You are listening to It's Preaching Time. This broadcast spotlights Bible teaching and Bible preaching that will feed your soul and stir your heart. May God minister to you spiritually as you listen to It's Preaching Time. All right, open your Bibles this evening to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17. And I want to say what a privilege it is to be here this evening. And we thank God for His goodness in allowing us to come this way and be here tonight with your pastor. And I do remember his face. And I remember him being at the meetings. And we've had some good times together in the Lord. We thank God for that. It's always good to be in the Lord's house. Especially when He's at home. Amen. And I think he's at home around here this evening. And I've enjoyed the service already and the good singing, choir singing, special singing. What a blessing. Alrighty, if you found your place in Matthew chapter 17, would you stand please? And let's begin reading tonight in verse number 24. Verse number 24. Verse number 24 says, And when they were come to Capernaum, They that received tribute money came to Peter and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? And he saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers? And Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. So Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up. And when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. Take that, and give it unto them for me and thee. Alright, you can be seated. And in the verses tonight, we read about the miraculous provision of the tribute money. And I want to preach for a little while tonight on the miracle of the tribute money. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the privilege we have to be met together as we're met together here tonight. Father, I don't believe there's any person here tonight by accident. I believe that we're here by divine appointment. And Lord, because of that, you have something for each of us tonight. I pray, Lord, tonight that you would open our eyes, as the psalmist said, that we may behold wondrous things from thy law. I pray, Lord, tonight that you'd roll back the veil of heaven and give us a fresh glimpse of our Savior. And may we see the Lord Jesus tonight in a way that we've never quite seen him before. May we see him more clearly and may we love him more dearly. And then, Lord, may we be determined to serve Him more sincerely. I pray, Lord, that You speak to every heart. Have Your way in each life. And for all that You do for us, we give You thanks and praise, because we ask it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen and amen. I want us to look at the verses tonight, and I want to talk about the miracle of the tribute money. Now, there's several things I'd like to see here tonight, and to begin with, I want to see the power and the providence of God. I think we really can see the power of God in these verses. A song was sung just a moment ago, How Great Thou Art. We see the greatness of God. In the fact that the Lord Jesus, of course, they're near the sea, but He's in Simon Peter's house, and He knows that there is in that Sea of Galilee, somewhere a fish with a piece of money in its mouth that is exactly the right amount to pay the taxes for himself and for Peter. There we see the omniscience of God, the fact that God knows all things, and then the power of God to provide the fish with the money in his mouth. So we see the providence of God, we see the power of God in these verses. Notice also, we see the payment of the tribute. In verse number 24, they come to Peter and they say, doth not your master pay tribute? Of course, Peter, in a hurried kind of way, says yes, he doesn't even hesitate He doesn't stop and think before he answers. He simply says, yes, yes, but the truth is, and we know this because we've read the rest of the story, he hadn't paid his tribute and neither had Simon Peter. But this is a good point to stop and ask, what is the payment of the tribute all about? What was this tribute that the men came to collect? Well, in your Bible, in verse number 24, if you'll underline the word tribute, And if you want to write out from it and actually in the received text, the Greek text underlying our good King James Bible, the word here is the word didrachma. They that receive didrachmas. D-I-D-R-A-C-H-M-A, didrachma. What is a didrachma? A didrachma actually is a half a Hebrew shekel. A drachma is equal to one shekel. A didrachma is equal to a half a shackle. Now when we know that, it really opens the story for us. We know immediately what kind of tribute or what kind of tax is being talked about in that verse. Now take your Bible and look all the way back to the Old Testament in Exodus chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30 and we find the law of the tribute money there in Exodus chapter number 30. the law of the tribute money. In verse number 11, Exodus 30 verse number 11, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This they shall give everyone that passeth among them that are numbered half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. And then we're told the shekel is worth twenty geras. A half shekel shall be an offering to the Lord. Everyone that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, the poor shall not give less than half a shekel. When they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord," and notice again it says, "...to make an atonement for your souls." Now this was a law God gave to Moses in these verses here in Exodus chapter number 30. This tribute or tax in the Old Testament period before the temple period was called the tabernacle tax. Later, after the Temple of Solomon was built, it came to be called the Temple Tax or Temple Tribute. So there was a requirement made of every Jewish male 20 years old and older was required to pay a half a shekel at the tabernacle. The rich would not pay more, the poor would not pay less, every man would be levied the same tribute, the same tax, one half a shekel. Now notice some important things about this tribute or this text. It says in verse number 12, 13, it will be an offering to the Lord. Again, in verse number 14, it's called an offering to the Lord. Again, in verse 15, it's called an offering to the Lord. Well, so far we know it is an offering to the Lord, but look in verse number 15, it says, to make atonement for your soul. In verse number 16, again, it's to make atonement for your soul. Now you say, Preacher, I thought you couldn't make an atonement for your soul with money, with a silver coin, or a whole box of silver coins, or all the silver coins in the world. Well, actually you're right. You can't buy an atonement. Atonement is through the blood of an acceptable sacrifice. We know that, don't we? In fact, in Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11, God said, the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you upon your altars to make an atonement for your souls. And so it is the blood of the proper sacrifice offered upon the altar that makes an atonement for your soul. Now, why is this tribute, why is this temple tax, why is this atonement money, why is it so important and why is it said to be to make an atonement for your soul? I believe the answer is found right in these verses. Look in verse number 16. Verse number 16 tells us what the money is for. In verse number 16, And thou shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Did you see that? It's for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Now, the reason that money was so important, it financed the activities at the tabernacle. It underwrote the cost. for everything that took place at the house of God. Somebody had to keep things up and running at the tabernacle, at the temple, and in our own local churches. Amen. Somebody has to keep the lights burning. and the cooler on in the summer time and the heat in the winter. Somebody has to see that everything goes according to plan, that business as usual at the house of God. You see, without it, when the day of atonement came, there would be no priest, there would be no sacrifice, there would be no atonement made. So it ensured that on the proper days, when it was time for the proper sacrifices to be offered, that everyone would be in their places and everything would go as the Lord had ordained. So it underwrote the cost at the house of God. It was a very important tax, wasn't it? If you let that go, without that, they could not carry on at the house of God. Now that's why it was such an important tax. We've looked at the providence of God, our Lord Himself. What had full intentions of paying His tax, He knew where the money was. He had it waiting out there in the Sea of Galilee. He was going to do it in a very unusual way, but He had it ready and waiting when the time came for it to be paid. And then it was also an opportunity for us to understand what this tax was all about and why it was so important. Now, I want us to see thirdly in the story, Matthew 17, in the verses we have. I think we see something else here. I want you to see this. I could just pass this over, but I want us to see this part of the story. I think we also see the pranks of the devil. Now, by the way, did you see him when we read those verses? Well, you do know that usually any time And there's a great miracle just about to take place. We know that because we've read the whole story. Hasn't happened yet, but it's getting ready to. You know, anytime God's about to do something wonderful, He always sticks His head in somewhere. You can count on it, the preacher said. Now, when we read those four little verses, did you see Him in there anywhere? Well, let me show you where he is. Verse number 24 says, And when they were come to Capernaum, they came to Capernaum, they came to Peter's house, but do you know where they had been? You see, they were returning to Capernaum. They were coming back to Peter's house. Do you know where they had been? Go all the way back to verse number 1. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, bringeth them up to a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment white as light. He took these men up on the mountaintop, and pulled back the veil, and they got a glimpse of his glory. And they were having camp meeting on the mountaintop. It was a glorious time with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now they had just come down from the mountain and I think they went up and they saw Him glowing when they came down, they were all glowing. And anytime you get in the presence of God in such a fashion, you'll be glowing too. And the world will know that you've been with Him. Well, they had just come down from that glorious mountaintop experience and come back to Peter's home at Capernaum, and guess who came knocking on the door? The IRS. Now, that'll bust your bubble, eh Ben? I don't care how glorious it's been on the mountaintop. That'll bring you back down again in a hurry. Well, I said they came knocking on the door. Actually, they weren't knocking on the door. Jesus was in the house, Peter was in the front yard. They caught him out there alone, all by himself. And they've come to collect the tribute, but they want to talk to Simon Peter. Actually, they want to talk to him alone. And you see, I said we see the pranks of the devil, not so much in who they were, not so much in why they were there, but it's in what they said. You see, they were the duly authorized officers of the law. And not the law of man, but the law of God himself. And they were there for the right purpose, to collect the tribute, because God said it should be paid. But notice what they said. Now they didn't say, Simon Peter, why haven't you paid your taxes? That's not what they said. Although he hadn't. They said, doth not your master pay tribute? Now they knew who was staying at Peter's house and they knew what his reputation was. They knew what people thought about the carpenter from Nazareth. They knew that some people said that he was a holy man. There were others who said he was a prophet. Some said he was a great teacher. It was undeniable that he was a miracle worker. And some even went so far as to say, he's the son of David, he's the promised Messiah, he's the one of whom Moses and the prophets have written. Word had gotten out, his reputation had spread. But these men come to Peter's house, you know what they should have been saying? They should have said, we want to meet Jesus. But that's not what they said. They said, does not your master pay tribute? You know what they were saying? They were saying, Simon Peter, the man who's staying here in your home, if he's even half of what he's cracked up to be, if he's even a good Jew, besides all the other stuff they say about him, If he even knows anything at all about the law, he knows he's supposed to pay his temple tax, he's supposed to pay his tribute, and only one little half a shekel, and he hasn't even done the least thing that Moses' law requires. You know what they were trying to do? They were trying to cast the Lord in a bad light. They were trying to bad mouth the Lord. You know that's what the devil always does. The Apostle Paul said, we are not ignorant of his devices. You know what the situation was? They had a need. Taxes were due. Peter hadn't paid his. The Lord hadn't paid his. There was a need. You have needs too every day of your life, don't you? And just when that need is seemingly the heaviest and something has to be done, Satan always come around and say, okay, where is the Lord now? I thought he promised to take care of you. I thought he wasn't going to let you go through this kind of thing. You know, where is he now? He's run out on you. You know, the sad thing is sometimes we listen to that stuff. And we sort of get a little attitude toward God. You know, I like what Peter said. When they said, Simon Peter, does not your master pay tribute? He doesn't hesitate one second. He said, yes, he does. Now, we know he hasn't yet. But Simon is certain that even though he hasn't yet, he will. Because he knows Him. And he knows that he can trust Him to do what is right. And do you know what Simon did when he gave the answer he gave? He gave the Lord the benefit of the doubt. Now, it'll be a good day when we learn to give the Lord the benefit of the doubt. We don't understand all the things that we go through, but I'm going to give Him the benefit of the doubt. He does. I don't know why I have all the needs that I do, but He knows I have them, and I just figure He's already like He's got that fish waiting out there in the water. He already has the supply for my need waiting out there. Just like when Abraham came up the mountain to offer his son Isaac, he really didn't want to, but he wanted to obey God. God saw Abraham's need, he needed a substitute for Isaac, and had him waiting on the top of the hill, caught by his horns in the thicket. And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who seeth me. Now what the sense of that is, the Lord who has seen my need and has already provided my need before I got there. So Peter does that here, he gives the Lord the benefit of the doubt. No, what about, doesn't he pay tribute? Peter is saying, no, but he will, I'm sure he will. And so he says, yes. So they go their way. Did you notice that? He goes their way. Devil's like that, isn't he? He comes around for a while, aggravates you, then he goes his way for a little while. Don't worry, he'll be back. But maybe you can learn enough this time to deal with him next time when he comes around. Peter is upset. He does say yes, he does give the Lord the benefit of the doubt, but he also knows he hasn't paid his tax, Jesus hasn't paid his tax, so he goes running into the house. He goes running into the house to tell the Lord who's been there. Did you know Jesus doesn't even let him open his mouth? He goes in the house to tell him the tax collector's been there, and look at it. It says, when he was come into the house, verse 25, Jesus prevented him. He stopped him. He spoke before Peter could speak. He said, Simon Peter, of whom do the kings of the earth take custom and tribute? He doesn't even let Peter speak. And then he speaks, and he explains some things to Peter, and he gives him the solution to the problem. And the solution to the problem is that God's already made arrangements for the taxes to be paid. And he sends Peter in verse number 27 down to the sea to get the fish that has the money. So in these verses, we see the power and the providence of God. We see the payment of the tribute. We understand now what it's all about. We see the pranks of the devil, but the Lord's got everything under control. Amen? If you've ever had any problems or any trouble, that ought to bless you. We may not have it under control, but he's got everything under control. And then I want us to see a fourth thing here in these verses. Actually in verse number 27. Because in verse number 27 we see a beautiful picture of salvation by the grace of God. Now Matthew sat down to write this passage and he dipped his feather in the ink and he began to write as the Holy Ghost moved upon him. And I don't even think Matthew saw this picture when he wrote it, but the Holy Ghost did. And we can look here and let him open our eyes and see the picture tonight. A picture of salvation by the grace of God is found in verse number 27. And to paint the picture, three things are used. First of all, there is a coin, and then there is a fish, And then there is a hook. And with those three simple things, a coin and a fish and a hook, we see given to us here in the Word of God, a beautiful picture of salvation by grace. How so? Well, let's look first of all at the coin. Now again, if you had your Greek New Testament here, actually in the Greek text, it tells what kind of coin it was. It says, in the fish's mouth there'll be a piece of money. Our received text, underlying our good King James Bible, says a stater. It was a Greek stater. It was a silver coin, just that same size. And in the coin, the first part of the picture, I think really we find the simplest part of all, because on that Greek coin, on that stater, right on the face, there was the image of a man. So I think in the story, in the picture, the coin pictures, right there it is in plain view, a man, or man, or if you will, mankind. Now think about that for just a moment. The coin is used to give us a picture of mankind. Well, let's ask some questions and answer some questions now. The first question I'd like to ask is, how do you think that fish got that coin in his mouth. Where do you think the fish got the coin? Where did it come from? Now, I don't know what you think about it, but I think if he had chosen to, if he had wanted to, the Lord Jesus could have caused the coin to appear in the fish's mouth. Anybody have a problem with that? In fact, I believe had he wanted to, had he chosen to, he could have reached out in the thin air and pulled out a coin. Because in fact, in Genesis chapter 1, he stood one day and reached out into nothing and pulled out everything. All things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that is made. But he didn't choose to do it that way. He chose for the coin to be in the fish's mouth. Now, how did the fish get the coin in his mouth? Again, there may be other opinions, but I'll tell you what I think. I think the fish got the coin the only place the fish could have gotten the coin. The only place the fish ever was, and that was in the sea. That's where the fish was. So the fish got the coin in the sea. Now let's ask and answer another question. How do you think the coin got in the sea? That's a good question, isn't it? Well, again, there may be other answers, other opinions, but I don't know how it is here. We are in North Carolina, right? Okay. I don't know how it is here in North Carolina, but up in West Virginia, where I come from, folks don't usually stand around pitching silver coins in the sea or in the pond. Let me tell you how I think that coin got in the sea. I think, first of all, there was a time when that coin, when that man, was in the hand of another man. And that other man, by accident or by some incidence, dropped that coin, lost that coin, and that coin fell into the sea. Now, let's expand the picture a little bit. What is the coin a picture of? It's a picture of man or mankind. But now, in the sea, the coin becomes a picture of lost mankind, fallen mankind. Amen. Now, let's ask another question. Where in the sea do you suppose the fish found the coin? Well, again, I have a hunch it's the same way here as it is at home. Usually, we've got a big pond, a dam up from where I live. I've been there a number of times. I never have seen any silver coins floating on the top of the pond. I'll tell you where I think the fish found the coin. I think the fish found the coin all the way down on the bottom of the sea. You see, because there is a law. There is a physical law called gravity. that just happens to rhyme with the spiritual law called depravity, that says that once a fall has taken place, once an object is dropped, that it continues in a downward direction, falling farther and farther and farther and farther downward until finally it comes to rest on the bottom. And so that fish found that man on the very bottom of the sea. Now, there's something else interesting here, and that is, you know what's on the bottom of the sea, don't you? Muck and mire and slimy, nasty stuff on the bottom of the pond or the bottom of the sea. Now, not only has that man fallen, not only has he continued on a downward path, not only has he there on the bottom gone as low as he can go, but there on the bottom, he's down in the muck and the mire and the slimy, nasty stuff of the sea. You know, that does tell the story of mankind, doesn't it? Ever since the fall. You know, we're seeing things happen today in our world we never dreamed we'd ever see happen. I was at the hospital for a while this morning sitting in the waiting room and the news was on the television and they told about several horrible things that have happened today. That only a person whose mind was gone would commit such acts or be responsible for such crimes. What's happened is, since the fall of man in the garden, man has continued on a downward path until today he's gone just about as low as he can go. And today men are there on the bottom, down in the mud and the muck and the mire of sin. And we're hearing things today that are inhuman. Things today that we would not have dreamed a few years ago that we'd ever hear about. And it's because of the depravity of man, because of the fall of man, and because man's gone the downward road of sin and condemnation. You know something else about the bottom? There on the bottom of the sea, the man is at the mercy of the currents. You see, he has no power to move one way or the other. He just goes whatever way the current pushes him. If the current goes this way, He goes this way. If it goes that way, He goes that way. Ever becoming more and more buried deeper and deeper in the muck and the mire. You know that's where we are today? That's where the world is today. Whatever fad there is, whatever fashion there is, whatever the world's doing, that's what they do. Whatever direction that the world is going in, that's the direction they go in. Just going with the flow. And don't realize that there at the bottom of the sea, even on the bottom, the coin is still, as the currents swish and move him, he's still going farther and farther down. On his way to the lowest point at the bottom of the sea. Now it's interesting that in the New Testament there is a term for the bottom of the sea. It's this Greek word, A-B-Y-S-S. Do you recognize it? Abyss. The abyss is the bottom of the sea. What's so interesting about it is that's the very same word that's also translated pit, down in the pit. We know the pit is also a term that's used for hell itself. And so not only is man at the bottom, at the mercy of the currents, But he's being carried farther and farther down all the time and he's on his way to the pit. Now, how many of you will agree with me tonight that that man there on the bottom of the sea can never, never, ever, ever, 100% impossible for him to ever work his way up out of the muck and mire and work his way back to where he was before the fall. You agree with that? 100% impossible for that man in that condition, that fallen condition, to ever work his way back to where he was before he was lost. Hey, you know something else? He's worth a lot, but he can't even buy his way out. He's there in a hopeless and helpless position. That's a pretty bleak picture, isn't it? That's the picture of man without God, lost in sin, on his way to an eternity. without Christ. So the picture for the man, for lost mankind, is really hopeless and helpless, till we realize that there was a fish. This is a fish story, amen? There is the man at the bottom of the sea, lost, fallen, hopeless, helpless, but there was a fish that could see the man all the way down at the bottom, he could see the man in his lost condition and could go all the way down to where the man was and pick him up out of the mud, pick him up out of the muck, pick him up out of the mire. Amen. So this is a good fish story because in this fish story, the fish becomes a picture of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible is full, especially the Old Testament, with pictures or types of Christ. In fact, you can look all the way back in Genesis 6 and 7 and 8, and Noah's Ark is a good picture of Christ. You know, you see the wood of the ark, a picture of the cross. The pitch of the ark, a picture of His blood. The door in the side, the riven side of the Savior. Amen. That carried Noah and his family by the grace of God. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. From the world of sin that was being judged, safe through the flood, to the other side, they stepped out in a brand new world. Amen. That arc's a good picture of what Jesus does for us. When you come to Exodus chapter number 12, the Jewish people are down in Egypt, and God has sent Moses down. All the plagues have already been poured out on the land. Pharaoh still hardened his heart. The people won't change their mind. God said, one last plague. All the firstborn of Egypt are going to die, but Moses You go back and you tell my people that on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, they are to take a lamb, shed its blood, cast the blood in the basin, take a brush made of hyssop, dip it in the blood, paint it on the lintel and the doorpost of your houses. You see that? On the lintel and the doorpost. And there in that cross and that blood we see Christ our Passover who was offered for us. We see the Passover lamb as a picture of Christ. They leave Egypt, they get out in the wilderness and there of course they go through bad times and they begin to complain and murmur against Moses and against God. They go into an area where there are poisoned snakes, venomous serpents, fiery serpents. The people are being bitten and they are dying. Moses cries out to God. God says, Make thee a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole and hold it up and it will come to pass that whoever will look up will live. And Jesus himself said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. Amen. Good picture of Christ in these Old Testament pictures. But here in Matthew chapter 17, we see a New Testament picture of Christ, and we see it in a fish. Now, how many of you here tonight, you've seen that little symbol before? That little fishy? Probably at the Bible bookstore, maybe on a tie-tack, maybe on a bumper sticker. And we look at that and we say, what in the world does that have to do with Christ? What in the world does that have to do with Christianity? Is that a pagan symbol? What is that? Actually, that's one of the earliest Christian symbols. that was used among early believers to identify themselves as Christians. Now, maybe when you saw that little fish, you saw it with these strange-looking letters. Maybe the letters were on the inside of the fish, maybe beneath it, somewhere there. Now, what those strange letters are, simply, that's the Greek word for fish. It's the word, it sounds kind of funny, but it's the word ikthus. the Greek word for fish. Now, you may have seen that symbol and you may have seen the letters and not really understood why they're there. You may or may not have known that there is a reason. And the reason is this. The reason that that fish and that word fish is used as a symbol for Christ is because the first letter iota, just happens to be the first letter of the Greek name Iesus, or Jesus. And the second letter, chi, just happens to be the first letter of the Greek word Christos, or Christ. The third letter here, theta, just happens to be, you know, just a coincidence, just happens to be the first letter of the Greek word theos, which is God. And the fourth letter over here, Upsilon, just happens to be the first letter of the Greek word Wios, which means Son. And the last letter, Sigma, just happens to be the first letter of the Greek word Soterios, which means Savior. Now you put it together, and you have Jesus Christ, God's Son, our Savior. It's an acrostic. And they knew about that all the way back in the early church. So when they put a little fishy down like that, they were identifying themselves as believers in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, our one and only Savior. So the fish in the story becomes a picture of Christ. Now look at what the fish does. Look at what the fish does in the story. The fish in the story can go down, as I said a moment ago, to where the man is, all the way to the bottom, and pick him up and rescue him from his lost condition. In fact, the Lord Jesus spent the whole of His earthly ministry reaching down to fallen man. In fact, He went to men and women where they were. He met them where they were in life. Like the songwriter said, when I could not come to where He was, He came to me. I didn't even understand why I was having all the problems, all the trouble. I was so blinded by the muck and the mire, till one day Jesus came. He came to me. He came to where I was. The Lord Jesus spent His earthly ministry ministering to the sick and the lame, the haught, the blind, the downtrodden, even the demon-possessed. He came to them in their low place and lifted them out. Amen. Like David said, I was down in the horrible pit, down the muck and the mire, the mirey clay. And I cried out to God, and he inclined his ear unto me, and he heard me. And he reached farther down than I could reach up, and he lifted me out of that horrible pit. The fish went down and picked the man up. Amen. So what a good picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's here I want to look at the next part of the story because Even though the fish was in the sea with the man, even though the fish could see the man there on the bottom, lost, fallen, ruined, wasted, useless, even though the fish could swim all the way down to where he was and pick him up out of the mud at the bottom, listen carefully, not even the fish, not even the fish could get the man back to where he was before he was lost, without taking the hook. All the fish could do is just swim around in the sea with the man until the fish took the hook. Now, you do know what a fish hook is. A fishhook is a piece of sharpened metal that's molded or shaped in such a way that it's used to catch fish. In fact, I did a little research right here. I studied a little about fishhooks. And did you know that archaeologists have discovered ancient fishhooks that were used thousands of years ago for catching fish? And do you know what they look like? They look like the same thing that our fish hooks look like. No different. That's just the nature of the beast. That's what it takes to catch a fish. You've got to have a hook, of course, with a place for a line. Hopefully thin enough the fish won't notice it. And a real sharp barb that can really hook him. A fish hook is a piece of sharpened metal that's used to catch a fish, but in order to catch that fish, here's what it has to do. It has to pierce the fish's flesh. It has to wound the fish. It has to shed the fish's blood. In fact, Catching that fish and rescuing that man, the fish is called upon to give its own life. Amen. And you know what the Scripture says about our Lord? And it was on Calvary that He took the hook. It was on Calvary He felt the piercing wounds. It was on Calvary that He felt the pain of the hook. In fact, the Old Testament prophecy of Zechariah, our Lord spoke there many years before Calvary and said, In that day they will look upon me whom they have pierced. Psalm 22, They pierced my hands and my feet. And so, He was pierced. He was wounded. wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. His blood was shed. You know, the modern day theologians, some of them say it doesn't really matter how Jesus died, it only matters that He died. But it matters a great deal how He died. The life of the flesh is in the blood. That's how you make atonement for your soul. Under the law, almost all things are purged with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. And so, the fish went all the way down to where the man was, picked him up, and then the fish took the hook. By the way, you know, how many fishermen do we have here? Alright, okay, put this down. How many fisher ladies? Usually there's many or more. They know all about this. You know what happens the very second a fish takes the hook? You know what he does? He runs. He dives. He will take the plunge downward. He'll head for the bottom. And if there's a little hole in the rocks down there somewhere, he'll run in the hole in the rocks. And did you know that when the Lord Jesus on Calvary took the hook for us, He took the plunge down into death itself? And they came along that evening, and of course, to break His legs, but He was already dead. And they took His body down from the cross, and you know what they did? They hid Him away in a little hole in the rocks, just like the fish. But can I remind you that tied to that little hole on that hook, there was a line. Amen? And on the other end of that line, there was a strong arm that even though he took the plunge down into death and they put his body in the grave and rolled the stone over the door, on the third and appointed day, that strong arm pulled him in. Peter said, you took him out with wicked hands and you crucified him. Paul said, you nailed him to the tree, but God raised him up again. So the fish came up again. By the way, not only did the fish come up through the water, but that fish in that story came all the way out of the water and to Peter's boat. Amen. And here's something very interesting. When the Lord told Peter to go down to the sea, cast in a hook, he said, and take the first fish that cometh up. Did you notice that? Did you know that when Paul was preaching in the book of Acts, in chapter number 26 and verse number 22 and 23, he said, all that I have said are the things that the prophets and Moses did say should come. that Christ should suffer and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead and show light unto the people and the Gentiles. You say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. What about Jairus' daughter? What about the widow of Nain? What about her son? What about Lazarus at the graveyard? He rolled the stone, he came out. How come Jesus is the first to rise? Well, you see, they were restored to life. They did come out of the grave. But they got to have another funeral. Amen. But when our Lord came up out of death and when He came out of the grave, He came out immortal. No longer subject to death. He rose to die no more. Bless His name. I like this part. And because I live, you shall live also. Amen. By the way, when that first fish that came up out of the water, when he came up out of the water, guess who came up with him? The man that he went down to save. And you know, the teaching of the New Testament is, Ephesians chapter 2, that when the Lord saved us, He quickened us together with Christ. And He raised us up together with Christ. And He seated us together with Him in heavenly places. You see, we're not really waiting on a resurrection. We've already had one. John chapter 5, Jesus said, The hour is coming and now is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and shall live. And on a Wednesday night, November 1st, 1960, when I was dead in trespasses and sins, I heard His voice. And I'm alive and alive forevermore. Now, I am waiting. I am waiting for the redemption of my body. Amen. But I've already had a resurrection. Amen. God raised him up again, the first fish that cometh up. Now, the Lord said to Peter, go down to the sea and cast in a hook. Did you notice, did you notice how Peter caught that fish with a hook? There it is, there's the hook. Now, by the way, you can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and they're fishing all the way through. They live near the water and they depended on fish for a staple in their diet and they had a fishing economy. They depended on it. However, this is the only place in the Bible where you read about a fish being caught with a hook. Now they were catching fish all the time. But what were all those other fish caught with? With a net. Did you know, think about this for just a moment, did you know that a fish that's caught in a net has no choice in the matter? None whatsoever. A fish that's caught with a net, the net comes around the fish, he's caught whether he wants to be or not. But that's not true about a fish caught with a hook. A fish caught with a hook has a definite choice in the matter. Now if you can picture in your mind that little fish, he swims up to that hook and he looks at the hook, he has every right in the world if he chooses to, to swim away and be perfectly free. But if he makes the choice of his own will and volition and takes the hook, he does it just because he chose to. Now let me say something about the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, let me say this first of all. Did you notice in that verse 27 what the Lord told Peter to use for bait? It is in there. Look at what it told him to use for bait. Go down to the sea and cast in and hook. You know what he used for bait? Nothing. I'm made to believe if I take the Bible to be literally true that Peter went down to the sea and cast in a bear hook. And when that fish saw that bear hook... Now, why do you bait a hook anyway? All you fishermen and ladies, why you put bait on the hook? Track the fish. Who else? Hey, first of all, hide the hook. Amen. Hide the hook. Because, you know, you look at that hook and, man, you see that sharp part? You're talking about pain. You ever had one of those in you? They had to cut it out? Surgically remove? You're talking about agony. First of all, to hide the hook. Second, make it attractive. You want to fool that old fish. You want to trick him. Lure him in. But you know when Peter took that hook to the sea and cast it in and that fish swam up and saw that hook, he was not fooled or tricked into taking the hook. He was not deceived into taking the hook. He saw that hook. He saw all the pain. He saw all the agony. He saw all the suffering of that hook. And He took it anyway. The same was true of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't fooled into going to the cross. He wasn't tricked into going to the cross. He had a choice in the matter. He didn't have to go. We need to understand that. He had a choice in the matter. He did not have to go to Calvary. In fact, he could have let the whole world go to hell and he would have been just and we would have only gotten what we deserved. He had a choice in the matter. He saw all the pain and the suffering and the agony of the cross and he still said yes. Now we might ask, why would a fish bite a bear hook? But if you have much experience at fishing, you know they will. A fish will bite a bear hook. Why will a fish bite a bear hook? Evidently, he must see something there that attracts him. He must see something there that he thinks is worthwhile. Ask the same question about the Lord Jesus. Look at the cross. Look at the beating on his back that would have killed a normal man. Look at the nails in his hands. Hear the screaming mob as they ridicule Him and mock and make fun of the Son of God. Look at the thorns in His brow. Look at the torture, the agony He bore. Not just the physical torture, but the judgment of God for all the sins of all the world poured out on Him there on the cross. He saw it all with both eyes open and He still said yes. Why do you think He did it? Same reason I think a fish bites a bear hook. He sees something there that he thinks is worthwhile. I'll tell you what I think he saw. The only way I know to tell you is just to show it to you the way the Lord showed it to me. You see that hook? It looks like a letter of our alphabet, doesn't it? What letter does it look like? A J, that's right. And this little round part up here where the fishing line is tied to, it also looks like a letter of our alphabet, doesn't it? What does it look like? It looks like an O. And this really sharp part, the part that really hurts, it also looks like a letter of our alphabet. And do you know what it looks like? Uh-oh. It looks like the letter Y. And what does that spell? You know why I think our Lord went to Calvary with both eyes open? Knowing the torture of the cross. Hebrews chapter 12 tells us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finish of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. You see, he could go to Calvary because he was looking beyond Calvary. He could see the joy waiting on the other side. What joy? Luke 15 talks about the joy, the joy of finding a lost sheep and carrying it home on your shoulders and saying to your friends, rejoice with me for I found my sheep. The joy of seeing a lost son come home to a father's house. The joy of sinners repenting and being saved by the grace of God. Matthew chapter 13 tells two little stories, one about a treasure he had in the field. Which when a man found, he hid and he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. And it said he did it for the joy thereof so he could have the treasure. Another man paid the same price, the ultimate price, to purchase a pearl of great price. And he did it for the joy thereof. I think he went to Calvary for the joy of seeing sinners saved. I think he went to Calvary for the joy of seeing Israel, God's peculiar treasure, redeemed. And seeing the church, the pearl of great price, purchased with his own blood. That's why he looked at Calvary and all the agony and still said, I'll go. I'll go. For the joy thereof. Now let's hurry back to Matthew chapter 17 and let's answer just a few more questions and I'll be done. Look at Matthew chapter 17. Verse 24. Doth not your master pay tribute? Well, we know Peter says yes, but we also know he hadn't. And Peter hadn't paid his either. Why hadn't the Lord Jesus paid his tribute? Why did he have to wait for the tax collector to come? Why hadn't he already paid it? Well, there are some good reasons. I'm sure there are a number of good reasons. I want to give you three of them. One reason I think he hadn't paid it yet was so that we could have this story right here in Matthew chapter 17. If he had already paid it, there wouldn't be a fish story here. There'd be no need for the fish and the coin and we wouldn't get to see that beautiful picture of our salvation either if he had already paid it. There's a second reason why he hadn't already paid it, and that is because really, technically, technically, he didn't owe it. Really, he didn't owe that tribute. You say, but now wait a minute now. Every Jewish male, 20 years and older, shall pay a half a shekel. He was a Jew. He was of age. It was required. Yes, but look, look in verse 25. Peter goes running in the house to tell Tell the Lord that the tax collectors have been there, but Jesus prevented him. Wait, Peter, don't say a word. I know who's been out there. Let me ask you a question, Peter. Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom and tribute? Of their own children, their own sons, or strangers? When a king levies a tax, does he tax his own children, or does he tax the subjects in the kingdom? Peter already knows the answer to that question. He's more than familiar with the customs of his day. He doesn't even hesitate. He says, of strangers. They tax strangers. Not the king's sons. Because the king's sons are tax-exempt. By the way, you do know who the king was? They said to Moses, Moses, when thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, They shall give every man, you know, the half-shackle. The God of heaven was the king who levied the tax. And the Lord Jesus was the king's son, and he was tax-exempt. Amen. He really did know it. There's a third reason why he hadn't paid it, and it's so that we could see this. That money was ransom money. A ransom for your soul. Atonement for your soul. And He was the sinless Son of God and He needed no atonement made for Him. Amen. But even though He really didn't owe it, and if He really didn't owe it, why did He pay it? Why did He pay it if He didn't owe it? Good reason. And the answer is given right there in the text. Nevertheless, lest we should offend them." Now, remember who they were? They weren't just some tax collector, self-made tax collectors. They were the duly authorized officers of the law, not of Moses, but of God. And they were collecting a tax that God himself had levied on the people. And Jesus said, lest we should offend them. In other words, you realize that if he had not, now he didn't owe that tax, but if he hadn't paid it, he was a Jew. He was 20 years old and older. He was born under the law of Moses. Had he not paid it, he would have offended not the law of men, but the law of God. James 2 says, if you offend in the least, you offend in the whole. You break one little teeny tiny commandment, you're guilty of the whole law of God. That's why we can't go to heaven by keeping commandments. But if our Lord had broken one little tiny commandment, He Himself would have been guilty of the whole law of God and He would have been a sinner just like the rest of us. But He never offended them. He had the money waiting in the bank of Galilee, of the Sea of Galilee. So, he paid it. Now, let's ask this question. Why hadn't Peter paid his taxes? And he hadn't had it. You want me to tell you why Peter didn't pay his taxes? Because he didn't have the money to pay it. Had he had the money, he would have been required to give it to the men when they stopped at the house. You know, his financial status is pretty much the same all through the Word of God, like most Baptist preachers, silver and gold, have by none. That's why he hadn't paid it. Well, why did Jesus pay it for Peter? Because he knew Peter couldn't pay it for himself. Now get this, get this, Jesus paid a debt he did not owe. Peter owed a debt he could not pay, but the Lord Jesus paid for him a debt that he did not owe. And then the same way we owed a debt, a debt of sin to God that we could never pay. And he came down from heaven and took our place and paid our debt for us so that we could go free. Now, when the Lord Jesus paid for Peter, when he paid his taxes, it guaranteed some things for Peter. Two things especially. Get these two things. When the Lord Jesus paid that tax, provided the money for Peter, it guaranteed, first of all, First of all, it guaranteed that there would be an atonement day, and on the proper day, a sacrifice would be offered, blood would be shed, and there would be an atonement made for Peter. I couldn't help when I thought about that, thinking that, you remember that fish? I mean, you remember that man, that fish got that man? Where was the man? He was in the fish's mouth. The fish took the hook. Where was the hook? In the fish's mouth. The fish bled, where did the fish bleed? In his mouth. In fact, when Peter pulled that coin out of that fish's mouth, that man was all covered over in that fish's blood. You sang that tonight, didn't you? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So it guaranteed an atonement would be made for Peter. But it guaranteed a second thing. You know when they took the atonement money? You know when they collected the tribute money? It was in Exodus 30. Did you notice it? When thou numberest the children of Israel, when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. It was taken at the time of the census. It was a census type. It was taken at the time when men were being counted and their names were being written down in the national register. So that when Peter took that coin, Jesus said, you take it and pay for me and for you. He took that coin, he went down to the clerk's office at the synagogue at Capernaum and he put the money on the desk and the clerk opened up the book and dipped his feather in the ink and in the book he wrote down, Simon Peter, and right out from it he wrote, paid in full. And when our Lord paid our debt for us, you know what it guaranteed? There'd be an atonement for us, and our names would be written in heaven. Amen. And Jesus said, if you can't rejoice in anything else, you ought to rejoice because your name is written in heaven. Alright, very quickly, very quickly, let's trace the history of that man. Where did he start? He started in the hand of another man. But that man lost him, just like Adam lost it for us. Well, he fell. There was a fall, and the man took the plunge into the water, and continued down farther, deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper, until he went all the way to the bottom. On the bottom, he was down there in the muck and the mire at the bottom of the sea. But there was a fish who saw him, went to where he was, picked him up out of the mire, took the hook, brought him all the way back to where he was before he was ever lost. You know where he wound up? He wound up in the hand of the fisher of men. It's interesting that Peter never saved the man the fish did, but Peter got the real amen. You know, we can't save anybody. The Lord has to do that. But it is good when we get the real amen. From the hand of Peter, that man was transferred down to the synagogue, down to the house of God. Now, I don't know what you think about it, but I think anytime you get someone genuinely saved by the grace of God, you get them from off the bottom, they'll always wind up in the house of God. Amen. But that synagogue in Capernaum was the house of God. That's where he should have been. That was a good place for the man who had been lost. Now he's found. That's a good place for him, but that synagogue at Capernaum was only the local house of God. And there was one of those in every little community all over the whole kingdom. But that was not his final destination. Because you see, when the census was over, and they had been busy all over the kingdom, counting people and collecting tribute and gathering in all those little men from all over the kingdom. into those little local houses of God all over the kingdom. But when the census was over and all the men were safe gathered in from Jerusalem, from the big house of God up on the mountain at Jerusalem, they sent out armed delegations to every little local house of God And they picked up all of those little men that had been gathered in from all over the kingdom and they transferred them back to the big house. Amen. Thank God for the little house down here. But this is not our final destination either. I'm glad I've been safe gathered in. And I'm enjoying being in the house of God here. You have been listening to It's Preaching Time. 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