Hello there,
Welcome to Jesus to the Core Missions. I am Dr. Darryl Thomas, and I am excited and elated that you have joined with me in this great occasion to share in the word of God. Today’s message will be coming from Luke 20: 19-26 (KJV). And it reads:
19 And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
21 And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly:
22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar , or no?
23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?
24 Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s.
25 And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s
226 And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.
May God add a blessing to the readers, hearers, and doers of His holy word. The title of our message today is called “Now Is The Time To Render.” The word “render” simply means to give. I was able to draw the title of the sermon from the 25th verse that says, “And he said unto them, Render (Give) therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and render (or give) unto God the things which be God’s. Jesus’s response to their question was so powerful because it displays to us the omniscience of God in Christ Jesus. The omniscience of God in Christ Jesus was evident in this moment, because He knew all about their craftiness.
He knew that they wanted him to speak a word against Caesar, and He knew their question was about much more than a tribute. Yes, He knew that it was not about paying tribute. Our Lord Jesus the Christ knew that the real reason behind the scribes pestering questions was the issue of allegiance. What is allegiance? According to the official website of the Cambridge Dictionary, allegiance is loyalty and support for a ruler, country, group, or belief. We know Jesus Christ is King of kings. We know that His country is heaven, and that he stands on the right hand of God. And the belief is that Yahweh is one God eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. We know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah who was prophesied to come into the world. They knew that Jesus the Christ was and is the King of the Jews.
The scribes and Pharisees knew very well who He was. The scribes and the Pharisees were students of the law of Moses and the Old Testament. They were scholars of the law and the prophets. They were doctors of the law. There in the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah 61:1-3, the prophet Isaiah says this in reference to the Messiah:
1The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
The scribes and the Pharisees knew that Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of this scripture concerning the Messiah. How do we know that the scribes and the Pharisees knew that Jesus was the Messiah? Firstly, we know that they knew, because He told them. He tells them who he is in Luke Chapter 4: 14-21, and it reads:
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
The bible says that Jesus went into the synagogues teaching, and His fame went abroad. One day he read the book of Isaiah the sixty-first chapter. After reading Isaiah’s prophecy, He says, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” So, we know that He told them that He was the Messiah. So far, we can see where Isaiah wrote the prophecy concerning the coming Messiah; and we also saw where Jesus read Isaiah’s prophecy. Just in case the doctors and the scholars of the law could not make the correlation between what was written and the fulfillment of what was written, Jesus decided to tell them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Not only did He tell them that He was the Messiah, but He also showed them. Isaiah wrote this concerning the Messiah, in Isaiah 42: 6-7, “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” This is another testament of what was written concerning the coming Messiah. In Matthew 21: 12-15, Jesus fulfills what was written in Isaiah 42:6-7, “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they (the scribes and the Pharisees) were sore displeased.”
The bible tells us that he healed the blind and the lame which is the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah; and it tells us that the chief priests and the scribes saw it, making them very displeased. Jesus Christ ,being the merciful God he is, told them, and He showed them that He is the Messiah, He told them and showed them that He is the Son of God. He told them and showed them that He is the King of the Jews, and it made them angry. The scribes and the Pharisees were jealous of Jesus the Christ. In their hearts, they rejected Jesus the Christ; and they refused to pledge their allegiance. They refused to give their allegiance to the true King of the Jews and the only begotten Son of God. Jesus knew that they were rejecting and refusing Him, and their pestering and ignorant questions was just the manifestation of the rejection and rebellion in their hearts.. Jesus, knowing that they had made their choice said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar, and unto God the things which be God’s.”Also, if they rejected Jesus, then they were rejected by God. In Luke 10: 16 Jesus tells his disciples, “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth he that sent me.” When the scribes and the Pharisees rejected Jesus, they rejected God. If those that have rejected Jesus don’t belong to God, the only alternative is for them to render (give) themselves unto Caesar.
Who And What is Caesar In The Text?
Next, we will be discussing who and what is Caesar during the day of Jesus? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the name Caesar is a title that was given to, “any of the Roman emperors succeeding Augustus Caesar. Specifically, the reigning caesar of the Roman empire during the three years of Jesus's ministry was Tiberius Caesar Augustus. The Roman Empire was a kingdom that obtained world dominance not much different from any of the other empires that came before them including the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, The Grecian Empire, and lastly the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire and all of the empires before it had all reached world dominance, and each of them were deeply devoted to the worship of idol gods. St. Augustine in his book “The City of God” wrote about the reality of demonic forces behind the worship of idols. He talked about how demons tricked humans into worshipping idols in an attempt to take glory from God and absorb the worship of humans themselves. The Scripture affirms St. Augustine’s claim that demons influenced idol worship. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them.” The god of this world is Satan, the devil, and he has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. No wonder Jesus Christ the Son of God responded to their question in such a way saying, “Render unto Caesar that which be Caesar’s, but unto God the things that are God’s.” With dignity and a poetic utterance, He was saying to the scribes and Pharisees who continued to reject and refuse Him that they rejected Him, because they belonged to the devil. In John Chapter 8, Jesus was preaching, and the Pharisees were arguing with Jesus about who He is, and then they began to argue that God was their father. In this chapter, Jesus confirms the revelation we learned in our text Luke 20: 19-26. Jesus confirms that He was calling the unbelieving Pharisees the children of the devil in John 8:42-47; and it reads:
42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. 44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do, He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
This time he is not so poetic, but he is bluntly telling them that they are the children of the devil. Earlier, we talked about how Jesus knew that they were rejecting who He was and the work He came to do. That was the choice they made, and the reality is that we all have a choice to make. We can either render (give) our lives to God by accepting His Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, or we can render ourselves unto the god of this world who is the devil. Now, is the time to render yourselves to God in the name of Jesus Christ. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Life is only a vapor! Just a little while and it is gone. Now is the time to render. In Romans 10: 9, the Apostle Paul says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” If we confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead; the bible declares we shall be saved. We must confess. We must render unto God, and we must believe the person and work of Jesus Christ in our hearts.
The Pharisees Declare their Allegiance
The time for indecisiveness is over. Before now, we have seen the evidence of Jesus telling and showing the scribes and the Pharisees that He was the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. We have also seen evidence of Jesus knowing what was in their hearts. Next, we will view the account of the Pharisees actually verbalizing their allegiance to Caesar. In John Chapter 19, the Pharisees delivered Jesus to be crucified. The governor Pontius Pilate attempted to persuade the Pharisees to let him go, but they rejected Pilates’s offer repeatedly crying, “Crucify him!!!” Pilate was unsuccessfully trying to persuade the boisterous crowd by asking, “Shall I crucify your king?” Then, the chief priest replied saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” First, they thought about it, they acted on it; and here they verbalize it. The thought normally comes first, but the other two don’t always go in the exact order. However, the reality is that we all have to render to someone; and we don’t have as much time to decide as we think.
Conclusion
I am closing; but in my conclusion, the Apostle Thomas comes to mind. Thomas was one of the twelve apostles who served with Jesus in the three years of His ministry. Thomas, being one of the twelve, also sat at the feet of Jesus during His teachings. Thomas was also there the night Jesus was arrested, and he knew that Jesus died. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave, and he revealed himself to His disciples that day (see John 20). However, Thomas was not there the third day evening when Jesus revealed Himself to the apostles; but the apostles told Thomas that they saw Jesus that they saw Jesus on the third day evening. Although the apostles told Thomas what they saw, Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Eight days after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus revealed Himself to Thomas. Jesus also allowed Thomas to see and touch nail scarred hands and his side so that Thomas would believe. When Thomas saw Jesus for himself, he hysterically and loudly praised Jesus saying, “My Lord and my God.” When Thomas saw the evidence, he believed in his heart that Jesus was the Messiah and that God raised him from the dead. Afterwards, Thomas travelled the world preaching the gospel until he was martyred for preaching the Gospel. In his martyrdom, it is said that with his dying breath he praised Jesus the Christ saying, “My Lord and My God.”
Thomas is the perfect example of a person who refused to believe, because he needed more evidence. Maybe you are like Thomas was. Maybe you believe that you need more evidence to know that Jesus is real. However, I would argue that if you examine your life, you can see that the mercy of Jesus has kept you until now. Jesus was there when you overdosed on drugs. Jesus was there when you were shot and taken to the hospital, but you survived. Jesus was there when that car flipped over three times. You were the only one that survived, and it was Jesus that protected you. Jesus was there when shots were fired in your direction, but you were not hit. He was there preserving you until now, and you are the evidence that he is real. You have all the evidence you need to know that Jesus is real and that He came to save you from the penalty of sin. In Lamentations 3:22-23, Jeremiah says, “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” God is faithful to us. He is faithful even though we were unfaithful. Now is the time to render your life unto Him.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this fellowship. We thank you for the message you have given us today beseeching us to render ourselves unto God. We Thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We confess Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior and Master. We believe in our hearts that you raised Jesus Christ from the dead. We believe that through faith we are saved. We love you Lord, and we thank you for the person and work of Jesus Christ. Help us to draw close to you, and walk with you forever and ever. In Jesus Christ mighty name we pray,
Amen,
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