The sermon, based on Mark 12:13-17, discusses the encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees and Herodians, who attempted to trap Him with a question about paying taxes to Caesar. The speaker highlights the hypocrisy of these religious leaders, who failed to render to God what was due while questioning Jesus about rendering to Caesar. The sermon emphasizes the concept of the Imago Dei, the image of God in humanity, asserting that while believers should fulfill their civic duties, their ultimate allegiance belongs to God. The sermon also reflects on the alliance between the Pharisees and Herodians, despite their differences, due to their mutual opposition to Jesus. The speaker calls the congregation to live as image bearers of God, obeying His commands and recognizing the restoration of God's image in them through Christ.

Please turn with me and your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 12. Am I muted again? Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. If you have a pew Bible you'll be able to find that on page 1010.

1010 in the Pew Bible. Mark chapter 12 beginning in verse 13. And as we're turning there, I just want to say again, I think I've told everyone individually, but want to commend you brothers and sisters for the way that you loved on our sister just moments ago. Thank you for loving on Lois. I was really encouraged by that.

So was she. Let's turn to God's Word. Stand together. Mark 12, beginning in verse 13. Hear the word of the Lord.

Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. They came and said to Him, to Jesus, Teacher, We know that you are truthful and defer to no one For you are not partial to any But teach the way of God in truth Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not. Shall we pay or shall we not pay? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.

They brought one. And He said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to Him, Caesar's. And Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they were amazed at it.

May God bless the reading of His Word. Let's pray together. Father, we come before you again asking for your help. Thank you for your loving kindness and grace to us downstairs. Thank you for the sweet truth that as we were talking about being adopted into your family, that Lord we saw, brothers and sisters together, caring for one of their siblings in the Lord.

We see Lord your loving kindness all over Lois's life. We thank you Lord for the truth, justification, of adoption, and the promised glorification to come. Lord, to that end, we pray that You would sanctify us in this, Your truth. You'd help us to see what it is You have for us in these five verses. Help me.

Deliver me from any kind of error and make your people amazed at who you are and what you've done in Christ. For it's in His name we pray, Amen. You may be seated. There was once an evangelist who was on the side of a road preaching the good news of an Almighty God, of an Almighty Savior who was more mighty than sin. He was proclaiming the truth of the power of God and the Gospel, and that through repentance and faith in the crucified and risen and reigning Savior Jesus Christ, that in Him no sin was too big, no sin too heinous for Christ Jesus, not to break its power and hold on sinners whom God had brought to repentance and faith and made born again and forgiven.

No sin was too great. And a young man was on the sidewalk listening a ways away from this evangelist. And this young man was not convicted, but he was angry. And he wanted to stump this bold evangelist. He wanted to shut this evangelist up.

And so the young man went up to this evangelist, and he said that age-old question, well, you say that God is all-powerful, right? OK. Well, then, can God, who is all-powerful, Mr. Evangelist, Can He create a rock that is too heavy for Him to lift? The question of course on its head is a logical fallacy.

For God to be omnipotent negates the second question, can God? You don't get to ask that. But the young man didn't care that this was a logical fallacy. He wanted to stump this evangelist, and so he asked the question anyway, can Almighty God create a rock too heavy for him to lift? And the evangelist was quiet for a moment.

And then he said to the young man, No, but young man, unless you repent, you will soon find yourself crushed under a rock that God will not lift yourself for all of eternity. And I like that story and I appreciate that story because it seems to be an impossible question, a dishonest question, and it reveals the heart of its questioner, and its answer reveals the truth. That's what we have before us this morning. A group of men come up to Jesus with a question that seems to be a lose-lose for the Savior. And in asking the question, we see the truth about these men.

We see these men's evil hypocrisy. We see that these religious leaders demonstrate the truth of what Jesus has said about them in the parable of the vineyard and the vine, the passage before this. We see the truth about these men in the cleansing of the temple that Jesus had just done in chapter 11. We see the truth about these men and their evil hypocrisy. These men are the evil tenants.

These men are the hypocrites. Judgment is coming for them. We see in their question validation of what Jesus has already said and In the answer to this question that these men pose We don't just see the truth about these men We also see the truth of how you and I are to live in this world as image bearers of God That's what we see this morning Two truths in the question we see. The truth about these men, they are indeed those that God had promised judgment upon. They are those that are going to shrivel up like a fig tree.

Judgment is going to fall on them. The truth about these men. And in the answer, we see how we are to live in this world. So I want you to see these two truths. And I want you to see it in kind of a three-part narrative that this narrative breaks into.

Three parts. First in verse 13, we see the word they. Then they. And then in verse 14, they. And then verse 16, they.

There's a lot of theys. So you know what you need to know? You need to know who the they are. Who are the they? They sent Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to trap Him in a statement.

Well the they in verse 13 are the religious leaders that Jesus has been talking to since the beginning of the chapter. Now I know we've been away from Mark for a number of weeks now. I was sick last week and then we were in the Psalms for two beyond that. So it's been like three weeks, four weeks since we've been in Mark. So let's briefly remind ourselves what's been going on.

In Mark 11, Jesus goes to the temple, and what does he see in Mark chapter 11? Well, he sees Israelites, he sees the temple leaders robbing the Gentiles of their place of worship by setting up shop where the nations should be gathered to pray. That's what we saw in chapter 11. What had God intended for His house to be? God's house was to be a house of prayer for all the peoples, for all the nations.

But what had they done? They had made it a robber's den. They had robbed the nations of their opportunity to worship God by putting out the Gentiles by shutting out the Gentiles from the temple and not only had they robbed the nations of the world Ultimately who had they robbed? God They had robbed God of the Gentiles worship Ultimately these men hear me ultimately these men had not given to God what was God's, had they? In keeping the temple to themselves, Israel and her leaders had not rendered to God that which belonged to God.

Does that sound familiar to you? Our passage this morning has something to say about rendering to God the things that are God's. I think remembering the context is very important as we think about what Mark 12, 13 through 17 has for us this morning. So that's what Jesus sees. He goes to the temple, these temple authorities, they're not rendering to God those things that are God's and so what does Jesus do as a result?

Well the next day, Jesus cleans house and promises judgment on the temple. And then later on in chapter 11, Jesus comes back to the temple again. These leaders block His way and they say to him, who gave you the authority to do these things? Who let you do what you've been doing? We didn't say you could do what you did in the temple.

And then Jesus having just turned the tables in the temple, then turns the tables on these men asking the question. It comes out to be very plain in the text that these men who claim to have authority in the temple don't and Jesus does. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. His authority comes from God. He is God and his baptism with John the Baptist in Mark chapter 1 and his transfiguration in Mark chapter 9.

Make that plain. Then as chapter 12 begins Jesus tells a parable about these same religious leaders, the vineyard and the vine growers. The vine growers are the scribes, the chief priests and the elders of Israel. And what have they done in that parable? Well they've kept the produce to themselves.

Same thing. Keeping the fruit to themselves, they've not shared the produce with the nations. They have not paid tribute to the owner of the vineyard. They've not paid tribute to God. Are you seeing why I'm making such a big deal about this?

Because Jesus says the exact same thing in our passage. They've not paid tribute to God, and instead they have killed the prophets that God has sent and they will even kill the Son himself And what will happen to these vine growers? Well, God says He will come he will destroy them He will give the vineyard to others, to the nations, to the Gentiles. And Jesus, the chief cornerstone, will bear the fruit that Israel has not borne. Jesus will bear that fruit himself as the Savior of the world.

Now these men, they know, these men know that Jesus has been talking about them. I think they're pretty keen on that. You've seen what they've done, he's done in the temple. They've had a conversation with him outside the temple. They've heard a parable from him.

They know they're talking, that Jesus is talking about them. They know that they're the evil vine growers. And they prove it this morning in our passage. Lest there be any confusion, well, are these guys really as bad or as guilty as God says they are, as Jesus has claimed that they are, and we see in our passage, their condemnation is just. They will not render to God the things that are God's.

And yet, what do they ask Jesus? We will not render to God the things that are God's, but should we render to Caesar? You see the irony there? We won't render to God, but should we render to the lesser magistrate? The little peon?

These men are hypocrites. And at the end of verse 12, they want to seize Jesus. But they don't. They want to seize Jesus, but yet they do not. Why don't they just grab Jesus right then and there and kill Him?

Be done with Him. Throw Him in a dungeon. Be done with us, Jesus. Why don't they do that? Well, verse 12 tells us, they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people.

They did not fear God, but they did fear man. And so they went away and conspired. That's who the they are in verse 13. Those guys. They, the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes, they decide to send Pharisees and Herodians in order to trap Jesus in a statement.

Pharisees and Herodians. Now I want to just pull back for just a second. When you see those two titles together, you should be like, what? Pharisees and Herodians. That is quite an evil alliance.

That is an evil alliance. I've got a slide here. Do you know why? Do you know why this alliance is so strange? Well, here's why.

The Pharisees hated the Romans because they believed that Israel should be ruled by a king from the line of David, not Rome. The Pharisees hated Rome. And the Herodians have power because of the Romans, and so the Herodians loved the Romans. They had a group hating the Romans and a group loving the Romans. You would think they'd be running as far away from each other or fighting each other.

But what do they do? We have two groups of people that are completely set against each other, but such is their hatred of Jesus. Such is their hatred of God in the flesh, that they will put aside their hatred for one another and band together in opposition of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, you see this in our world today. You see bands of evildoers that have really one thing in common.

They hate Christ. And they would love to hate one another, but you stand for Christ, and so they hate you. Blessed are you. Blessed are you. For so they hated the prophets before Christ, they hated Christ, and they hate those that belong to Him.

So for the Pharisees, Jesus was a threat to their religious authority. And in case you want to be reminded of why was Jesus a threat to their religious authority, Well, Jesus begins to teach in the Gospel of Mark and one of the first things that the people say. Whoa, who is this? He is teaching as one with authority, not like the scribes, Not like the Pharisees. Or the temple cleansing.

Clearly Jesus represents a threat to their authority. And for the Herodians, Jesus was a threat to their political power. All this talk of the coming kingdom. And so both the Herodians and the Pharisees are concerned about authority over Israel. And Jesus threatens their supposed authority.

So they band together in an evil alliance to end Jesus. I hope you're seeing what Mark is doing here. What do the vine growers do in verse 7 of chapter 12 from that parable of the vineyard and the vine growers? What do they do? The vine growers meet together, they discuss, and conspire with one another, the text says.

Come, let us kill him. Let's kill the son, and the inheritance, the authority, the vineyard will be all ours. And now here are these men just verses later doing exactly what Jesus said they would do being exactly the kind of men that Jesus said they were. These men are the conspirers. These men are the evil vine growers who seek to destroy the sun.

And yet, though they seek to destroy the sun, they will end up being the ones destroyed. I don't want you to miss the significance of this. The only other time that we have seen the Pharisees and the Herodians banded together in Mark's Gospel was all the way back in Mark chapter 3, verses 1-6. You're going to recall that that was the time when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees and the Herodians, they gathered together.

Mark says in that passage, they conspired together to destroy Jesus. Jesus is claiming to be God. And now here is Jesus, God, and Mark once again says they're conspiring together to destroy Him. These men, these same men who conspire together to destroy Jesus, in trying to destroy the Son, they will be the ones that will ultimately be destroyed. These men plotting Christ's destruction, these are the men who have been promised to be put out of the vineyard and to be destroyed as the vineyard is given to others.

Judgment is promised. These are the men like the temple that will shrivel up like the fig tree unless they repent. And some did. Marvelously so at the end of the Gospels we see Some of the Pharisees, some of these men, give themselves to Christ and it's a miracle. But as a whole, these are the men that are promised judgment unless they repent.

And so, friends, I just want you to pause here and think for just a moment. If you are opposed to Christ, if there's anyone in this room, children, men, women, if you are opposed to Christ, just like these men, you will face the almighty wrath of God unless you repent and believe His gospel. You will be doomed to eternal destruction in hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Children, it doesn't matter if you live in a house with other siblings that are not Christians. Do not think that you are safe among siblings that reject Christ.

Do not think you are safe in a classroom among many who reject Christ. Do not think that because you somehow stand amongst a sea of unbelief that you are safe. Have you not read what God said in the Old Testament? How evil nation after evil nation would bend together in evil alliances against the people of God and they would stand against Israel and Israel lesser in number and these mighty nations greater in number. Have you not read what God did?

God threw them into confusion. God fought for Israel. God vanquished his people's enemies, though Israel was not in the majority. But God fought for Israel. And the destruction of those evil nations, those nations that stood together, They were at enmity towards one another, but when the Israelites came, they said, let us band together and fight Israel.

And that evil alliance did not stand. Children, friends, adults, Do you not realize that a man with Jesus is always in the majority like we talked about last week? Or what would that have been? Weeks ago? That God will not be mocked?

That no matter what safety you might think you find and feel and banding together with other God haters There will come a day when judgment will be poured out upon you and your allegiance to the world will only serve to damn you further. You will wish that rocks would crush you. You will wish that you could find yourself at the depths of the sea being crushed into the weight of the ocean rather than having to face the white, hot rage of the Lamb who you mocked in your sin and in your unbelief. Don't think yourself okay because you've surrounded yourself and insulated yourself with a whole bunch of other God haters. God will not be mocked.

And so if you realize these things this morning, if you realize I have made an allegiance, an alliance with the world, my flesh and the devil. And you tremble at these things. And you desire to escape. You desire to be made right with Almighty God. I want you to hear the good news in Christ Jesus this morning for villainous mockers made vessels of mercy.

Hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news is that the one whom these men conspired together to destroy, the one whom perhaps you have mocked in your own personal sin and rebellion, Jesus, He went to the cross. He went to a cross and He bled and He died in the place of sinners, in the place of rebels, so that your sin would be atoned for. So that rotten hearts would be made new. So slaves of sin would be made slaves of righteousness.

And children of the devil would be made children of God. So workers of iniquity, I want you to take no comfort this morning in being in bed with other God haters. If you find yourself this morning lost, dead in your sins, and you are hearing me talk and you're saying, I am an allegiance, not with the King of Kings, but with the Prince of the Power of the Air. Take no comfort this morning. Do not leave here until you have repented of your sins and have trusted in Jesus Christ.

A great accounting is coming for your allegiance with evil. And saints, lovers of Jesus Christ, you need to know that just as these evil men aligned together in this evil alliance and stood against Jesus and His followers, but ultimately they failed, we know the end of Mark 16? Do we not? We know Mark 15. We know Mark 16.

We know about the resurrection. We know about the ascension. Just as these evil men stood against the King of Kings but failed. Just as all those evil kingdoms in the Old Testament stood against the people of God and they failed? You need to know Christian that God fights for you.

That you are in allegiance to the Lord Almighty and in Him you are more than conquerors. You belong to the Lord And the Lord is right now batting a thousand. He is undefeated. So that's the first part of this narrative. These men are exactly who Jesus said that they were.

They're the evil tenants of the vineyard. It's coming to pass as soon as they're done with the parable. They do exactly what Jesus said that they would do, and they form an evil alliance. So in verse 14, they come up to Jesus and they ask him a question. They set a trap.

What's the trap? What's this trap that they set? Well, they said to him, teacher, we know that you are truthful and defer to no one. You're not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. So, is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not?

Shall we pay or shall we not pay? Now before we get really into the trap there, do you see the flattery? As a parent, I'm sure you're somewhat familiar with this. You've encountered something similar maybe. I do.

You hear a crash in the other room. A great deal of wailing and yelling and screaming. You know someone is crying, perhaps four little girls are crying. And one of your children, after the big crash and after the screaming and the yelling, comes out to you with a big smile on their face and they run right up to you and they begin to say something like, daddy, you are the best daddy in the world. There is no one better than you.

Oh how merciful you are. And in the back of your mind of course you go, uh-oh, What's coming? I'd love to believe this, but something has just happened in that back room. I think this might just be flattering, right? And Here in verse 14, it's plainly flattering.

We know it's insincere what these men say. These men heap these platitudes on Jesus, these nice things on Jesus. But Mark has already told us in verse 13 what? That this whole thing is a trap. And Jesus, if you look there at the end of verse 15, He identifies that they're just being hypocrites.

This is hypocrisy. So this is clearly flattery. But even as they try to flatter Jesus, all that they say in their attempts to flatter are actually true about Jesus. I mean, it's actually not just flattering. I mean, what do they say about Jesus here?

Jesus is truthful. In fact, yes He is. He is the truth Himself. He is the truth. He does in fact teach the way of God and truth.

Yes, because He is God. He is the way of God Himself. The Apostle John says it this way, you know this. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So this is amazing. Usually flattery isn't all true, but Jesus is so truly great that These guys can't even truly flatter the King of Kings. They try to flatter it. It's like, yeah, it's true. The greatness of God is on display here, I think, in verse 14.

So the question should be, why does Mark include this flattery? Why mention the flattery here? Well, number one, because it is true about Jesus. But I think even more the answer is that Mark is showing you the justice of God in pronouncing destruction upon the temple and their leaders. Right?

They've robbed the nations, they've stolen from God, and now here they are with their lips saying one thing while with their hearts uttering another. If you had any doubt, Are these men really hypocrites? Verse 14. Verse 14. Their hypocrisy is clearly exposed.

You should get done with this section of Scripture from chapter 11 onward, and you should only think one thing by the time you get to the end of our passage. Their judgment is just. And perhaps, perhaps some of these Pharisees and Herodians, perhaps they actually believe what they say about Jesus. Which makes even worse because nonetheless, those that didn't repent and believe, they crucified it. And so even more so, their impending doom is just.

And for just a moment, I want you to contrast these men and Christ. These men are not truthful. They do defer to men. They do fear men, and they don't fear God. Right?

I mean, I just told this in the passage prior. They feared the people. And now they're going to Jesus saying, well, you don't fear people. You don't fear men. They do.

So these men, they do defer to people. They do not teach the truth. But Christ, He is everything that these men, that these Israelites are not. He is everything that Israel is not. He is the true and faithful Israelite.

Jesus will do, these men can't help but say it, Jesus will do what Israel could not do in bearing fruit to God. That's really good news if you're trusting Him as your Savior in Him. He is a true Israelite whom there is no God. This contrast, I think, is to show you that Jesus really is the Savior. Jesus really is the vine.

And you may be a branch in Him, if you trust Him and Him alone. So I want to ask right now, if you're a child, if you're an adult, whatever age you are, why wouldn't you come this very hour and believe in His name? Why wouldn't you come this very hour and say, He is divine and He offers for me to be a branch by grace through faith. Would you not repent and believe His gospel? Well these men, they pour on the flattery and then they ask Jesus a question.

They set the trap. Should we pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay Caesar or should we not? And again, why is this a trap? Have you figured it out yet?

Why you think it's a trap? Well, you know, I was asking the question in my mind as I first came to this passage, why they do it this way? Why not just, again, take Jesus away? Why don't they just take him away and the answer of course is they're afraid of the people and so they think to themselves okay we're afraid of the crowds crowds are on Jesus's side so let's ask Jesus a question and if he answers one way the crowd will they'll disregard him. The crowd will shut him.

If they come out, if Jesus comes out pro Caesar, the crowd will say, we don't want anything to do with you. And if Jesus comes out against Caesar, well, our problem solved even better. Because Rome will just kill him. I mean, so it seems like a lose-lose for Jesus. Comes out pro Caesar.

Jews will think he sold out to Rome. People will abandon him. Jesus comes out against Caesar. Don't pay the tax. Then Jesus is the threat to Rome's rule, and that will be the end of that.

So What will it be? An impossible question it seems. Should we pay tribute? Should we pay to Caesar or not, Jesus? Seems like an impossible question.

And you know that's exactly what you're supposed to think? That's an impossible question for man. Because what does Mark 10, 27 say? Just a chapter and a half before. It says, with people.

It is impossible. With man it is impossible. But not with God. For all things are possible with God. I don't think it's any mistake that this seems like an impossible question.

In just a chapter and a half before, Jesus says, but when you see something impossible and someone does it, it's a good indication that He's God. I think this could be, potentially, perhaps, an opportunity for us to see again that Jesus is God. End of verse 15. Here's His answer. Impossible question for any man to answer, and yet here Jesus answers it perfectly, because He's God.

Verse 15, But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at. And they brought one. And He said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to Him, Caesar's.

And Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. They were amazed at Him. Now see this clearly. See this clearly. Hear this.

Jesus is talking to men who have not rendered to God what is God's in the temple. That was chapter 11. These leaders of Israel haven't paid tribute to God in their temple worship. And now here they're asking God in the flesh about whether they should pay tribute to a man, to an emperor. I need you to see the irony there.

That's all this passage is. That's the climax of this passage. Oh, Whoa! Should we pay? We're not going to pay taxes to God, but we will pay taxes to a peon.

And so what does Jesus say? How does Jesus answer? Well, He asks for a denarius. What is a denarius? Well, it's a coin, silver coin with the face of the emperor on it.

It would be equivalent to about a day's worth of wages in that time period. So bring me a denarius, Jesus says, and they bring him one. Roman denarius got the Emperor's face on it whose likeness whose image does this coin bear Jesus asked him they say Caesar has Caesar's image on it yes Jesus says So render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. That which bears His image, give to Him. But that which bears God's image, give to God.

You know where I'm going, right? That which contains the image of Caesar, give it to Caesar, render to Caesar. But that which bears the image of God, belongs to God. We're talking here about the Imago Dei, the image of God. The denarius bore the image of Caesar.

It had his image stamped on it. And so what? So pay your taxes. Give to Caesar what has his image on it. This money has his likeness.

It is lawful therefore to pay your taxes, Christian. It's right to submit to governing authorities in the things which God has given them authority to do. Those things which God has given and ordained for the state to stamp their image on, to have authority in their sphere, it is right and lawful, It is obedient to God to submit to the governing authorities when they remain in their sphere of authority. There are things which bear the image of the state, like taxes. There are things which God has tasked the state to do and given them authority to do.

God has appointed them, according to Romans 13, to punish the wicked and to reward the righteous. He's given them the authority of the sword to do that. You and I, we are to submit to the civil magistrate, to the state, so long as they stay in their God-ordained lane. Render to Caesar what bears his image. But, always, always remember that you, you, you, you bear his image.

And ultimately therefore, you do not bear the image of the state, you bear the image of God. And therefore, you belong to God and not the state. You do not have Caesar's image stamped upon you in your life. No, you bear God's image. His image is stamped on your life.

You belong to God. I want you to understand this. We didn't quite get here in Sunday school, but what we were going to unpack in Sunday school was the idea that in conversion, ever since your conversion, God has been restoring in you, Christian, the image of God. In the fall, the image was shattered. In the first Adam, the image was shattered.

And in the second Adam, the image restored. He's being, he's restoring the image of God in you. You are being conformed more and more into the image of his son Jesus Christ that's what God is doing in you Christian and so as his image bearer You are to glorify God in your family. You are to glorify God in your church. You are to serve God.

You are to give yourself, all of yourself, to God. Every aspect of you belongs to God because you have been stamped, you have been fashioned in His divine image as His beloved child in Christ. You belong to God, so there is one thing for you. Obey Him. Obey Him.

You don't have to pit grace and obedience against each other, do you? Grace results in obedience. Obey Him to such a degree that you must not submit to the state when they take what is not theirs. When they step outside of their God or God ordained, God appointed authority according to Romans 13, you must obey God rather than man. When the state begins to reach for things that do not have, that do not bear their image, that they have no responsibility over.

You must so love your neighbor, and so love your leader, and so love your state, that you say, fear God. Fear God. You are reaching for something that doesn't have your image stamped on it. You are reaching for something in my family, in my church, in my community state that bears the image of God. You have no place here.

That would be loving. Loving your neighbor. You remember during COVID, you know, there was all the talk, the rage, you know, love your neighbor. Love your neighbor and do this and this. That's fine.

We had a lot of liberty. Get vaccinated. You Could not. You could do this, you could do this. You had some liberty.

You had all kinds of liberty. But for the state to come in and to mandate that image bearers of God must act this way in their churches, in their families, That is not God-ordained authority. You must submit to governing authorities in those things that God has given to them. But we know better, don't we? We know that we bear the image of God as a body.

We bear the image of God in our families. And those things do not belong to the states. And so we must obey God over Caesar. Render to God the things that are God. So what should you do as a result of this when you read this passage and you think okay?

What should I do you should pay your taxes? You can do that now I There's no reason why because you live in a republic that you can't go and vote to lower those taxes But you give to God that you give to Caesar those things that are Caesar's. And then you come to the text of scripture and you say, okay God, I'm in your image, I bear your image, and so what are the things that you want me to do? What things should I render? And so every single day, every single morning, evening, that you read the text of Scripture, you should be asking these questions.

As an image bearer of God, what must I believe according to what I just read in my Bible this morning? As an image bearer of God, what sin must I confess? As an image bearer of God, what sin must I confess? As an image bearer of God, because these things belong to God, what things, what truths should I embrace by faith? And what commands Should I obey based on this passage?

I think most of the time we approach our Bibles and kind of just like a, well, we're just going to read the Bible, we'll close it. You need to ask, what is it that I should be believing as a result of this passage? What is it that I should be Confessing as a result of this passage and what is it that I should be obeying as a result of this passage? Why? Because you're in the image of God God owns you and he's telling you exactly what to render to him The Imago Dei Christian you belong to God And you see with the statement in verse 17, Jesus was telling these men, right, Herodians, Pharisees, you are to give to Caesar what is his, you're to give your taxes to Caesar." And what's he saying there?

If you will give to the lesser magistrate what is his due, how much more than should you give to the King of Kings, to the Lord over all magistrates, how much more than should you obey Him who is Lord over Caesar?" Jesus was telling these men, give your taxes to Caesar, and then give the temple to the nations. Give yourself to God, Because this is His temple. Give the temple to whom God said to give it to. And now what does God call you? Little temples.

If Caesar has the right to receive his coin back, then God Almighty has the right to our full obedience. That's what Jesus is telling these men. That's what Jesus is telling you. God demands ultimate obedience to Him. These temple leaders are not giving it.

So I want to ask the question one more time, lest you be confused. Children, if you name the name of Christ, who do you belong to? Say it. Oh man. Adults, if you name the name of Christ, who do you belong to?

Christ. You belong to God. You've been bought with the greatest price. The blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, He purchased you. For you to have the image of Christ in you took the cross and the resurrection and the ascension and So you should be like the people at the end of verse 17 Christian Children you can be like this Adults we can be like this You should be like the people in the last sentence of verse 17.

And they were amazed at Him. Who was that? I think it was everybody. The Pharisees and the Herodians. And those listening to the Pharisees and the Herodians, whoa!

Wow! Be amazed, and then in your amazement, glorify God in your body. Be amazed that God is restoring what was marred in you through the second Adam. Be amazed that God has redeemed you and bought your life out of the pit. Be amazed that God has claimed you as His own.

And He's claimed every part of you for His own. The Puritan legend, Richard Baxter. When in doubt, Baxter a doubt. He reminds you, every man must render to God the things that are God's and that, let it be remembered, is all that a man is and all that a man possesses. Your family, your church, your home, your possessions, your life in public, your life in private, your affections, your emotions, every arena and every part of you God claims I think that's so helpful for those of us that deal with emotions even myself those emotions don't get to Those emotions don't get to have the final word.

God does. Every time. And so, husbands and fathers, Wives, mothers, children, render those things that God requires of you to God, all of you. Render them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Submit every aspect and facet of your life to Christ, and then sit back and be amazed at His faithfulness.

For fathers and husbands, take responsibility for your household. It belongs to the Lord and none other. It's yours as an image bearer of God. Wives, mothers, take responsibility in managing your household under the headship of your husband for it is not the state's responsibility. It is yours as an image bearer of God.

Brothers and sisters, take responsibility for your neighbors. I'm talking about brothers and sisters in this body, adopted into the family of God. Take responsibility for your neighbors, for this community, for one another. Oh, especially for one another in this body. Bear one another's burdens.

There are other fellow image bearers sprinkled all around you. They're everywhere in this room. They're not the responsibility of the state. They are your responsibility. You're responsible for this body.

And so I would ask you, instead of immediately talking about something unrelated to the sermon, which isn't bad, but before you get there, and we say amen, we send you out, and you say amen, but you stand up and you turn to someone, before you go to something completely non-related, I would urge you, I exhort you, I want you to ask questions like this. Hey man, hey sister, hey brother. I'm responsible for you, so what burdens can I help you bear? How's your purity? Do you want to fast tomorrow?

I'll fast with you tomorrow. If that's what it means for us to deal with this sin in your life, I want to bear it with you. I'll sacrifice a whole day of meals. So I pray for you. What sin are you wrestling with?

How can I pray for you? These brothers and sisters in this room, your fellow image bearers are not the responsibility of Caesars. They bear God's image as you do, so love one another, care for one another as Jesus Christ has loved and cared for you. You bear His image. And, not that I need to say it to you, But I will say it, because I need to say it always, even to the civil magistrate.

We need to be saying to one another, don't ever stop caring for and fighting and standing for justice for the image bearers in the womb. Don't you ever stop telling Caesar who is going to places, he has no business going, his authority way out of bounds. He's not bearing the sword and punishing the wicked and remorting the righteous. Murdering babies. Don't you ever stop telling Caesar that Jesus is Lord.

And that though you pay your taxes lawfully, that there will be a reckoning for innocent bloodshed as precious image bearers are slaughtered right here in Iowa, in Iowa, through the mail. Stand firm. You say to Caesar, you say to your neighbors, fear God, for thou shalt not murder. Render to God things that are God's. That's our duty and responsibility as Christians in this world as image bearers.

We must, to quote one brother, we must act like men. That brother was Paul. We must not compromise. Jesus did not compromise and He is our head. He is our king.

He is our Lord and Caesar is not. We must obey God rather than man. Well, the great Admiral Ackbar in the movie Star Wars. He, in one of the probably the most serious moments in the trilogy, he's with his rebel fleet and they're going to destroy the evil Death Star. And they're heading that way, they think it's going to be a surprise attack, and yet upon arrival they realize that they've been found out.

That they've actually been tricked and set up. In helpless dismay, he radios to all of his starships, he yells out to all of his men, it's a trap, it's a trap. That's what he says. Christian, Jesus was not like that. He was not helpless, nor was He dismayed when these men came and they tried to set their trap.

He was not helpless when they came and shackled Him, whipped Him and beat Him. He was not helpless when they put Him on the cross. It would have taken one thought, one snap of the finger, one word, and legions of angels would have come and decimated this rotten world. He didn't do that though. Despising the shame, knowing the victory that was His, He endured the cross.

And you know what? Now the world belongs to Him. He rules the world with truth and grace, and He makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and the wonders of His love. To such a degree that this trap, that This trap that these men tried to lay, this trap for 2, 000 years has been used by God for the good and joy of His people. What?

That's who you belong to. That's sovereignty. That's victory. That's God. So be amazed and render all things to Him.

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for this, your word. Thank you for the truth that in Christ you are restoring the image of God in us. You're being conformed more and more into the image of your Son. That is amazing when we consider that we were lost.

We were dead. We were depraved. We were without hope, without God in the world. We were children of wrath and then you just switched it all. You made us children of God.

Children of the promise. Children of life and light. You transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Lord, thank You. You stamped Your image upon us.

We have family resemblance. We look more and more like our Savior. How good it is to belong to Christ. I pray that my people would leave here, this people, your people, would leave here being amazed at the goodness of you God, the greatness of the Savior, and that despite their sin, the Savior is greater still, and there will be no one who can thwart you restoring that image in them. Hallelujah Lord, We praise and thank you for your victory.

And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.