I want to invite your attention to a passage that I have on the
screen as I've entitled our remarks today challenging the
Master in Mark chapter 12 and verse 13.
It says then they sent Him to some of the fair.
Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians
to catch Him in His words. You remember last Sunday I
talked about the triumphal entry in the Jerusalem that happened
on a Sunday. We find that after this happened
on Monday, Jesus cursed the fig tree.
He cleanses the temple. And there was more things that
happened on Tuesday than any other day except for Friday.
In the last week in the Lord's life, they came to him with
challenging questions. They came to challenge his
authority. And what we want to talk about
this this morning for a little while is when the Pharisees and
the Herodians come to Jesus along with the Sadducees, and
they're going to question Jesus once more.
But they've met their match. They're going against the
Master, and he's going to answer them in ways that they cannot
respond to. The Lord was brilliant.
The Lord was perfect. He was the greatest preacher of
the world ever knew. He was indeed and in fact the
Master when they came to Jesus, though they want to get Jesus in
a conflict. And that is between Mosaic
legislation and Roman authorities.
And they're going to ask two questions here.
They are #1 is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?
Now, we're going to talk about today what exactly they meant
about taxes. This is not general taxation.
It was something very specific. So they came and they want to
ask. The Pharisees want to ask, is it
lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? And #2 the Sadducees want to
know what about the resurrection?
Because the Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection.
So in Mark chapter 12 and verse 13, it says then they sent to
him. OK, Mark doesn't tell us who
were part of the delegation, who was part of this committee, and
who were the ones that sent these people to come to Jesus to
try to catch him in his words. If you go to Matthew's account
in Matthew chapter 22, we find it was in fact the Pharisees.
They took counsel to ensnare Jesus.
Now, interesting about this, the veteran leaders didn't come to
question Jesus. I think this is very important.
The Pharisees and the Herodians sent their own disciples.
They sent younger people, younger men to question Jesus.
And I think there's a reason that they did that.
I think the reason that they did that is they wanted to do it
under the guise of being look, after all, we're just young
people asking questions. In other words, it's the
innocence of young people just coming to innocently ask
questions. But they had ulterior motives.
They wanted to try to ensnare Jesus.
They wanted to try to trick Jesus.
You know, I thought about this this morning as I always get up
early on Sunday morning when I preach and I get in my office
and I think about what I'm going to say and so forth.
And I thought about this and I thought about lawyers.
And you know, it's said about lawyers in court, especially
when they cross examine a witness, they never ask a
question that they don't already know the answer.
So when they ask a question, it might seem like they're asking a
really nice way or saying a very complimentary thing, and then
they lower the boom and they try to get the person that they're
cross examining to catch themselves or be tricked.
That's exactly what they do to Jesus.
And they do it under the guise of having these younger
disciples of the Herodians. We'll talk about who they were
in a minute. And the Pharisees who came to
question Jesus for the purpose, one purpose, and that is to
stump Jesus. OK, interesting.
Pharisees and Herodians, do you know that this is the only time
that I have read where the Herodians and the Pharisees make
an alliance? And we're going to add something
to this too. We're going to add the
Sadducees. Now you got to picture this.
You got the Pharisees and they oppose the Sadducees.
You got the Sadducees, they oppose the Pharisees.
You got the Pharisees who oppose the Herodians and all this
stuff, and now all of a sudden they're making an alliance
together to question Jesus. Or who were the Herodians?
The Herodians supported the House of Herod.
In other words, the Herodians were a political party.
The Pharisees were a religious party.
So now you've got a political party that was opposed to the
religious party and the religious party opposed to the
political party, and now they're joining forces against Jesus.
Amazing. In other words, amazingly so, as
one man put it this way, the Pharisees oppose the Herodians
on political grounds, and the Pharisees oppose the Sadducees
on religious grounds. But on this occasion, they're
together because they want to catch Jesus in his words.
You know, the word catch actually means a word comes from
a word in its origins to mean to catch wild animals or fish or
two in snare. And here they come with these
questions. And here's the first one in Mark
chapter 12 and verse 14. It comes from the Pharisees.
When they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you
are true and care about no one, for you do not regard the person
of men, but teach the way of God in truth.
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
Let's back up. First of all, the word teacher,
and I have to put this on the screen, even though you've heard
me say it many times. Got to do it because I want to
make a point about it. In the New Testament, in the
gospels, when they call Jesus Teacher, Master, Lord, it comes
from the word DD scalos that can be translated in one of those 3
English words. We know that OK.
In fact the new King James says in this passage, Teacher, the
old King James says Master. I'm saying this to say this.
It's a term of respect. But these Pharisees have no
respect at all for Jesus. They have tremendous disdain for
Jesus. They want to stump him.
They want to challenge him. They're messing with the wrong
guy. And it all begins with this, oh,
teacher, a term of respect. Then they go further and say
this. We know that you're true.
We know that you are true. They didn't believe that either.
But isn't it kind of brilliant on their part to kind of do it
in that way? Kind of like I was talking about
a lawyer that's cross examining a witness.
You're kind of setting them up for the kill.
They said, you know that you are true.
Now we know that you are true. Now they didn't believe that,
but they knew Jesus asserted that.
But then they say and care about no one.
And on the surface it appears that they're saying, Jesus,
teacher, we know that you're true, but you don't care about
anybody. It seems like that's what you're
saying on the surface, but not so fast.
You know, if I would use this, I might say this.
Now, Chris, I can use Chris because this doesn't apply to
Chris. Chris cares about everybody.
But if I were to say to Chris, Chris, you don't care about
anybody, that would mean that he is selfish.
That would mean that he only cares about himself.
We use that in our common vernacular today.
He only cares about himself. He doesn't care about anybody.
So it appears when you read this in our English translations that
that's exactly what they're saying.
But remember this, and how many times have you heard me say
this? We got to go to context of the
passage. What is the context of the
passage? The context of this passage
actually answers what this phrase means.
What he's talking about is when he says and care about no one,
he's meaning this. You care about no one, meaning
you are not biased toward anyone.
You have no personal bias for anyone.
How do I know that? The very next phrase for you do
not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in
truth, in other words, and that's a true statement, by the
way, about Jesus. That's true as a very true
statement. Jesus taught the way of God in
truth, and he wasn't swayed by the popularity or by a person or
a man of great influence. You know, I'm going to tell you
something that is a remarkable and incredible thing to say
about anybody where they would be so much so divinely or they
would be concerned about what is right, concerned about being
consistent in the truth that they would speak the truth of
God and not be swayed just because somebody of influence
tried to sway them a different way.
That is a brilliant thing to say about anybody.
And that's what they said about Jesus and that is true.
So they're kind of setting him up.
Teacher term of respect. We know that you're true.
We know you have no personal bias.
We know that you don't regard the person by way of pulling you
away from teaching God in truth. And then here it comes.
Here's the question, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or
not? Now what this is talking about
too. In the new King James, it says
taxes. In the old King James, it says
tribute, and the word actually means census or poll tax.
Like I said in my introduction, this is not talking about
general taxation. This is talking about a specific
kind of tax, OK? What is a poll tax?
And the reason they do this is because there was a lot of
controversy about poll tax. What is a poll tax?
A poll tax was a tax that is levied on individuals rather
than property. OK, big controversy about it.
I'm going to give you another New Testament example of this in
just a moment. What else?
A poll tax consisted of one denarius or a penny?
A denarius, a coin that represented one day's wages for
one working man. A poll tax consisted of one
denarius per head and was assessed on every adult male in
Judea. OK, OK.
This is not the only time that this is brought up.
It actually is brought up in another passage in the New
Testament by Judas of Galilee. Not Judas Iscariot, but Judas of
Galilee in Acts chapter 5 and verse 37.
After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the
census and drew away many people after him.
He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.
OK, Josephus was a Jewish historian, and Josephus said
this about Judas of Galilee. He said Judas of Galilee LED a
rebellion against such attacks in about AD 7, when he angrily
denounced it as being no less than high treason against God.
That's what they're asking Jesus, because sometimes we do
this, sometimes we refer to this passage as proof that Jesus says
we got to pay our taxes. And yeah, it's true, we got to
pay our taxes, and he's going to prove that too.
But in context, what he's talking about is he's talking
about a controversial subject that had a lot of emotion
attached to it. He's talking about a specific
thing, a poll tax. And what do you want to know is
this? Is it lawful to pay this poll
tax to Caesar or not? You know why?
Because the religious people opposed it, and the people that
were for Caesar were for it. So now they want to try to catch
Jesus. And you know what they want him
to do? They want him to answer with one
word, either yes or no. If he says yes, it's lawful to
pay this kind of poll tax to Caesar, then all of a sudden
he's alienated from his religious cohorts and the
Pharisees would hate him and say that he's basically against God.
And if he says no, it's not lawful to pay this tax to
Caesar, then he's branded a traitor to his nation and
country. And that's why they want to ask
him this question. So very clear, very cleverly and
carefully, the question is constructed.
So after that they say this shall we pay or shall we not
pay? In other words, verse 14 says,
is it lawful? Verse 15 says, shall we do it?
And that completes the question. The answer though is absolutely
brilliant. Jesus knowing their hypocrisy
said to them, why do you test me?
And then he said, bring me a denarius that I may see it, you
know, interesting. Why did Jesus ask that question?
Or why did Jesus say bring me a denarius?
Well, first of all, Jesus didn't need more time to answer the
question. And by the way, he didn't need
to see a denarius to make his decision to answer the question
either. Jesus knew the answer.
He was going to prove the answer with what?
What was on the coin. So he says bring me a denarius
that I may see it now. Interesting, the phrase bring me
actually is for the purpose. The reason it says bring me is
because they didn't happen to have one close by.
Why was that? These were Roman coins.
OK, in the Jewish temple only Jewish money was allowed.
Jesus had already driven out the money changers.
So guess what, There was no denarius.
Ordinary eye around at that time.
So in order to get one, somebody had to leave that temple area
and perhaps go out to the court of the Gentiles or go outside
the temple area and find a denarius.
And that's what Jesus says go get me one, bring it to me.
In fact, in verse 16, when it says so they brought it, that
indicates or it's inferred that they had to go and get it.
Now interesting, what was on the coin at the time of this
particular narrative, Tiberius was the reigning Caesar.
OK, so on one side of the coin, it would have been Tiberius
head, his face. That's on one side.
There also would have been an inscription on the other side.
I heard actually it would be, it would have been a, I don't know,
a picture of or a description of him sitting on a throne with a
diadem and a crown, all that stuff.
But on one side it was a picture of his face and there was an
inscription. And this was, by the way, the
inscription. Jesus asked the question, whose
inscription is this? And that's what it would have
said. And what's that mean?
I don't know about you, but I can't read that.
I don't know what that says. What it means is this.
So this is brilliant. The Lord goes like this, they
bring him a Daenerys. He said whose inscription is
this? And that's what was on the
inscription. Then it means this Tiberius
Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus.
That's on one side of the coin. All right, flip the coin over.
On the other side of the coin. It would have said Pontiff Maxim
and that means highest priest. So when the Lord said whose
image and inscription is this in response to them saying is it
lawful for us to pay this tax? We're talking about this poll
tax and should we do it or not? Jesus tried to stump him.
He says go get me a denarius. I don't know how much time by
the way, past. Can you imagine the delay?
And the Lord is patiently waiting for one to be brought
back to him. And now He has it and he holds
it up and He says, whose description, inscription is
this? And that's what was on the
denarius. So when Jesus asked that
question, there was only one answer and that was it is
Caesar's. It is Caesar's.
In other words, the coin answered the question.
Therefore, in Mark chapter 12 and verse 17 we have these words
and Jesus answered and said to them very familiar words.
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the
things that are God. OK, the word render is a very
important word here. The word render means to pay
something as a debt. Don't let this slip by us
please. This is not a gift.
It is not a gift when you rendered a Caesar that which is
Caesar's, it's a debt. But if you also stop to consider
it's also not a gift when we give our life to God.
It's a debt. That's what the word render is.
And render applies to both things, Caesar and God.
I make this point because sometimes this is what people
do. Well meaning people, wonderful
people sometimes, but they misunderstand what's actually
required of them. The Bible says we are bought
with a price. We have been purchased from the
slave market of sin by the inestimable price of the blood
of Jesus. Romans chapter 6 says therefore
we are slaves for Jesus Christ, slaves to righteousness.
That's what we are. We're either a slave of sin or
the slave of righteousness. When Jesus purchases us out of a
slave market of sin and we contact the blood of Jesus at
baptism and we become a child of God, we now have a debt to pay,
not a gift, and that debt is to God.
As Paul says, we are debtors and do you know something else?
We are, We're not only a debtor to God, but part of being a
debtor to God is being a debtor to each other.
In fact, the Bible says, Oh no, man, anything.
And we get what that means. We get what that means.
We get that means, look, in the New Testament, it teaches us
that Christians need to pay our bills.
And just because you pay things on time does not mean you're not
paying your bills. If you have an agreement to pay
somebody something, whether it's a creditor, whether it's
personal, whatever it is, you must pay that.
We all get that. And that's what the Bible says
when it says, oh, no man anything.
But then Paul says, but to love one another, in other words,
that is a love of debt that we need to pay or a debt of love
that we need to pay all of our life and we'll never pay it off.
We pay our debts until they're paid off, but we have a debt of
love that will never be paid off Why?
Because of what Jesus did. Don't you see we're debtors too,
and render suggest something that is a debt and not a gift.
What the Lord is pointing out here though, is this.
When you pay to Caesar or render to Caesar your debt to Caesar,
it doesn't remove #1 your responsibility, or it doesn't
remove the possibility of serving God too.
You can serve God and still take care of your debt that you have
by way of taxation with this poll tax.
It doesn't hinder us in any way. By the way.
I love this though, because when he talks about what is the
inscription, what do you see on that?
What are you saying is this? You paid a Caesar that which
bears his image, which is a denarius or a Roman coin.
OK, but guess what? We are all made in the image of
God, so we have a responsibility to him and that's our greatest
allegiance and our greatest alliance.
So yeah, we've got to take care of that.
We've got to fulfill that law. Yes, we do.
But if there comes time in our life when you have to choose
one, Peter says you got to obey God rather than men.
In other words, we obey the laws of the land, we pay exactly what
is owed to us, and we obey the law.
And we're the best citizens in the world.
We're supposed to be Christian until whatever law like our
brother prayed. We pray that there'll be no laws
that would keep us from worship. And we're thankful that we live
in a country that is free, that we are free to worship as we
choose. That's wonderful.
But if there ever was a law that says you can't do it, guess what
we do? We obey God.
We obey God and not men instead. OK, Luke's account says this,
though. Well, first of all, it says they
marveled at him. What does that mean?
Luke actually adds why they marveled and what is meant by
that passage. Luke says they could not catch
him in his words, in the presence of the people.
And that's why they marveled. They thought they really had
him. They thought they had him dead
to rights. OK, that's the Pharisees
question. Now come to Sadducees.
Mark chapter 12 beginning in verse 18.
Then the Sadducees who say there's no resurrection, came to
him and they asked him, saying, Teacher Moses wrote to us that
if a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind and
leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise
up offspring for his brother. All right, first of all, let's
back up. Who are the Sadducees?
The Sadducees were usually among the wealthy priests.
They were the religious aristocrats, and they tended to
look down upon everybody else. And really, they were
characterized by materialism, That's number one.
And #2 they opposed the resurrection.
Can you imagine being someone that's religious?
Like they were living under the Law of Moses at the time, but
being very religious and not believing in a life after this.
Can you imagine if this is it, If this is all there was?
You know the Bible talks about if there is no resurrection, we
are all men, most the King James says most measurable or
pitiable. If that's all there was, the
Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection.
The Pharisees came and questioned Jesus about taxes.
Now they're out of the picture for just a moment.
Now you got the Sadducees. They didn't believe in a
resurrection. So they think they got a real
big thing here. They got a real proof here that
they can prove that there is no resurrection by coming to Jesus.
Now, why didn't they believe in a resurrection?
Well, there was a couple of reasons.
Reasons. First of all, they absolutely
disdained oral tradition, and the Pharisees, by the way, were
all about oral tradition. What that means is this, the
tradition of the elders that were passed down generation
after generation under Judaism or rabbinic tradition.
In other words, based upon the codification of rabbinic
tradition, where rabbis would add and elders would add various
things by tradition to what God had given them in the law, the
law of Moses, they would add that and they would say that's
binding too. And we know examples of that,
like when you can't carry your bed.
That's why Jesus took a shot at that when he says take up your
bed and walk on the Sabbath, right?
That was one of the things, one of the 39 things they added.
The Sadducees opposed oral tradition.
Pharisees were all about oral tradition.
So the Sadducees said this, if you can't read it in the books
of Moses, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible, the books of
the law, the Pentateuch, the Torah, if you can't read it in
those books, they didn't believe you should accept it.
So they come to Jesus with something that Moses said, and
this was true. They came with this idea and
they said teacher Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies
and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children, his brother
should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
What they're referring to is Deuteronomy chapter 25 is from
the Old Testament. Let me just notice a couple
passages with you and Deuteronomy 25 beginning in
verse 5. If brothers dwell together and
one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall
not be married to a stranger outside the family.
Her husband's brother shall go into her, take her as his wife,
and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
And it shall be that the first born son which she bears will
succeed to the name of the dead brother, that his name may not
be blotted out of Israel. This is called by the way.
And I looked up, I looked up that, you know, you can get
those. You can Google the apps about
how to pronounce ancient words. So, you know, it's hard
sometimes to know how to pronounce all the words.
So this is actually pronounced lever it or lever it law.
And it comes from a Hebrew word lever.
And it means a husband's brother or brother-in-law.
It was lever it law or lever it law.
Disobedience to this law or half hearted obedience to this law.
Like for example, marrying the woman or the widow.
But refusing offspring was a very, very serious matter. 2
passages Deuteronomy 25 beginning in verse 7.
But if a man dies, but if a man does not want to take his
brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate
to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to
raise up a name to my brother in Israel.
He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him.
But if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then
his brother's wife shall come to him in presence of the elders,
remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and
say, so shall it be to the man who will not build up his
brother's house, and his name shall be called in Israel the
House of him who had his sandal removed.
OK, give you an example by the way, of when that happened, when
a man went in to take the widow as his bride, but did not
fulfill the obligation of conception to produce a child,
to produce a son. You know what happened to that
man? You know, the passage goes back
to Genesis 38 beginning verse 8, and Judas said to Onan, go into
your brother's wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your
brother. But Onan knew that the heir
would not be his. And it came to pass when he went
into his brother's wife that he emitted on the ground lest he
should give an heir to his brother.
And the thing which he did displease the Lord, therefore he
killed him. Also, serious matter.
I'm so glad we don't live under the law of Moses, but it was a
serious matter. That's the scenario.
They presented Jesus to try to disprove the resurrection.
OK, now they come up with this scenario.
In other words, they talk about Leverett Law.
You've heard what Moses said. Now we've got a scenario for
you, Jesus, and this is to disprove you about the
resurrection. Here it is.
Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and dying
he left no offspring. And the second took her and he
died, Nor did he leave any offspring, and the third
likewise. So the seven had her and left no
offspring. Last of all, the woman died
also. Therefore in the resurrection
will they rise. Whose wife will she be?
For all seven had her as a wife. All right in this hip, this
hypothetical question to make the resurrection sound
ridiculous. Here it is.
If the premise of marriage continues after the resurrection
and there is such a resurrection and there will be a
resurrection, that's what they're putting together.
If she had 7 husbands that means she's going to be with seven men
in eternity trying to make Jesus look terrible about the
resurrection. It shows their logic is based on
faulty assumptions and that's based upon ignorance.
Jesus said to them are you not mistaken because you do not know
the scriptures nor the power of God.
They thought they knew the scriptures.
Now get this, what Jesus is saying is, and notice how he
answered the Pharisees question by asking them a question.
He answers this by also asking a question.
He says, are you not therefore mistaken because you do not know
the scriptures nor the power of God?
You don't know the scriptures, you don't know the power of God.
They should have understood the Scriptures, They should have
understood God, and they should have understood, and we're going
to get to the Scriptures in just a moment, but they didn't
understand the power of God because God is so powerful.
He can resurrect a body in such that does not need to be married
or a spiritual body that's going to be fit for heaven.
You don't even know the power of God, He's saying, and you don't
know the Scriptures. I can't imagine how that went
all over them when he said that marriage is necessary to
preserve the human race. But what about in a place, by
the way, that everybody is immortal?
There's no need for reproduction, none at all.
The Bible says we are going to be as the angels of God in
heaven. I'm going to get more to get to
that in just a minute, some more.
When we're in heaven, we're not going to be married.
I don't know all that it's going to be, but I do know this.
Whatever body we're going to get at the resurrection, we're going
to be raised incorruptible in an incorruptible body.
Isn't that great? Because you know what happens?
This body gets a little corruptible.
This body gets sick, this body gets stuffed.
This body dies. This body gets old.
This body wears out. And when you're buried, guess
what? It goes in corruption.
It is sown in corruption. Paul said it is raised in
incorruption. That means in the resurrection
we're going to get a body that is incorruptible, that is fit
for eternity. And the Bible describes it like
this. It'll be like Jesus and it'll be
as the angels of God in heaven, whatever that means, fit for
eternity. You know what the Lord's saying?
You don't understand anything because there is no marriage in
heaven. There's no need for it.
But if we talk about angels, you know, I said the Sadducees did
not believe in a resurrection. Did you know the Sadducees also
didn't believe in angels? And they didn't believe in
angels because they said if it's only oral tradition and not
found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy, we're not going to believe it, so it can't happen.
So we don't believe in angels either.
How do I know they didn't believe in angels?
Acts 23 and eight for Sadducees say there is no resurrection and
no Angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.
OK, remember when I said they only believe that if it's in
Genesis, Exodus, the visions number to run?
OK, you know it's amazing in the book of Genesis, the very first
book in the Bible, it talks about angels.
Remember in Genesis chapter 19 with Sodom and Gomorrah, very
familiar story. Don't have time to go into it.
Very first book. That's why Jesus said you don't
know the scriptures. Now the two angels to what
angels, Angels. There they are, right there,
angels. Now the two angels came to
Sodom. Where'd they come from?
Messengers of God in the evening, and Lot was sitting in
the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose up to
meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.
So in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 19, and one
speaks about angels that they said they understood, but they
certainly did not, and they're ignorant of the Scriptures.
Jesus goes on to say this beginning in verse 25.
For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are
given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.
But concerning the dead that they rise.
Have you not read in the book of Moses?
Again, we're going back to the Old Testament, by the way.
Now we're talking about Exodus. We already blew him out of the
water on Genesis 19 about angels.
Now we're going to get him on Exodus very next book, going to
get him by the resurrection. Exodus chapter 3.
Have you not read in the book of Moses, Exodus 3 in the burning
Bush passage how God spoke to them saying I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
This is absolutely brilliant. Jesus was saying this.
Have you not read in the book you say you believe in and
understand that at the burning Bush passage, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob had been dead for many years and God saying to Moses, I
am their God, not I was their God, I am their God.
You know what that means? You've heard me say this at
funerals. That means Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob existed somewhere. And that's exactly what happens
when a person dies too, by the way.
They're as alive as they've ever been.
They're just not here. Question is, where are they?
Because we're all going to exist somewhere.
There's only two places. It's going to be one of two
places, but you're going to exist somewhere for eternity.
We all will, right? That's why we got to make sure
we're ready to go and do what the Lord wants us to do in our
life, right? I am their God in the present
tense. So even Moses taught in the book
they said they believed in and the book they said that was
authoritative for them to draw conclusions about and answer
questions about said there's life after this one.
So Jesus says this in Mark 12 and 27.
He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.
You are therefore greatly mistaken.
It is a huge mistake to question Jesus, and it's a huge mistake
to question him then, and it's a huge mistake to question him
now. When the Lord says something,
believe it, apply it to your life, accept it.
If I say something, who am I? Check me, I mean check me.
The Apostle Paul even said that he praised those that Berea for
searching the scriptures daily to see if those things were so.
Don't ever take what a man says, whether it's, well, I'm just
going to say, what about anything that you can't prove?
But I'm going to say about religiously speaking, don't ever
take what a man says religiously at face value and believe it if
you can't prove it with the Bible.
But if the Lord says it, man, you got to accept it.
They came to Jesus to try to test him, to try to tempt him.
They were messing with the wrong guy.
He blew him out of the water. I don't know if using our
vernacular, they, the Lord knocked it out of the park.
They had nothing to say, but I want to ask you this as we wrap
up our remarks this morning. When it comes to our eternity,
there's no greater question in the world.
There isn't, because nothing else matters than the answer to
this question. Here it is going to ask it.
Are you saved? That's the only question that
matters. Someone said one time, if there
is no God then nothing matters, but if there is a God then
nothing else matters. Well, there is a God as the song
says, and he is alive. He is alive and he's real.
Question is. If we're going to spend eternity
somewhere and all this life is, it is a transition to another
time, another place. The question is where are you
going to spend eternity? Are you saved?
Here's what you have to do to be saved.
Not because it came from me, I'm going to give it to you from the
Bible. Here it is.
We always extended invitation. This is from the Word of God.
You got to hear the word of God. Romans 10/17, the apostle Paul
says so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. After you hear the word of God,
you have a choice. You got to believe with all your
heart. Hebrews 11 and six says without
faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God
must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. Then what?
I got to change my life. I can't continue the life I've
been living when I've been in sin in the world without Jesus.
I got to change some stuff. Acts 17 and 30.
I got to repent in my sins. Truly these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Then what? I got to be willing to say
something. The greatest thing I will ever
say. I got to confess Jesus Christ as
the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if
you believe with all your heart you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. All right.
All of these steps point towards salvation, but the point of
salvation is in contacting the blood of Jesus, and that is at
baptism for the remission of sins.
Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
This word belief means this. It means having the force to
obey. I believe so much, I believe so
heartedly, so strongly. I'm going to obey what the Lord
said. What did He say?
I need to be baptized. How?
For the remission of my sins. One final passage.
Baptism saves us. It's the act of baptism that
saves us first. Peter 321.
The like figure where to even baptism doth also now save us.
Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. If you've never taken those
steps of obedience to become a child of God, we would love to
assist you in that today. Maybe you have taken those
steps. Maybe you've drifted away.
Maybe there's just something in your life that you need to
correct. Then do that today.
Be want to be your class. Come forward while we stand and
while we see.