Those who come again to Luke 20, to this part of God's Word, let us ask God for His help, that He may minister to us through the preaching of His Word. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus, that He reigns over all. He has said that all authority belongs to him and that we may also recognize the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and that it is good and it is for our good that we may bow the knee to Christ and confess him to be our Lord and Savior. Minister, to us now we ask by your Holy Spirit that we may return to you what is yours with praise and adoration and we ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen. When we come to this famous saying of the Lord Jesus, where he says to these men who come to him, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And I hope we're able to look at that saying, but also to look at the wider passage as well, that we may see something more of what Jesus is doing, catching a glimpse of the Lord and his in his wisdom, in his majesty, in his righteousness, and in his truth, all being shown forth in these words. Where Jesus is confronted by men who come to him cloaked as angels of light, coming to Jesus in sheep's clothing, but underneath these men are wolves. Their goal is a singular goal which is to catch him in something that he says and to hand him over to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. They are wanting Jesus to be tried. and put to death. And so this is how they have planned to go about it. That they may catch him in something that he says. And they have a goal therefore. Their goal is to rid the world of Jesus. And they have a plan to do that, which is to hand him over to the authorities, the Roman authorities, and they do this. And here is the evil in addition to the rest of what they are planning. They want to do it by deception. These men are deceivers. They come in one way, but they have an altogether other purpose. Look how they flatter Jesus or try to flatter him. Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Yet these men are wanting Jesus dead. These men have been sent by the religious leaders of that time. We know that you teach rightly. Trying to flatter Jesus so that then he may fall into their trap and that he may say something which would then give them reason to turn him over. Well, we should give careful observation to what is happening here. I think that what they're wanting to do, that they're trying to catch him in something that he says, and ask the question, why are they trying to catch him in something that he says? Why are they trying to catch him in something he says? They're trying to catch him in something he says because they can't catch him in something that he does. They can't catch him in something that he does. But they're single-minded that they're going to catch him. That's what they're about. That's what they want. It doesn't matter how much good Jesus does. These men have set it in their hearts that they want rid of him. That they want to get rid of Jesus. And And all that Jesus has done up to this point, they have not been able to find anything wrong in him, in anything that he does, or even to anything that he says either. But still, they maintain that line of wanting Jesus dead. They're jealous of Jesus' righteousness. They hate what Jesus stands for and who he is, that he is God's righteousness. For these unrepentant men, Jesus is a constant reminder to them of their own need for him, but they are unwilling to turn to him. And so they want to try and catch him in something, but he says, They are filled with jealousy. Last time we made the point that the more God makes himself known, the greater depths of sin entered into in the world. And that was the case in the parable of the wicked tenants. The more God made himself known, the worse God's servants were being treated. The more he made himself known, the worse his servants were being treated. So God sent the prophets, and one by one they beat them, and they beat them, and they killed them. And so God made himself known in an even clearer revelation to the world in sending his son But what did they do? They said, this is the son, so let us now take our opportunity and kill him that we may have the inheritance. Driven by sin and evil and wickedness. And here is one of their schemes. That they will try to catch Jesus in something that he says. What has happened here is men who come in the name of God, in the name of religion, to try and put God's son to death. What's being exposed here is not a righteousness in them, but sin. And their own problem is that our problem, that these men do not hate sin. I don't mean the consequences of sin. We may hate the consequences of sin. We may only see the consequences of sin. But what God hates is sin. And that is what is utterly abhorrent to God. And that is also what God would teach us also with his word. Yes, the consequences are terrible. But the sin, the thing which leads to the consequences is even worse. But these men do not hate their sin. And so what they hate is the sinless one. They are unrepentant and With the ongoing presence of God and his son, Jesus Christ, these men provoke themselves to more and more evil. Which must then lead us to ask the question, if what is being showed here is how not to approach Jesus, then how must we approach Jesus? How may we approach Jesus that we would be welcomed by Jesus? That we may not be turned away from Jesus having been openly shamed, which is what is happening here. The words tells us to come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He says that, and has already said actually, that everyone who falls under his wrath is crushed. Everyone who falls in that stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. So then a warning here of trying to come to Jesus to break him. Actually what he's saying is that we need to come broken to him. And he tells us that a bruised reed he will not break. and a smouldering flax he will not put out. God comes to the one who is broken in heart and in mind and in spirit and pours in his grace, pours in his love. So we come to him therefore sinners and asking for his forgiveness. It's not just that we're damaged goods, it's that we're sinners. It's not just that we don't have anything to offer God, it's that we're sinners. We're, let's say, As John Murray says, it's not just that we don't deserve God's grace, it's that we're ill-deserving. What we deserve for our sin is his wrath. We don't come as people to God who have a clean record. We have sinned against him. We aren't good enough. But as the scripture says to us, where there is atonement, where there is atonement, there is forgiveness of sin. It's not where there's a self-righteousness, there's a forgiveness of sin. It's where there's atonement, there's forgiveness of sin. It's where the blood has been shed for you, that there is forgiveness of your sin. It's where Christ has died for you, that there is forgiveness for your sin. And that's what we need. Not a better personal record, but Christ's record for us. He is our great high priest. And the letter to the Hebrews is especially good for us to be reading about this. where it says, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. And that's what makes him a perfect priest, because he hasn't sinned. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. So then the approach to Jesus. And then a question for Jesus Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? Again, we're reminded here that these men are coming to Jesus to try and to catch him in something that he says. And so, the reason why they ask him this question, it's a very specific question, and there's a purpose of this question, that the reason is to try and to trap Jesus, so that he can be saved. He will have problems whatever he answers, whether he says yes or whether he says no. They are wanting to deliver him. It's not that they are coming because they have a personal concern about whether it's right for them to be paying taxes to Caesar or not. The reason why they're asking this is because they want to bring a charge against Jesus. It's like they're waiting with their pens and notepads to write down exactly what Jesus says so that they can take what he said to court against him. they ask him this question in the hope that he would fall into their trap. The disciples themselves must have wondered at this point what Jesus was going to say, that these men had come to catch him. What would Jesus say? Their hope was to try and force him one way or the other to say yes or no. They ask, is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? And when they ask that question, is it lawful, what they're asking is, is it according to the Bible? Is that according to God's word that you give this tax to Caesar? This tribute to Caesar that we're told about here was a tax, a loathed tax, a tax that the people hated. because it was an annual reminder to them that they were under the jurisdiction of the Roman Empire. A shame for these people. A shame for them. Because here are the people who had received in their past the covenant promises of God. and the promise to live in a land where God would provide for them everything that they need and they would prosper and do well. But because they had turned against God, God had taken away some of the privileges, including this one, to rule themselves. And so they came under the yoke of the Roman Empire. And for these men who may have had in their minds something to do with the worship of God and how God should be worshipped, the nation which had been given the covenant promises of God and been given the instructions for worship was now under the authority of an empire which was saturated with idolatry and plurality of gods. this tribute to Caesar which was loathed to the point that in AD 70 when the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem it was because of this tax because it was loathed so much that there was an uprising against the Roman Empire, and so the Roman Empire just came in and crushed them. Is it lawful to pay this beloved tax to Caesar? If Jesus were to say, no, it is not lawful, then what these men would do is hand Jesus over to the Roman governor, to Pilate. Here is this influential man who is leading people away from your government, Pilate. So what are you going to do? And if Jesus says yes, then what would happen is that he would become deeply unpopular with the people. He would be like a tax collector to them, saying yes. The tax collectors were hated because they were collecting for the Roman Empire. And people had a great hatred for them. Now, what these men are trying to do is trying to bring raise a barrier, trying to take the people away from Jesus so that these people who love hearing Jesus and who gather to hear Jesus will turn away from Jesus. This is what has been taking place in the recent verses is that Back in chapter 19 and verse 47, where it tells us Jesus was teaching daily in the temple, having cleansed the temple, and the chief priests and scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything that they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. And then over in verse 19 of this chapter 20, it says that they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So what they're trying to do is to turn the people against Jesus. This is their goal. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? Well, what does Jesus say in his response? Show me a denarius. A denarius, as it says at the bottom of the page in the note, a day's wage for a laborer. It was the Roman currency that was used in Jerusalem And on one side of this coin, which was equivalent to a day's wage, on one side of it was a picture of Caesar, the head of Caesar, just like on our coins, head of the queen. On the other side of the coin, the inscription, Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, Augustus. Show me a denarius. And so they take out a denarius to show him. Whose likeness and inscription does it have? Which is something like saying this, whose is this coin? Whose is this coin? Whose picture is on it? That's whose coin it is, and the people would have understood that. It's Caesar's coin. And as Jesus is returning to these people who are trying to trap him, there is a definite turning taking place when they have to respond to Jesus and say, this is Caesar's coin. which they have gone from being in a strong position in their minds to a very definite weak position now, that they have had to admit that this is not their coin at the end of the day, but Caesar's coin. Jesus is saying to these people, but he's also doing as well. It was just a few days before that Jesus had gone into the temple and turned over the tables. But now what he's doing is he's turning round the tables. He's turning this effort to try and trap him, to catch him, now upon their own heads. And as it goes, this is something from which they cannot escape. So when Jesus responds to them, It's not just that they don't get the answer they want. It's not just that they don't get the answer that they want. But notice what doesn't happen here is that these men do not come back. They come to trap him. But when they come to trap Jesus, and when they meet Jesus and speak with him and he speaks to them, do they come back and ask him the same question? No, they don't. Now why is that? It's because Jesus has here exposed them. And they leave. Calvin speaks about this. He says that these men leave in disgrace, shame, and confusion. They dare not come back to Jesus and ask him this question again. Why is that? Well, it begins by Jesus saying to them, show me a denarius. You who say that it is not right for this tax to be paid and that you say that this should not be given to Caesar, you show me a denarius. And what do they do? They take out the coin out of their pockets that says this belongs to Caesar. And Jesus is showing, well, you're not so righteous after all, are you? You're carrying this coin in your pocket. You're saying that to give this tax is a blasphemy. Well, you're holding the coin in your pocket. And also, you have given consent, a silent consent perhaps, but you've given a consent to this tax. You pay it. and the tables are turned on them. They go away and they marvel at what they say, but they also become silent. They don't know what to do now. They failed in their effort to trap him. Well, in today's climate, we must ask God for his help to discern For there are those who are just like these men, who come with words of flattery, come and say, oh, what do you think about this or that? But actually what they're trying to do is trap those who bear the name of Jesus Christ. So then, pray for Christians in public office, For as Jesus has said, as it is with me, so it is with those who follow me. And we can also expect for this kind of thing to happen. And let us take heart from Christ because there will be failures, there will be losses in this great war that is taking place. But the victory is Christ's, and we ought to take heart from that, that the victory is always Christ's. And he always has the victory. And he always has the victory, whatever is happening in the public view, it is always Jesus who has the victory in the end. While it may seem that they are lost perhaps in the battle, they have faced these kinds of questions, seen this kind of thing recently in our politics. But we must not think that, well, those who seem to have the victory then have the victory. That is exactly what doesn't happen. And so it says in Psalm number two, Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled, but blessed are all who take refuge in him. We are weak, and There are times when we don't stand up for Christ as we ought. But we must not think that that's the end of it. For there's Christ, and all are answerable to Him. And those who want to trap Him, those who want to rid of Him, As it was for these men, they will be shown openly to be in shame and utter disgrace. This is the inescapable truth of this passage, that Christ is sovereign and rules over all. There's another feature of what Christ says here. for us to pick up on when he says, whose likeness and inscription does it have? We've passed over this so far, but let's come back to it. For there is a distinct echo here. of what God said in the beginning, let us make man in our image and after our likeness. Jesus is making the point here that whatever is made in the image or whatever has the inscription, he says, render to Caesar, which means simply return to him what belongs to him. And since it is the case that we return things to those that they rightly belong to, I'm much more than the case that we return to God what belongs to God. God made mankind in his image and after his own likeness. Here is the Lord Jesus who is the perfect image of God responding to the questions of men who were made in God's image who want Jesus put to death. And Jesus is, it seems he is recalling something of this. These echoes, things spoken long ago. But they still have meaning today. And they still have meaning today for us as well. What happened to the image which was perverted? That what was made by God would in its nature want rid of God. and that which belongs to God is no longer being given to God. But Jesus would remind us that all people remain God's and all shall return to him. We might say it's a law of creation. that everything returns to its creator and everyone returns to its creator. So then return to God. What is God's? The language Jesus uses here is likeness and inscription rather than likeness and image. inscription, that word inscription doesn't appear when we go back to the beginning of Genesis, but it has that meaning of it's written and it belongs to the person who has responsibility for writing it. The word inscription doesn't appear back in that Genesis account, but it does appear again just two or three pages over in Luke chapter 23 in verse 38 where it says, there was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews. Here is the inscription. on the cross. God is saying to us, this is my inscription on the cross. This is my image on the cross. This is my son on the cross. My likeness on the cross. Such is God's love, His mercy and His righteousness for us. We had turned from God. We had perverted His image. And here is His image. It's on the cross. given for the forgiveness of our sins and an everlasting testimony to the world that you and I need Christ. What have we done to God's image? What have we done to ourselves that we would rid ourselves of God? Yet God comes in the person of his Son on the cross. There is one other thing that I would want to point out from this. And that is that these two things go together. The wisdom of Christ. How wise Jesus is. being able to deal with these people who would come to try and catch him, how wise he is. You know, what I believe the Bible is teaching us here at this point is it's this same wisdom that goes to the cross. The wisdom of God and the wisdom of Christ doesn't stop before Jesus goes to the cross. This is the wisdom of God. It is utter foolishness to the world. It is a stumbling block to the Jew, it is folly to the Gentile, but in this is the power and wisdom of God for salvation, Christ on the cross for you and for me. As there is that refrain that runs through the early books of the Bible, where there is atonement, there is forgiveness of sin. Here is God's love poured out for us in Christ Jesus. the wisdom of God's folly to the world, but to us, the power of God and the power of his salvation. So Christ, then the wisdom of God and his sayings and his teaching and his actions also in going to the cross and laying down his life for us. Here are men who approached Jesus to try and catch him. They tried to trick him with a question that was evil in its purposes. And Jesus' response, which was to send these men away empty-handed. Well, God is gracious to us in Christ Jesus, and may we know the power of the cross in our lives and in our hearts. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the great wisdom of Christ and the wisdom that you have set forth in and through him, and that our eyes may be opened to see that his going to the cross is also your wisdom. Folly to the world, but for us who believe it is the power of God and it is our salvation. And so we have been taught then, render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's, that we may live obediently, faithfully, as you would have us according to your word, and with respect to those that are in government above us, but even more with respect to you, that you call us to trust in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, And you say that whoever calls upon him will find in him a perfect atonement and forgiveness of sins. We pray in his name. Amen.