Render Unto God the Things That Are God’s

Chapter 21, verse 18 is the parable of the fig tree, remember, which was, which dealt directly with the elders because of what, that was a response to the conversation they had regarding him cleansing the temple. Verse 23, when he was coming to the temple, that’s when they questioned him about the authority. Then verse 28, the parable of the two sons, which was directly about the chief priests and elders.

Then verse 33, we talked about it this morning, the parable of the vineyard also pointed at the chief priests and elders, and we know that because of verse 45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees have heard these parables, they perceive that he spake of them. Then you get the verse, chapter 22, verse 1, what we looked at this morning, which is the parable of the wedding feast, also pointed at the rejecting Jews.

So this is all part of one long context, one long cohesive narrative in which the Lord Jesus is talking to and kind of going back and forth over several days. He doesn’t have very long left, but over several days he’s with the Pharisees and the scribes and the priests and the elders. And verse 15 is no different. Verse 15 is no different. This is probably why that sometimes in the gospels, you’ll find some things that seem out of place chronologically.

One of the reasons is because some of the gospel writers didn’t write chronologically on purpose. They wanted to put all of these events together because the events are related, right? Just like if you were describing the different vacations you’ve been on, you might say this one and this one and this one and this one and this one, even though they’re not in all in perfect order because you’re just describing your vacations.

Same way here, all right? So let’s start in verse number 15. And again, this is in the same context dealing with the scribes and the Pharisees and the elders. The Bible says this, then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. Now, why are they trying to do this? Do this? Well, the Lord has just absolutely ripped their face off spiritually on three or four different occasions.

To their face, they’re not happy, right? They’re not happy. Verse 16, and they sent out unto him their disciples, that is the disciples of the Pharisees, verse 15, with the Herodians. Now, I’ll talk about the Herodians in a minute, saying, Master, we know, okay, let me put this right. Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men.

Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money, and they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the thing which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.

When we had heard these words, they marveled and left him and went their way. All right, let’s pray together. Our Father, as we come to your word again, Lord, let us give your word due reverence. Lord, we love to hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that he spoke and how he dealt with these people, these hypocrites, and Lord, the truths that he has shown us.

Lord, thank you for this example and this teaching. Help us, Lord, as we study your word. Bless it to our hearts. Help our hearts to be open to it in Jesus’ name, amen. Does anybody have any cash money that they can lend to me for about 30 minutes? All right, whoever’s first. I don’t care, I don’t care. Andrew’s up, Andrew’s gonna bring it. Now, don’t give me no cheap money now.

I want something big. I got a hundred. Oh, I dropped it. Oh man, look at this. You got any more? I just need one here, bro. Appreciate it. Tell you, I’ll tell you. All right, I’m gonna put this to the side. Everybody’s curious about this. All right, I’m gonna put that to the side. All right, I will give it back to you, I promise. All right. Now, notice in verse 15, so this conversation is brought out in response to the Lord’s direct condemnation, nailing of these leaders of the Jews.

Verse 16. And they, that is the Pharisees, sent out unto him their disciples. So you remember the Pharisees was a group. In the society of Israel, there were basically three main groups. Okay? There were the Pharisees. The Pharisees was the largest group. They were the most, they were the ones that most identified with the average person, which seems sounds kind of odd to us. But they were considered, the word Pharisee means separated.

And so that’s where all the strict rules and laws. And so people in that society viewed the Pharisees as very holy and pious. All right, that’s how they viewed them sincerely. Okay, so you had the Pharisees. Then you had, and with the Pharisees, you’ll see in scripture the scribes, but the scribes and the Pharisees were very closely related. That wasn’t actually an official group because of the scribes dealing with the text of scripture so often.

That’s where they associate with the Pharisees. Okay, so the second group is the Sadducees. And the Sadducees were related to the priests. Okay, so they were not the same as the Pharisees. The Sadducees were not very well liked and were not very moral. They were just, you know, there was a lot of politicking involved with the priesthood in the temple. And then you had the third one, which was called the Essenes.

And some people think the Essenes, they aren’t mentioned directly in scripture, but that was, John the Baptist was similar to them. In fact, how many of you have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls? By the Dead Sea, these caves where they would, the scribes wrote down various scriptures and other written text and stored them. That was done by the Essenes. Okay, so they were an ascetic kind of group.

Okay, but then those are the three main sects. But then there was another, which is not exactly of the three, which is the Herodians. Okay, so let me kind of explain what we’re talking about when we talk about the Herodians. Obviously it comes from the word Herod. So what happened is when Rome conquered Israel, right? After the Greeks, and then after the Greeks was the Romans, when they conquered Israel, they established Judea as a Roman province.

So it was the Roman province of Judea. And over the Roman province of Judea, in fact, over all of the Roman Empire, for the entire period of the New Testament, the Roman Empire ruled Israel. They ruled all of the area that is covered by the New Testament, okay? And of course, the head of the Roman Empire is Caesar, which is a title, which is actually a title.

So the head of the Roman Empire, Caesar. But what he would do is in many places, the emperor would set up kings under his power. By his sovereign choice, he would choose exactly who the king would be and where he would rule. And that’s exactly what he did with Herod the Great, which is the Herod when Jesus was born. The Herod of the slaughter of the innocents, the Herod that killed the babies at Bethlehem, okay?

And then Herod had children, and so you have the line of Herod. Now Herod was not a Jew. Herod was an Edumian, which is the descendants of Edom, okay? Herod was not a Jew, although he kind of played the part because he was the king over Judea. So when we talk about the king of Judea, Herod being the king of Judea, he wasn’t a completely sovereign king.

He was a king under Caesar, okay? Everybody on the same page with that? And so now you have in this, at this time in which we read, which is, you know, AD 27, 28, 30, something like that, you have a different Herod, not Herod the Great, one of his descendants, as the ruler over Israel at this time, or part of Israel, anyway. Now, there were Jews that because they profited from Herod’s rule, supported Herod.

Does that ring a bell? That’s Politics 101. This is the patron-client relationship. The politician says, I will give you this, this, and this, and this, and this, and in return, he expects the loyalty of the clients, that is, of the voters in our world. It’s the same thing that’s been going on all this time. And so there were people in Israel who were Jews, who supported Herod because maybe their family, maybe their wealth, maybe their position depended on Herod’s reign.

And so of course they supported him, right? Now, most people didn’t, because what did Herod represent? Herod represented the rule of the Romans over Israel, because he was put there by them, by the Romans, and he was loyal to the Romans. He was just, he was absolutely, slavishly loyal to the Romans, because his position depended on his relationship with Caesar, okay? So the Herodians was this group of people that supported Herod.

Now, what do you think? You have the Pharisees who are strict, you know, legalists, and I mean that in the true sense. They were legalists, and they followed the word, they tried to anyway, the law. And then you have the Herodians who are pragmatists, right? Do you think that the Pharisees and the Herodians were on friendly terms with each other? No, they really weren’t.

But here they are in verse 15, verse 16 rather, joining forces together to tempt the Lord Jesus. Verse 16, notice what it says. So that’s kind of the background of the Herodians. And they set out unto them their disciples with the Herodians, so this is the Pharisees and the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the persons of men.

So let me say this unto you. Let me say this to you from verse 15. Notice how they took counsel? That means behind closed doors, they were scheming as a group. Let me just say this.

No believer has any business being involved in any group where scheming and deception is a part of it. And no believer has any business being part of a group where scheming and deception is involved or planned, or a part of any group where that’s a topic of the conversation. When you hear that, you need to do an about face and leave.

It doesn’t matter if it appears good on its face or bad, that kind of behind closed doors taking counsel to practice things like this in a secretive way is really, is contrary and antithetical to the overall spirit of the New Testament truth and indeed of the scriptures as a whole. So that’s the first thing I want you to see. The second thing is this. Notice it says, verse 15 says, they took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

So were they being forthright? No. What they’re doing is they’re practicing scheming. They’re practicing subtlety and deceit. Now let me just say this. This is the second thing I want you to see from verse 15.

Schemes and deceit and subtlety in all their forms, however they might be justified, are fundamentally ungodly. Now listen to these verses. You know these verses, and I can go into it. There’s so many more. I’ll read you three, okay? Proverbs 12, five. The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels, here it is, right, verse 15, of the wicked are deceit. Proverbs 26, verse 24. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him.

You might say disassemble. I didn’t say disassemble. I said dissemble. Dissemble means this. To alter or disguise the semblance. That is, one’s character or a feeling or design or action, so as to conceal, to deceive, concerning its real nature. So to disassemble is to put on a fake show to make someone think something different than what’s really going on. I’ll read that again, now that we have an understanding of dissembled.

He that hateth dissembleth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him. Is that not exactly what is happening here? Deception. 1 Peter 2, 22, about our Lord Jesus. The Bible says this. He did no sin, okay, we know that, neither was guile found in his mouth. Now our Lord did not scheme.

Our Lord did not deceive. He did not play fast and loose with the truth. He didn’t twist it. He didn’t stretch it. Because all of that is deception. He didn’t exaggerate it. He spoke the truth purely and without mixture. You see, and I just want to remind everyone of what we see here. If at any point you or I are resorting to practicing any kind of deception to accomplish our ends, whatever that end might be, it might be that that end you have in your mind, that thing you’re trying to accomplish, to you is a good thing.

But if you are practicing deception at all for any reason to get to that point, you are in the realm. Let this be a notice. Alerts ought to be going off in your mind. I am not doing the will of God right now. If you have to practice deception to get to that end, you are not doing the will of God full stop. That’s exactly what, that’s how you know what they’re doing is wrong because they have to deceive to do it.

And for a believer you say, can Christian church going people practice deception? Yeah. Yeah. And I’ll be transparent with you and I know that you know what I’m talking about. In our day to day life and our various decisions, our relations, relationships with people, our financial decisions, our relationships with our job, with others, with our spouses, with our kids, and a million other things, we have opportunity to just slightly deceive.

Right? Just, you know, just nudge it a little bit. That’s often where godly, faithful, holy, upright believers get off. We justify these little deceptions. Remember, our Lord did not do that. Number two, the Lord does not approve of that. If you find yourself doing that out of fear of loss or fear of harm, sometimes that’s the cause, if you find yourself doing that, let that be a warning to you that you are not in the realm where the Lord wants you to be.

Right? If you’re having to deceive about what’s on your phone or on your computer, if you’re having to deceive about what’s your financial status, if you feel like you have to deceive or fudge the truth at all, ever, you are not in the realm. You need to take a step back, and you need to take a long, hard look at what’s going on here because you are not in the realm of the will of God right now.

Let that be a warning. We see this as a negative example to us. Take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and don’t lose your place in Matthew, but come back to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 if you would. I love this verse, and I recommend this verse to you for memorization, those of you that are looking for one in Sunday school.

2 Corinthians 4, 2. It says this, but we have, it’s implied, we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness. See that? That’s that little deception, right? Scheming. Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s sin, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

We ought to make this a part of our moral character. Amen? Renouncing dishonesty. In other words, disavowing it, refusing it utterly, and not walking in craftiness. Let me commend to you the memorization of that verse. It’s a verse that’s been a guide to me, and I’m sure it’s helped many of you as well. So let’s go back to our text here, look at verse number 16. We’ve already talked about the Herodians, so we’ve seen their deception.

So their very approach, their scheme behind closed doors that now they’re bringing to the Lord Jesus is based in deception. It is not forthright, it is not transparent, it’s opaque on purpose to hide their goal. Now we’ll go to verse 16. They turn out unto him, their disciples, and the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teach us the way of God in truth.

Now let me ask you a question. Did they believe what they just said? No way. They don’t believe he’s true. They do not believe that he teaches the way of God in truth. Indeed, the opposite. They hate him. That’s why they’re talking to him.

And then they continue. Neither carest thou for any man, nor regardest not the person of men. You know what they’re doing? They’re flattering. They’re flattering the Lord Jesus. So I say to you, beware of flattery. We looked at deception in verse 15. Now in verse 16 I say, beware of another kind of deception, which is the deception of flattery. Listen to these verses if you would. Psalm 5 verse 9, For there is no faithfulness, notice the words very carefully, There is no faithfulness in their mouth.

Their inward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue. Proverbs 29 verse 5 says this, A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet. 2 Thessalonians 2, 5, Neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. Beware of flattery. False praise is a means to curry favor, to bring down the guard of the person we’re trying to deceive.

Beware of flattery. So I say this, beware of flattery, like we see here in others. When someone gives you praise, consider the source. We’ll see this in a minute. Let’s just go ahead and look at it. Think about this. These three years of the Lord’s earthly ministry, has he had even one positive experience with the Pharisees? Not even one! And all of a sudden, I mean not even in like yesterday, his conversations as of 24 hours ago have been negative.

And all of a sudden they have good things to say about him. Okay? It’s not even believable on his face, right? So consider the source. Does this person often give praise? And so my recommendation to you with praise is this, don’t let it sink in and don’t set your heart on it. If you, I mean this is my personal, I mean everybody loves praise and you know, acclaim, everybody loves that kind of thing.

And you ought to give it, right? You ought to give it sincerely. But generally, we ought to try to divert that away from ourselves to the Lord, and then in our own heart not believe a word of it. If we do believe it, we have to believe it knowing that and consciously acknowledging that God is the doer of it if there is any good at all that’s praiseworthy.

So beware of flattery and others, but I also say to you and to me, beware of our own use of flattery. Any praise that you do not truly believe is right and true in your heart. Any praise like that, that is not sincere to your heart that you give to another is flattery. And flattery, again, remember what we said in verse 15? If you find yourself giving others flattery, giving others praise that you do not truly believe is accurate of that person, warning lights ought to be going off in your mind because it’s a form of deception.

It’s a form of, it’s deception, it’s another kind of deception. Now here’s the thing, that doesn’t, some of us who are more inclined toward the negative way of thinking, that’s me, right? I’m more inclined to that, that’s my kids, that’s my family. Sometimes we say, well then I’m never gonna say anything nice about anybody. Well that’s not very charitable. What we should do is we should seek the good.

You know what, when you seek the good and you have it in your heart, you have a disposition like that, you’ll usually find it. Now there might be things that you don’t know and you’ll usually find it. Now there might be things that you can’t praise and that’s fine, but there are probably things, there’s probably things in all of you that I can praise and there’s probably things among you that you can find of others that you could praise, even if it’s not true of everything, right?

So find the good and praise that person for that, right? But using any form of deception and flattery is not commended by God. And if you find yourself there, then that should be a warning light, that you’re in the area of deception already and you need to step back and fix that, right? Get back on the road of truth. Now look at verse 17. Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou?

Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? Now the good thing is, is a study of the book of Matthew and a study of the Bible itself gives us a very clear answer to this, okay? Look in two places if you would. I want you to look at Matthew 17 and Romans 13. We’ll look at Matthew 17 first. Matthew 17. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?

Simple answer. If it is not lawful to give tribute to Caesar, a tribute is a tax, that’s all that is. And just like in our day, in the time of the Romans, they had different kinds of taxes. They had poll taxes, they had property taxes, just like we have. And so when we talk about tribute, it is nothing more or less than a tax, okay? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?

If it is not lawful to give tribute to Caesar, then that means giving tribute to Caesar would be a sin, right? Okay, so that’s the question being posed here. Matthew 17 verse 24, notice what it says. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon?

Of whom do the kings of the earth take customer tribute, of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast and hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up. And when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money, that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Did Jesus pay tribute? Yes, therefore it is not unlawful. That’s pretty simple, right? Pretty easy biblical logic, because the fact that Jesus did it means it is right and not unlawful. And so the answer to that question, is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar? And the answer to that is, yes, it is lawful. Now, Romans 13, look at that if you would. Romans 13, Romans 13.

Look if you would at verse number six. For this cause pay, this is a command now, pay ye tribute also. For they, that is the civil powers, are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore, is it lawful to give tribute? Yes, therefore it is lawful. And so the answer to that question, is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar? He says, render unto Caesar things that are Caesar’s.

Here it is, render therefore to all their dues. Tribute to whom, tribute is due. Custom to whom, custom, fear to whom, fear. Honor to whom, honor. In the New Testament, it is absolutely ambiguous. It is lawful. It is indeed commanded that Christians pay their taxes. There’s no ambiguity about that. I don’t care what the internet guy on YouTube says. I don’t care what he says. He’s wrong.

If anybody tells you don’t have to pay taxes, they’re wrong. The New Testament is very, very clear about that. Now, so the answer to that question in verse 17 is clear. Yes, it is lawful. Now, think about the principles that we’ve just looked at. The principles of deception. And not only the principle of deception, but the principle of taxes, taxation, paying taxes. Now, is this not quite timely?

I myself have been getting notifications from my CPA. You need to get your stuff together because tax time’s coming up. And you guys have probably been getting W2s or 1099s, right? And have been getting your records together, I hope. Some of you have not, haven’t even thought about it until I just said it right now. And aren’t going to until April 15. And teach is on. But I don’t recommend that.

So I just want to remind you, because we’re here, that God commands us to pay our taxes. To the United States government. To the state government. To the local government, as the case may be. And we must do that. We must pay our taxes with honesty and integrity. With no deception. Like we see above, right? Because again, we renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. So let this be a clear statement.

Because at this point, the question of taxes is, can this be counted off as a deduction? Is this a business expense or not? And sometimes we find the answers we want to hear from maybe our buddy or the internet. And the question is not really, is that actually true? Well, with the amount of money I make, they’re not going to come and audit me. You might be right.

But you don’t pay your taxes to avoid punishment. You pay your taxes to obey the Lord who commanded you to do it. That’s why we do it. If he didn’t command us and there was no punishment, none of us would do it. I wouldn’t do it. If we didn’t have to do it, why would we do it? But if you’re going to do it before the Lord, you and I have a duty to do it honestly.

Whether it hurts or whether it doesn’t. And if it does hurt, go to God and take that need to God. Because he knows that you’re trying to do it with integrity. Only count off what you can count off. You say, preachers are not supposed to talk about this. Well, are we supposed to talk about honesty and deception? Are we supposed to talk about paying taxes? That’s in the Bible.

So it just so happens that it landed today, right, in February. Now, in verse 17, notice this. Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, if there’s any question what the Lord thinks of this hypocrisy, this fakery, this flattery, this kind of scheming and deception, it’s clear in verse number 18. He says, the Bible says, their wickedness. That’s how he describes what they’re doing at practicing deception.

Now imagine if the Lord has said, the Lord has, they’re trying to put the Lord into a binary choice. Yes or no? If the Lord, if the Lord Jesus had recommended that they not give tribute to Caesar, that is, they do not pay their taxes, what would have happened is that the Herodians would have found cause to accuse him to Pilate and to Herod. See? He said, you’re not supposed to pay your taxes.

And in fact, what you actually find is during the trial of Christ, they do accuse him of that even though he paid his taxes. They still accuse him of it. And in fact, Luke 20 verse 20, which is the parallel passage to this, actually says they were looking for a reason to accuse him to Pilate and to Herod, and they ended up doing that. So what they wanted to do is they wanted to pin Jesus down to say, no, you don’t have to pay taxes so that they could then frame him as an opponent to Caesar, and they could get rid of him.

So they basically blatantly lied in order to do that. But on the other hand, what if Jesus had said, yes, you should pay your taxes? He said it plainly. If the Lord had recommended to give tribute to Caesar, that would have put him in opposition to the populace who hated the tribute, who hated the taxes. And you remember this is why they hate publicans so much, because they were the tax collectors.

They were despised, not to mention they were dishonest. But you see, at this time in history, it was thought that to pay tribute was to essentially own Caesar’s rule over you. So if you pay the tax to Caesar, you’re basically saying, I’m good with Caesar ruling over me, and no good Jew in the first century is going to say that, because this is their land. They shouldn’t have a Gentile nation ruling over them and their land, but here they are.

It was to disown God’s rule. And so what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to put Jesus in a catch-22, force this decision or that decision. So if we look at verse number 19, Jesus says, This is what they brought. I’ll leave this down here if you want to look at it afterward. One day I want to own one of these. They’re kind of expensive, between $500 and $3,000.

But I really want to own one. So if you have one, let me know. We can bargain. What’s that? Alright, I’m all ears, as long as they’re real. Really? This is a penny. This is a Roman denarius. This is the word used for this. And this is the very one for the Caesar, because every time they got a new emperor, they would have a new face. So this is Caesar Augustus, Tiberius in this case, during the time of Christ.

And this is the front and this is the back. So this is the actual coin. This coin is about the size of a dime, made of pure silver. And what it says on it, is it says on the head side, it says T. Caesar Divi, and then it has other Latin writing, but it means Tiberius Caesar, son of Augustus Augustus. Does that make sense? So he’s saying Caesar Augustus, the son of the great, the divine Augustus.

Divi is divine, actually. So that’s what that says. Now that’s idolatrous, is it not? So to a Jew holding something that has idolatrous words on it, is they don’t like that to begin with. And then the other side, it says Pontiff, does that sound familiar? Maxim, which is Latin for supreme priest. They use the word Pontiff in our day sometimes. Y’all heard that word lately? The Pope is called the Pontiff.

So this is the actual coin. So I’ll leave this down there, but notice whose head is on it. Notice whose superscription is on it. It was Caesar’s. And that’s exactly what the Lord is talking about. And so what the Lord says in verse number 20, he says, he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then say unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, And unto God the things which are God’s.

When they had heard these words, they marvelled and left him and went their way. So the implication when they hold up this coin, the implication is because Caesar’s name is written on it, and because Caesar’s face is on it, it’s Caesar’s. And so if Caesar demands of you that which has his image on it, then you got to give it to him. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.

Andrew Jackson. Now, we don’t have Caesar’s, or kings, or emperors, thankfully. But if you look on the reverse, so it’s actually on both sides, but you might be able to see it, it says, the United States of America. This is a Federal Reserve Note, legal tender for all debts, public and private. Some of you haven’t seen one of these in quite some time, I bet. When the government of the United States demands this of us in the form of a tax, we are duty-bound to give it.

That’s the same principle here. I don’t like it any more than you. Use every loophole that you can find that’s legal. Do it. Get a tax attorney. Do it. Rub it in their face. It’s fine. But what you ultimately require, you got to pay. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. Simple enough, that’s all the Lord is saying, right? But that’s not all. What does the Lord mean in verse number 21?

I have four things that will be done. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. Why do the Jews have a Roman emperor ruling over them to begin with? Do you know why? Because they, for many years, have not rendered to God the things that were God’s. Did you know in Deuteronomy chapter 28, I’m really out of time, so we’re not going to go there, but if you want to write down this reference, Deuteronomy 28, verse 15, verse 33, verse 45, verses 48 to 52, you will read way back in the days of Moses, where Moses tells them by the inspiration of the Spirit, he tells Israel, he says, if you do not obey me, you do not render to God the things that are God’s, if you do not obey me, I will make other nations to rule over you with an iron yoke.

And they will take all of your property, and they will take the fruit of your land, and that’s all in Deuteronomy chapter 28. You see, the whole reason that Israel is in this position, and they don’t even get it at all, the reason why they have the Romans ruling over them is out of their rebellion to begin with, because they, being God’s nation, have not rendered to God the things that are God’s.

That’s why they’re here to begin with. The second thing I want you to see, whose image is, whose is this image in superscription? Let me, Isaiah, can you come up here? He hates when I do this, but it’s easier to do it with a teenager. Whose image is stamped on this person? The parents, yes, but bigger than that, God’s image. Because every human being, every man and every woman, is made in the image of God.

That means that God has stamped his image onto us, his likeness onto us. I know we have the fall of man, and that has been marred, yes, but it’s still there. Thank you, sir. So that means, in the same way, I am his. Just like that denarius, I am his. You are his. Render to God the things that are God’s. This is Romans 12, 1 and 2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. We are duty bound for many other reasons, because of the cross we saw this morning, all that. But one of the reasons, we have a duty, as seen here, to give ourselves to God. His image is stamped on us. We are his. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.

The next thing I want you to see is still in verse number 21. They wanted him to say, you either submit to Caesar, or you submit to the Lord. You either submit to Caesar, you either submit to Caesar, the law of man, or you submit to God. You see that? You either be on Caesar’s side, or you be on God’s side. That’s the binary they were trying to force him into.

What they did not understand, and this is something that we understand clearly, but was not understood at that time, was that the Lord’s answer reflected a greater truth. That it is possible to be submitted to an earthly power, while simultaneously submitting to a heavenly power. To give tribute to Caesar, and render what is his to him, while also simultaneously rendering to God what is God’s. In fact, this is the basis really for what it means to be a Christian living in a world that is essentially heathen, which is where we live. A world that is not Christian.

As pilgrims and strangers, we have earthly rulers, and then we have God. Of course, we know God should have, always should have, precedence, but you can do both. Because at this point in time, we don’t have the Lord is not our earthly ruler. Now, he rules us, but he doesn’t rule a civil society, at least not directly. And so right now, now there will be a day that will all change, but right now he has appointed civil rulers, but yet we still as being part of the kingdom of God, have a duty to submit to him also, and supremely.

So you have this earthly and heavenly submission. This is a mystery to them, but this is what the Lord is actually talking about. And the last thing I want you to see is this. Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. You know what this is? This is what might be called dual duties. Dual, the principle of dual duties.

We have a duty to God, and we have a duty to Caesar at the same time. And you know what? That is true in life in many ways. Brother Andrew, you have a duty to your wife and to Thomas, and you also have a duty to God. Right? Brother Wayne, you have a duty to your job, and you also have a duty to God. Now, our duty before God, the scope of God’s duty, it’s big.

It includes everything in our life, every relationship, every part of our life, right? And within that big duty to God, render unto God the things that are God’s, within that big duty we have other smaller duties like job, like wife, like child, right? All of these other, school we might have, whatever the case might be. We have, within that scope, we have these other duties. And you know what? Those can all coexist.

No matter what the duties are, so long as the smaller duties do not take precedence over the larger. Because the moment, and this is a broad scriptural principle, the moment that one of our smaller duties conflicts with God’s duty, are what God requires of us, at that moment we are no longer duty bound to keep that duty. And this is the source of persecution. This is the base how it comes.

You see, ask yourself this, render unto God the things that are God’s. So let me just ask you in closing, what is God’s? What is God’s? Huh? Ourselves? Anything else? Our time? Anything else? There you go, which includes those others. Everything is God’s. So when the Lord is saying, render unto God the things that are God’s, that’s everything. That’s all of it. That’s the Lord, our ruler, in every way.

Everything is His, including that very penny. Listen now, including the very penny that the Lord is holding and telling us to take and give to Caesar. That’s His too. Caesar is His. Amen?

So we’ve seen we have a duty to pay our tribute to Caesar, and that duty existed within the scope of our duty to God. Romans 13, we have to pay our tribute, our taxes, and that duty is a part of our duty to God. You see? You loving your wife, your husband, you paying your taxes, you being faithful in your job, all of that is within the duty.

This is dual duty. So such that if I fail to love my wife, or if I fail to pay my taxes honestly, or if I fail to do right by my job, or whatever that other thing might be, I am actually failing to render to God the things that are God’s. You see how that works? Every duty that we have can fall under this category. Let’s pray.