01/26/25 Pastor Cody Harlow Who's Image Is This ?

Better [Music] how you been brother are you year e [Music] am okay [Music] TR [Music] e way [Music] am [Music] e [Music] e [Music] e for e good morning so good to see each and every one of you it's so good to be in a warm room this morning and certainly good to be together with brothers and sisters so we can worship our Lord together I have a stack of announcements so I will not waste any time I want to draw your attentions particularly men coming up February 22nd at 5:30 we're going to have an Outreach and fellowship it's going to be meet and sides it's otherwise known as a beast beast and there's going to be a devotional and we will be providing child care so if you're aware of any single fathers please invite them we want this to be in an amazing time together as men the other announcement on that page that I want to highlight is the business meeting date has been changed a little bit it will be February 16th following the church service and so

Please Mark your calendars and plan to attend I have an announcement here from B Porter we realized that when we did the church directory the photo directory a few months ago several people missed that opportunity and we're making it available to have your picture taken and we will be producing a supplemental directory with pictures and that way it helps us to get to know one another there will be so please come next Sunday prepared for that picture if you would like to take advantage of that trying to stay organized here this card I highlight every week it's our way of connecting with you quickly and efficiently with prayer requests if you have a question for us please utilize that and just drop it in the offering plate and we will certainly connect with you I have two thank you notes here I'm not going to take the time to read but they come the one comes from padaa Homeschool Group just expressing expressing their sincere appreciation for the use of our facility each week for the co-op that meets here on Thursdays and then I have another thank you note from a gentleman by the name of Jackson keing I'm expressing gratitude for the gifts I believe he's a college student yeah so I'll make those back of available to the church office so let's prepare our hearts for worship as we as I pray father I thank you for this great privilege we have to be together this morning I thank you for the opportunity to start another new week Lord I pray that as we worship together this morning that you would just help us to take captive every thought that Lord we would just render our hearts open our hands our minds our

Eyes just open and expecting to see you high and lifted up to not allow anything to obscure our vision of you that Lord we would behold your majesty through the music through the word of through your word and just through the fellowship of one another we want you to be exalted this morning Father I thank you for these things and we ask it in your name amen I would invite you to stand at this time as we continue in worship and I want to read a verse from Zephaniah 3:17 which says the Lord your God in is in your midst a mighty one who will save he will rejoice over you with gladness he will quiet you with his love he will exalt you exalt over you with loud [Music] singing you made the star host you trace the mountain peaks you paint the evening St with wonderers the Earth it is your throne from Desert to the Sea on nature testifies your spend praise the Lord praise the Lord sing his great all creation prise the Lord raise your voice your Heights and all your depths from F east to west let everything that has bread praise the Lord you reached into the dust in love your spirit you formed us in your very likess to know your wonderous Works to tell your Mighty Deeds to join the everlas For Us Praise the Lord praise the Lord sing his great all creation praise the Lord raise your voice your Heights and all your deps from east to west let everything that has bre praise the [Applause] Lord Sy ReSound let drums andir ring out Heaven the sound of

Worship let every nation bring itors to the king a of harmonies etal praise the Lord praise the Lord sing his PR all creation praise the Lord Raise Your Voice you Heights and all you depths Fest east to west and everything that has bre praise the Lord praise the Lord sing his great all cre praise the Lord Raise Your Voice you heighten all your depths from Fest east to west your Des burning Stars All Creatures near and far from Sky to Sea to shore bring out forever more let everything that has praise the [Music] Lord thousand T to sing my great Redeemer praise the glories of my God and King the triumphs of his grace my gracious master and my God assist me to Proclaim to spread through all the honors of thy name [Music] Jesus the name that thats of Sorrow tast music in the Sin his life and he and peace he breaks the power of cancel sin he sets the prisoner free his blood can make the clean he his blood aail for [Music] me him he his your loosen T [Music] imply behold your Savior come and leave he L for joy glory to God and praise and love be ever again by Saints below and Saints above the church in Earth and [Music] Heaven good morning church morning all right we're going to have our offering and before we have our offering we want

To come before the Lord and thank him for what he's about to do Father in heaven we thank you Lord for what you are about to do Lord You've you've provided all the treasures that we have whether it's physical spiritual emotional Lord You've provided everything for us everything we have we have from you and God we take this time to continue our worship and give back for your ministry that you have through this church and so father as we go and as our men begin to collect the offering in a moment God we ask that you would use it for the benefit of the church your Church Father for the ministry of Outreach and discipleship of growing and strengthening your church here in the county in the state and around the world father we lift this to you in Jesus name amen okay and I have a short reading for the catechism as we've been doing each Sunday the question for the catechism today is what is the work of creation and we have three verses and the first one right where you would think it would be Genesis 1 verse one says in the beginning God made the heavens and the Earth and then Hebrews 1:10 and you Lord laid the foundation of the Earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hand and in Hebrews 11:3 by faith we understand that the Universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible this is the work of creation thank you [Music] okay please stand with us in Christ alone my hope is found he is my life my strength my song This Cornerstone this Solid Ground fir through the Dr and storm what Heights of love what depths of peast when fears are still where striving SE my comforter My All In

All here in the love of Christ I [Music] Stand in Christ alone who took on flesh fullness of God in the B this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save till on the cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ [Music] there in the ground his body L Light of the World by Darkness then bursing forth in Glorious Day up from the grave he rose again and as he stands in victory since curse has lost its grip on me for I am his and he is mine with the pass word of Christ [Music] in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from lies prescri to final breath Jesus commands myy no power of hell no sche of man can ever me from his hand till he returns or call me home here in the power of Christ I Stand no power of hell no sche of man can ever me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ [Music] huah all I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my I want was lost in Darkest Night yet thought I knew the way the s that prois joy and life had me to the Grave I had no hope that you would to your will and if you have not love me first I would refuse you still but as I ran my Hell Bound raised in different to the Cross you looked upon my

Helpless and led me to the cross and I beheld God love his way you suffered in my place you bore the WRA resered for me now all I know is praise [Music] Hallelujah all I have is Christ [Music] Hallelujah Jesus is my now Lord I would be yours alone and Li so all Mighty the strength to follow your commands could never come from me oh Father use my R of life in any way you choose and let my song forever be my only Bo is you hallelujah oh I have [Music] Christ [Music] Hallelujah Jesus is my life Hallelujah all I have is Christ [Music] Hallelujah Jesus Is My Life Hallelujah all I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my father we are so thankful for Christ thank you for sending him to die in our place for giving us hope father as we sing in that final verse even now we're completely dependent upon you even to live according to your commands we can do nothing apart from

Your will and from the strength you give us and so Lord now I pray for Cody as he teaches us I pray that you he would depend on your strength to rightly divide the word of Truth and I pray Lord that you would give us ears to hear and willing Hearts to follow whatever it is Scripture would have us hear and understand this morning as we consider the words of Christ I just pray that we would leave here eager to obey his commands we pray in Jesus name amen well good morning church if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to the Book of Mark chapter 12 this is probably going to be the most politically charged message that I preach simply because that's what the passage is about so I beg your attention and know that just the messenger so one just kind of household thing real quick as a church we've got I don't know probably about 17 18 families signed up for supper six and we decided to extend that just a little bit because it's hard to divide 17 by3 and so if y'all don't mind maybe if you were like I don't know if I wanted to be a part of supper six or not you got until Tuesday in order to do that you can go online or you can call the church office and that'll be your opportunity to get plugged in it's a great way to get to know the people that sit on the other side over there and I was likewise for you guys you guys in the middle I guess y'all can plug in too John Wickliffe is one of my heroes in the history of Christianity he was a Protestant a reformer before Luther he was a Catholic priest that believed in things like salvation by

Faith alone you know denying the heresies of the Catholic Church you know he rejected a lot of that he believed in preaching the Gospel and the work of God in that he lived during the 1300s in Britain and one of the things that he decided that he would do is he would translate now he was working from the Latin vgate but he would translate that into English so that any Englishman would be able to read and understand the word and as a result of that of course many in the government and many in the Catholic Church said you can't do that people might learn what the Bible says and which was his whole point on the inside of the Bible that he produced he wrote this he said this Bible is translated and shall make possible a government of the People by the people and for the people now I don't think that Wickliffe knew that multiple centuries later Abraham Lincoln would use that same phraseology after the Battle of Gettysburg when he said this we he highly resolv that these dead shall not have died in vain and that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that and that government of the People by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth now government and the church has always had a an interesting relationship and I do believe that the government and the church is to be separate but yet there is a somewhat of a sharing of power because on one hand the church has been granted the word of God in order to teach that which is morally good and what is evil and the government is designed in such a way to enforce that which is morally good and morally evil I don't mean in any way that we should have a theocracy but I do believe that Christian laws with the Christian people is the ideal but I also believe that the

Primary job of the government is to promote good and restrain evil but what happens when the lines start getting blurred there the issue when a government doesn't have a moral compass and they begin to punish good and reward evil and that's where those shared Powers come in because it is not man that determines what is right it is not government that determines that it's God that determines what is right and wrong that's why we are able to simultaneously punish murderers with the death penalty because it's good and right and prescribed by Scripture it's sorry does while also being simultaneously pro-life and defending that which is innocent God's word he prescribes those things it's why we can punish those that commit perjury because God's word condemns it you shall not bear false witness it's the seventh commandment it's why we can have good laws and we should have good laws pertaining to marriage and gender and sexuality and family and so today in direct continuation from last week we're looking at the wicked tenants who are trying to trap the Beloved son so that they can destroy him and they behave hypocritically we're going to see that and they put him in an impossible situation by asking him a very volatile question so we're going to look at three points and we're going to conclude by asking the question who image is this so if you would please stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark 12: 13-1 17 God's word it says this and they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the herodians to trap him in his talk and they came and said to him teacher we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances but truly teach the way of

God is it law to pay taxes to Caesar or not should we pay them or should we not but knowing their hypocrisy he said to them why put me to the test bring me a Daenerys and let me look at it and they brought one and he said to them whose likeness and inscription is this they said to him Caesars Jesus said to them render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are gods and they marveled at him so Lord we do thank you for your word God as we talk about this today pray that you would Grant each of us understanding Hearts regardless where we're at on the political spectrum and I know in a congregation like this it has to be varied and so Lord I pray that it's with a reasonable mind a teachable heart that you would help us to rightly divide this truth God and Lord may it Pierce our hearts Lord we know as people of citizens of the kingdom of God our Allegiance is to you and yet you have also placed us in a nation that we are citizens of as well and Lord you call us to be good citizens of this of this nation and so we ask father that you would help us to do it well For Your Glory in spite of who our leaders are or aren't in spite of what our local leaders say or don't we want to be good citizens so help us Lord to do that to the best of our abilities grant us understanding and help us Lord to rightly apply this word to our lives we love you Lord and we thank you for all that you've done in Jesus name amen our passage begins with an acttion from the people asking saying that they and who is this they it's the chief priests the scribes and the elders in Matthew 11: 27 and they composed What's called the Sanhedrin the Sanhedrin as you can tell from this picture it was a Court of 71 people 35 on either side with the high priest presiding over everything this is where Jesus would

Wind up in just a few days from this conversation the Sanhedrin it was made up of three major groups the Pharisees the Sadducees and the scribes and this is a coordinated attack against the person of Jesus and they've been seeking to destroy him ever since Mark 3:6 where it says that the Pharisees they went out immediately they held counsel with the herodians against him on how to destroy him these same people that were wondering by what Authority are you doing these things or who gave you this Authority are men that were sent that sent Pharisees to Jesus after the Babylonian exile there were two influential groups that cropped up shortly after that one is called the zetkin these men they're dressed in their religious garbs there's Jesus sitting there teaching as this portrays but they're dressed in tassels and in Garb in order to prove that they are different the zakim they were that means the righteous these are the Righteous group group they followed only what was written in the law of Moses they were separatists and they called themselves the hium which means an associate they didn't consider them Parts themselves a part of the common people but they associated with the common people they thought themselves holier than others so if you saw a Pharisee walking down the street you knew it because you could just tell and look at them right it's just like the old adage of U you can you can tell who a vegetarian is right don't worry they'll tell you right and it's like that you can just tell by looking at them these were the men that were zealous for tradition they were the political conservative far right of the day but the Sanhedrin they also had herodians as well the herodians they were the political party that

Associated with the herods of Palestine they were a public government that were set up by Romans to rule and oversee and make sure that Roman interests in Palestine were preserved and so they submitted willingly and completely to Rome and they have been United in their efforts to destroy Jesus Jesus he warned of them in Mark 8:1 15 when he cautioned them saying watch out Beware of the Le of the fa phes and the leav of Herod okay these are the herodians the herodians they are the political left the far left they do not hold to strong theological convictions they are syncretists in their beliefs and these two groups were at each other's throats all the time but you know the old saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend and so they were strongly United in their opposition to Jesus and why is that it's because Jesus threatened the political stability of the herodians and he threatened the religious influence of the Pharisees and so they come up together they decide that they are going to trap Jesus Christ in his words that phrase when it says they seek to trap him it's best translated in order that he would be caught unaware in his words when you look at that word trap or caught it carries with it the idea of hunting an animal being caught in a pit and impaled by spikes at the bottom of the pit that's the idea that it carries with it they want to lure Jesus in through flattery and spring their trap which leads us to point one is that Jesus knows the heart of man he proved that in Mark chap 2: 6-8 now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts why does this man speak like that he's Blas bling who can forgive sins but God alone and immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit that they thus question within themselves said to them why do you question these things in your

Hearts Jesus he knows the heart of man and it's ironic because they come to Christ with all this hypocrisy and they're the ones that are doing the evil they're the ones that are accusing Jesus of you know being a troublemaker of doing all these different things so they're given all this flattery and they wind up saying a bunch of true things about Jesus that word hypocrite is directly tied to deception it's when someone talks nicely about you to your face but then they have a group of friends that they're bad mthing mouthing you about it's hypocrisy God hates it and Jesus makes it a point to regularly condemn hypocrisy and he puts it on the same level as lying and we're going to get to that issue in a few weeks but hypocrisy flows from an ins sincere heart a non- genuine heart hypocrisy replaces personal relationship with God and the Practical outflowing of that with ceremony with formality and everything that entails hypocrisy it looks for an audience of man forgetting that it exists for an audience of God and we've all been to Sunday School classes Bible studies Community groups where someone comes in and they know the word and they are very impressed impressive in their knowledge and yet you know that person you know their life does not line up with what they say it's hypocrisy that's a direct example of it in the church and the way that Christ dealt with it was very direct I mean if we were to look at it he would say this you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of Lies now I don't recommend you using those words unless you really really really really really know the person and even then do

It privately if you're addressing someone with their hypocrisy but Christ did he knows their hearts he's God he can use those words but a hypocrite is concerned with outward performance not with what's retained and prioritized in the heart and so when our eyes are on the Lord it means that we have a Heavenly View it means that we have a godward perspective and our lives are filled with light because we're prioritizing Christ above everything else but hypocrisy it turns that light into darkness and it seeks to serve two masters But ultimately exalts itself and flattery that these guys say to Jesus is actually all true I mean they say we know that you are true that is a right confession but it doesn't come from their heart it comes from hypocrisy they also say Jesus doesn't care about anyone's opinions which is true it is right he was concerned with pleasing the father alone it's interesting because many of the times that we've seen the Pharisees they've refused to act because they care about what everyone thinks rather than what God thinks it's why they rejected the Savior they were influenced by the crowds and popular opinion they also say you are not swayed by appearances which is also true Jesus didn't care about how many tassels you had around your face or on your garments or anything like that he didn't care how fine the robes were that you wore he cared about whether or not you love the Lord Jesus treated everyone with love with respect regardless of their position and even his condemnation of the religious Hypocrites was designed to display love and move them toward repentance and then they even say that Jesus he truly teaches the way of God and it's true everything that they say is true and this shows us that we can make right professions but completely

Miss Jesus it's about whether or not you've been born again to a living hope it's about whether or not you've met Christ and whether he has you we are a confessional people someone says I believe in Jesus Christ I'm going to take you at your word because that's what we do I don't get to see your heart that's why we call it a personal relationship with Christ but it is also a corporate relationship with Christ because we all enter into that one Covenant you don't have an exclusive Covenant with Christ we are saved by his regenerative work in our hearts and that is proven in whether or not you growing in your love for Christ for his word for his mission for his people even but let's ask let's figure out what the controversy is okay because in verse 14 they ask is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not of course Libertarians would say not should we pay them or should we not so let's talk directly about this tax it was established in 6 a and it led to a Jewish Revolt by Judas the Galilean not Judas the scariot okay not Jude the brother of Jesus this is a completely different guy Judas the Galilean and he led a revolt against the Romans and it was attacks was it simply attacks actually in Jewish Minds no because they had to use a certain coin and this coin here is this one this exact coin that they would have used to pay it now for us we've just look at that and go yeah it's a coin but actually all around it says this tiberious Caesar Augustus son of the Divine Augustus now during that time the Imperial cult they would have taught that Caesar Augustus was the semi Divine son of God specifically the goddess Livia on the back of the coin over here

It says pontiff Maxim which means the chief priest pontifex Maximus now this is deeply rooted in the Imperial cult and it is blasphemy it is a Graven image it is idolatry and so for you know the first century Jews that are very concerned about images who are very concerned about the law of God they look at this and they say this is Blasphemous we can't use this we're not allowed to use this is violates our conscience and our religion and so for a strict Jew not only politically but religiously offensive now most Jewish men and women they didn't walk around with these coins all the time they used copper coins that were locally mented at the time in order to avoid the idolatry Judas Galilean he said this that they were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to Mortal men as their Lords strong words right this was the beginning of what the modern Zealot movement was Simon the Zealot one of Christ's disciples is a part of that group strong political convictions now we know why the herodians and the Pharisees are there if Jesus says yes we should pay the taxes it's going to anger the Pharisees it's going to anger the conservatives it's going to anger the crowds remember that the Roman oppressors are there in the town at that time emotions are high it's going to lead to Jesus being vilified it's the majority position that this is a wrong tax and it would lead to Christ being persecuted and maybe even put to death by an angry mob the other option of course is to reject paying taxes and that would make the Pharisees happy but that would anger the herodians and the Romans by the way and they brought their army in and they're all around and they're

Watching it would Place Jesus Jesus in opposition to Rome and would cause the Romans to arrest and probably even execute him as a political enemy you got the theological and you got the political and some things never change do they people get still get upset but Jesus he knew their hypocrisy and he said to them why put me to the test remember that they've they've heard his teachings they've witnessed his miracles they've seen of signs and wonders and yet they still don't believe they are testing him in order to trap him so Jesus he asked them bring a Daenerys to me important thing to note is that Jesus didn't have one of these you know symbols with idolatrous Blasphemous things there in the temple but his accusers did they were carrying it around and they had it and so Jesus he holds up the coin for all of them to see who likeness in inscription is this they said Caesars and so they gave the answer it's Caesar's inscription Caesar's image and so Jesus he gives us his point to give Caesar what is Caesar's in the beginning God he allowed for government government is God's idea Anarchy is opposed to God's plan of course no government in the world is ever going to be perfect because of humans okay humans are imperfect there are better forms of government and there are worse forms of government totalitarian regimes and communism are bad they're just bad it's bad idea it's never been done and don't even get me started I want to go down there but I can't Genesis 1 28 this is where it comes from God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the

Earth that word subdue it carries with it that connotation of overruling overruling the earth and God he allows hierarchy he created monarchies even in Israel as a way to bless the Earth and Paul he does us a tremendous favor and he teaches us how this looks in Romans chapter 13 says let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no Authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment for rulers are not a terror to Good Conduct but to bad would you have no fear of the one who is in Authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear The Sword in vain for he is the servant of God an Avenger who carries out God's Wrath on the wrongdoer therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's Wrath but also for the sake of conscience for because of this you also pay taxes for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing pay to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed Revenue to whom revenue is owed respect to whom respect is owed honor to whom honor is owed now all authority comes from God good authority and evil authorities red and blue okay all those authorities that exist are instituted by God remember that Paul he wrote Romans in the very early reign of Nero was Infamous for his persecution of Christians but God's word is not an error government even Wicked government serves God As Americans this means that we should be model citizens in paying taxes okay obeying laws praying for leaders voting all those things right it also means that we should exercise our rights as Americans to be critical of these laws of dishonest taxes of all

Those different things we should oppose evil we should promote good and use every legal mean to let our voices be heard and Christians can and should remind government that it functions as a minister as a servant of God and that it should promote beneficial and Equitable laws that balance Justice and mercy Mercy now as a foundational principle for our nation we believe that righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a sin is a reproach to any people our nation has been blessed in many ways over the years and perhaps it's because you know everything used to be closed on Sundays right you know they used to observe the Sabbath and things like that perhaps it's because people believed in doing right perhaps it's because people Liv by The Ten Commandments and believe that to be a moral compass for our lives what whatever it was right obviously we were blessed but as I said before the church in the state have very different responsibilities this is where we get to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods see Paul he places all government Authority under God it is granted its power by him alone it is allowed by God to tax its citizens it determines when it goes to war it rewards good and it exercises judgment against evil in government in America he used to recognize where this Authority came from most obviously if you pull out any coin it says in there very clearly in God we trust you know that appeared right towards the end of the Civil War in 1864 that's when we started putting that on there and they wanted to remind the people that it is only by faith in God the Christian God that our nation would

Survive and it's frustrating because many people think that there's a separation between church and state means that there's a separation between State and God and the truth is that politicians are not answerable to themselves they are answerable to God and they will give an account to God for how they've LED our County our city our state our nation and so a couple of things that we should note here just before we move on just a couple of things that I think that we should clarify here is that we should be a good citizen even if the government is bad okay if our president is good as what and wise then pray for him and be a good citizen if our if our president is evil and foolish then be a good citizen do your duties and pray for him and things like that be a good citizen secondly human governments they have legitimate Authority even when they do it poorly okay a bad government is better than no government at all Rome is an example of bad government for Christians and yet God he still used his used it to grow church it flourished under Roman rule yeah it was it was Bloody yeah they killed a lot of Christians but it was through that persecution that the church flourished God he still did that and he still displayed the Gospel through the oppression that was experienced by our brothers and sisters thirdly allegiance to God and allegiance to your country are not inherently incompatible Paul he exercised his rights as a Roman citizen and you can exercise your patriotism as well those things are not mutually exclusive fourthly it is acceptable that there is some separation between church and state that's it's pretty controversial one right there what I mean is that Christians have every right

To speak Biblical truth to its governments and to press them to make God- glorifying laws I do believe that you can legislate morality because that's why law exists that's why we say don't murder is because the law of God says don't murder it's why we say you know what you can't kidnap people the nation Gets In Trouble When government tries to determine what is right and what is wrong and the area of morality has been given to us through the word of God and as members of the body of Christ it's the church with capital c can clearly tell what is right and what is wrong fifthly the state is not God it's where sometimes the government gets confused and we just remind them of that it is not an ultimate Authority it exists under the Dominion of the Lord and but there are sometimes when Christians should resist that Authority okay first when he or she is asked to violate a command of God the perfect example of this is found in Acts chap 4 and 5 when the authorities they arrested the disciples for preaching and they summoned them before the Sanhedrin which was an approved form of Roman government okay they allowed the Jews to do this so was approved and they said that they cannot preach in the name of the Lord Jesus of course the disciples they went right back to it and they were arrested again and here's what the word says we gave you strict orders not to preach or teach into his name and the high priest said yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood and Peter and the other Apostles replied we must obey God rather than men the opposition of tyrants is good and Biblical and the disciples went out and took up preaching right where they left off so Christians must never violate the command of God regardless of

What the state says this is why Christians they can't support gay marriage transgender laws things like that the government doesn't decide what is moral and what is not moral God's word does and this is why Christians they should be okay with things like posting the Ten Commandments in schools it's why we should celebrate when Christians open in prayer for our legislators this why we should try to get Christians into positions of legislation and influence second Christians must resist asked to do an immoral act and we could extend this to all sorts of different areas but I want to focus on the ethics on which we might be asked to compromise whether it's the government service or business or home or Community even Church a Christian must never think it's okay to commit an immoral or an unethical act the government rewards things like cohabitation that's a big one in our culture it permits that it rewards that if you're a single mom you qualify for all sorts of different things than family than families do when they're financially struggling and so if you're cohabitating I would ask you to stop resist doing that even if you're rewarded for it because it is an immoral act and bring yourself under the submission of God and make that right through marriage I see it with young and old alike and it happens third Believers must never go against their Christian conscience to obey government this ranges from to participating or not participating in war to you know promoting or opposing where research funding goes whether to remain silent on certain issues and so this is where you as a Believer have to immerse yourself in the word of God and determine not what do I think about the issues but what does God's word say about the issues and how do I live in light of what God's word

Says the overall point here in Mark however is that noting the exceptions just stated is that Christians are called to profound obedience to the government that we are called to be marked by being Law Abiding and but I'm not done because we're all supposed to give to God what is God's now that's a very straightforward answer give to Caesar what is Caesar give to God what is Gods it's very straightforward but there's a lot of ambiguity in there too for the her herodians they would have heard that as affirming the rule of Caesar in Rome and for the Pharisees who chafed under Roman rule it would have been heard as a rejection of Caesar's rule the things that are Caesars give back to Caesars raises the fundamental question of what belongs to Caesar because the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and those who dwell therein if everything belongs to God then nothing belongs to Caesar but Jesus he is teaching and like I said Paul he goes back and he clarifies this for us in Romans 13 you can look at other places like in First Peter about it as well but it's interesting that instead of setting loyalty to God and loyalty to Caesar in opposition to each other God's word is clear that you can be a patriot and a Christ follower you can love your nation and you can love Christ not equally don't get me wrong on that but Jesus through this he confronts the Zealot assumption which the Pharisees and the herodians question and he gives them a more positive assessment of the political responsibility of the people of God even under foreign domination he's pointing out that a theocracy is not the only valid form of government and to be loyal to God does not necessarily demand Civil

Disobedience by possessing and using a Daenerys with the image of Caesar on it what the Pharisees have already done they've already admitted that Caesar has Authority at least over a certain realm of their lives submission to human authorities is part of God's will for his people and so now as your pastor that loves you and wants us to be a God- glorifying church this brings up a lot of questions about our patriotic Services because I'm asked about that and they occur Memorial Day Veterans Day Labor Day Independence Day all those things why don't we sing the national anthem why don't we do all that kind of stuff and I want to I want to graciously and humbly point you to this Biblical principle that De Jesus teaches here okay that we are to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the Gods God he has claimed authority over this church he claimed authority over this time that we spend together congregationally for his worship and his worship alone I know a lot of people just got really offended by that but what does the word say and so we willfully and joyfully give him the time that we spend together in worship it's why we don't do all those special services for things because to do so is to give to Caesar the things that are God's trying to see where you guys are at there you know but it's it's true Jesus he told the Pharisees and the herodians to surrender the ca Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the Gods the Daenerys belonged to Caesar Tiberius because it had his image stamped on it because it had his title on it and so that kind of begs a question is whose image do you bear the Bible says that every single one of us have been stamped By His Image

We are created in the image of God the supreme authority of Heaven and Earth has stamped His image on you and God he is placed his image on you Caesar he owns the Daenerys but he didn't own the people likewise a state doesn't own us God owns us he has the Supreme right over our entire lives to claim Authority complete authority over us and so then we are able to render to God the things that are Gods including our life our Liberty our possessions and our affections you see if it's a sin to withhold taxes from the US Treasury how much more is it a sin to withhold anything from the God that made you the truth is that all government will one day cease you are not going to be a citizen of the United States of America or wherever it is that you heal from in eternity okay it's not going to happen the Bible says that all humans are separated from God because of sin but in but in God through his love and through his Mercy he sent his beloved Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross bearing your sins in mind in order to redeem us and he rose again on the third day and if you believe that you turn away from your sin you trust in Christ then you become citizens of that Heavenly Kingdom by faith so now you believe that our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious Body by the power that enables him even to subject all things things to himself and my hope is that today that you would know that you are a citizen of the kingdom of God and that's my prayer for you head heartand head God wants you to know that he has all authority and Reigns over all governments see Earthly governments they are under the Sovereign rule of God whether they acknowledge Him or not he still rules and Reigns and leads them

And as Christians we are called to understand that governments are established by God to promote Justice to restrain evil to maintain order even in this Fallen World and this means that our ultimate Allegiance is to God not to human institutions heart God he wants you to trust in the wisdom of Christ and his kingdom Jesus's response In this passage it Reveals His unmatched wisdom and his authority instead of being trapped by the schemes of man he points to the greater reality it that you belong to God so believe that your primary identity is as a citizen of God's Eternal Kingdom and it's through that and through his word that it shapes our hearts trust and Allegiance especially in a chaotic political world in hand God wants you to live as a responsible and faithful Christian citizen so pay your taxes obey your laws pray for your leaders engage in Civic duties be a patriot but at the same time stand firm for righteousness by opposing evil laws advocating for justice living out the Gospel in your community and always reflect God's character in how you interact with others even in politically charged situations so God we do thank you so much for this time that we get to have together we thank you for your word I know that especially in our culture today it's always difficult to talk about some of these things but Lord we pray that above everything else that your word would influence our opinions our beliefs about everything God so may we submit to you through the bi Biblical teaching of your word God may we just be humbled and say okay God you're my king and I will do whatever it takes to honor you and in the meantime give me the wisdom to stand with truth in a culture and in a people that may or may not know you God father we just ask that you would please be with the folks in

This room and if anyone is in here and they are not citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom I pray that today they would know you and that they would love you and that they would believe the Gospel that was presented there at the end we ask that you would help us God to know you more and more and help us walk in obedience what your word has to say we love you Lord and as we stand and worship you help us to do so in spirit and in truth in Jesus name [Music] amen Lord have thy own way thou are the part I Am The Clay mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting [Music] yielded and still th own way Lord have th Own Way search me and try me master today wider than s Lord was me just now as in thy [Music] presence I [Music] love have my know way Lord have th know way wounded and [Music] wey help me I [Music] pray power oh surely is th touch me and heal me Savior Divine Have Thine Own Way

Lord have thine own way holdor my [Music] being absolute sway fill with thy [Music] till all shall see Christ only living in [Music] me and so Lord that is the prayer of our hearts that above everything else that we would just be completely surrendered to you we thank you for the mercy and the grace that we have in Christ help us to go forth as citizens of America being good citizens rendering to Caesar with a Caesars but also primarily as citizens of the kingdom of God submitting to God first and foremost in what we think and say and do we love you we just ask that you would bless us be with our leaders we just ask that you would grant them wisdom and we also want to just pray for our church that you would grant us wisdom as well as well we love you Lord we thank you for the grace and the kindness that's in Christ in his name that we pray