They set our bounds. Matthew 22, let's read verses 15 through
18. Then went the Pharisees and took
counsel how they might entangle him. the Lord in His talk, and
they went and set out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians,
saying, Master, Teacher, we know that Thou art true and teachest
the way of God in truth. Neither carest Thou for any man,
for Thou regardest not the person of man. Tell us therefore. And I can hear their fake accent
and What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? Jesus, perceiving their wickedness,
said, Why tempt ye me hypocrites? This is a story of men questioning
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said they took counsel together,
they got together. And there's a proverb that says
they only consult together, they only meet together. to cast him
down from His excellency. Men don't get together as the
Lord said we should and go and call upon God for mercy. Like
Jeremiah said, let's gather together and go and take words with us
and have mercy upon. Not only to entangle him in his
talk, to try to trip him up, try to find something they could
catch him at, Not seeking vital answers to vital questions. And
we're going to see how our Lord asks the question. The question. But they ask him foolish questions.
Same today. Endless questions. Continual
questions. Foolish questions of fools. No one is asking vital questions
such as, and this is the question. How can man be just with God? The oldest book in the Bible,
and that's by design why there would be so many searching questions. The oldest, the first recorded
book, even before most, the books of most. Job asked these questions. How can he be clean that is born
of a woman? Do you ever hear anybody asking
these questions? How can man be just with God? How can God
be just and justify sinners, ungodly? The all-wise, sovereign
Lord asked questions that search and try the hearts. He said that,
I, the Lord, search the heart and I try the heart, the reins.
His Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,
dividing asunder, separating And this is why people don't
read the Word. This is why preachers don't preach
it. Number one, they don't know it. And well, the Lord's going
to tell us that in a minute. But when the Lord asks questions,
He can ask the most searching question in just a few words.
The first man and woman, they went running, hiding, trying
to hide from God. And God, Christ came and said,
Adam, Where art thou? And all that that means, look
at you. Just stop and think where you
are now. He knew where he was, but these
are searching questions, questions that should cause us to search
and try our hearts. Job and his friends, you know,
they all got together and were talking and talking and asking
all these questions and coming up with their answers. And the
Lord, in three words, just stopped their mouths. He said, Who is
this? Who is doing all this talking?
So, and our Lord is going to ask this question, and we're
going to look at it in the next hour. What think ye of Christ? This is the question, and it
will put an end to all questions if properly considered. Now,
all men are liars. David said that, didn't he? I
said in my haste. God's people aren't liars, but
all men by nature are liars. It's hard to find a true man. Flatterers. You notice how they
flattered the Lord? They thought they were. Tried
to. They're fakes. They're hypocrites. Flattery. Scripture says, good words and
fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. People can fool
fools, but they can't fool the wise. They can fool the simple.
They sure can't fool he who is wise. Our Lord saw right through
their flattery. warns us about flattery, doesn't
it? Over and over again. Listen to, well, Psalm 5 verse
9 says this. It says, they flatter with their
lips. It says, there's no faithfulness
in their mouth, no truth. Their inward part is very wickedness.
Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. They flatter. Listen to this,
Psalm 12 verse 2 and 3 says this, they speak vanity, everyone with
his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart
do they speak. In other words, what they're
saying is not what they're thinking. But they're saying it to appear,
to sound good. They speak, listen to this, the
Lord shall cut off all flattering lips. And many of you may know
Proverbs 7. Proverbs 7, which is false religion. It's a picture of false religion. And the thing that she, this
harlot, does more than anything else is flattereth. Flattereth. And people fall for that. And
this is what religion does. And this is what these religious
leaders were doing with the Lord. Flattering weren't they? We know
that you're true. Do you really now? Why aren't
you listening to me? Why aren't you hanging on His
every word? We know that you teach the way of God in truth.
Well, that is true, but what they didn't know and what they
didn't believe was He is the way. He is the truth. Or they'd be sitting at His feet,
not asking foolish questions, but hanging on His every word
as words of life. They said, we know you don't
regard the person of men. Well, that's for sure. He's no
respecter of persons. Well, and Paul said this, let
me just quote this to you. Like our Lord, His preachers
don't flatter people. Paul said this in 1 Thessalonians
2, he said, allowed of God to be put in trust
with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God's
which try at the heart. For neither at any time used
we flattering words, as you know, neither flatter you, nor cloak
of covetousness." And that's what these fellows were all about,
covetousness. And that's religion, flattering
people. Now, look at verse 17 in our text,
verse 17. Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful
to give tribute unto Caesar or not? Our Lord perceived their
wickedness. He said, you're hypocrites. You're
hypocrites. A hypocrite means an actor, doesn't
it? The next chapter, He warns the
people of these hypocrites. Look at chapter 23, verse 5.
A hypocrite is an actor. It's someone who is playing a
part, who has a fake front, a fake façade, a fake persona. Verse
5, all their works they do to be seen of men. That's what an actor does, doesn't
it? He's playing a part to be seen, to be thought well of,
to play a part. The Lord saw right through their
façade, their fake front, as I said. As Scripture says, good
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, but
not the wise, not our Lord. And he answered them in verse
19 through 21, show me the tribute money. And they brought unto
him a penny. He said unto them, whose is this
image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's.
Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.
Oh, they heard these words and even his enemies had to marvel
at his wisdom. Those who went one time to catch
him. Remember the Pharisees sent these
men to apprehend the Lord. You don't lay hands on the Lord. They tried to kill him over and
over again. They couldn't touch him, but it wasn't his time until
he saw fit. But even they were spellbound
by his preaching, by his teaching. And they went back and the fellas
said, where is he? You're supposed to get him. And
they said, no man's made like this man. They were spellbound. They were dumbfounded. Forgot
what they went for. That's our Lord. You know, if
people really hear Him, they'd be the same way, dumbfounded. They tempted Him, and our Lord
said, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. They're
asking questions of separation of church and state. That's still
going on, questions of politics, separation of church and state.
That's still a question today. Religion, that's what religion
is all about. Not asking the question. Preachers aren't standing up
and asking the question. That's all questions. The only
one that's really necessary. What think you of Christ? But
should we have a non-profit organization? Yeah, right. All it is about
is profit and making money. Religion. But should we, you
know, we have a private school, should we pay taxes and should
we be conscientious objectors, should we serve in the military
because we believe. And our Lord wisely answered
all this. Whatever Caesar, whatever Caesar, is rented to Caesar.
Pay your taxes. You know, he did. He walked on
the streets that the government paved. You know, taxes are a
good thing. You don't think so? Margaret thinks so. Don't you,
Margaret? She doesn't like to, you know,
have to collect them. But there wouldn't be any schools.
There wouldn't be roads. There wouldn't be any hospital.
There wouldn't be anything. We're not going to pay for that
until somebody says, pay. You think it's too much? We live
in England. About 40% or something like that.
I don't know. But we think it's too much. Then there's people that are
conscientious objectors, you know. Jeremy Baptist. Should they use our roads? Driving on roads. And on and
on it goes. You know, he answers these questions.
Our Lord said, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.
If you are under that rule, you render. Paul said, Render honor
to whom honor is due, tribute to whom tribute is due. He said,
Obey them that have the rule over you, no matter who it is,
what it is, as long as Not against God's law, obey it. Didn't it? He that will harm you if you
be followers of that, which is good. This is just wisdom, great
wisdom. Taxes, taxes. You know, there's
two things people say are certain. Death and taxes. Well, people
like to talk about taxes. But who's that talking about
death? This is the question. You ought
to face Christ. Well, he answered them. Then
the Sadducees came along. These were educated, liberal,
Scientologist kind of fellows, you know, agnostics or whatever. It doesn't matter what they were.
Who cares? Our Lord didn't. He answered
them. They're just fools like everyone,
professing themselves to be wise. These fellows thought they were
wiser than the Pharisees and the scribes put together. They
were wise in their own conceit. And they came to ask him a question. Now, our Lord didn't back down
from any question. He was able to answer anything.
I love this. He refuted, He answered them
all on every question they had, did not hesitate to answer them. Proverbs 26 says this. Proverbs
26, turn there. Proverbs 26. Because this is something we
need to consider if we want wisdom from above. If we want to know
when we're casting pearls before swine or that which is holy unto
dogs, we need the same wisdom from above, don't we? When to
answer and when not. Look at Proverbs 26 verse 4 and
5. You have it? Proverbs 26 verse 4, Answer not
a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Paul, whom our Lord had expound
more fully on everything He said, Paul the apostle, the chief apostle,
Paul who wrote more books than anyone, Paul told young Timothy,
avoid foolish questions. Avoid them. Endless questions. Genealogies. Oppositions of science. We're not fighting science. You can't fight. We can refute
it. The Scripture is clear. The heavens
declare His glory. The firmament will show His handiwork.
Day in and day out it will speak. These things clearly refute all
that science has to say, but you can't argue with a blind
man. You can't argue with a blind man and say, that's red. No,
it's not. It's blue. What's the point? Don't try. Don't even try. But our Lord,
you're not going to stump him. He's the one who made everything. You're not going to ask him a
question he's not capable of answering. And the problem today
we have today is we don't have enough men. We have some who
like Stephen of old who had wisdom and a spirit and wisdom that
people could not stand up again. We have been like that, Tom Harding.
But there are so few who know the Scriptures so well, who could
clearly refute from God's Word anything that men are saying,
yet we have so few and most of the so-called religious leaders
are such utter, utter, Idiots and fools and simple-minded that
don't know the Scripture, that they're not able to answer these
fools. And so all these fools answer these foolish questions,
and nobody's able to answer them. Our Lord did. Look at the next verse. He said,
Answer a fool. In other words, we're not to
answer those whom we detect in them not a true spirit and attitude
of wanting to know the truth." If they just wanted to argue,
just wanted to catch you up in your words, just wanted to try
to prove something, don't even talk to them. Don't even answer
them. Unless you ask them one question. Just ask them one question and
leave it there. One thank you of Christ. Now then verse 5. He said, answer
a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. And Paul told young Titus that,
their mouths must be stopped. That's right. That's right. And not what we
think or not what any men say, but what God's Word says, our
Lord did. Now, I want you to see this.
Go over to Isaiah 41, real quickly, Isaiah 41. I've got to hurry. Isaiah 41, this is speaking of
our Lord in prophecy. Isaiah 41, I love this. It says in verse 28, verse 21,
produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring forth your strong
reasons. Verse 24, He said, you're nothing. You're just nothing. A bunch of nobodies. Verse 28,
I beheld there was no man, even among them, there was no counselor
that when I asked of them could answer a word. Their vanity,
their works are nothing, wind and confusion. In other words,
nothing but hot air coming out of their mouth. When our Lord
asked them a question, when He finished asking them one question,
nobody dares not ask Him another question. They perceived in him
wisdom they could not refute. Oh, my, my, he is wisdom, isn't
he? Personified. In our text, chapter 22, so the
Pharisees, Sadducees, Sadducees asked him a question about marriage.
And they brought up this hypothetical question. If a woman was married
to seven different men, seven brothers, See, they denied the
resurrection. They denied life after death, what their religion consisted
of. Why have religion? Why be religious if this is it? Well, that's what they did, though,
said, no resurrection, no life after. And they asked this hypothetical
question about a woman married to seven different men, and in
the resurrection, I thought they had him now. Who's married to who? And our Lord
gave this answer which is the clue or which tells us the reason
for all error. Verse 29, you do err not knowing
the Scriptures, nor the power of God, the sovereign omnipotence
of God. You don't know God's Word and
you don't know the God who wrote it. You don't know God's Word
and you don't know God. This is the source of all error,
you know that? All error, no matter what it may be. A man's
ignorance of God's Word, they don't read it. Brother Marvin
and I were talking about this just yesterday. He's going through
the Proverbs. And now Solomon wrote 3,000 Proverbs. I forget how many songs
he wrote. The most prolific songwriter
in the history of the world. And he wrote Proverbs. Do men
and women look at one proverb of Solomon? Do the wise people
of this world consider and study one proverb of Solomon? Just one? We do. We see in one proverb
infinite wisdom, don't we? Infinite wisdom that this proves
the utter foolishness of man and that they have no desire
to know the truth. But why did I say that? Because they don't know the Scriptures,
they're not reading it. And those who do don't know the
Scripture, don't know the heart and soul of the Scripture. What's
the heart of the Scripture? What's the Scripture all about?
Somebody. Christ. Christ. Our Lord said this to you, search
the Scriptures, to the Pharisees. And you think you have life,
that we can live according to the Scriptures. Oh no, no, no,
no. They are they which testify me,
Christ said. It's all about me. It's not about
you, it's about me. It's not about the Jews, it's
about me. What think ye of Christ? You see, that's the question. And he said, you do err not knowing
the Scriptures nor the power of God. You know, again, the
oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, Job asked this question,
one of the first questions, if a man die, will he live again?
This was the question of questions about life after death. This
is the question all men and women need to face. Pointed unto man
wants to die, and that's the judgment. Are we thinking about
that? If a man dies, shall he live
again? There's hope of a tree. You see a tree, die, cut it down.
He said, put a little water in it and it'll sprout. What about
man? He lies down. Is he like a dog? Is he like
a rock? Will he live again? That's the question, isn't it?
Job said, I'll tell you what. He said, I know. The root of
the matter is in Him, what? Life. Christ is the root, was
in Him. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth,
and I'm going to see Him on this earth. If you know Him, you'll
see Him too. And He's the one that said too
that, oh, I'll wait till my change comes. You see, these Scriptures
are... Questions are answered in Scripture, but these Sadducees
weren't reading it. They didn't read Job. If they
did, they didn't believe him. Didn't know the Scripture, don't
know the power of God. God, now they say, well, in the
resurrection. Now, hold on there. Here's a
fellow who died 3,000 years ago, and his body just turned to dust.
I mean, dust. Or you take somebody that's been
cremated. And they cast their dust to the
wind, you know, dust to the wind. And it goes everywhere. Well,
hold on. And then how, then how is this
body going to be raised when it's cast to the four corners
of the earth? You fool. Don't you remember how God made
man in the first place? How? The dust of the ground. Cannot He who made man out of
the dust gather that dust again? You don't know the Scripture
and you don't know God, the power of God. He's able. Is there anything
too hard for God? Your problem is you don't know
God. And you answer every false doctrine
with this, is God God or is He not? Then you say you must let
Him be God. Hold on now, He can't be God
if you let Him do anything. Is man dead or is he not? Huh? Answer everything according to
Scripture. What's Scripture say? You have to quicken who were
dead. Is he dead? What does that mean? Then man
can't do anything, can he? You do err not knowing. Then
what's life? How's life? Do you decide to
accept it? Do you make your choice about
life? Is he dead? Does a dead man choose
to have life? Come on now. You do err not...
God in whom we live and move and have our being, the sovereignty,
the power of God. God must give life. He said,
I give unto them eternal life. You don't know the Scripture
and you don't know God. You're just dead. And then these
Pharisees had their champion lawyer come up. They got together
and said, let's... And Mary, our Lord... I didn't
answer that, did I? He did. He said, in heaven, they're
like the angels. They're not married or given
in marriage. They're like the angels. There's
a marriage all right, but there's one husband. Everybody
else is the bride. This woman is not going to be
my wife in heaven. She's my sister. That starts
here. That understanding starts here
and that relationship Kindles here with your brethren. Let
them become your true family." So he answered them that, and
he asked them, he said this, touching the resurrection, have
you not read that God said, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob? God's not the God of the dead, but of the living. Oh, they were astonished. Then
the Pharisees got their champion lawyer together. They got together
and said, who can we send to trip him up, to refute him. Who can we send to catch him?
We'll get our best lawyer. And they're going to come, Brother
Stan, and ask the lawgiver. I mean, they're going to take
Moses, and they're going to ask the one who wrote it. They're
going to ask him a question and trip him up. And Paul one time
said, Oh, who art thou, man, that replies against God! Only men who ask all these foolish
questions. Mindy and I were taking Hannah
the first day of school when she was a little child and met
the principal there. And she's talking to us and knew
I was a preacher. And she said, and I hate when
people find out I'm a preacher because they've got to let me
know something or ask some foolish question. She said, when I get
to heaven, I'm going to ask God. She didn't have any children.
She said, I'm going to ask God why he didn't let me have children,
because I'm so good with children. You remember that? Pretty presumptuous, isn't it?
Think you're going to heaven anyway? And you want to talk
to God like you talk to a man? You don't know God. You don't
know God. You wouldn't talk like that.
And God doesn't give an account of his matters to any man. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you knew God, you'd
ask only one question. Wilt Thou have mercy on me, O
that I might win Christ to be found in Thee? So they got together their lawyer
and he said, here's what he asked, what's the great commandment
of the law? Which is the greatest commandment
of the law? And if he knew the law and if he knew God, he wouldn't
have asked that question. Is any one commandment greater
than another? Does any one commandment stand alone? Is any one doctrine more important
than the other? What can you not believe of God's Word? And
can you believe this and not believe that? Is this more important
than that? Oh no, it all is inseparably
connected. And it's all God's Word. You
can't take one jot or tittle out of it. And you can't say,
I'll believe this and I'll not believe that. If it's God's Word,
you believe it all. And if it's God's law, it must
be kept. It shall be perfect to be accepted,
beginning with the first one to the last one. Do you not see
why Christ must be our salvation? By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify me in it. Not our knowledge of the law.
I don't know the law. I don't know. Do you know the
law? I don't know the law. I just know it's spiritual and I can't
keep it. Which is the more important?
And our Lord wonderfully, amazingly answered them All the law hinges
on these two things, love to God and love to man. If you love
God, the first four would be kept, but you don't. If you love
your neighbor as yourself, you wouldn't lie, you wouldn't steal,
you wouldn't kill, you wouldn't commit adultery, you wouldn't
covet, but you don't. You don't. And this ought to
put an end to all legalists' questions. Legal religion shouldn't. If they knew the Scriptures and
they all see an eye of God on the heart and the life and the
soul of those who are guilty concerning God's law, it put
an end to all these questions that legal religion is asking
people. Well, should we... There's a
meeting right now. No, they're not meeting now.
Seventh-day Advent. They met yesterday. They think
it's all hinges on the fourth commandment. Keep the Sabbath,
and they think they're good. If they knew God, they knew the
Scripture, what the Sabbath is, they quit asking that question.
They quit thinking they kept it. And they start considering
this question, oh, what do I think of Christ? What does He think
of me? All right. Questioner 2.