Immense Fools (Part A)

It is not only for salvation, instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I know you hurt some of you. You have troubles in your life. I don't have to itemize them. You know what they are. That is not your cue to turn on God's Word.

It is not a lantern that you rub and smoke comes out and forms itself into a genie. Please turn to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 12. The Gospel according to Mark chapter 12. We will take verses 13 through 27. Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch him in his words. When they had 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 a denarius, that I may see it. So they brought it. And he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesars. And 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. Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and dying, he left no offspring. And the second took her and he died. Nor did he leave any offspring.

And the third likewise. So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be?

For all seven had her as wife. Jesus answered and said to them, Are you not therefore mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. But concerning the dead that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob?

He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken. Immense fools. There are lessons for us on how not to be. I do not want to be a fool and I certainly don't want to be an immense one. These are from his own words.

You're greatly mistaken. They challenged his authority earlier as we've just a brief review. He had come into the temple and he had cast out the money changes. The people that were ripping the people off in God's name, he turned their tables over and caused them embarrassment and trouble. They then came to challenge his authority with questions and he, before answering their question, questioned them and their inability to answer was made clear to all the bystanders.

He then told a story about criminals in the vineyard, men who were entrusted with a vineyard that was not theirs and they turned violent so that they could benefit from the wealth of this vineyard. And of course, they knew that he was using this parable to point to them. After that parable, he quoted scripture saying the stone which the builders rejected, that is the chief cornerstone. That became the chief cornerstone. Yahweh uses what the builders rejected to be a key part of his project, the essential part of his project.

Without it, there's no completion. Of course, there's no salvation without the Christ. Well, they understood that he again was talking about them rejecting him. And so in their infuriation, they plotted ways to have him arrested so that they could have him killed.

Mark writes in the 12th verse of Mark 12, And they sought to lay hands on him, but feared the multitude, for they knew he had spoken the parable against them. They were guilty. What makes them so foolish is that they were actually guilty and they knew it.

It wasn't as though, you know, that's his opinion. All the evidence pointed to them, but they preferred the way they lived over the life that he offered them. Now we look at verse 13 and we reread that verse. Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch him in his words. So having silenced the chief priests and scribes and the elders beginning in chapter 11, he now is confronted by another coalition and it will be the Pharisees and the Herodians and the scribes. Well, the Sadducees first, then the scribes. They will come and try to trip him up.

A series of challenges to an attempt to discredit his authority amongst the people and also to incriminate him with the Roman authorities so that they could do their dirty work for them. Luke writes this, he says, so they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous that they might seize on his words in order to deliver him to the power and the authority of the governor. You know, when we're going through the 1 and 2 Samuel and just finishing up 1 Samuel and looking at the life of Saul, you look at his life and you say, who lives this way?

Who is this incredibly dark that they behave like this in the presence of so much light? It's the same here with these people. How could they reject the Christ? What if he came with no miracles, just truth? Well, then they just would have debated him. But he came with more than just the truth.

He came with the power of God. And that just didn't mean anything to these men because they were determined to be in control. And it is a horrific thing. We need to pay attention to what's going on. And here in this coordinated attack, in hopes of halting his influence as it is done today, the world looks to censor us, to shut us up, to keep us from influencing people towards righteousness. And in the age we live in, it's unlike ever before, they want to corrupt without interference and purity and righteousness have become evil to them. Well, in all three cases, as Jesus deals with this next group, the Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees and Scribes, he is going to silence them from scripture.

He's not going to just say, well, I disagree or just reason with them. He is going to reason with them, but he's going to do it from the scripture. For him, scripture was good enough.

It's sad to say. Many Christian scriptures are not good enough to live by. They want some sort of a freedom, I guess, that the Bible does not magically give. And so they go and find something somewhere else. Paul had this problem in the New Testament church.

It was a big problem. He writes to the Colossians, watch out, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. He's saying, stick with the scriptures. There are going to be people that are going to come along and they're going to have all of these philosophies and teachings and ideas and methods, and they don't work, and you can chase them for the rest of your life or you can skip that step, not supplement what God says. Take up your cross and follow the Lord. When Paul said to Titus, holding fast the first faithful word, as you have been taught, and he went on to say, convict and rebuke.

Why didn't he say make happy, make comfortable? Because we're dealing with sinful things. And if you appease the sin, the bad moods, the awful ways, you end up having the world in Jesus' name. And so in churches where pastors uphold the word, many of those churches look to get rid of that man and then ultimately get rid of the Bible altogether.

We're seeing it happen all the time. Paul continues, he says, for in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He's got everything you need for life.

I mean, he doesn't have the instructions on how to change a flat tire. They're talking spiritual things. Me, how I live, how I think, how I feel, how I sin, how I serve, all belongs to him.

And he says, you're complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power. He's got it all, knowing Scripture to know life. And just because you don't feel good doesn't mean the Scripture's not working. That's where faith comes in.

Who needs faith if everything just falls into place? We are at war against the curse. Satan coaxes some churchgoers to rid pastors who are fixed upon the word of God, to fight from the word of God. Remember Saul, King Saul again? He had thrown out of the land all of the witches and all of those who were practicing idolatry, as many as he could.

But there were still some there who were doing it. And in a moment of desperation, where does he go? He goes to the witch at Endor. And the witch at Endor is still doing business amongst desperate churchgoers to this day. Where I'm going with this is these men did not think Christ was sufficient. They wanted to be rid of him. Well Satan knows he can't come directly to some Christians and say, Christ is not sufficient and you need to do it this way, though he does with apostates.

He's more sneaky than that. That witch at Endor, you might remember, she gave Saul a free meal. It was very nice towards him, very caring, very kind.

But death followed and he did not survive the next day. Why have a Bible if it is only for salvation? It is not only for salvation.

Destruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I know you hurt some of you. You have troubles in your life. I don't have to itemize them.

You know what they are. That is not your cue to turn on God's Word. It's not a lantern that you rub and smoke comes out and forms itself into a genie.

It is our manual for war. And unfortunately, these kind of sermons, it seems like the people who need to hear them most find a way to be absent on the days that they are preached. It is heartbreaking to any pastor of the Word to see people claim Christ and not believe in the Scripture. And Christ, again, he says that you are mistaken, greatly mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

You see how he connected the two together? And then you have a man of God step in the pulpit and say, You have the power of God. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit in the traditions of the world.

No, pastor. We've tried the Bible. It doesn't work.

It doesn't work what? Take up your cross. Trust God. He will come.

He will show up. Suffer for a little bit. Life is hard because it is cursed. And we are to make it through, trusting the Lord, believing the Lord. My prayer in my latter years here of ministry are, Lord, help me to love your people the way you love them. Because without you helping me to love them, I won't love them. I'll resent.

I'll become jaded. Any pastor will make that prayer. If I cannot love the flock, you know what God says. If I do not love, I am nothing.

Well, I don't want to be that. So I will pursue love, the love of Christ. And Paul writes to Titus again. And this is the same apostle that wrote of love. He says, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound teaching both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

Contradict what? Scripture. Which these men were doing with Jesus. So I hope what I am accomplishing here is showing you that in light of the song of Don Francisco, he was talking to the hypocrites and Pharisees and everybody else but me. Of course, it's being sarcastic. We're not just reading about these men coming to Christ back then and it has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with us. It is very relevant to right here, right now.

It's not expired. I better read these words and say, Lord, is it I? Am I doing these things? Verse 14, when they had 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 and truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? So they came to him lying. They're lying to him. These things are true. He does not care enough about what people say to turn back on what his father says, what the scripture says.

That is true. He is not going to play favorites. Well, God is his favorite. He is, of course, God the Son. But they're trying to flatter him as they set him up.

We know you're going to give us an honest answer because you're such a godly man. And they're trying to exploit that. These are insults woven into otherwise noble words. And these men were intellectually and emotionally committed to wrong things. They enjoyed it. They liked the way they lived. They found nothing wrong with themselves. The scripture they had reduced to this chart that goes along with their religion. They enjoyed opposing him.

They relished the thought of discrediting him, of being done with him. They say here, and you care about no one. Well, that's not true, not true at all. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost and bring the truth of God to the people. But the truth of God came before opinions and feelings. And again, that's what many folks don't want to hear. They want Christ to agree with the way they want to do it. And if he does not agree, they'll find a way to get away from him or to try to leaven the lump. And so it is not true. He has compassion.

Just because he leaves things on us does not mean he does not care. And some still try to equate standing firm against their beliefs with hatred. They think you hate them if you don't agree with them. That's a shameful thing to, a place to be in one's life. I have every right to disagree with anyone at any time and not hate them at the same time.

I can do that. I do not have to show malice to someone because I disagree with them. And what if they don't like it? Well, they'll either have to live with it or they're going to attack you. Well, they're attacking him. They did not say, well, you know, that's Christ's opinion.

No, they are trying to destroy him. And so they ask, is it lawful? Now, this is referring to the Roman law, yes, but also to the Hebrew scripture, mainly that at this point. They're saying, is it lawful according to the law of scripture for us to pay taxes to Caesar? Because does this not conflict with the sovereignty of God? By paying the Romans money, are we not demonstrating our servitude? And he could have said, yeah, because this is the punishment on you for forsaking the Lord with your many idols whom the prophets constantly warned you not to do, but you did it anyway. And so they say, is it lawful? Now, Caesar here that they reference here in verse 14 refers, of course, to that Roman emperor. Tiberius was the present Caesar at this time. Verse 15, shall we pay or shall we not pay? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, why do you test me?

Bring me a denarius that I may see it. So he's fully aware of what these guys were up to. And the question is, is it a crime to pay taxes to Caesar being God's people? Now, the Herodians were present, and they were pro-Roman. Therefore, had Jesus said anything against paying taxes to Rome, they would prosecute, and that would be just what this coalition was after.

Had Jesus said, no, we should, we can pay these taxes, then the Jewish people would have come against him. They knew that when they were asking this question. They thought they had him trapped.

How can he get out of this one? There's no right. This is a lose-lose situation for the Christ, they thought, although they would not have thought of him as the Christ.

It says here in verse 15, but he, knowing the hypocrisy, said to them, why do you test me? Because we don't like you. That's why. We don't like what you have to teach.

We don't like what you say about the way we live. That's why. Now, this denarius was a silver coin about a day's pay for a laborer. He says, bring me a denarius that I may see it. He did not carry cash, is what it boils down to.

And so we just briefly review this. At his birth, when his parents went to, well, Mary and Joseph, went to the temple to make their offering for him, they offered the poor man's offering, turtle doves. That's all they could afford. And here, in his life, as he grew up and he was challenged on paying taxes, he had to send to the sea to get a coin because he didn't have it and he paid taxes for himself and Peter. When he entered Jerusalem, he had to borrow someone's donkey. And to make his point here, of course, he borrows a coin.

And at his death, at his death, he had to borrow a tomb for the weekend. Every beast of the forest is mine, says God. The cattle on a thousand hills, they belong to him. And yet, when he walked the earth, material wealth was not something he was interested in. So who do you think you are if you are one of those who claims that God wants you rich in this life with money and wealth to flaunt? You know who you are. If you follow the so-called prosperity teaching, which is no spiritual prosperity whatsoever, then you've followed a deception from hell. Your life is to serve Christ and not yourself.

And we could beat on that all day long. But will the guilty listen? Verse 16, So they brought it, the coin, and he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this? And they said, Caesar's. He wanted to hear them say it out loud. He knew whose inscription was on the coin.

He wanted them to say it loud so that the witnesses could hear the answers out loud. Tiberius Caesar, the august son of divine Augustus, that's the inscription around the image on that coin. These coins are available today. You can buy them for about $1500.

Lisa, I checked online. If you would like to buy one for me, just give me the cash and let me do what I want to do with it. No, I don't want a gift card.

I want cash. But anyway, whose image is engraved? Who's carved? Whose image is carved on this? What is the inscription on this coin? Which means, whose image is carved into you?

What is inscribed upon me? Is it Christ or is it Caesar? Are you asking them, is it the image of Caesar or is it the image of God that you're interested in? Where's the question coming from?

Of course they have no answer when he gives the answer. Colossians 3 again. Put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. We are created in God's image.

And yes, the fall occurred and marred that image. And being born again involves having that image restored to us here as a deposit, but finally, of course, when we get to heaven. Spurgeon says, Our Lord Jesus, by his death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man.

All of us. We belong to him. And that's where the fight is. And when Paul writes to the Colossians, incidentally, he likely never visited that church. Epaphroditus comes to him who was the pastor of that church, and he says, We have a big problem. The Gnostics are mixing in their teachings. They're coming to that church, and as they come through the doors, they're bringing their invisible sacred cows with them, and they are mixing and leavening their teaching into the congregation.

How do we get them out? Paul writes the letter to the Colossians, and that letter is about you have Christ. Stop doing this stuff. You have the image of Christ on you. You don't need these things that are being brought in by those who are trying to salvage something of their paganism. Thanks for tuning in to Cross-Reference Radio for this study in the Book of Mark. Cross-Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You can search for Cross-Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the Book of Mark, right here on Cross-Reference Radio. Yeah.