If you turn back to Luke chapter
20, and tonight I'm going to be speaking from this verse of
scripture, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no
provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Put on Christ. Let's read verse 21 of Luke chapter
20. And they asked him, saying, Master, Teacher, we know that thou sayest
and teachest rightly. Neither acceptest thou the person
of any. You're no respecter of persons.
but teaches the way of God truly. Now this is a high commendation,
isn't it? Everything they said was very true. A high commendation. And perhaps someone listening
would have thought that they were really what they were trying
to appear to be. Look in verse 20. And they watched him, these people
that made this high-sounding statement regarding the Lord
Jesus Christ, they watched him and sent forth spies which should,
I love the way Luke says this, feign themselves just men. They
were putting on an act. They were feigning themselves
to be just men, that they might take hold of his words, that
they might deliver him under the power and authority of the
governor So what they say in verse 21 is pure flattery. It's
not sincere. It's true, everything they said
was a good statement regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, but it
was pure flattery. And flattery always has a sinister
motive behind it. It's never good, but that's what
they're doing here. And they watched him and sent
forth spies which should feign themselves just men that they
might take hold of his words, that they might deliver him under
the power and authority of the government. That's what their
motive was. Now look back up in verse 19.
And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought
to lay hands on him, these people who sent these spies, and they
feared the people for they perceived that he had spoken this parable
against them. And it was an accurate perception.
You can remember the parable from last week. Let's read it
real quickly. I mean Luke 20 verse 9. Then
began he to speak to the people this parable. A certain man planted
a vineyard and let forth a husbandman and went into a far country for
a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandman
that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard. But
the husbandman beat him and sent him away empty. And again he
sent another servant and they beat him also and treated him
shamefully and sent him away empty. And again, he sent the
third and they wounded him also and cast him out. Now this pictures
the Lord sending prophets to the children of Israel. And this
was their response. We don't want to hear what you
have to say. And they beat him and cast him out. Verse 13. Then said the Lord of the vineyard,
what shall I do? I will send my beloved son It
may be that they will reverence Him when they see Him. Now here
we have the amazing longsuffering of God. that he would send his
son after all of this. He'd sent the law. He'd sent
the prophets. He'd sent Moses. That could be
the reason the three different servants were mentioned. And
they rejected him. And I wouldn't have sent anybody
after this. But he, in his long-suffering
kindness, sends his son. Verse 14, But when the husbandmen
saw him, They reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the
heir. Come, let us kill him, that the
inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard
and killed him. And this is the parable the Lord
is giving regarding these men. And you know that this was spoken
on Tuesday. On Friday, he was to be crucified.
And he's letting them know that all of this is going to take
place, even then. This parable was spoken against
them. Verse 15, So they cast him out
of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the Lord
of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when
they heard it, they said unto him, God forbid that something
like this happen. And he beheld them, and said,
What is this then which was written? The stone which the builders
rejected The same has become the head of the corner. Now he
quotes Psalm 118, verses 20 through 22. But let's turn to Psalm 118
for a moment. I want you to see this. You know the Lord was always
quoting the scripture. Isn't that glorious? The Lord was always
quoting the scripture. This glorious book that we're
looking at right now. In Psalm 118, he says, verse
22, the stone which the builders
refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Now, the builders were looking
for a certain foundation stone. They were looking for a certain
Messiah that would come and deliver them from Roman rule and restore
Israel's prominence in the world. This is what we want. We're tired
of being a Roman tributary, paying taxes to Rome. What we want is
to be a mighty, powerful nation where we're ruling and everybody's
under our thumb, and that's what the Messiah is going to do. He's
going to restore to us that prominence. once had. There was a time when
Israel was the most powerful nation in the world for a short
time. When David was king, the scripture says the fear of David
fell on every nation. I mean they were powerful and
now they were nobodies paying tribute to the Roman government. And they wanted deliverance from
this and that's the Messiah they were expecting. They didn't have
any need for with the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. This was
not what they were looking for, so they refused him. They refused
him. They rejected him. They refused
to bow the knee to him. So did that have any bearing
on anything? Did that change anything? Can
their refusal stop his work? Absolutely not. It says, the
stone which the builders rejected and refused, the same has made
the headstone of the corner. He's still the foundation. I
said this in Sunday school class, and I'm going to say it again.
I like saying this. He's the only foundation. He's the only
foundation. And there's only one, everybody
in heaven, everybody in heaven, Moses, Abraham, the Apostle Paul,
John, anybody who's died in the last 10 years who's in heaven,
anybody who dies today and goes to heaven. Everybody that's in
heaven, without exception, they're there for one reason. The foundation. The Lord Jesus
Christ. The headstone of the corner.
If I'm in heaven, there's only one reason I'll be there. It's
because Christ died for me. Period. Period. What a hope though. What a hope. Christ is all in my salvation. He's not all I need. He's all
I have. That's it. But I don't want anything
else. Now this is the believer's hope,
the foundation. Christ Jesus himself, the foundation. The only reason any believer
will be in heaven is because of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
very idea, and I'll repeat this, the very idea of heaven being
this place with this big population where some will be real close
to the throne, they were the really good Christians, the ones
who were holier and more obedient than the other ones, and some
will kind of be on the outskirts. All that kind of thinking is,
is idolatry. It's glorifying the flesh. Everybody's
in the same place in heaven because of Christ Jesus, the Lord. Thank
God for that. Now, you'll notice also, and
I love this, the psalmist said, this is the Lord's doing. Christ
being the head sewn, the builders refusing him. All of this is
the Lord's doing. You see, everything is the Lord's
doing. He's absolutely sovereign in
all things. He's in control of everything.
I love that. I love that scripture in Daniel
4, 34 and 35. I almost quote it every time
I preach. It's that, and here I'm forgetting it. He doeth, I got it, it came back
to me. He doeth according to His will. in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can say his
hand. None can thwart his will or say
unto him, what doest thou? Give an account for thyself.
This is the Lord's doing. Salvation is what the Lord does.
And I like what he said next. And it's marvelous in our eyes. Is this marvelous in your eyes?
That God reigns that God elected a people, that Christ died for
the elect and accomplished their salvation, that God the Holy
Spirit gives them life and they shall persevere all the way to
the end to the praise of the glory of His grace. Is that marvelous in your eyes?
You see, there's a big difference between it being marvelous in
somebody's eyes and somebody just giving a sin to the truth.
Yeah, I agree with that. Oh, congratulations. No, it's marvelous. It's marvelous in our eyes. And then the Lord said in verse
18, whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken. Broken
before God. That's the only kind of person
he saves is a broken person. But on whomsoever it shall fall,
it shall grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the
scribes that same hour sought to lay hands on him. They feared
the people, for they perceived that he had spoken this parable
against them, and it was an accurate perception, and they watched
him, and sent forth spies which should feign themselves just
men. Now that would be an accurate
description of every religion person. They're spies looking
out at other people, trying to find something wrong in them
that can make them feel better about themselves. If they're that way,
then I'm this way. And they feign themselves. That's
where we get the word act or hypocrite. They feign themselves
just men. Luke has some real peculiar language. I like that passage in Acts where
they took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort. You
know, he's just got some interesting language, and I love this. spies
who would feign themselves, just men. And then these words, verse 21, they wanted to take hold of his
words. And so here's what they said in verse 21. And they asked
him to say, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly. Neither acceptest thou the person
of any." You're not impressed with anything about men. You
don't make a difference between men and have more respect for
one because it got more money than the other. You're not like
that at all. But you teach the way of God truly. Now here's
the question. And it's a carefully framed question. Is it lawful for us to give tribute
unto Caesar or no? Now this question is very similar
to the question in John chapter 8 when the woman was taken in
adultery in the very act. And they posed a question to
the Lord. They premeditated this. They
thought it out. We've got a question that will condemn him with any
answer he gives. So they take this woman who was
taken in adultery in the very act and they said, Master, this
woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the
law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him
that they might have to accuse him. You see what their motive
was? They said, if he says stoner, we can say, where's your mercy
that you talk of? And if we say, let her go, we
can say, where's your respect of God's law? Because God's law
says stoner. They thought they had him in
a trap. And you remember his answer,
he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone
at her. And they all had to leave. They couldn't, they couldn't,
but this is the same thing. They're saying, if he says, pay
your taxes, pay the tribute to Caesar, all the people will be
against him. If he says, don't pay your taxes,
then the Roman authorities will have to come and get him and
incarcerate him. They thought we've got him with
this question. We've got him trapped. You know,
it's almost humorous to see these wicked men think that they can
trap omniscience, but they're giving it the best shot, aren't
they? So verse 23, but he perceived their craftiness, their underworking,
their hypocrisy. He perceived their craftiness.
You know, we might be able to fool men, but we can't fool him.
He perceives all. He knows us through and through.
And he knew these men. And he perceived their craftiness. And he said, why tempt ye me?
And then he gives this answer. And I hesitate to use the word
brilliant, because he's the Lord. Of course it's brilliant. You
know, anything he says is brilliant. But he gives an answer that's
just amazing. It put these men to silence.
They thought that they had him in this position, and he says
in verse 24, show me a penny. Roman denarius. It was the main
silver currency of the Roman Empire. It's the same coin that
was used for a penny in the workers of the vineyard. Remember the
ones that went out at 6 in the morning and 9 and 12 and so on,
and they all received a penny. It was a day's wages. It was
a pretty big piece of money. And he said, Show me a penny.
And he then said, Whose image and superscription hath it? And
they answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, and this
is one of his most well-known sayings. And he said unto them,
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's,
and to God the things which be God's. Now, I've entitled this
message, The Things Which Are Gods. Render unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are
God's. Now, who is Caesar? Caesar is
the most important and the most powerful man on earth. He's the
ruler of the Roman Empire. And in recorded history, there
are no empires like the Roman Empire. It was in place for 600
years. Roman law, Roman rules, the Roman
army, it was an amazing empire. And Caesar had more influence,
more power, more wealth than anybody else in all the world. And he was there in his place
for one reason. God put him there. Caesar belongs
to God. God is in control of Caesar.
And God, in his providence, exalted the Roman Empire at this time,
so the gospel could spread much more rapidly. Through the Roman
infrastructure, there were roads, you could get places so much
easier. Because of the Roman Empire, the gospel spread like
wildfire at this time, because God had put Caesar in place. Caesar belongs to God. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
regarding this man whose image and name was on that coin, you
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and you render to
God the things that are God's. Now this is not an either or
statement. God placed Caesar where he is. You render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's. And if you render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, you're simply rendering to God the things
that are God's. And you render to God those things
which specifically belong to him. Now, yes, you pay your taxes
to that heathen government. Render to Caesar the things that
are Caesar's. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago, but turn
with me to Romans 13. Verse one, let every soul, that's
me and you, be subject unto the higher powers, the authorities
that are over us. For there is no power but of
God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whatever authority it is, God
placed it there. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resists the
power, resists the ordinance of God. And they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. If you break the law, you will
be punished. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to
evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is
good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. You don't need to
worry about it if you're doing right. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Caesar is God's Caesar. He's
God's servant. God's put him in place. He's
there because God willed it and God's in complete control of
it. Now, verse 7, render therefore to all their dues, tribute to
whom tributes due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear,
honor to whom honor. Caesar represents what God has
put in place, all authority. Government, judicial system,
your boss at work, your employee, the relationship between parents
and children, the authority that a man has in his home. It represents
any authority that God has put in place. That's Caesar's. Now, every believer is called
upon to be a good, law-abiding citizen. The place where you
live is to be a better place because you live there. At work,
you are to be the best employee they have. the best, for Christ's
sake. When you're at home, you're to
be the best mother, you're to be the best father, you're to
be the best husband, you're to be the best wife, for Christ's
sake, because of the gospel. You want to honor and glorify
the Lord in all that you do. Now, children, obey your parents
and the Lord. This is right. Children, requite
your parents. This is right. Parents, make
your children obey you. If you don't make them obey you,
you're not rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.
If I fail in any of my relationships, I'm not rendering to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's. Now, he says, render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's. And unto God the things that
are God's. Now, with regarding to this stuff
that's Caesar's, remember this, there's no such thing as a secular
and sacred. Not to a believer, there's not.
Everything is sacred. Everything you do. And do you
know you can dig a ditch just as much for the glory of God
as you could burn at the stake for a martyr? There's nothing
mundane or indifferent. It's all important. And everything
we do, we're to do to the glory of God. Now, rendered to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, that's important. He tells us
that. But then here, render to God the things which belong to
God. Render to God the things which
belong to God. Now did you know that whether
you're a believer or an unbeliever, you're still a debtor to God? That air you just gulped in,
it's His air. He gave it to you. He could withhold
it. That heartbeat you just had,
He can stop it if He's pleased to. Everything you've had, He's
given you. Everybody is God's debtor whether
they realize it or not. God is God. And we're called
upon to render to God The things that are God's. You owe Him. I don't care if you're a believer
or an unbeliever. You owe Him love. He's altogether lovely. And it's
a crime not to love Him. You owe Him obedience. You ought
to do whatever He says to do. You owe Him worship. He's to
be worshiped. He's worthy of worship. You owe
Him faith. You ought to believe the truth.
If it's the truth, you ought to believe it whether you're
a believer or not. Everybody ought to believe the truth. These
are things that are owed to God. You owe Him thanksgiving. You owe Him praise. Give to God
the things that are God's. Now, pray for me as I try to
talk about this because this is, I can't even express the
importance of what I'm talking about. Giving to God the things
that are God's. First thing that comes to my
mind, he's a worshipper. Worship. Now I couldn't help
but think when I thought of this thing of worship. First person
I thought of was that leper. The scripture says, now that
man, that leper, put yourself in his place filled with leprosy,
and that represents being filled with sin. He was full of leprosy,
and what a miserable life, what an unhappy life he had. I mean,
talking about a guy who had providence send some things his way that
were difficult, it was difficult. It was difficult. And he could
have been bitter and angry over the lot that had been given him.
I can see where he would have. A leper had to go around crying
unclean, unclean everywhere he went. His flesh was rotting.
What a rough life. What a difficult life. But you
know what it says he did when he came to Christ? Behold, a
leper came and worshipped him. Now no matter how difficult this
leper's life was, It didn't change the fact that the Lord was to
be worshipped for who he was. Whether he did anything for this
leper or not, the Lord is to be worshipped because of who
he is. And when this leper came and
worshipped him, he didn't know if the Lord was going to do anything
for him. He hoped he would. He knew the only hope he had
of being clean was if the Lord made him clean. He came and worshiped
Him. Now you know when you worship
the Lord, that means you know that you're in His hands. You
can't manipulate Him. You can't control Him. You can't
get Him to do anything. He's the Lord! And you bow before
Him as the Lord. Whatever He does is right. I've
got no control. I'm in the hands of the absolute
sovereign of the universe. He knew that. He came and worshiped
Him saying, If you will, you can make me clean. Now that, my dear friends, is
worship. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Now like I said, at this time,
the Lord hadn't yet made him clean. He didn't know if he'd
do it. But he knew he was unclean, and he knew only the Lord could
make him clean. And he knew salvation was up to the sovereign will
of Christ. You know, there's no such thing
as a believer who believes in free will. It's not there. Not with a believer. They know
it's his will. My salvation is in his will. If you will, you can make me
clean. Now, this is worship. And he's
to be worshipped. You say, well, I've had such
a difficult life. He's still to be worshipped. He's still
to be worshiped. And if you ever worship Him,
you know what you're going to do? You're going to trust Him. Whatever
He does is right. I might not understand it, but
I don't need to understand it. Whatever He does is right. I worship Him. He is to be worshiped. You render to God the things
that are God's. You owe Him honor. You owe Him glory. Because of
who He is. He's so altogether glorious,
absolutely sovereign, holy, just. Give Him the glory. You know,
if He sends you to hell, it would be for His glory. It would magnify
His justice. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that if He actually cut you off and sent you to hell, it would
glorify His justice? It would. It would. That's because
everything is for His glory. We give Him glory. If He saves
me, you know who gets all the glory in my salvation? He does. How much do I get? Absolutely
none. He gets all the glory because
He is all in salvation. He's all. And He gets all the
glory. And we glorify Him. Now, here's
the point behind something like this. You've got to have a true to
worship Him and to glorify Him. You've got to truly believe that
He's God and whatever He does is right. You believe that? He's God. Whatever He does with
you or with me is right because of who He is. He's glorious and
we give Him all the honor and glory and salvation. Do we not owe Him love? Everybody ought to love the Lord.
Amen? Everybody ought to love the Lord. But an unbeliever can't.
Well, he ought to. He ought to. Isn't that so? You
know, the Scripture says, if any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha, let him be damned
upon the return of the Lord. Somebody that doesn't love the
Lord Jesus Christ ought to spend eternity in hell. Amen? That's how glorious he is. We're
not playing games right now. We're talking about him who is
altogether lovely. The mighty creator of the universe.
The only savior of sinners. The only hope any sinner has. Everybody ought to love him because
he's altogether lovely. Oh, is he altogether lovely? Is he altogether glorious in
his person? Do you love his justice? Do you love his grace? Do you
love his sovereignty? Do you love his Immutability,
how he's the Lord, he changes not, therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He's altogether glorious, render
unto him the things that belong to him. Love. Do we not owe him
fear? The fear of the Lord, that's
the beginning of wisdom. Everybody out of fear of the
Lord. You know, there's people that don't even fear the Lord. They have no fear
of Him. They have no respect or reverence or awe for His person. But we owe Him fear because of
the greatness of His glory and His majesty and His immensity
and His grace and His everything about Him. Now the fear of the
Lord. Let me tell you what the fear of the Lord is. It's the
fear of the Lord that makes a man afraid of sin. It's the fear of the Lord that
makes a man afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. And that's
what the fear of the Lord does. It makes you afraid of sin and
it makes you afraid to look anywhere but Christ only as everything
in our salvation. Pay, give, render unto the Lord
that which belongs to Him. We owe Him complete and implicit
faith and trust. He's utterly trustworthy. He's
never lied. And we owe Him. He ought to be
trusted completely. Can you trust the righteousness
of Christ as all that's needed to make you perfect before God?
Can you trust Him completely? Can you trust His precious blood
as all that's needed to make you holy before God? Now this
is, He is absolutely trustworthy. He's utterly faithful. He's so
glorious. Now this is who he is. We owe
him faith. I think of what the Lord said
to that woman at the well. You know, he said, go call your
husband. She said, I don't have a husband. He said, well, you told the truth
there. You've had five husbands. And that man you're with right
now, he's not your husband. And this thou said truly. And
then she starts this religious mumbo-jumbo. Well, we know that
this is not where we're supposed to be worshipping. Or you say
in Jerusalem, man is where man needs to be worshipped. And then
the Lord said this to her. He said, Woman, believe Me. Woman, believe Me. Believe Him. When He says, Son,
Be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee. Believe Him. When He says, I
am the way, the truth, and the life, believe Him. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. No man comes
to the Father but by Him. Believe. The only way you get
to the Father is by Him bringing you to the Father. There is no
other way. Believe Him. We owe Him implicit
trust. His Word is true. It's sure. It's faithful. His Gospel is
worthy of... Here's the Scripture. This is
a faithful saying. This is a faithful saying. You
can count on this. It's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody
ought to love this statement. That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Of whom I am the chief, Paul
said. Is this worthy of your acceptation? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners? Oh, what a blessed word. He's worthy. He's worthy of all
complete trust. He said to that thief on the
cross who said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
He said, today. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Can you believe that? Can you
believe his word? I guarantee you that that fellow
was with him that very day in paradise. Believe the gospel.
It's a command. It's a command. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe he's the Lord. He's Jesus. He's the Savior.
He's the Christ. He's God's anointed prophet,
priest, and king. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He is worthy of complete consecration. Paul said, I beseech you by the
mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy. acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. Anything else is unreasonable.
And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and perfect and acceptable will of God. Were the whole realm of nature
mine? That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. I want to leave you with this
thought. Render to God the things which are God's. Here's what's God's, for me to
humble myself under his mighty hand. God has owed the deepest humility. Humble yourselves under his mighty
hand that he may exalt you in due time. I don't know what else to do
but in my heart right now to fall at his feet, humbling myself, not telling him what to do, not
even asking him to do anything. Lord, thy will be done. May God enable us all to humble
ourselves under his mighty hand. And you know what the mark of
true humility is? Trusting Christ alone. You trust Christ alone, you've
humbled yourself by his grace. If you're not resting in Christ
alone, you're as proud as Satan himself, and you'll have the
same end of him. May God give us grace to humble
ourselves under his mighty hand. You render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's, and you render unto God the things that are
God's. Let's pray. Lord, give us the grace to render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And Lord, give us the grace to
render to thee the things that are thine. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.