Amen. And now, saints, would you remain standing and have reverence for the reading of the Word of God. Turn with me to two places. First, to Ecclesiastes chapter 5. We'll read a couple verses there, then to chapter 8, and then we'll turn to Mark chapter 12. You'll notice, if you're familiar with these passages, that none of them are really what you would call an Easter passage. And that is because they are all, every line, an Easter passage. We celebrate Easter Sunday every Sunday. And that's no different this Sunday. So we pick up where we left off in the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 12. First we're going to read Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, and then we'll turn to chapter 8. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, beginning in verse 4, when you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. In chapter 8, we'll read verses 2 through 9. I say, keep the king's commandment for the sake of your oath to God. Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. Where the word of a king is, there is power. And who may say to him, what are you doing? He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful. And a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment, because for every matter there is a time and judgment. though the misery of man increases greatly, for he does not know what will happen, so who can tell him when it will occur? No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, and wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it. All of this I have seen and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt." Then Mark chapter 12, We pick up in our study, Gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 12 verse 13. Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch him in his words. When they'd 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? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, why do you test me? Bring me of Daenerys, that I may see it. So they brought it. And he said to them, whose image An inscription is this, they said to him, Caesar's. Jesus answered and said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Please be seated. Our Lord Jesus Christ's life we've seen in this study of Mark has been inundated and characterized by opposition. opposition from Satan and his horde of demons, opposition from the religious leaders of Israel. And from chapter 11, verse 27 through chapter 12, everything is opposition. to the Lord Jesus Christ. Confrontation between Christ and the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin, the assembly of elders of Israel, consisted of those three groups that we read so much about. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes. And of course, we've said this isn't new. Our Lord Jesus ministry is characterized by opposition. And the issue here, why the opposition of the church leaders? It's all about authority. The issue is authority, and beloved, that's still very much the issue today for every man, woman, boy, and girl who would reject this Jesus. It's about authority. Who is he to tell me what I must do? Where did he get this authority? That's the exact question. that Sanhedrin asked the Lord Jesus Christ. These men so long ago and men today have no intention of submitting to the authority of the King of glory and that is the direct question they asked him in chapter 11 verse 28. By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority? They recognize that everything that the Lord Jesus has done is an act of authority. He authoritatively commanded demons and they obeyed. He forgives sins, an authoritative act of God. He commands nature. He cleanses the temple, a responsibility, an act of authority of the priest. He taught with authority even in their temple. They didn't delegate this authority to him. So by what authority are you doing these things? In other words, the point they're trying to make is that this Jesus was illegitimate. Flowing out of that confrontation in the temple court from chapter 11 over authority, we see these confrontations escalate and intensify. Our Lord schools them with a parable concerning the wayward history of Israel, their failed stewardship as wicked vine dressers, and the promise of divine judgment upon them, for which they seek to lay their hands on him, but they feared the crowd. And so what they've got to do If they're going to get rid of this Jesus, is they've got to turn the crowd against him. And that's what they are taking up now in chapter 12 verses 13, really through the end of the chapter, with these series of questions. There's a shift in the nature of their conflict with Jesus from reacting to him, and now they're going on the offensive. They're going to take the question to him and try to trap him in his words, so we've read Verses 13 and following here, it's a question concerning taxation. We're going to see in 18 through 27, next week, the Sadducees, they're going to question him based upon the doctrine of the resurrection. And then in verse 28 and following, the scribe's going to question regarding hermeneutics. How do we interpret the Bible? All in an effort to trap him with impossible questions. And you may not get that sense when we read this. But this is a trap question. It requires a yes or no answer. And it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't. If he says yes, they got him. If he says no, they got him. And so we're going to come to the first trap questions this morning, that of taxation. It's going to teach us a number of things about the nature of opposition to Jesus in the world, about what it means to be a Christian in the world with worldly governments, But more importantly, what it means to follow this Jesus, namely, entire submission and surrender of self to Christ and his cause, the giving of your life. Caesar requires your money, Christ requires your life. So we're gonna look at this passage, we're gonna look at the question, verse 13 to 15, then Jesus' response and what lessons we can draw from this. Verse 13, they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch him in his words. The they, that's the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Jerusalem, they send to him the sect called the Pharisees, but they also send some Herodians to catch Jesus. in his words. The objective is to make Jesus say something that will ruin him. Sounds like politics, right? It's very much politics. Let's catch him in something he says, we can crucify him, literally. Something they could point to and say, you see, crowd, he's not sent from God. He's a fraud and you should reject him. But these, Pharisees and Herodians, are unlikely allies. The Pharisees were experts in Jewish law. If you had a question as to what was legal or not legal under the Torah, you ask these guys. These were the Bible experts, teachers of the law. The Herodians were those who supported the Roman occupation. They're named after Herod, Caesar's puppet, hence their name. You remember, Israel was under Roman rule at this time. That's critical to understanding what's going on here. Israel is under Roman rule. The Pharisees were Jewish nationalists. They despised these pagan Gentile occupiers. The Herodians supported them. These are two groups that were enemies. They would never come together. They despised one another. They viewed each other as treasonous. What does treason get you? execution. That's how they view one another. But one thing unites them, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He unites them together. They're united against him because their authority and power was being challenged. And here we learn something about the nature of opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. These two groups had nothing in common, natural enemies, something akin to today's unlikely alliance between radical Islam and secularists. They have nothing in common, total opposites in values, goals, objectives in the world. But they're united in their opposition to Christ and His church. And that's a sobering illustration of what's wrong in the human heart. The hatred of the natural man for the Son of God who came in the flesh to declare the gracious, generous, merciful will of God to fall in humanity. They're united in their hatred for Jesus Christ for one reason. He represents the rule of God in the world. And they would not bow down. He himself is the sovereign ruler of all that is, and this unites these unlikely partners in opposition to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Beloved, this is an issue for men, women, and children today. The refusal of humanity to bend the knee and bow the heart to the rule of God over them. And so people will worship false gods, as we prayed in our confession, will worship anything, absolutely anything, except for the living and true God. Some will claim there's no God. It frees them from his authority. Some will manipulate the living God into some form that's more palatable, and you'll hear language like, well, my God would never do that. My God would not judge sinners. My God is love, love, love. Beloved, your God is an idol created in your own heart, and he cannot save you. The bottom line is this, either you are for and with this Jesus as he reveals himself in his word, or you're against him. There is no neutrality. There is no neutrality. There's no middle ground. Here, the opposition to Jesus Christ, these sworn enemies are united because of who Jesus Christ is, the living God to whom they are subject. And so the question, verse 14, they come to him, they say, teacher, we know that you are true, care about no one. For you do not regard the persons of men, but teach the way of God in truth. They're seeking to flatter him. This isn't a confession of faith. Everything they say is true about him, but it's not a confession of faith. It's bald face flattery to bait him. They're saying, we're going to ask you a question because we think so highly of you. Teach us. But it's a trap. And it's a brilliant question. They worked hard on this. And it's a brilliant question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? Again, to get the significance of this, you must remember that the historical context, Israel is occupied by the Roman Empire, which imposed painful taxes on their subjects. It's occupying and taxing Israel, and in doing that, what Rome was saying, it was declaring to these Jews that the empire and the emperor who was divine, right, in their view, he's a god, they're the true rulers of Israel, and that Israel's god is impotent, cannot save them. Nothing before the might of the empire And so the question was, how are we, the old covenant people of God, to relate to these godless occupiers who have usurped the throne of David? How are we to relate to the world? Many rebelled violently. You can read that in the history books. Others refused to prop up the Roman government by paying taxes. This is a very relevant question for today. We've asked this question, rightly, the last two years in the midst of COVID. How are we to relate to the civil government as the church? How are we Christians, whose king is Christ, whose citizenship is in heaven, how are we to relate to this present world? What's the relationship between church and state? That's what we're asking. And it's a big question. We've been asking that question for 2,000 years. Not an easy question, but this is the question that the Pharisees have come and presented to Jesus, and they're seeking to trap him. If he says yes, then he's committed treason against the Jewish state, the throne of David, and the Pharisees can get him. If he says no, it's not lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, then he's committed treason against the Roman Empire, and the Herodians can get him. Either way, they've got him. This is the moment. J.C. Ryle observes, the weight of the question reminds us that we say a more cunning hand than just the hand of man. Indeed, the one who is more cunning than any beast of the field, the one who said to this Jesus, you bow down before me and I'll give you the kingdoms of the earth, is intimately involved in all of this. The hand of Satan. was all over this effort to destroy the Son of God, the cunning question to trap him in his words that they might destroy him. And again, the goal here is not merely to discredit and shame Jesus before the masses so he can go back to Nazareth and do whatever he does. The goal is to kill him. They're out for blood. They want to destroy him. The Greek language here in verse 13 translated as catch, That Greek word has a strong connotation. It refers to a violent pursuit. This isn't merely to catch him and trip him, but it's to catch that rabbit and wring its neck. They're after his life. Murder is the objective. And Jesus knows this. We look at his response here in verses 15 through 17. He gives a fourfold response to the question of these corrupt, lying men. In the first part of his response, he lets them know that he knows exactly what they're doing. You can flatter me all you want. I'll cut through the bull and to the heart. But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, why do you test me? His holy divine gaze penetrates to their hearts. He knows their hearts. He knows the intentions of their hearts. Beloved, that's no less true today. For each one of you gathered here right now, his holy gaze penetrates to your inmost being and he knows, he knows your inmost thoughts. You can hide all of that from men, but not from the God man. A reality that ought to strike terror in the hearts of those who are against him, Even those who would come and sit in the church Sunday after Sunday while whoring after the world on the weekday, he knows. And it ought to strike terror in the hearts of those who hypocritically profess his name while pursuing the world. You can hide nothing from the Lord of glory. But beloved, it is a reality also that ought to immeasurably comfort the believer. This is the experience of the psalmist in Psalm 139. Oh Lord, you've searched me and known me. You understand my thought afar off, for there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. You've hedged me behind and before. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is a deep, deep comfort that God sees and he knows. It means that he, seeing and knowing our needs, can supply them. A great encouragement to the believer as well in his fight against sin. He knows. He knows the struggle. And He is for you and He is with you. Nothing escapes His penetrating gaze. There are no secret sins. There are no secret sins. And that, beloved, is a great aid in putting sin to death. He knows. Our Lord Jesus knows the intention of their heart and his question reveals what else he knows. Why do you test me? The language is revealing, why do you test me? Where else do we read that word? There's one other place in this gospel, test. Chapter one, Satan in the wilderness. Jesus is drawing a line. from Satan's testing to their testing. He's associating their testing him with the testing of the evil when he's saying to them, you are in league with Satan. You're siding with the evil one because he is your father. Jesus knows that this is a continued battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And even as he overcame Satan's testing in the wilderness, so he will overcome the testing of these Pharisees. He knew And that is a great lesson for every man, woman, boy, and girl today. It is futile to oppose this Jesus even in the hidden recesses of your heart and mind because he knows. There's something else we have to notice here as well about our Lord Jesus Christ and his dealing with these wicked men and that is his patience and gentleness. His patience and gentleness, here stands the thrice holy Lord of glory. He could have snuffed them out with one powerful divine utterance, destroyed them, the ground opened up, swallowed them. He could have done that and he would have been just and right in doing it, but he doesn't. He doesn't treat them as their sins deserve. He engages them in conversation, revealing their hearts, giving yet another opportunity for repentance and faith in him as the savior of sinners, the living God. And this fact is, in the end, going to reveal the hardness of their hearts. They refuse to submit to this Lord Jesus, even after all of the opportunities, even after the long suffering of Jesus, his patience and gentleness with them. Second part of his response here reveals his wisdom as he deals with his enemies. Here they ask an impossible politically loaded question that can only be answered with a yes or no, a no-win situation that's going to end with his execution. They know this. Pharisees, Herodians, they know this. They've got him. They can't wait. But our Lord Jesus Christ masterfully schools them. He penetrates through it all and he gets to the heart. Verse 15 he says, bring me a denarius that I may see it. You note again how they come questioning his authority, questioning him as rulers in the temple and he responds by asserting his authority over them. Answer this question Jesus. No, no, no, give me a coin and then I'm going to question you. He takes control of the situation. and unbeknownst to them, despite themselves, they submit. He commands a Roman coin be brought, and what do they do? I already said it. They obey. So they brought it. You don't miss the irony in this. These Pharisees, they're the ringleaders here. The Herodians are there just to catch him in case he answers their way. These Pharisees are those who despise the Roman occupation. They don't want to prop up the system. They want Rome cast off. They're asking him if they should support the Roman system, pay the tax, and it's them and not Jesus who has the coin. They're all engaged with the Roman Empire that they so despise, and so Jesus is showing their hypocrisy, which is apparently they're oblivious to, and rather than answering them directly, he questions them. Whose image and inscription is this? And in that simple question, he's setting up a powerful line of reasoning that no one can speak against. It's going to set forth the futility of opposing God, of arguing with the one who is the wisdom of God incarnate, Christ himself. Whose image and inscription are on the coin? And they say to him, Caesar's. Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. He's teaching and they think they've got him there, right? He's committed treason against David's throne. This is it. But Jesus is teaching a principle here that runs all throughout the scriptures from the old covenant and through the new with great practical implications for us that the Christian believer is to submit to human governments. And every American and every libertarian chafes, right? Including me. I got a double. I'm a southerner. We didn't just rebel in 1776, we rebelled in 1861, too. It's in my blood. But the Bible teaches that Christians are to submit to human governments. We live in the world. As such, our lives are under human government, and we are to submit to it. Christ is king. And as king of kings, he establishes the kings of the earth, the governments of the world. Our Lord is unequivocally against anarchy. We've seen that in our streets in the last couple of years, right? He's against anarchy. Doesn't matter why, he's against it. Ungodly rebellion, failure to submit to the truth that God himself has raised up the magistrate as his instrument to accomplish his purposes. And we read this from the apostles with even greater clarity. Romans 13, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God. What's that mean? That means right now those in power from God. What's that mean about the last administration? Guess what? From God. The authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinances of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves for rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good. You have praise from the same for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." Read in Peter. The same thing, 1 Peter 2, therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to king, or supreme, or to governors, or to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, for the praise of those who do good, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free, yet not abusing liberty as the cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Where did the apostles learn all of that? right here, from the lips of God himself incarnate in Christ Jesus. We have to be clear here that the Bible, our Lord Jesus, is not giving human governments absolute authority. We talked about this when we looked at chapter 11, 27 and following, that all authority on this earth is delegated authority. and therefore it's necessarily limited authority. Governments do not have total claim over our lives. Now, you can't tell some of them that, right? But they don't have total claim over our lives. This is not a license for government to do whatever it wants. They don't have unbridled, unrestrained authority, but they do have a God-ordained authority to which we are to submit, and when they give lawful commands, we are to obey. Doesn't matter if you don't like the lawful commands, you're to obey. We're to submit to the providence of God and the unfolding of history, recognizing that he's sovereign over all human affairs, and that means political affairs as well, all in order to accomplish his holy purposes for his glory and for the good of his church. It's a recognition as well that we're to be active in our civic duties. We're not to be shut up in a monastery, we're to be engaged in the world, paying our taxes, we're to live in the world. In the American system, that means voting, right? More than all of that, it means that we should be praying for our government, 1 Timothy 2, laboring for righteous government through legal means. We don't have the right of rebellion. You think of Joseph. shining example of how a Christian is to live under human authority. Think of Daniel. Daniel came out of the lion's den, surviving execution, ordered by the king, unjustly, to tell the king immediately, oh king, live forever. Those would not be the words coming out of my lips. O King, live forever. Jeremiah 29, pray for the city that you are in. We are witnesses to the world. We're to be salt and light. We're to pray for revival. And many object here. And it's my heart to object, right? That, well, what if the government is wicked and ungodly? We don't have to submit then, right? What government hasn't been wicked and ungodly in the history of the world? That coin that Jesus spoke of, the denarius, what was on it? Caesar's depiction was on it, Tiberius Caesar at that time, and the inscription, Son of the Divine Augustus. You want to talk about blasphemy, violation of the first commandment, violation of the second commandment, violation of the third commandment? On the other side was an image of his mother and the inscription, High Priest. And Jesus still said, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. He still said, submit. This is a, we could press on and on here with application to our current political moment in our country because we are so consumed by politics. in this day, everything is contentious. Beloved, I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat or a hundred other micro-political parties. The fact of the matter is that neither the Democrat party nor the Democrat party cares a thing for the cause of Christ in the world. and he will tear them down at the last day. Unless the civil authorities command us to do something contrary to the law of God, we must humbly submit. Daniel came from the lion's den saying, oh king, live forever. He'd been put there for civil disobedience. The king commanded that Daniel worship him. Daniel said it's better to obey God than man. So submission does not mean mindlessly following. It doesn't mean approving of and blessing wickedness or remaining silent regarding righteousness. We should appeal for righteousness. But it does mean we submit as far as we can. Remembering that the weapons of our warfare are not spiritual, or rather are not carnal, they're spiritual. They're spiritual. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and no doubt here that the Pharisee's hearts leapt within them. That wicked smile came upon their face. They got him. Treason against the throne of David. But then Jesus takes that surgeon's scalpel and he cuts right through their heart. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. and they're stopped dead in their tracks. He intensifies his teaching, driving to the very heart of his opponents. Jesus is making the connection between images. The image on the coin of Caesar, but whose image is inscribed upon you? Genesis 126, every man, woman, boy, and girl has the image of their creator, the living and true God stamped upon their lives. Jesus says, you give to God what belongs to him. What belongs to God? Nothing less than the whole of your lives. Jesus' enemies plotted and schemed how to trap him, and with one little sentence, he exposed their heart, he exposed their hypocrisy, he destroyed their plot. Sinclair Ferguson writes, he put the question of living under Caesar in its proper place a distant, a far distant second behind the more important question of living in the kingdom of God. The man who is devoted to God does not make the issue of his political freedom the number one priority in his life. He knows that one can serve God freely in his heart under the most oppressive of regimes. Beloved, in the history of the world, it has been that, not rebellion, not the taking up of arms, but that, living faithfully, submitting to the authorities, but living faithfully to this Jesus, even in the most oppressive of regimes, that has toppled those regimes. An example, China, right now. A church that was already partially underground, they have driven fully underground. Those who didn't make it there are imprisoned, tortured, killed. And you know what some of the stories coming out of prisons in China are, right? Rather than these Christians shutting up about this Jesus, they're converting their captors. and other prisoners. The gospel is spreading like wildfire. All persecution does is pour gasoline on the fire of the gospel and consume the land. It's happening in China. But beloved, the question that Jesus really posed to these Pharisees and that he poses to you this morning is, what do you think of me? You see, part of the issue here is that Jesus has made claims to divinity. Render to God the things that are God. Who's God? I am. So what do you think of me? He's exposing their hearts. He's saying, you're against me. the living God, the son of God, the very one who spoke all things into existence. You're against me, you hate me, you reject me, but you should be for me. You should love me with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. You should embrace me as the living and true God come in the flesh to take away the sins of the world. You're created in the image of God to reflect his glory back to him and you're not doing it. That's the message to you and me this morning as well. Whose image is inscribed upon you? then render unto God the things that are God's. And beloved, that means nothing less than your very life. He requires it all. How do we begin to do that? It begins by submitting to the call of the king to repent and believe in him. To cast yourself upon him for salvation. That's where it begins. But it only begins there. Christ is Savior, but then Christ is Lord. To every command we find in his word, however countercultural it is, however much it speaks against our own fallen nature, we say, yes, Lord. Take my heart. It's all yours. Let's pray that we would offer up our hearts to him sincerely and promptly. Our Father in heaven, indeed we pray we would heed the call of the Savior to render unto God the things that are God's. Too often we are so eager to render unto man the things that are God's, our lives, our worship, our time. We'll give it to other people. We'll give it to governments illegitimately. We'll give it to sports. We'll give it to pleasures. Lord, again, as we've prayed already, tear those idols down from the citadel of our heart and enthrone yourself there. We say with Calvin, here's our hearts. We offer our hearts. sincerely and promptly. Lord, would you take them and do not leave us the same. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's respond together in song.