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[Music] good morning my name is tim murr i am an elder at first presbyterian church of gulfport and i'm really glad that you're joining with me today as we continue our study in mark if you remember we've been moving through the gospel of mark and we've been looking at the narrative of jesus public ministry in galilee in capernaum in certain gentile regions and now finally in jerusalem and now we're just about ready not today but we're just about ready to start studying the plot to kill jesus the last supper the trial of jesus and his crucifixion but today we're going to be studying mark 12 verses 13 through 27 that's mark 12 13 through 27 and as you gather together around the internet or on your laptops i wish that you would join me in a word of prayer as we begin our study father as we look at mark today we pray that the words from the from the gospel the words from mark will jump off the page and become alive to us the things that we read the things that we understand that we can apply to our lives i thank you for all that are listening that are watching as we're online and we pray that you'll give us your blessing as we study your word in jesus name amen all right so as we begin our focus on mark verses 12 uh chapter 12 verses 13 through 27 we continue to see groups or political groups or religious groups that we've seen in the past our old friends the pharisees the sadducees and the herodians are trying to trap jesus in a verbal trap they're trying to set the stage they've formulated and they've worked on a question that is unanswerable and they're going to spring that on jesus and we want to see in mark 12 how jesus responds now we need to remember these groups the pharisees the sadducees the herodians the teachers of the law and the zealots we saw them for the very first time in mark chapter 3 verses 1 through 19. and if you remember let me just kind of jog your memory the pharisees are a strict group of religious leaders who have minute obedience to the law they're committed to do god's will they're committed to respect the law they believe they believe in the resurrection of the dead but they have rejected jesus as the messiah they've rejected jesus as the messiah then we have the sadducees and they are a wealthy upper-class political group or a jewish a jewish priestly party and they believe in the five books of the law the torah the first five books in the old testament and they also do not believe in the resurrection and they are basically opposed to the resurrection and there's tension between the pharisees and the sadducees and then the other group that we have are the teachers of the law so these are also pharisees they have a respect for the law they're committed to obeying god's will but they also reject jesus as the messiah then we have the herodians and they're more a political party much like our republicans and democrats in the united states and they are a party that supports king herod and they want his lineage back on the throne in um in israel and they have some agreements with jesus but most of all they're opposed to jesus and they're absolutely opposed to the pharisees and then the last group is the zealots they are the political patriots the political individuals who want to overthrow the roman government and they want to bring messiah jesus as the king but they don't recognize him as the messiah just as a political messiah not a salvation not a messiah that brings salvation so let's read mark 12 verse 13 through 27 and we'll get to see the the sadducees and the pharisees as they face off with jesus let's let's start with verse 13. i'm reading from the new international version later they sent some of the pharisees and the herodians to jesus to catch him in his words they came to him and said teacher we know that you are a man of integrity you aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are but you teach the word of god in accordance with the truth here's the question is it right to pay the imperial tax to caesar or not should we pay or shouldn't we but jesus knew their hypocrisy why are you trying to trap me he asked bring me a denarius and let me look at it they brought him the coin and he asked them whose image is this and whose inscription caesar's they replied and jesus said to them give back to caesar what is caesar what is caesar's and to god what is god and they were amazed at him so what do we see here in the first sentence we see the plot we see the theme we see the organization of the of the pharisees because it says it right there they came to him to try to catch him in his own words to try to catch him in his own words they were not interested in the answer the truth of the answer they were interested in putting jesus in the middle of a mess that whether or not he answered the question yes or no that he would be making somebody mad so let's look at this the question is do we pay taxes to caesar or do we not that's the question do we pay taxes or do we not now you remember these taxes to caesar were to rome it wasn't israel's taxes it was a tax that the occupying army or the occupying government in rome was pressing down on the necks of the jews and so you can expect none of the jews wanted to pay this tax why well number one no one likes to pay tax i don't like to pay tax it's taking money out of my pocket that i've earned and giving it to a government whether i agree with that government or not they're taking my money secondly we know that the jews would not approve of how the rome how the roman government would spend that money and it's obviously they're oppressing the jews with these taxes the money that goes to rome supports what the jews believe is an immoral an impure government and all of the activities that go on in rome is being funded on by the on the necks and on the hard work of the jews so they do not want to pay taxes so depending upon the way that jesus would answer this question he's going to make some people mad so if he says yes i want to pay you should pay the taxes he's going to make the jews mad well what happens if he pay if he says no you shouldn't pay the taxes who's going to get mad yes that's right i see that hand lucy phoenix you're exactly right it is the roman government not only are they going to get mad but lucy was right they're going to turn against jesus and label him a zealot label him a rabble rouser and they're going to come after him and so either way jesus is in a difficult position but i want you to see not only the question but how they come after jesus look at this if you would in the in the uh verse 14. they came to him and they said teacher we know that you are a man of integrity you aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are but you teach the way of god in accordance with the truth what is that that's flattery they're buttering up jesus so that he will drop his guard he will not be on the offensive or the defensive uh based upon their questions they're buttering him up with flattery and that's exactly the tool that the pharisees used they were pompous holier than thou men who like to puff themselves up and enjoy the praise of men so they use that debating technique of flattery to tempt jesus into a question so the question that we hear is do we pay taxes to caesar or not now you we need to look and see who's in the crowd who's listening to this question well we don't know exactly who's in the crowd it doesn't exactly tell us but we can see from the rest of mark that it would be the disciples it would be the followers of jesus it would be the other jews maybe unbelieving jews it would be the religious establishment of the pharisees the sadducees herodians zealots teachers of the law maybe roman sympathizers maybe roman government officials and government and roman army uh people so you can see there's a a vast crowd around him and they are intently listening to jesus's question do we pay taxes now if i were to ask you and in this group do you like paying taxes you would probably say no i don't like paying taxes either but taxes are away in the united states and in most countries they're a way to fund the infrastructure of life they pay for roads they pay for sewer they pay to educate our children they pay for the police force they pay to raise and defend our country by an army they pay for our government whether we think they're efficient in our in the use of taxes is another question but taxing is a way that they pay or that the government uses to pay for the infrastructure and here in mississippi we have tax on food seven percent tax on things you buy you have gasoline tax that's included in your road tax you have personal income tax you have property tax and if you die and you're very wealthy you may have a federal death tax so we are taxed just like the romans were taxing the jews so the jewish community is sitting there and they're listening to jesus and if jesus says yes pay the roman taxes it's going to stir up the jews and they're going to be mad at jesus likewise if he says no don't pay the tax then he's going to stir up the romans and will be treated as a traitor so what does he do what does he say well here we need to look and see what jesus said it's really the perfect trap either way he goes he's in a problem so how does jesus reply and what can we learn from his reply so jesus isn't fooled number one here are the things that we need to learn from jesus's response jesus is not fooled jesus is omnipotent he's omnipotent that's a hard word to say omnipotent that means he's all knowing he's god he knows their thoughts he knows their motives he knows they are trying to trap him and he knew that their motivation was not to seek the truth but to trap him as well and he understood the consequences of his words you know so many times we speak without thinking we say things without thinking and there are consequences to our words but the most important thing that i want you to see is that jesus values the spiritual things more than the earthly things he values the spiritual things above earthly things now some of you may say well was jesus pro-roman was he anti-roman where did he stand on this we don't know because that was not jesus's focus his focus was on a spiritual kingdom jesus wasn't interested in entering debates he was interested in the salvation of his people he was interested in spreading the god the good news the gospel so if we carefully look at scripture and you try to apply it to where we are today and i may say some things that step on toes but you need to hear that jesus is not a republican jesus is not a democrat jesus is not a libertarian and i'm going to tell you you're not going to see any support in scripture for the republican or the democratic party or anything else let me say this jesus is not concerned about you being a republican or democrat or a libertarian or a socialist or a communist what jesus is concerned about is the eternal things of life and that's what we need to be concerned about as well and i stand here and i tell you that as someone who is a a major in political science and has voted in every election since i was 18 but jesus wants our hearts not our politics he wants our hearts not our politics well the problem we also see in the romans in that society in uh israel is that whatever the powers that be whatever the politics wasn't solving their problems just like our government is not solving our problems because government will never solve the problems of men because we are a sinful society made up of sinful people and the solution is never in government well i'll get off that the pharisees were trying to pin jesus down so jesus doesn't step into their trap what does he do he asks for a denarius what is a denarius denarius is a coin or a unit of measure of money that is equal to a laborer's daily wage so let's say a wage was and i'm just going to pick a number a hundred dollars in our society today if that is a daily wage that's what a dairy denarius was it was a unit of money so he hands up a daenery he he gets a denarius from the crowd he hands it up and he says whose picture is on this well caesar's on the picture caesar's face is on the picture of the denarius we know that from history and so jesus says in verse 17 give to caesar what belongs to caesar and give to god what belongs to god i want you to see their response they're almost were they're almost without uh words to respond to jesus and they say here in verse 17 and jesus said to them give to caesar what is caesar unto god what is god and look at the next phrase and they were amazed at him they were speechless they couldn't even respond give to caesar what belongs to caesar and give to god what belongs to god well what belongs to god we belong to god every bit of us our talents our treasures our skills our god-given abilities uh all of that belongs to god so they were amazed at the response but they didn't let up so this was the pharisees and the herodians asking the question and then we look at verse 18 here come the sadducees and they jump right in on jesus as well now it's interesting in the question that the sadducees ask if you remember at the beginning of this lesson the sadducee the sadducees do not even believe in the resurrection of the dead but yet they ask him a question about the resurrection of the dead clearly they're not interested in the truth they want to trap jesus let's look together and read together this section starting at verse 18 and i'll read to the end of 27 then the sadducees remember pharisees and herodians now it's the sadducees ganging up on him then the sadducees who say there is no resurrection came to him with a question here's the question teacher they say flattery again teacher moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother now there were seven brothers the first one married and died without leaving any children the second one married the widow but he also died leaving no children or leaving no child and it was the same with the third in fact none of the seven left any children last of all the woman died too at the resurrection which they don't believe in but anyway verse 23 at the resurrection whose wife will she be since the 7 were married to her it almost sounds like an exam question that i would receive in law school that you don't really know what the answer or there could be multiple answers it's a difficult question well how does jesus answer this well before we figure out what jesus's answer is we need to understand the question what is the basis of the historical facts for this question well if you read deuteronomy 25 verses 5 through 10 you learn about the kinsmen redeemer the kinsmen redeemer and in scripture the kinsmen redeemer was a relative of a man who died prematurely with a widow without any children without any offspring so that his name would end not only would his name end in lineage as an heir because he had no offspring there were no children to provide and care for the widow so in the old testament the kinsmen the relative of the deceased would marry the widow and provide offspring to carry on the name and they would carry the last name of the decedent of the of the man who died prematurely it was called the kinsman redeemer you'll also see this very clearly and i really encourage you to read this in ruth chapters three and four is a beautiful story a love story really about ruth and boaz and boaz was the kinsman redeemer so here's the here's the principle in scripture in the old testament in the law a kinsmen was ordered to marry the widow of a brother and if he didn't have children in order to carry on his line so what does jesus answer he points them back to scripture doesn't answer the question he points them back to scripture and he says don't you know the scripture let's look at this in verse 24. jesus replied are you not in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of god when the dead rise they will neither marry nor be given in marriage they will be like the angels in heaven now about the dead rising have you not read in the book of moses that's the law that's the torah the first five books of the old testament in the account of the burning bush how god said to him i am the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob he is not the god of the dead but of the living you are badly mistaken so jesus rebukes the sadducees as they come to jesus trying to trap him verbally now this is a good response where jesus is always pointing back to scripture and if you indulge me just for a minute i'm going to go down a rabbit trail i try not to do these but when you read this section in scripture it immediately causes me to ask questions and it's a questions that i know that many of you have and that question is based on scripture when we get to heaven are we going to know are we going to recognize our loved ones that have don that have died before us will i know my parents will i see and recognize my parents my spouse maybe a child that died before us and our brothers and sisters and our children are we going to know them we look at scripture and the scripture says yes there will be a recognition based upon the character unique character the unique characteristics and who we are you can recognize me if you see me here on earth what i look like we will recognize and know our loved ones when we get to heaven now you say where is that where is the support for that tim let me show it to you that support is found in two sections in scripture or really two sections in a parable if you look at mark 9 verses 1 through 13 and we've studied mark several weeks ago in in chapter nine jesus was on the mount he was on the mountain and he was transfigured and there at that time in the transfiguration there was jesus moses and elijah now we know moses and elijah had died many hundreds of years before that they died and they were seen by peter james and john they recognized them and called them and saw them by name they recognized moses and elijah so we see there's one example in scripture mark 9 verses 1-13 that's in the new testament in the old testament there's another example where king saul is preparing to go to battle and he's worried about what's going to happen in this battle this is in first samuel 28 verses 11 through 20. and samuel does exactly the opposite of what he should do rather than relying upon the lord he goes to the witch of endor the witch of endor and through a seance he calls up samuel samuel the prophet and he says he calls or the the witch of endor calls samuel up and he wants to find out what's going to happen in the battle well at that time saul gives him uh saul receives the prophecy that not only is he going to lose the battle he's going to lose his life and also his son's life so he saw saul recognized samuel that's the second one and then there's a parable in the new testament there that we see where lazarus the poor man and the rich man die the rich man goes to hell lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man is recognizing lazarus through the unbridgeable gap between heaven and hell and he recognizes lazarus who is in scripture it says he's pulled into or or uh brought to the bosom of abraham in other words he is in paradise and he recognizes him from hell now i can't explain all of that how that can be done but this comes from scripture so i think it does bring us great comfort that when we have loved ones who love the lord and are in heaven that when we die we will recognize and have communion with them as well i don't know if we'll marry i don't think we will because our natures and our affection will be upon jesus we will be concerned about worshiping jesus and our natures will change some people say well we marry no we will be focused on worshiping jesus but we will recognize our loved ones well as we draw this to a close the question really gets to be what is mark telling us in this scripture what can we apply to our lives number one we need to know the word of god every time that jesus responds he responds with the word of god jesus is also telling us over and over place the value place your treasures not in this world but in eternal things place the treasures in your value not in political parties not in governments but it but in god any eternal things that don't rust and corrupt just like they do on earth and so those things are really important what is uh it is the importance of knowing the word of god so that we respond and placing our value in life on eternal things place your trust not in governments not in people they'll disappoint you but place your trust in jesus christ he always keeps his promises pray with me father i thank you for mark i thank you for the lessons that we see in this we thank you that we can take this scripture and apply it to our daily lives i pray for those that listen to this study and mark i pray for their needs even though we don't always know what they are but father we know that you are the not only the great physician but that you love and care for us all these things we ask in your name [Music] amen [Music] you