He can fix it. Fix it. Settle it forever. That His elect
are brought to faith one way. by him saving some wretch, the worst of the lot, the off-scouring
of the universe, the hated, and standing him up on his hind legs,
and putting a gold coin in his mouth, and let him pay tribute to Christ. How are the elect saved? One
way. through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There are many who say, well,
you can read the Bible and be saved, and I'm not saying that's
not so, because I don't want to pigeonhole God or Cain. He's
God, and I'm not. But we have neither right nor
warrant to say that from the pulpit or even believe it in
our hearts, because the Bible doesn't say it that way. The
Bible says, through the foolishness of freezing, he's pleased to
save them that believe. How shall they hear without a
preacher? He said in his word that if he
was hungry, he wouldn't ask us, so he don't do it out of need.
Please the Lord to use means. Please the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them believe. It is all for the glory of his
grace. You think about whom God calls to preach. He don't call
the best of mankind. I know And it seems to me that
a lot of preachers today are becoming back to the old idea
of being a professional. But I've been called a professional
in my life. I had many sergeants in the service called me a professional
screw up. So that's, you know, I've been called professional,
but preaching is not a profession. It's not a profession. It's not
a job. It's a calling. which nobody
ever asked for. Nobody ever asked for it. It's
not a bad job. It's a good one. I don't have
any complaints. I live among a people who are
not my people. They are Native Americans. They
tell me I'm the only white man that doesn't claim Cherokee blood
or Cherokee Indian princess as a grandmother. They're Native
Americans. I'm a white man and they love
me and take care of me. Just because I stand up three
times a week and tell them about Jesus Christ, they give me a
house to live in and pay all my expenses. Miss me when I'm gone, welcome
me when I come back home. You know who I am? vile and unclean and undone the
worst of the worst a professional bad man why? because this is by grace you
see it's unmerited favor the wise are confounded the mighty
are chagrined and sometimes are made nothings when they are when
they try to rationalize that God would take a ruined vial,
send her unlearned and unlettered, unfit, and fill his mouth with
not only the gold coin of faith, but the unsearchable gold coin
of the riches of Jesus Christ as a tribute to his grace and
a means of the salvation of his hearers. Christ in his sovereign
majesty and grace uses the meagerest of things to accomplish the greatest
of things. that tribute is going to be paid.
What does he use? A scaly, bottom-feeding creature. He pulls him out of his own natural
habitat and puts him in another world with a gold coin in his
mouth to pay tribute. Be filled with gratitude. And
I mean this, that of all the fish in the sea he set his hook
in your mouth brought you in brought you to shore of Immanuel's
land put the gospel in your mouth filled it by his grace That gospel
is the singular coin that pays tribute to the glory
of the King. Finally, our Lord teaches that
the payment of the tribute is His doing, not His children. He'll get glory
for Himself. We owe no tribute to the temple
the old covenant, the law. Why? Christ has paid the tribute
for us. He fulfilled the law in every
jot and tittle, paid the last farthing, met every requirement
for righteousness before God, satisfied God's law and justice
with His death. He paid the price and He charged
it to our account. When He died, we died with Him.
When He arose, we arose with Him. When He ascended on high,
we ascended with Him and sit in heavenly places in Christ.
imputed his righteousness to us, was made to be our righteous.
He paid the tribute for me and thee. That's what he said. He didn't owe the tribute. He
paid the tribute for us. For me, he said, for my glory. For thee, thy salvation. for me for my glory for thee
because you had nothing to pay he's the king the king of glory
and this miracle teaches us that very thing Jesus paid it all
all the debt I owe sin had left a crimson stain He washed it
white as snow. I think John's gonna come lead
us in a song. Hymn number 36, a mighty fortress
is our God. Is that right? Hymn number 36.