Our text this morning comes from the Gospel of Luke. We are in chapter 20. We're about halfway through chapter 20. So our verses we are looking at verses nine through 26. So Luke chapter 20, beginning in verse nine, and I'll read through verse 26.
Before we read God's word, let's go to him again in prayer. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you, you are not silent, but that you are speaking now. delivering us your message through Your Word. And, Lord, we thank You, Your Word does not return void, it is powerful. We pray that it would cut to our hearts deeply that it would reveal to us our sin, or rebellion against you.
Lord, I pray that you will, by the power of your spirit, allow us to repent and to put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to rest upon him to cling to Christ alone as our only hope in this life and then the next.
Give us ears to hear. Open up our blind eyes to behold the Lord Jesus Christ.
And chisel hardened hearts Give us hearts of flesh, that we might receive what we are about to hear, let us be as the prophets of old to look out to see what you will say to us this morning. And it's in Jesus's name we pray, amen.
People, God hear God's word for you this morning from the Gospel of Luke chapter 20, beginning in verse nine.
And he began to tell the people this parable, a man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while.
When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenant so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed, and he sent another servant, but they also beat and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty handed.
And he sent yet a third, this one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do?
I will send my beloved Son, perhaps they will respect him.
But when the tenant saw him, they said to themselves, this is the heir, let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, Surely not. But he looked directly at them and said, What then is it that is written, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on any on any one, it will crush him? The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched Him in sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might catch him and something he said so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him teacher we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?
But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, show me at the Norris, Whose likeness and inscription does it have.
They said Caesars, he said them, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and the God the things that are God's, and they were not able, in the presence of the people to catch him, and what he said but marveling at his answer, they became silent. He who has ears, let them hear the Word of God, please be seated.
If you have been here the last few weeks, you will recall where we are, and the historical narrative of redemptive history where Christ has written into Jerusalem, the city of peace, remember, that's what Jerusalem means the city of peace, and he is the King who is not yet coming to conquer the people but to bring them peace.
He has also predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and has called them to repentance, like God's anointed prophet. He has also just recently cleansed the temple as God's anointed priest, Jesus has just shown he has all authority of God. He has shown that he is the king, he is the prophet, and he is the priest.
He is the Son of God.
But they don't recognize his authority. They they ask him a question, well, who has given you this authority?
And you remember, he asked, he doesn't give them a direct answer. He asked them a question about John the Baptist, essentially saying, John, the Baptist has already told you a prophet from God, did you not hear what John the Baptist said, when he said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world where you're not listening to John the Baptist.
And then our text is continuing in this slot. It's one fluid interaction. But it would have been a really long sermon to combine everything together. So we've tried to break it up. But that's the context. And that's what's happening. And Jesus has just posed that question to them. They don't answer it, because they're afraid of the people. And so Jesus begins to tell them a parable. And this parable in our text, it's tells them also about the authority of Jesus. It's a parable that reveals to them who Jesus is.
But it's also a parable of judgment to them. It's a parable given to the religious leaders, who are rejecting the servant that is the Beloved Son of God.
It's to condemn them, and also Israel for the sensories, of rejection, of not listening to the messengers of God, and also ultimately now rejecting the Messiah, the beloved Son of God, the time for rebellion is coming to an end, this is what the parable will tell us.
And what you owe the king is do your payment is due.
That's the message, your rents do. Payments do? Will you give to the king, what He desires, what he calls to you?
God will not allow rebels to continue to go on getting will will not allow rebels to continue on but will get what he is owed. And what is God owed.
Obedience, loyalty, worship.
The other interesting thing about this parable often parables that Jesus told to the religious leaders, they don't get it. They don't understand that we even see the disciples don't get it until later. This is one of the parables that Jesus tells it is so clear, they get it, they get this parable.
And we'll see that they get it and they perceive that he's talking about them. And it makes them all the more upset and angry, seeking to kill him.
Essentially, they're going to put the parable in the practice.
That's what we'll see. So we begin this parable, it begins there in verse nine, a man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. The parable, obviously, the man who plans is representing God.
God is the one who has planted the vineyard God is the one who has done the work. And the vineyard here is Israel, or maybe even more properly stated, it is Israel's special place of blessing before God.
And Isaiah five, Jesus's Isaiah five verses one through seven, gives this kind of picture of Israel as a vineyard. And so what Jesus is doing is pretty much telling a parable with that imagery back in Isaiah, chapter five of this allegory of Israel as a vineyard. And now Jesus is telling a parable based off of that kind of imagery. We see Israel pictured as a vineyard and other places in the Scripture, too. You could look at Psalm 80, you brought a vine out of Egypt, a vineyard was a familiar national symbol.
Even in grapevines were carved around the door of the temple that leads to the holy place. It was a picture of the nation almost like a bald eagle, you think of a bald eagle. Think of the United States. You think of a bear, you can think Russia.
And there are there are images that you can connect to nations and the vineyard was a picture for Israel.
Now, who are the tenants here in this parable, who was responsible for caring for the people of Israel? Who are the spiritual leaders? Well, that Sue's Jesus is talking to the Pharisees that the priests that they are supposed to water, the people of God with the word they are to prune with discipline and protect them from those who would seek to rob and steal from the vineyard to protect the people of God, that was their job.
But they aren't doing that.
They're clearly not doing that.
We know they're not doing that, even as Jesus has talked to them recently about John's baptism.
Remember, he says, is John's baptism from God? Or is it from man, and they reason in themselves secretly that, you know, they get in their little huddle? And they're like, Well, if we say from God, then they're gonna say, Well, why didn't you?
Why don't you follow it? Why don't you listen to John. But if we say it's from man, well, then the people are not going to listen to us anymore, because they think John was from God, and they're gonna reject our authority. So they don't give any answer. Do you remember that?
And they don't think that John is a prophet from God. And this tells you how bad of the spiritual leaders they were.
Because here you have someone like John the Baptist, and they clearly think John is not from God. But they they tell the people that? Do they go to the people and say, people, we don't think you should be listening to John, we don't think that he has authority. We don't think that he's from God, we think that he has a false message. And you should not listen to that false prophet. Have they said anything like that about John? Absolutely not, because they're afraid they're afraid of their people.
And they will not see even speak the things that they think are true, even though they're wrong.
But they're not even speaking the truth to their people. They are a spineless leaders.
And here, we see that again, they're not protecting God's people. They're not people who are scouring the world as they all the people that are blind.
The owner has gone for a long while. And that's to remind us that they can't directly see God. And it's to remind us that they are still though to carry out God's work.
The tenants have been given a great blessing, they have been given a great privilege. They are in a garden that they didn't make. They're in a garden that they didn't purchase, and yet they are getting to experience the fruit of that garden.
And verse 10, when the time came, that is the owner now you send a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.
That would be the cause for being in the land. It's not your land, even though you get so many benefits of being in the land you you have to give the owner what is rightfully his.
And you would think that of course, yes, let's give the owner he's the governor has been so generous and so good to us.
Look at it, look at this land that we get to inhabit and have and the fruits of it. It is wonderful. It is blessing. Let let's fill up the wagons and send whatever he asked, let there's an abundance here. Let's give it to him. But that's not what happens here. And our text.
Now in the parable they request is fruit. But what does God require? What does that's the owner and God, though what is God requiring from the leaders of Israel and either lead Israel itself that needs requiring not fruit, but you can maybe say the fruit of worship, the fruit of loyalty, the fruit of reverence, the fruit of obedience, this is what He requires. And he's requesting that they give to him, it is rightfully his. But they don't do that.
And a servant is sent that represents the prophets of God of old. Not only do they send him away, empty handed, verse 10 tells us they beat him.
Rather than giving generously they refuse what is right lead, do you know some of you have renters, people that rent from you or work under you? How long would you go, to allow rent to be paid without, without demanding that it be paid? Maybe a month, a year or two? How about hundreds of years? And that we see that? God is so patient here, sending a servant and Now secondly, he sends another servant?
Will they relent? Maybe after maybe the second servant you know, the first servant? We got a little worked up a little overwhelmed the second servant maybe the Listen, maybe, maybe it'll relent. Maybe they'll say I'm really sorry about that. The whole beating thing and we should have given you what you owed. We recognize it's not our land. We've had some time to think about it, reflect on our actions. Is that what happens?
No. In fact, it gets worse. They get hardened, they get more harsh verse 11.
Not only do they beat him now they treat Him shamefully.
Well, what happens next?
The patience of God and sending another messenger, another servant, verse 12. Do they listen to him? Do they relent?
Well, you know, the first two guys again, we got out of hand third, okay?
We understand where Please forgive us. Here's your wagon full of fruit and everything we owe, you know, like, continues to get worse they wound him and drag him and cast him out of the vineyard. And this has been the history of Israel from Moses all the way to Malikai. And even now what has happened recently in the history of Israel with John the Baptist, this is how they treat their messengers from God.
Jeremiah, chapter 25.
Jeremiah tells Israel, you have neither listened, nor inclined your ears to hear. Although the Lord persistently sent to you, all his servants, the prophets, saying, Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and evil deeds, do not go after other gods to serve and worship them.
And what did they do to Jeremiah, you might recall, they put him in stocks, and then later they will throw him in a well with the intent to kill him.
other prophets Zechariah and in Second Chronicles, Chapter 24, he says, You have forsaken the Lord to turn to repent, and what do they do to Zechariah they stone him to death. And we can look at others. But this is the parable is proving to be an accurate description of Israel's history. This is how they respond to God's servants, because this is how they respond to God's word.
Kill the Messenger. And hopefully, we will then kill the message. And if we kill the message, then we have no accountability to God. And what this actually is, is then a picture of all of our hearts. If we just don't hear God's word, or if we push it out, we don't really let it sink in and bear much fruit than we don't get to do what God requires of us, we can be our own gods. And again, this is Psalm two, we're gonna be our own gods, we're gonna put off for the authority, we're gonna break the chords, we're gonna break bog God's bonds on somebody is so restrictive, and he's calling us to repent and give loyalty to, to him, we're not going to do that we're going to be our own gods. This is our hearts, not just Israel. This is our hearts, by nature, to be our own kings to be our own rulers to not submit every single area of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And again, the amazing patience and long suffering of God in our text, a servant after servant, prophet after prophet to Israel, message after message, and even maybe for you sermon after sermon.
Yet suppressing the truth, not honoring God, not giving thanks to God. But foolish hearts have become darkened and hardened.
And again, if you remember who Jesus is telling this parable to, Jesus hasn't just gone into some Gentile world. He's not some, you know, he hasn't just put up a little box in downtown, and he's just preaching to everyone who would listen, he's preaching to the religious leaders. He's preaching to the people who are coming to church or regularly. He's preaching to the likes of us. And that should alarm us that shouldn't cause us to be reflective, what is happening in my heart, am I giving to God what He requires of me, and my being submissive to God? Or am I like these tenants and I, I'm putting them off and I'm not listening to God's word.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, Well, what shall I do?
Now what?
And we think surely don't send someone else please. Just let the hammer come down. It's time isn't it? It's time don't send someone else How long will you How long will you let these tenants rebel against you? You sent one you sent to you sent three and yet they continue not to listen. How long will you be patient? Will you be long suffering surely not another and the owner does Something here very shocking, doesn't he? He says, I will send my beloved Son, perhaps they will respect him.
Surely, if I send my son, they'll wake up.
They'll come to their senses.
Surely they will remember me, I am the king. I am the owner of the vineyard. I've given them everything good. I've given them every blessing. They haven't earned it. They haven't worked for it. And if I send my son, perhaps they will see.
Perhaps they will hear, perhaps they will respond and give what is right Lee do.
And who is the Beloved Son of God? Well, we know it. It's Jesus. Jesus is telling this parable, and it's really about himself, isn't it? And that's already been clear to us. We've stayed in the obvious the parables about Jesus.
Remember that Jesus's baptism, and it comes out of the water.
And there's a voice that's from God from heaven. Remember what it says, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
And again, at the Transfiguration, another voice from God, the owner of the vineyard, who says, This is My beloved Son.
The beloved son is Jesus Christ, listen to him.
And again, isn't this a mistake?
Don't do it.
Don't you know what will happen?
If you send your beloved son here? Don't you know?
And what's the response? What do they do to the sun? Do they seek forgiveness? Do they finally give the king what is owed the owner what is owed? Now they said, This is the heir. Let us kill him. So that the inheritance might be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard. And they killed him.
Everything is the sons maybe they thought the owner was gone.
And the owner and and here's the son, let's just kill them. Now.
It's going to be ours.
Let's kill them. I just want just to note to let let let us there's the sense of getting others involved. Not only them but it's like hey, come on.
Let's get this guy you. You come with you come with me. We're gonna come together against God and against his anointed.
And we're gonna get rid of them.
It'll be hours.
And they kill the sun with greed, with selfishness, with hate in their hearts. And as Phil reichen Minister once said, this is more than a parable. This is a prophetic autobiography that Jesus is telling them. They do not give glory to God, they do not listen, they do not submit but they kill the sun.
And this happens in real life.
Right? Jesus is arrested, he is beaten, he is mocked, he is brutally murdered. He is thrown out he is rejected. And he's dragged out of Jerusalem, to Golgotha where he is killed outside of Jerusalem. And the interesting thing though, that you need to remember, this is all part of God's plan.
This is not a mistake, by God.
God didn't send Jesus to earth and hoping and wondering, you know, I really hope that they will hear now this was all part of God's rescue mission, in fact, to save you, to save rebels, to save those who who had rejected him.
He knew what exactly what would happen. The father was sending His Son to suffer and to die for sinners. It was the will of the owner, as Isaiah tells us, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds, you we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put Him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. That is the sun was coming to take on what the the tenants deserve that is death and destruction, and he takes it upon himself and now he's offering peace, a peace.
They have already failed in obedience. But what they can now give is repentance.
It's in faith. Only Jesus can render to God. What is perfectly required from God. God requires perfect obedience. God requires perfect righteousness and perfect reverence and perfect submission from you. And guess what? Not only, you can't pay it. Only Christ can pay any pays it with his life.
He has earned blessing that you and I have not.
And that's the salvation that is ours. That Jesus does for us what we couldn't, we've refused to do.
Colossians two says a new who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made a live together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross, your payment was due perfect obedience, Have you obeyed God perfectly. It's due. It says it's been nailed to the cross.
John 316, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, his beloved Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Grace and mercy come to us through Christ, because Jesus has paid it all.
And what we do now is receive it. We receive it by faith.
And what will the owner do? What will happen to those who now do not believe the son?
What will the owner do to those who reject the sun and his authority? What will those what will God do to those who reject Jesus who did not submit their lives to Him? This is important.
He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others. Verse 16. This is destruction. For all those who reject Jesus destruction, not just physical, but this is eternal destruction. This is hell. This is what you get for rejecting Jesus, this is what you are owed, for rejecting the Beloved Son of God, you get destruction, you get hell, that's what you deserve. But yeah, if you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you get everything that he deserves, that is blessing, you get the vineyard, you get peace with God, the owner.
Whoever has the sun has life, but whoever does not have the sun does not have life.
And it says it will get the vineyard to others. And what Jesus is saying here is that Israel is no longer going to be God's special people, Israel is no longer going to have that special place of privilege, the spiritual leadership of God is going to be transferred from the priest and the spiritual leaders there to the apostles.
The vineyard is going to be opened up to others. I think that's a wonderful grace of God, he doesn't just keep it closed.
If I'm the owner, I'm like, I'm not letting anyone else in there anymore. If they can't handle I'm going to do it myself. No one else is allowed in and they're in there. They're just going to mess it up again. But he opens it up to authors.
What a privilege it is, to be brought in.
And how can you be brought into the garden have God's blessing of salvation? There is one door.
Jesus says, I am the door. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father apart from Him. That is the only way to God's blessing.
Now, how do they respond to this parable? Well, you see, they say, surely not, Surely not.
This is Paul's word, remember?
And Paul is running the Romans and he says, you know, should we continue to sin? So then grace can just abound? And Paul uses these words like surely not like certainly not, of course not.
God will never do that. And that's what they're saying is surely not God Gods No, you know what? We're Abraham so you know, I can I have Abraham on my family tree. And I tied and I pray, surely not God will reject me because look at my punch card for church. Look, I'm here.
Surely God will not reject us.
They know Jesus is talking about them.
And what makes them angry is not the guilt and shame of their disobedience. It's not the guilt and shame of the rejection of God's promises, and profits, or even the death of the son But losing their important place are not really concerned with Jesus at all. They're concerned with their power. They're concerned with their place.
They're concerned with their reputation when they have Jesus right in front of them, the beloved son, but yet they continue to reject him rather than receive Him. And Jesus looks directly at them and says to them in verse 17, what then is it that is written, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And Jesus is quoting a psalm here, and you might be surprised and maybe not surprised that he's quoting Psalm 118. And this might be a familiar Psalm to you, because we just heard it at the triumphal entry. Hosanna blessed it is he who comes in the name of the king, and Jesus is taking that and it says that, you know, weren't we? Didn't you just hear Psalm 118. Do you remember the rest of Psalm 118?
Where it talks about the stone being rejected? Why is this such a surprise to you, this was predicted in the Old Testament that this was going to happen.
Everything that's happening now, the Psalmist already said it, it's gonna it's gonna happen.
It's a metaphor of what's going to ultimately happen to the Messiah, you will be the rejected stone, the stone that the builders rejected, will become the, the chief cornerstone. And that's what's happening right now. The remember that the chief cornerstone, this is the first stone to be laid, if you're going to be a builder, if you're going to build something, you have to have a cornerstone and the cornerstone, it's got to be perfect, right? It's got to have the perfect edges. Because everything else in that building is lined up with the cornerstone. If the Cornerstone is off, the rest of the building is off. So the builders they take, you know, the, the labor over making sure we got the right corner stone, if it's not perfect, the rest of everything else is all messed up. It's got to be right.
Everything else is aligned to it. If it's not, the building is out of sync and it's crooked.
And they are so blind. That here they have Jesus, the chief cornerstone, the perfect one, right in front of them, they cast it aside.
But Jesus is saying the Father will has set Jesus as the chief cornerstone of the church, and everything and everyone else must be built upon him and have a right relationship to him, or else it's off. It's not right.
First Peter, chapter two, as you come to him, a living stone that it's talking about you now you're living stones, but also as Christ, living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For its set in Scripture. Behold, I'm laying in Zion, a stone, a Cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
Jesus is the cornerstone, you have to be aligned to Jesus. If you're not, you're not, you're not connected, you're not going to be part of the house, you have to be connected to Jesus, you have to be rightly connected to him.
And everyone who falls on that stone, if you're rejected, it will be broken to pieces. And when anyone falls, when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
Again, a crushing mistake not to believe in Jesus. There is a day when God's patience will come to an end.
And this is why Jesus was weeping. If you remember, as he looks in Jerusalem. This is why Jesus is weeping. Because he knows better than anyone else, what will happen to those who will face destruction, who will be cursed by God. But Jesus is the precious stone of salvation.
But here it's also a reminder that there's a day coming when he will be this crushing stone of judgment to all those who have rejected him. And now just briefly here to at the end, this real life parable comes to life.
In real time, Jesus has just told a parable. And now they essentially they try to implement that parable.
They carry out what has just been said, verse 19, describes in the chief priests sought to lay hands on him.
Right? In the parable, we're gonna capture him, that's what they want to do. They want to do to the son in the parable. What they just said, We're gonna we want to do that we were gonna do that we're gonna try to cast him out. That's what didn't like to say this in this parable. So they're trying to lay hands on him and that very hour for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. Yes, but they feared the people again, are they good leaders? No, they're, they're directed by fear. They don't fear God they fear man.
So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they They might catch him in something he said, as deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
Just notice here you have people whose lips are honoring God, why their hearts deny him flattery.
They aren't sincere, but they sound like if you're an observer, you would have no idea that these people's hearts are far from God. You would think, wow, this guy really cares about theology. You know, he really cares about the things that God looked at. He looked good. Look what he did you see what he said about Jesus? He said, he'd said that Jesus, you know, you're, you're from God. And you know, you have authority, oh, man, he loves it. He must really love Jesus.
This is just a reminder, that one's profession of faith doesn't save you. It's your possession of faith. You must hold fast to Christ, you must love Christ.
So they asked him teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality but truly teach the way of God and And Psalm 55 tells us this, this is smooth speech, like as butter yet, though there's war in their hearts.
Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Cesar or not? So, you know, the reason they asked this question is because we've tried to ask you this, our religious questions about baptism. And, you know, we'll try again next week, with, you know, the resurrection and things like that. But maybe let's try politics. You know, there, there's a few things we don't like to talk about religion and politics and the religion sides.
Let's try politics and see if we can trick them up with with some political questions.
You know, taxes are unpopular, as they are today. And it was unpopular to give taxes, especially to Rome, especially to Caesar who was seen as a great oppressor to the people of Israel and the people of Israel, ask themselves, why are we forced to pay a tax to live in our own land? God has given us this land, and yet we're forced to pay taxes to Caesar. I feel like Caesar is just robbing us.
We shouldn't be giving taxes to Caesar at all. He's stealing, it's wrong to steal, we shouldn't be participating in that. That's what a lot of people thought we shouldn't do.
We shouldn't do that.
But and here's how they thought they could trap Jesus, then if Jesus said, Well, you know, if you if you don't, if you do pay, then he's gonna lose all his support. And he's just going to be seen as a failed hero, someone as a trader, you know, a lot of people won't follow Jesus because he's supports Rome. But if he did they say, don't pay or do pay it. I mean, then he'll be seen as an insurrectionists, subverting the Roman government, we can get them there. So we're, I think we'll get Jesus either way here and they want a yes or no answer. Jesus isn't bullied.
He doesn't give them a yes or no answer. But he asked another question. Verse 23, he perceives their craftiness and says to them, show me a dinar s, Whose likeness and inscription does it have and they said, Caesar, and it has Tiberius Caesar's picture on a coin. And the Jewish economy Jesus, what Jesus is doing is showing them that their economy is part of the Roman economy, Caesars coin was considered valuable in the rulers power extends to the power of the coin, kind of like if you go to Japan, the US dollar doesn't work in Japan, and other foreign currency currency doesn't work here in the US, because the extent of the US power is the extent of how far does our currency go in that land? So if you are you have Caesars coin. So that means that and you using it, you haven't rejected it? You're using it to buy and trade in your in many ways you've submitted to Caesars authority.
You're not refusing Caesars coin, and neither should you refuse Caesars temporal dues that he asks of you. And so Jesus says in verse 25, very famously, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And it's a reminder that Jesus isn't isn't coming to overthrow the Roman government, as many people wanted Jesus to be that kind of Messiah, to be that kind of king and he's not, he's not coming to set up a new Christian government, even though the Roman government is very cruel and oppressive Christianity. Jesus saying it's been given to them by God. This is, you know, we could have an another sermon on Romans chapter 13, that God has all authority and he's given given authority to the state.
So to render, that is give back to what is owed to show honor even to show respect even to Caesar who hates Christianity.
Well, As things belong to Caesar, oh sure, give taxes, we should pay our taxes, we should seek to follow the laws of our land.
That's how we can do what Jesus is saying we should seek to be obedient. Now we need to obey God rather than men. So if our state is asking us to do things that are contrary to God, we have to obey God. And what are the things though that belong to God? Give your money, pay your taxes. That's fine. That's what's owed to Caesar. Well, what's owed to God, repentance, and faith. And Caesar is that making that possible for you to pay. And that's what God's requiring of you this day, messengers have been sent to you.
I'm a humble messenger, a sinful messenger myself, but yet here I am.
And God himself is calling you to repent, and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that payment is due will you give God what is asked? Will you repent and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and find peace in his heavenly garden?
Or will you refuse and be destroyed? Choose this day whom you will serve? Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your word.
Lord, we thank You for Your Mercy in your long suffering with us. Lord, you're so patient we find ourselves often in a sin and we we sin again and again and Lord, you're so merciful and long suffering.
Lord, I pray that you will help us to repent, to put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who came to suffer and die for sinners for rebels just like us. Lord, help us to have ears to hear. To receive your word to not reject it. Be merciful to us, we pray in Jesus's name, Amen.