Good morning. All right, Mark
12. Mark 12, verses 13 through 17. Now we have here what can only
be described as a sting operation. It's a setup that was orchestrated
by the Pharisees and the Herodians that were naturally enemies of
the Pharisees. They were eager to join with
the Pharisees and help them out, these Herodians. Now the Pharisees,
if you recall, they had seen Christ in the temple. They saw
how he just wreaked havoc among their big religious business.
When he threw over the money changers' temples and they heard
What he said there, they heard his parables and they were offended
at his parables because they perceived that he had spoken
these things against them. These were about them, even as
our brother read earlier, just before. And so they took counsel
with themselves how they might entangle Christ in his talk. This was their first attempt
to bring him down. And so our text this morning
is going to be looking at their crack, their take at going after
Christ to entangle him in his talk. And what we see, though,
when we look to Christ, when we behold Christ, What we're
doing is we're reverencing the Son of God. When we look to Him
and trust Him, we're reverencing the Lamb of God that God Himself
sent to put away the sin of His people. And to believe Christ,
to trust Him and rest in Him, that's to render unto God the
things that are God's. That's to worship God, is to
come in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our title is Render to God. Render to God. And we'll have
three divisions. First, we'll just look at the
fact that Christ spoke truth. We'll look at Christ. And then
we'll be seeing these true confessions that were made by these unbelievers
concerning Christ. And then as we close, we'll see
that marveling, as these men did, marveling is not believing. Alright, so first, Christ spoke
truth. And our text begins with verses
13 through 15. Mark 12, 13. And they send unto him certain
of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And
when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that
thou art true, and carest for no man. For thou regardest not
the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Now
here's their questions. Is it lawful to give tribute
to Caesar or not? Shall we give or shall we not
give? One of the things that we see
as we go through the scriptures is just what the Lord endured
from sinful men, what he had to endure for his people. And here come these crafty men
and they're looking to create a justification that they might
accuse Christ to the people, that they might bring down Christ
in the eyes of the people, because all the people, he was very popular
among the people, especially among the sinners, he was very
popular, and they were looking to him and trusting him and listening
to what he was saying. And the crime of Christ, in their
eyes, the crime of Christ is that with painful clarity, he
exposed the deadness of their religion. He exposed the vanity
of their religion and their practices and that they were hoping and
trusting in their religion and not in the true and living God. And so he pointed that out. And as I was thinking about that,
I was realizing, I don't think there's a sinner here that doesn't
realize that's exactly what Christ saved me from. my dead religion,
my vain religion. He pointed it out to me. He showed
me and revealed to me that I was trusting in my own works, something
I was doing. God had to reveal that to me.
And so is it a crime that Christ is pointing out the sin to these
men? He's doing them good. He's showing
them what you're doing is vain and dead religion. You don't,
you're not coming, you're not worshiping God in truth. He's
telling them the truth and they hated him for it. And you can
see the grace of God when he shows, because he shows us all
that we're all vain dead religionists by nature. We're all in darkness
and yet some believe and thank him for that. and worship Him
for that, thanking Him, Lord, You did this in mercy. You didn't
leave me in darkness. You didn't leave me looking to
my own works. You brought me to see that You
are the Son of God, that You are the Lamb of God, that You
are salvation. But these men, they hated Him
for it, and that's a big difference there. Some hate Him for His
truth, and others love Him for telling them the truth. And this
is why the scriptures declare of him in John 1, verses 4 and
5, it says, in Christ, or in him, was life, and the life was
the light of men. He's our light. We're darkness
by nature. He's our light. And the light
shineth in the darkness. But naturally, the darkness comprehended
it not. And that's why we know that this
salvation is a revelation by God. God has to reveal it. He's
got to bring that light with power and give us life to believe,
to trust Him, to look to Him, and to see that, yep, you're
right. What you're saying, Lord, is right of me. I'm the sinner.
I'm the dead religionist and I need your mercy and compassion
and grace. So he showed them this faithfully
when he threw out the money changers, when he prevented the people
from carrying their vessels through where the Gentiles were trying
to worship. And he told them, my house shall
be called of all nations the house of prayer. But ye have
made it a den of thieves. And I remember as a manager,
if there was an issue with one of my staff, we were told the
proper way to do it isn't to say to them, you know, you were
awful today. What you did was just terrible.
And we learned to do it six months later from when it happened.
It was to be timely, and it was to be specific to what they did. And that's what Christ did. He
was very good to them in telling them exactly what their issue
was. And you think about the woes. When he spoke the woes,
he told them all the specifics. This is what you say, and this
is what you do. And this is what you say, and
this is what you do. And he exposed it all in painful
detail so that they knew, without excuse, that this is where you
are offending God and sinning against Him. And he pointed out
the way you as a good manager are to point out something when
there's a fault or when there's something with someone that you
care about. You tell them the truth and you
give them specific examples so that they understand, they don't
have to wonder what it is you're talking about. You're honest
and you're forthright in it, alright? So, They showed their darkness of
heart and mind and unbelief of God, of the scriptures, of the
prophets by rejecting Christ. They didn't hear Christ. They
didn't receive Him. They didn't believe Him. They rejected Him.
And John 1 verses 10 and 11 says, He was in the world and the world
was made by Him. And the world knew him not. He
came unto his own, and his own received him not." These men
should have heard. They were sinning. They were
doing evil practices. But they should have heard him
and said, wow, you're right. Thank you for showing me this.
And they didn't. They rejected him. They would
rather continue in their own dead practices than hear what
the Christ has to say. And so it's amazing in this because
the Lord brings them to confess the truth of Christ. They are
able, they're enabled. They didn't just make this up,
what they're about to say here. They didn't just make this up.
They saw him. They heard how he spoke. They heard the content
of what he said. And they come and this is what
they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true. and
carest for no man, for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest
the way of God in truth." And they based that, they didn't
just come up with that, they based it on what they heard and
saw him do, what he personified, how he carried himself and conducted
Himself and Christ is truth what he spoke is true, and he did
teach people the way of God in truth and it says that he carest
for no man and what they meant by that is regardless of who
Christ was speaking to, he treated them all the same, with all the
same level of respect, with all the same courtesy in that he
spoke truth to them and he did what was right every time, whether
you were wealthy or influential or you were poor and ignorant. It didn't matter who he was talking
to, he was honest with them and he was faithful and good and
did that which was was right for the people. But I wanted
to say a note on this phrase there where they say, carest
for no man, because the reality is Christ does care. He does
care, and he cares for his people like no one cares for their people
or people that they know or care for. The Lord does care. He says
in John 13, 1, it says, having loved his own which were in the
world, he loved them unto the end. And the real hypocrisy of
these Pharisees is that they pretended like they cared for
the people. They pretended like they were looking out for the
best interests of the people and had the best interests of
the people at heart because in what they were doing. But the
reality is what they cared about was themselves. They didn't care
about the people. people. They weren't worried about the
people, they were worried about their position of power, they
were worried about their status, and they wanted to maintain that. Because they didn't want the
Romans to hear some kerfuffle and get all upset and then come
in there and remove them from their place and their power.
So they were really interested in themselves. And they didn't
want to lose the affection of the people. They wanted to maintain
what they had before Christ came and ruined things for them. But
the reality is that Christ always did that which pleased the Father. He did that which was truly good
for the people. And he did that which was right
and necessary for the people. It says that he was made like
unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. That's what Christ did. He left
glory. He took upon Him flesh and was
made in the weakness, the lightness, that light weakness of His brethren. He laid aside the power, the
majesty, the glory that He had for all eternity to take upon
Him that weakness and simplicity of flesh and to serve his brethren
to fulfill the will of God in putting away the sin of his people
perfectly. And that's why Christ could say,
I always do those things which please him. I always do those
things which please my Father. And that's because he sought
not to do his own will, but the will of the Father which sent
him. He was sent to the Father, and
he did so. He really did care, and because
he cared, and because he loved his people like no one loved
his people, he was willing to take upon him flesh. He was willing
to serve them, to fulfill all righteousness, and everything
which God required of them, he did it perfectly, fulfilling
everything. He reconciled us to the Father.
That's why he could say in John 15, Verse 15, he could say, you
know, I've called you servants till now, but now I call you
friends. And he reconciled us to God so that there's friendship
now between us and God. And think about that. You know,
we often think of how we anger God and displease God all the
time, and we just heap that on ourselves, but in Christ, that's
how precious and wonderful and loving Christ is that he made
us sinners who are unworthy of his grace and mercy. He made
us friends with God so that God is pleased to dwell with us now. His spirit dwells in you even
while you're sinning and he turns you and brings you back to himself
and causes you to rest there in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
Christ really was true and he speaks truth to you that hear
him. And you know the reality is this
world is lying to you. This world is full of lies and
deceit and they tell you, you know, you do this and you do
that and you'll be accepted and welcomed by us, and we'll love
you with open arms. And they'll flatter you the way
they came up to Christ to try and flatter him, but it's to
get something that you have out of you for themselves. It's to
get something that you have to take it from you. I see it all
the time with stocks, if you ever play like in penny stocks,
and they build it up, and you say, this is going to take off,
and you put some money in it, you know, like a hundred bucks
in there or something like that, and all your money's gone it drops
way back because they know what they're doing you have no idea
what you're doing and they know exactly how to play you and take
whatever they want from you it's just like taking candy from a
baby you know they just they they take it right away but they'll
flatter you as long as you can they can get something from you
and as soon as they're done with you they drop you, and they speak
evil of you, and they want nothing to do with you anymore. But Christ
leveled all men the same. All were sinners. All need His
grace and mercy. All need Christ to come to the
Father. There's not one of us that can come to Him. And that's
why they always We're careful to add that clause of Jew and
Gentile, of Jew and Gentile, of you that are religious and
you that are irreligious. Whoever you are, you all need
to come to the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. That's
our salvation. It's Him. So He laid down His
life for His people. He shed His precious blood to
cleanse us of our sins and to make us accepted with God to
make us holy and righteous and pleasing, well-pleasing to the
Father. It's all the savor of Christ
our sacrifice, Christ our surety, Christ our substitute and Savior.
All right. And what did these men do? For
telling them the truth, they attacked them. They hated them,
they rejected them, and they thought evil of him. And all
he was doing was saying, Look, you've got a problem. You're
wicked. You're doing wrong here, and
you're going to die in your sins if you keep doing this. And they
wouldn't hear. They refused him. They hated
him for it. All right? So they don't understand
it. Now let's look at the next thing, these true confessions.
In the last point, we saw how the scribes, they made a true
confession of Christ, right? They said, we know that thou
art true. and cares for no man, in the
sense that thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest
the way of God in truth." And you see in the scriptures, just
like here, how the Lord would use men who hated Him to declare
and speak the truth. And God's not limited by a certain
way. He doesn't need a pastor to be
behind a pulpit preaching, to bring home that word in power
and in glory. He does save by the gospel. He
uses the gospel to create faith, to give light to that faith,
to make known to his people who he is. but he doesn't need it
to always come from someone who knows the truth or believes the
truth. God is that powerful and able. And so he used men who
hate him even to speak truth. And people heard what they were
saying. And so you think about this sober
thought in Matthew 12, 36, when Christ said, every idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment. And, you know, there's people
that, you know, like a blind squirrel finds a nut once in
a while, there's people that will say things and have no idea what
the truth and the power of what they're saying. And Christ said
they'll be judged for every idle word when they're not in Christ. And so they spoke these true
words. Why? entangle Christ. They were trying to find a justification
that they might judge Christ. And so they said these words
very carelessly, but their heart was lying. They spoke truth,
but they themselves didn't even believe it. And, you know, another
one that was like this was Caiaphas, the high priest. And what Caiaphas
said, we'll look at that in a moment, but what he said probably came
a little after. Once they realized we can't entangle
this guy, Caiaphas said, well, we're going to kill this guy.
That's what we're going to do. We're going to take him out because
everything else we do isn't working. And if you look over in John
11, John 11 verses 49 through 51, this is where Caiaphas is
speaking of Christ and he prophesies concerning Christ that year because
he's the high priest. And the Spirit of God, not in
a saving way, but the Spirit of God moved him to prophesy,
to declare a truth concerning Christ. In John 11, 49. 1149 says, And one of them named Caiaphas,
being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know
nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us.
We're going to get from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently
as possible. This is the expedient way for
us to deal with this thing. That one man should die for the
people and that the whole nation perish not. He just declared
substitution. He just declared substitution.
One man, let one man die that the whole nation perish not.
And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. And so that man who hated God
was used by God to prophesy truth concerning Christ. And he declared
substitution. He declared that the Christ is
the Lamb of God and he didn't even know it. He didn't even
understand that. Peter said, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, listen to how he worded it, for Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. That's substitution. That's our
justification. The just one died for the unjust,
that we might be reconciled, made just with God, that God
receives us now. So these are truths that we rejoice
in because we know this is our salvation, what Christ accomplished.
That's our salvation and that's our hope before God, that He's
not looking to me in my works, that He's not looking to my religion
and my religious adherence to these things. He's looking to
His Son, Jesus Christ. He is that sweet-smelling Savior
to God. And you who believe it, who know
your sinners and trust Christ, he's a sweet-smelling savor to
you. He is sweet and lovely because
he's your very entrance to the true and living God who is perfect
in all his ways. But to those like these Pharisees
who hated him, he's a savor of death. And it speaks and declares
them guilty before God. All right, so Christ is our surety. He died for the people that the
whole nation, the whole nation's people perish not. That's why
he died, that we would be alive unto God, all right? So God used
that wicked man to speak truth about Christ, and that's because
God is able to send that word out and apply it effectually
to the hearts of of his people. And an example of that, if you
look at the dying thief, right, that thief on the cross, he heard
things. He, if you think about that,
he heard things. He knew that morning that he
was dying, he probably knew the other thief that was dying, and
he knew Barabbas was dying. These were the men that were
going to be crucified that day. And Barabbas goes free. And in
place of Barabbas, there's Christ. this man, this just man, he's
being crucified with them, those men. So he already sees this
is odd. Christ is dying in the place
of Brabus, a sinner, a man guilty and worthy of excruciating painful
death. But Christ, this just man, is
dying in his place. And Pilate wrote above on Christ's
cross there, as Christ was carrying that cross, he wrote above it,
where in three different languages, in letters of Greek and Latin
and Hebrew, so whatever that man could read, it was there
in three different languages, this is the King of the Jews. And he heard them say when they
were speaking around them, because there was a lot of people there
that day, to see Christ crucified. There was a whole lot of extra
people there that day, and he heard them say that he said,
that one on the cross said, I am the Son of God. He heard that. He's thinking, what is this that's
going on there? And then he also, it says, likewise
also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the
scribes, he saved others, himself he cannot save. And that's right. For you and I to be saved, The
Lamb of God cannot be let go. He cannot be delivered. He must
die if you and I are to be saved and have our sin put away. And the Lord teaches us. He says
in Romans 10, 17, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing
the word of God. And you might say, well, you're
kind of stretching it. Am I? Is God limited by us, by
the way we say it should happen? Or is God able to give faith
to that thief, which we know he did, because he confessed
Christ. He looked at Christ and asked
him for mercy. And the Lord told him, you have
it. When you die and your eyes open,
you'll be with me in paradise forever. And so God is able to
work faith in the heart through the hearing of that word, because
it's God who gives faith. He can give it even without hearing
the word, but he does so to intelligent beings. He gives
them an ear, and he gives them faith and enables them to hear
that word there. So he can do that. He even caused
John the Baptist to hear in the womb, leapt in the womb, when
he heard the voice of of Mary. All right, so, you know, I don't
say that for us to subject ourselves to sit under liars, but just
know that the Lord is able to cause even a liar to say something
that is true that might be the trigger for somebody to say,
I got to get out of here and find where this gospel is consistently
preached. I want to hear more of that.
I want to hear how Christ saves his people. And Paul said this,
think about it this way, in Philippians 1, 16-18, he said, The one preached
Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the
defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every
way. Whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. So even he understood. God can
take even an accurate phrase that is true concerning Christ,
and he can bring that home to the heart that he's given faith
to, bring it with power, and cause them to see it, to seek
the true and living God. all right so he could bring it
with more power to the thief who's just about to die or he
can bring it to his child and then cause them to seek him and
and find him out and to pursue that more and more all right
so The Lord is able. Even when Christ was coming into
Jerusalem, and they cried out, Hosanna, and praising his name. And Christ was coming down on
the donkey, and they're crying out. And the Pharisees said,
tell them to stop. Tell them to stop calling you
the Messiah. And Christ said, if these should
hold their peace, these very stones would cry out. They'd
cry out and worship me. You can't silence it. The Lord
will not be silenced until he is able to do his will and to
save his people. All right, now third, marveling
is not believing. All right, so these Pharisees,
these were Pharisees and they were Herodians, and these two
were not buddy-buddy. They were not partners. normally. They hated each other because
one group is very religious, the other group is very not religious,
right? And this would have been the
scribes who would have been the more intelligent, studied ones, the
more verbally capable ones, you know, would have got together
with their ideas of how to trip up Christ, and they got the Herodians
who served Herod and were very worldly and very worldly-minded,
but they got them to come along to help them in their deed to
to kill Christ. And that's because all men will
unite in the fact that they hate God and hate the gospel of Christ.
None by nature love God or his Christ. And so the Pharisees,
they cooked it up and they figured, well, if he says that we should
pay taxes, then this can't be the Christ and the people will
know that because the Messiah is implementing and establishing
his own kingdom and he would never bow to Rome and give it
to them and so we could then go to the people and say, you
know these Romans that you hate and these publicans that you
know are sinners and that you despise? He supports them. He
supports them. So they would have that and If
Christ said, we shouldn't pay taxes, then they had the Herodian
standing right there to say, oh, we've got a rebellious person
here who's creating insurrection and turning the people away from
supporting the government. So we'll arrest him. And then
we'll put him to death justly in that way. So they had their
bases covered. They were certain that he was going to die or lose
his status in the eyes of the people, so it's quite the setup.
And they asked him in verses 14 and 15, is it lawful to give
tribute to Caesar or not? Shall we give or shall we not
give? But Christ, knowing their hypocrisy,
said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Bring me a penny, that I
may see it. And they brought it. And he said
unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they
said unto him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto
them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God
the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. They marveled. They had nothing. He didn't give
them anything to hang their accusation on. They had nothing where they
could accuse him before the people, and he didn't say anything that
justly would cause the Herodians to be able to arrest him. He
said nothing for them to accuse him. Don't mistake their marveling
as a sign of God's grace upon them. They were impressed because
they had a solid way of entrapping him but he navigated it perfectly
and they had nothing in the end and so they were amazed that
he did that so perfectly and got out of it. And the reality
though is with these Pharisees or scribes and the Herodians
is that, like I said before, all men hate God and they hate
the gospel of Christ. They hate God's sovereignty because
it offends their will. It means that God is in control.
God is in charge, and I'm not in charge, and I don't determine
my own destiny, but God has determined all things, and all things work
according to His will. What about my will? What about
my choice and what I want to do? And then they hear of depravity,
and they get angry because now you're calling them common. And
you're saying that they're no better than their neighbor who's
a drunkard or uses drugs or a thief or people like that. They're
disgusted by that. And they say, what do you mean
I'm not more esteemed in God's eyes and I don't have an opportunity
to save myself? Aren't I good? Are you saying
that I'm so wicked like this person here that I can't save
myself? And so they get offended by that
and they're offended by election because they say well you're
telling me then that all my works amount to nothing before God.
That everything, all my labors, all my sacrifices, God isn't
impressed with, and they haven't changed God's mind. You're saying
that it's God who chooses before a man is born and has done either
good, neither good nor evil, and that's how God chooses, according
to His own will, apart from my works, and that offends them,
and they get angry about that. And then this This atonement,
right, this limited atonement, this effectual atonement angers
them because they figure that's not fair. Everyone deserves a
chance to be saved. Why don't I have a chance to
be saved? And they think that if they had
a chance that man would actually save himself. Man doesn't. He shows it all the time that
he wants nothing to do with God. And none of us knows who Christ
died for except that his spirit give them faith and cause them
to look to Christ and rest in him. It's very generous of God
what he does. And man always, wicked man, always
puts himself in the camp of unbelievers. You ever notice that? When they
hear of election and Christ's effectual atonement, they automatically
assume they have no part in that inheritance. They always put
themselves with the wicked. They always put themselves there,
outside of the grace of God. All right, and then they hear
of revelation, that it's through regeneration that God saves by
giving life. He's the one that gives life,
and he's the one that reveals himself. Apart from the works,
or the goodness, or anything in the sinner, God reveals himself
by his power, by his spirit. And they don't understand how
it's... the power of God through irresistible
grace that he draws a sinner to himself and reveals himself
in compassion and mercy and grace, apart from that man. But the
Lord God, that is how he works. That is his salvation, that he's
the one who saves his people from beginning to end. It's all
of the Lord. And it's apart from our works. And the guilty sinner hears this
and rejoices in it. And the one who wants to work
and wants a chance and wants an opportunity and wants things
to be fair. They don't understand what they're
saying, but they hate God for that very purpose. And Christ
personified that. He spoke the truth, and they
hated him for it. And what you see among men and
women is that they'll attach themselves to anything. They'll
attach themselves to a set of doctrine that aligns with them
or impresses them. They attach themselves to doctrine,
they attach themselves to a preacher or a good speaker, they attach
themselves to a church or an organization that they can get
involved in, and man will do that. He'll attach himself to
various things that he can see and touch and feel and understand
with his mind. The one thing man cannot do and
will not do is attach himself to Christ. He won't believe on
Christ. He just won't trust Christ. He
has no faith in Christ to do all the work of salvation. There's
something that he has to do to add to his salvation. And so they won't trust Christ. It doesn't matter the wisdom
of God. They won't trust Christ. As we've seen, Christ is faithful
to instruct his children. They hear him by faith, right?
They hear him. And so they hear what he's saying. They love him because he's exposed
their vain dead religion. And they hear him when he says,
render to God the things that are God's. And he gives that
to them so that they understand what he's saying is, Lord, it's
not my works that I come to you. I can't render anything to you
from this flesh, anything I've worked up, any goodness in myself. We render to God the things that
are God's when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
rendering to God, because we're coming to God. We're saying,
Lord, it's not my works, but thy faithful work in your Son,
Jesus Christ. He's the Lamb of God. That's
rendering to God the things that are God's, coming to God through
the Son, coming to God covered, sprinkled, delivered by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's rendering. We're saying,
Lord, not me, but look to your Son, the precious blood of your
Son Jesus Christ. That's rendering the things unto
God that are God's. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll
enable you, not to be offended, but to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ for your salvation. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your truth, that you teach the way of God
in truth, and that you didn't hold back the truth from us,
that you showed us the deadness of our religion, the evil of
our works, the sin of our heart in trusting in something we were
doing. You told us the truth, Lord, and You revealed it to
us, and we're thankful for that, Lord. And You would reveal Your
Son, and You would reveal the Lamb of God and the entrance
that we have to God through the Lamb, through the Son of God.
Lord, help us to to ever look to you, trusting in your work
and not our own works, just trusting in what you've done. Lord, help
us never to be angry with you the way these Pharisees were and the
dead religionists, Lord, help us ever to love you, to rest
in you, to rejoice in you, and to speak and declare what Christ
has done for us, that you would call out other sinners from their
dark prison and their bondage and deliver them into the hands
of Christ, into the light and glory and majesty of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen.