Pastor Babij examines Mark’s account of the Pharisees and Herodians attempting to trap Jesus with a question: should the Jews pay the Roman tax or not? Pastor Babij explains how Jesus showed His divine wisdom in response, avoiding the trap while clarifying the Christian’s relationship to government. From Jesus’ example, Pastor Babij points out five aspects of Jesus’ wisdom to imitate:
1. Beware when avowed enemies unite for a common purpose
2. Beware those who come with flattery
3. Beware those who come with trick questions
4. Beware Satanic collusion
5. Be aware of how Jesus responds with wisdom and authority
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Mark chapter 12.
Mark chapter 12 and we are looking at this morning verses 13 through 17.
let me read that Mark 12 13.
it says then they sent some of the Pharisees and herodians to him in order to trap statement they came and said to him teacher we know that you are trouble and defer to no one for you are not partial but teach the way of God in truth is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not shall we pay or shall we not pay but he knowing their hypocrisy said to them why are you testing me bring me a Denarius to look at it and they brought one and he said to them whose likeness an inscription is this and they said to him Caesar and Jesus said to them render to Caesar the things that are sisters and to God the things that are gods and they were amazing at him let’s pray Lord this morning as we look at this passage and examine it pray Lord again that we would see where it ties in to what has been said and where you’re going with it Lord as we think of our own lives and we think of the things that we’re responsible with and two that we understand that we have a responsibility towards you and we have a responsibility towards government so I pray Lord give us a balance to understand that and I pray from this passage we would glean the warnings when dealing with those who oppose us help us understand these things and practice the principles in Christ’s name amen amen now last time in the gospel mark we exposed belief in the very in the very powerful ruling body of Israel Jesus spoke a parable against them and if you notice in verse 12 of chapter 12 it says and they were seeking to seize him and yet they feared the people for they understood that he spoke the parable against them and so they left him and went away now remember the parable was of the vineyard owner of the vineyard is God the Father the cultivators of the vineyard are the rulers of Israel the Servants of the vineyard were sent by the father they were the prophets and the only son of the owner of the vineyard is Jesus Christ so in the parable that we looked at last time Jesus judged this High ruling political and religious body of Israel for their years the question that was asked in the parable that’s in verse number 9 of chapter 12. what will the owner of the vineyard do the answer of of course is actually supplied by the people not the religious ruling body and it says this he will come and destroy the vine Growers and will give the vineyard to others so God in other words Bears along with disobedience with Rebellion with Injustice but in the end God will act and when he does ACT no one can resist when God comes in judgment no one would be will be able to escape so God judges the rulers of Israel for the sin of unleaf and for the sin of ignorance where it says in verse 10 have not even read the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected this became the Chief Cornerstone the problem had been that they had not been reading the scriptures and studying them like they should have and be been teaching them to the people they have not been listening to God’s spokesman the prophets actually one after another of the prophets were sent to them and they rejected everyone that was in Parable last week there were also judged for the ultimate sin of rejection that Jesus was the son sent by the owner of the vineyard the father and of course rejected by the vine Growers which is the nation specifically the nation but the rulers of Israel and the term rejected I mentioned last time is a term that means to reject full examination they weren’t rejecting Jesus out of simple ignorance they actually examined him they looked at his miracles they looked at his teaching they looked at who he was as a person they looked at his followers and they examined that and declared him useless they declared him unfit for the building that’s why it says in verse 10 the stone which the builders rejected the builders referring to the nation the rulers of the nation of Israel who were supposed to be building that Nation to be a testimony and a light to the world and they ended up rejecting the very Cornerstone that holds it all together so Jesus himself is rejected as the stone and remember that God’s good purpose to make Jesus the Chief Cornerstone was to be the Cornerstone the building of the new Temple of course the including church that the Chief Cornerstone which binds together the two sides of the building and so becomes architecturally the most important Stone in the structure that the Cornerstone governs every angle in the foundation of a bill and even the building itself and the Cornerstone is faulty or the Cornerstone is compromised in some way then a whole structure is in question so this is how ruling body of Israel views Jesus they viewed him as unfit for a building that’s how they viewed him so they rejected Jesus as a dangerous revolutionary who was intent on arousing the crowds against them they feared the people and when of course they should have been fearing God and they were fearing the verse number 12 again it says and they were seeking to see him and they and yet they feared the people or they understood that he spoke the parable against them so now in Mark chapter 12 we are looking at verses 13 onward but before we looked there I want to mention that in verse number 11 it says at the end of the verse this came about from the Lord and it it is marvelous in our eyes meaning those who believe don’t understand it Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the building that Jesus Christ is one who is the son given for the sacrifice of his people then the people who understand them then they are the people who believe listen the Gentiles now have an opportunity to be saved because the nation uh the rulers of the nation of Israel rejected the Messiah and there would be a future Gathering of Israel like it says in Romans chapter 11 verse number 15 for if their rejection that is the nation’s rulers be the reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance be but life from the Dead speaking of Israel being grafted back in in the future like it says again in Romans I don’t want you to understand Brethren I don’t want want you Brethren to be misinformed that says of this mystery lest you be lies in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come and thus all Israel will be saved and this is the Covenant with them when I take away their sin when Paul was writing this in Romans chapter 11 he was so taken by that particular thought that there will be a national conversion of Israel he ended with a doxology in Romans 11 25 where he said this oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever amen he just broke out in this doxology about the future plan of God for bringing Israel back to himself but for now they are partially blinded for what reason so the Gentiles of the worlds could come in the Gentiles are still coming in to the kingdom they’re still coming in gospel still being preached it’s still God’s plan that that takes place someday there’s going to be a fullness of the Gospel going to the Gentiles and boom that’s where the next part of God’s plan takes over so on this Lord’s day this morning we will examine examine another controversy between Jesus and his opponents they’re the controversy over Jesus Authority that we looked at already in our text today we will examine the consciously over paying taxes now in our present situation the conversation or the the controversy over paying taxes is very much alive and well today would you not that every single election that comes along what are they talking about either raising taxes the tax the tax issue the problem is always an issue but before we get there let’s take notice of some things we should be aware of from Jesus encounter with his opponents that is there are four dialogues that take place in the next uh the rest of this chapter and then in the next uh chapter the usually the dialogue has to do with asking and questions that’s how they went back and forth with each other they asked a question they try to answer the question and Jesus would would always answer the question with a question and usually he did that because they got their question wrong and he was adjusting their question to what is the real matter so what we can say is really four things to be aware of to be aware of when dealing with our opponents so that we will discern their methods and stand firm on God’s word we learned these things right from Jesus here’s the first thing that we learn and the first thing to discern as a believer is number one to beware when a vowed enemies unite for a common purpose all right be wary of that because you know why it’s a trap they’re coming to set you up and notice what it says in Mark chapter 12 and verse number 13. it says it and they sent some of the Pharisees and the herodians to him now stop for a minute the Pharisees remember the religious part the herodians the political part this is the first time they’re together in this sense coming against Jesus so the Pharisees are being exposed by Jesus for their unbelief uh and of course they left Jesus as we ended last week and they went to connive a plan to entrap Jesus they went back in their little uh huddles and they said how can we get Jesus how can we entrap him and remember they already rejected Jesus outright and found him entirely unfit to be a messiah so then the high ruling body of Israel the Sanhedrin the the ruling body of seventy and of course the Sanhedrin sent a new delegation to Jesus and this new delegation that came to Jesus they were well coached and it consisted of a religious part and now if you notice again the fact is in verse number this group opposed the Roman tax as unlawful in the sight of God they were opposed to it and so let me just say that the Pharisees strongly believe that God only God could be the Lord and ruler of the Jews and that taxation was the first step towards slavery they believe that paying Roman tax was in Conflict to their obligation to God so that’s the way they were thinking now the other group that came with this delegation was the herodians the rhodians they were the political part of the delegation they were the non-religious minority political party and of course this party they preferred they actually were preferred by the Jews because they didn’t have to deal directly with Caesar’s government this was a goal between party so the herodians were the ones who came and usually collected also the taxes now this group favored the Roman tax of course or the government right they’re the ones who want the money uh to do what they have to do they say that they probably were in favor of big government uh so these two groups were strange bed flat fellows they didn’t get together on many things matter of fact they got together I’m almost on almost nothing and so they were sent as a new set of eyes and ears not to gather new information about Jesus see the two groups were there to spy on him for a specific purpose all right what is the purpose look at verse 13. all right here’s the purpose statement in 13. in order to trap him in a statement so that’s what they were coming to do right and so in order in other words to catch him by means of a word or a statement in haste which hopefully could prove fatal to Jesus and then they can finally condemn him drag him back uh to the High Council and do the rest of the procedures I remember it’s still Tuesday this is a long Tuesday for Jesus a lot of things going on all right last week was still Tuesday today’s till Tuesday of the passion week we’re heading towards the cross so this is a very extremely busy day for Jesus meaning in all these kind of groups it’s interesting though that Matthew uses the word uh for trap him uh to mean to catch a bird in a trap but Mark uses a different term that actually means it’s a hunter’s term and it carries the thought of a violent pursuit of the prey the thought is that it’s not just to catch the prey for any good purpose like food but it is the thrill of the kill that’s the sense here that this delegation was dispatched for blood they were dispatched for evil purposes so see that is the first thing to be aware of be aware when there are groups that come together that normally would not come together but come together for a specific reasons to come against someone and even to come against someday groups of people coming against Christians whether it’s on the job whether it’s in their family and they’re coming against you for a specific reason because you’re a believer because they reject possibly that you’re a Believer and they’re using certain methods to get to you to push your buttons to expose you as possibly not believe in what you say or believing so that’s the first thing the second thing to be uh have discernment about it and beware of is to be aware of those who come with flattering words now if I look at the text flattery is a trap to weaken one’s guard and and also to set someone up for further manipulation some people can really lay it on thick with their words can’t they maybe at some time in your life someone went out of their way to butter you up because that’s a lot of what flattery is in fact when I was preaching through Proverbs I learned that there there were no favorable uses of flattery it’s never good matter of fact when we do that when we take our Bibles in just a couple passages look at Proverbs chapter 26 and verse number 28. a couple passages to show you the mind of God and the wisdom of God when dealing with certain methods that people use to get their way in Proverbs 26 28 you probably shouldn’t Mark your bibles if you are in habit of doing that with these particular passages in Proverbs it says in chapter 6 verse 8 a lying tongue those it crushes and a a flattering mouth Works room and then look over 29 and verse 5.
it says there a man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps in other words that this this this use of flattery is something found in Scripture that goes actually down to the very motive in intent of the heart and I would say today many people use this particular technique to pull people in in fact other passages like in Psalms it says they’re reliable in what they say their inward Parts is destruction itself their throat is an opening open grave they flatter with their tongue and then some also chapter 12 verse 2 and 3 speak falsely to one another with flattering lips and with a double heart speak may the Lord cut off all flattering lips the tongue that’s great things so in other words this use of flattery should be kind of a blinking light a warning to proceed with caution went around such people flattery often expresses a Sinister intent of motive and beware of others and beware of yourself for using this young ladies you have to be aware of young men who come alongside of you uh to flatter you in other words to get you someplace he wants to go or the same thing with women to get young men to get go someplace that she wants them to go see flattery the use of words are very effective bringing someone along especially you’re good at it and you know what you’re doing that’s a technique that’s what they’re doing here in this passage of structure and if you notice in verse 14 it says they came and said to him this is back in Mark chapter 12 or 15.
they came and said to him here’s how they lay it on teacher we know that you are that’s what they say they were coached well like I said by stacking up three characteristics about Jesus in order to butter him up catch him off guard to pull into their net and what do they say they say three things about Jesus look at what they say verse number 14 teacher we know that you are truthful and defer to no one words you are not seeking anyone’s favor when you teach when you minister to people that you’re not trying to get something from them by what you’re saying you’re not manipulating you’re simply giving the truth and then it says also the next thing it says and Jesus is not swayed by any person’s personal interest it says teacher we know that you you defer to no one for you are not partial to any see Jesus doesn’t modify the truth based on who he sees before him his verdicts are always the same whether a friend whether a stranger whether an enemy he is not seeking anyone’s favor at all except the faith father who is in heaven and then a third characteristic about Jesus is in verse 14 it says and you teach the way of God in truth Jesus you teach the way of God in truth alone now you would think that hey they they had a pretty good grasp of who Jesus was why wouldn’t you follow someone like that with that kind of Integrity why would not you just drop everything forget everything and and follow him but remember up at this point this is not the beginning of Jesus ministry this is the end they have rejected him but they gathered in their little huddle these are the way you’re going to flatter him you’re going to stack up characteristics about who he is and and try to him up so you can reel him in that’s what you want to do that’s what they were trying to do now and even though this delegation said two things about Jesus character they did not really know him where they said In this passage of scripture we know they didn’t know him because those who reject Jesus cannot know him people who reject Jesus will get no more information about Jesus all right he will not reveal himself to someone who does not believe so there their motive was all wrong therefore they re-re remained blind to who Jesus really really was so that is the second thing to beware of those who come with flattering words be cautious about people like that and here’s a third thing to discern in verse 14 and 15 beware of those who come with trick questions trick questions well we’ll find out what that question is in a minute see questions crafted in order to get you off track this particular question was skillfully designed with the intent to imperil Jesus in a compromise a compromise between the religious body and the political body and believe you get caught in between those two and this is going to be Warfare Even in our day it’s the same thing it’s Warfare when it comes to those things coming some coming even close to each other there’s a problem I mean oil and water doesn’t mix together you can shake it up for a while and stay together for a couple seconds and then immediately separates so what is the question in verse number 14 the end of the verse it says is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not and then verse 15 shall we pay or shall we not pay so they’re trying to press Jesus for an answer because they want to know listen as a Pharisees we don’t believe we should pay this as the herodians we think you ought to pay this all right so that’s what’s going on here if Jesus says yes it is lawful to pay tax to Caesar then the Pharisees would consider Jesus a traitor and a coward because the Pharisees thought that the poll tax was unlawful in the sight of God already unlawful to pay taxes to Caesar then to the herodians he would be considered a revolutionary and he should be arrested on the spot so see the question was designed and they thought through it this delegation thought through this you see if Jesus answered the way the delegation calculated for him to answer either way they could catch him in the answer see slyly thinking they were there were only two answers in other words they thought they had him with the question it was a question of entrapment however Jesus knew who they were and notice what it says in verse 15.
it says in the middle of the verse it says but he knowing their what hypocrisy knowing their hypocrisy what does Jesus do he knew what was in their heart I like the way John the gospel John says this when when how how comprehend Jesus knowledge is of the humankind where he says in John Chapter 2 but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he didn’t need anyone to Bear witness concerning man for he himself knew what was in man see Jesus knew exactly who men were especially in these men who already rejected the truth who were already far from the scripture and they are now in a place where now they’re coming against God’s son Jesus Christ to entrap him but you also have to think yikes Jesus knows who we are in all our fallenness we cannot hide anything from him Jesus knew the motive behind the methods of this particular delegation Jesus knew them perfectly he saw their hypocrisy and their craftiness Satan’s fingerprints was all over this encounter and that becomes also an important point of observation that it is time for believers dealing with particular groups that are opposed to them to make sure they have on their Spiritual armor especially that the girdle of truth because everything needs to be examined by the truth so we ought to know the truth ourself in order to not only detect certain methods that are being used uh to get over on us but also the methods that could actually get us to fail or to fall to their schemes so see a fourth thing to discern is this beware of satanic conclusion look at verse number 15.
Jesus says this it says but we uh in the middle of the verse but he knowing their hypocrisy said to them why are you testing me bring me a Denarius to look at see Jesus is saying to them why are you testing me there’s the actually it could be why are you tempting me it gives us the picture back when Jesus first started his ministry where he was pulled into uh the Wilderness to be what tempted by the devil see in other words the Devil’s Back he’s back in all his subtlety and what is he doing he is tempting Jesus he’s he is bringing him to the place where he wants him to fall and be exposed completely for something that he is but they think he is not the enemy was back to tempt Jesus to compromise the truth to give into one of these groups to give into the most powerful part of the group either the Pharisees or the or the political part of the herodians so Jesus from Jesus birth to the start of his ministry and throughout his his free year of ministry God’s Arch Enemy the Prince of Darkness has opposed Jesus at every single corner the Prince of Darkness undoubtedly hates Jesus because he knew the twofold purpose of Jesus mission and that was of course to save his people from their sins and to destroy the works of the devil that was his mission that’s what he came to do so Jesus asks the delegation for a coin to look at a Denarius here and if you notice that Jesus puts none of his own coin the Denarius was a silver coin uh sometimes this this was uh the daily wage of uh a laborer get a Denarius a day they say U.S money is about 17 cents a day so stamped this coin was stamped with uh an image of the reigning Empower uh his on the front of it of course in this case it was siberius Caesar uh and to have a coin with your likeness on it means it meant that you had power that you were in in many specs a king in your own right whatever level of King you would be in and also that you had Authority it showed that you had Authority so see Jesus looks at the coin on the front of it uh was inscribed something like coin of Tiberius Caesar son of Augustus the divine and then of course on the back of the coin was pot to fix Maximus the high priest of the Roman Nation that’s what would be on the coin so in this particular case the question was put to Jesus about who should we pay taxes and then Jesus asks for this coin and says to them in his question to them which is really uh this is something that we need to be aware of not beware of but beware of how he has to be aware of how the master responds that Jesus displays a Discerning wisdom in his response but also he displays incredible Authority in what he says so Jesus gives a masterly response which really amazed his opponents and stopped the delegation in their tracks He Slipped right out of her trap and Jesus with a very instant question and traps them and explosives their hypocrisy and their Satan craftiness look at his 16.
not only take a glimpse at it and look at the question and the delegation’s answer thing they brought one that’s one of the coins and he said to them whose likeness inscription is and they said to him Caesars that was his question so the problem is this Jesus comes with a third way to answer the question he comes with a response that was unexpected that was from Left Field a response that the human mind and the this intelligent delegation with all their learning could come up with a response was well coached a well-coached delegation could not consider what was the response Jesus simply said listen whose image is whose likeness inscriptions on the coin Caesars was on the coin and Jesus said to them look at verse 7.
Brenda Caesars the things that are seasoned that blew them away and the reason why I blew them away because Jesus is saying to them listen to the to the religious ruling class he’s saying to them listen this is the emperor’s coinage give him the obligations that are due him as in that’s what you’re saying today but he added something of course he added this for not only the reality for but also for the political body in verse number 17 he also said this and rendered to God the things that are gods see you are created in God’s image then give him all the obligation that is due him you were created in the image of God you are responsible to God but what is amazing about this section of scripture is that Jesus places to obligations to God and to government side by side in other words there’s no clash between them in Jesus mind they harmonize see paying Roman taxes was not in conflict with a person’s obligation to God in the providences of God Jews are the emperors under the legitimacy of human see the delegations response to Jesus is this and they were amazed they were amazed at him see they didn’t figure on this particular response so they marveled that Jesus answered there’s nothing else they could do he stopped them however they could not use Jesus answer against him in their diabolical purposes Jesus had shut down but you know what this means for us it means this for us it means for us all all true human government is legitimate whether good or bad we all have a responsibility to obey as long as the government do not violate God’s laws we must give God his what is rightfully his and we must give Caesar the government what is rightfully theirs so they can carry out rule of government now to me because we’re right smack in the middle at the end though I should say of a very very important election on November 8 16 days from today you you vote you cannot stay home on this vote this this is going to be an extremely extremely important vote because it’s really going to determine whether our country can be saved for a few more years either we’re going to go smack into complete socialism which has failed in every country has has put it into practice or we are going to at least save it for a few more years there’s nobody perfect out there all right it’s it’s very contested uh election and it’s probably going to be a very contested next four years too but nonetheless we have a responsibility to government and before the Lord to use the rights that that are given to us the the only Power we have is to vote so we can affect change you cannot stay home you understand that right if you are registered and you are a legal age you must on November 8th be in that voting booth voting for someone saying that next week I want to give three principles with regard to Christians and giving some comments on the presidential elections is going to be here in just a short period of time I’m going to do that next week right so we get at least something the scripture says about how our response should be to government and then some pointers on on to do all right and uh so that’s what we’re going to do this week so the bottom line Tour this morning is how important for all of us to be Discerning concerning the circumstances that we find ourselves in as Christians concerning especially when it comes to those and the political Realm because it seems like those two if you add to any family gathering they’re going to be talking about one or two things religion or what right it seems that they dovetail over all the time but nonetheless you have to be aware of traps we have to be aware of words we have to be aware of questions and we have to follow our Lord’s example that the best way to answer anyone and to be prepared is to be prepared by knowing the scriptures and knowing the truth and knowing what you believed and what you ought to do your obligations see if we know that that we’re not going to be taking in so easily by someone who’s got a lot of good words and skillful with language we’re not going to be taken in by questions that are going to try to entrap us we’re not going to be taken in by any kind of of traps that they can possibly present to us we’re going to stand on what is true and we stand on what what is true I believe that we’re going to render to God which gods and we’re going to render to the other governments that’s it you know and so the Lord kind of group away they walked away probably with the tail between their legs and they they were taken Son of God Christ is God in the flesh heading towards the cross to die for Sinners Like You and I see that’s what’s going on here and I I thank the Lord for his uh just his example in this uh this particular part of life where we have to deal with things like that but remember the bottom line is this that human government is ordained by God let’s pray Lord I Thank you this morning for the word of God Lord thank you for your people I pray Lord that we would people that are growing in a discernment Lord that we would know the truth well enough Lord to not be taken in by any kind of temptation then that we would not be taken in by any kind of unbiblical compromise Lord that we would be taken in by any kind of uh any person’s flattering work and Lord that we would not be taken in by any groups that get together against Believers in order to take them down but Lord help to stand in the truth for we know Lord the truth makes things clear plain and the truth Lord Jesus is something that cannot pass away even though Heaven and Earth will your truth will not so I pray Lord we would lean on the Eternal end and not on the temple and Lord make us people that are not only good citizens in the kingdom of God but good citizens in the human Nations and governments of our world I pray you would use us to speak truth wherever we are but every certain whatever circumstance we find ourselves in order to bring glory to your name and I pray Lord that you would make us skilled enough to be able to shut the mouths of the opponents and I purchased this morning in Christ’s name amen