Flattery, Human Government, and Our Duty | Mark 12:13-17 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark)

Please, if you have a bible with you, meet me in Mark chapter 12, and let's go together to verse 13. Mark twelve thirteen reads, 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 lawful 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 denarius 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, Caesar's. Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. Lord, it's our prayer that we too would marvel at your word. Bless the reading and the proclamation of it, and bless our hearts in receiving it.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I believe it's important that you and I view the opening verse of this section of scripture with the preceding one, one that we covered together a couple of weeks ago. Look at Mark twelve twelve with me once more. It says here, and they were seeking to arrest him, but feared the people for they perceived that he had told the parable against them, so they left him and went away.

So they left him and went away. Here you have the religious leaders retreating after sensing the piercing parable of Jesus Christ that was targeted towards them. But what we have here when they left him and went away was not a permanent retirement of their crafty ways. All it really was is a withdrawal to return to the drawing board. And here we find them again.

And this repeated sequence of onslaughts that came to Christ reminds us of the relentless aggression of the ultimate adversary of Christ who is also your enemy and mine. Revelation twelve nine calls him the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, and Satan. Do you remember how Luke concludes the failed attempts of Satan in trying to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness? Let me remind you of an important verse that really indicates to us the reality of his ways and how he will relate to us. In Luke four thirteen, you don't have to turn there, just give your attention to it.

It says there, and when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. The devil walked away from Christ until an opportune time. Notice that his withdrawal was not indefinite. His return would be certain. This is your daily reminder that spiritual warfare is a guarantee for the Christian.

It is an unending cycle of the believer's experience to go to war, yes, with the flesh, but also to the one who tempts the flesh and presents opportunities for the flesh. And some days are more intense than others, but the attempts and the plots of the evil one are to be expected when? Throughout your whole life. Throughout the span of your existence and your journey here on earth. And what's also important to remember is that the schemes of Satan, though they are certain, both him and those who do his bidding do not always bring the same weapons to the table.

And that is exactly what you and I see in our main text today. And the benefit of the text that we just read and that we're going to explore together is not just that you and I are gonna be enthralled by the infinite wisdom of Jesus Christ, but you and I are also going to learn how we can avoid the traps of Satan who seeks to undermine your testimony as a follower of Christ. And so as we come here, we have to see again that this is really the theme of this chapter or the section of this chapter. Look again at Mark twelve thirteen. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk.

You know, that word trap in the Greek is the only word in all of the New Testament. No other word shares the same word, and it really explains and denotes the concept of pursuing, hunting, and apprehending an animal. It's aggressive. It's vicious. It's merciless, and it's supposed to indicate to us that the invisible enemy through visible means is a pursuer.

A pursuer of the truth, a pursuer of those who hold and live the truth, not to receive the truth, but to try to destroy and muddy and undermine it. So let your faith arise as we come to this text and believe that it promises us the necessary insights to further equip and complete you as a man and woman of God. So what do we have here? Well, this time around, we have this interesting alliance. Verse 13 tells us that it was the Pharisees and the Herodians who partnered together to come to Christ and try to trap him.

Now it's not just gonna be them for the rest of this chapter. Look at your bibles once more. Look at verse 18 of chapter 12. After the Herodians and the Pharisees, it's gonna be who? And Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question saying Then after the Sadducees, you scroll down to verse 28, and what do you see?

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked them which commandment is the most important of all. So really, it's this series of interrogation from different parties that all have one thing in common, they hate Jesus Christ. And in a few weeks, you and I are gonna consider the prophetic significance of how even this series of questioning fulfill something about Jesus from the old testament. But we'll do that when we get there. But for now, you have this unlikely coalition.

The Pharisees and the Herodians? You remember who the Pharisees were. Right? They were the religious elite, but they believe something about their current situation as a nation. The Pharisees believed that Israel and the Jews deserve their independence.

They're under Roman occupation. The Pharisees did not like that. They believe that the Jews should receive their own land, their own government, a government that was ruled by the law of God. So they grudgingly went along with what the Romans demanded of them. But if they can have their freedom overnight, they would have it.

On the other hand, you have the Herodians, who were not a religious group as much as they were a political group. And the Herodians, according to their name, pledged their allegiance to the Herodian dynasty. And they ultimately submitted and praised and even defended the Roman Empire. And there is no room in their belief system for the law of God to be implemented. So the two most unlikely groups, one was extremely religious and the other one was extremely secular, are now working together again.

We see it back in Mark chapter three verse six, but here they are once more. Why? Because they found commonality in Christ being their enemy. The feverish popularity of Jesus was not just a threat to the counterfeit spiritual entity of his time. Now you have even the political powers who are a little worried.

Because recent news in town is that the the streets were being filled with the praises of this Jesus, this rabbi from Nazareth being a king, fulfilling prophecy, being the expectant deliverer of the people. And the last thing that Herod and the last thing that the Herodians wanted was a revolution. A revolution that would invite the higher leadership of Rome to come into that land with disciplinary force. And this is now a concern for the Herodians, not just for the Pharisees. And so they conjure up a plan and they work together and they have this fresh new strategy.

They wanna trap him. And there is not just one trap. I argue that there are two traps in one verse. And the same traps that these enemies of Christ try to use to trip Christ with are traps that you and I have to be mindful of. And in this brief time before we break bread together, I wanna present those two traps that you and I as Christians should be careful of.

And and they're not really touched on as much, but they're traps nonetheless. The first trap that I want you to pay attention to is the trap of flattery. The trap of flattery. That's a trap. That's a trap.

Look at verse 14 again. Look at the language that they praise Jesus with before they asked him this question. 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. This is nothing short of a slimy attempt to stroke someone's ego.

And the idea behind this is that by boosting Christ up so much, it would excite him. It would excite him to live up to their praises and answer them in the way that they desired. Because they're trying to fish for something out of Christ. They want Christ to say something bold, confrontational, more importantly controversial. And that's in the question that they're about to ask.

And so they think by priming up Jesus with these tributes, it will disarm him. It will affect his judgment. And he will, again, give in to their admiration and say what exactly they want him to say to his own harm. Here's the thing. Flattery doesn't work with Jesus Christ.

It doesn't. You know who it does work with though? People including believers in Jesus Christ. What is flattery? Flattery is the use of excessive compliments as a means to accomplish a selfish goal.

Flattery is insincere praise. It is a manipulation tactic under the guise of encouragement. On the other hand, a genuine heartfelt commendation is meant to purely benefit the one who is receiving it. But that's not what flattery does. Flattery seeks to receive a benefit for yourself in giving that commendation.

So if you wanna know the difference between genuine encouragement and praise to another and flattery, it is the motivation for the admiration that is being shared. Why are you sharing that? Why are you saying those things to such a person? Why are you complimenting them? And this idea of flattery is dangerous.

It's dangerous because it preys on the pride or the insecurities of another, and the result of that is that it skews their perception. It skews their perception of themselves, of another person, or of a decision that they need to make. And that's why in Proverbs 29 verse five, we are told, a man who flatters his neighbor sets up a net for his feet. It's a trap. It's deception.

It's a trick, and it's something that you and I have to ask God discernment for. Beware of the flatterer. Beware of what you do with the praise of people. Even if it's genuine praise, you and I are warned about what we should do with that. But especially words of endearment that have a different motive behind it.

Because you see, flattery is not just a potential weapon from a sneaky neighbor. Here's what most people miss, and this is where it relates to the body of Jesus Christ. You ready? Flattery is also a characteristic of a false teacher. Flattery is a strong indication of someone who is dangerous even in their teaching.

You know, spiritual wolves are are are rarely mean people. They often come off very kind, very respectful, very charming, very winsome. And what false teachers will often do is disarm undiscerning individuals by using endearing and enticing words that are personal oftentimes. And here's why they do it. They reel you in with it.

They keep you with it. And at some point in the mix, they inject their poison into your belief system. All it takes is for some people to let their guard down is for another person to just be really nice to them. Being nice is good, but being nice is also a cloak for those who are not good. And sometimes flattery manifests itself from the standpoint of a false teacher in the form of prophecy, where somebody will come with an apparent spiritual gift and will tell you things about you or tell you things about your future that are good are good to hear.

And it's really a way to have access into your trust, access into your heart to win your support, and that is the beginning of many dangerous things. Here's a scriptural proof of the correlation between flattery and a false teacher. Turn with me to Romans 16 and verse 17 just in case you don't believe me. Romans 16 and verse 17. Bring those bibles to church.

It it just flutters my heart every time I hear the bible being open. Romans 16 verse 17. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught, avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites and by smooth talk and flattery, They deceive the hearts of the naive. There it is.

Flattery is primarily a trap for the theological and emotionally unstable. And it often is a bait that causes one to surrender their discernment, their judgment to the applause and the adoration of others. I can tell you stories that I'll spare you of of people that, I've come into contact with. Nobody that you know, so don't worry. Many, many years ago when I first got saved.

And they were flatterers. And thank God for good spiritual leadership that discovered that these flatterers that were infiltrating churches had a history of going to other churches and stealing people's money and breaking up relationships and introducing false teaching. It is real. But the trap of flattery is not just something that you and I must be mindful of as an outside external thing. The trap of flattery is a dangerous thing in another way.

It is something that you and I as Christians should be aware of and something that you and I should be mindful of not committing ourselves. So it's both ways. Receiving that flattery and giving it. So turn your Bibles with me to first Thessalonians and look at chapter two. The apostle Paul is speaking to this group of believers in what is believed to be his first epistle.

First Thessalonians chapter two and look at verse five. For we never we never came with words of flattery As you know, nor the pretext for greed, God is witness nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. Here's what Paul is doing. He's making a defense of the integrity of his preaching ministry. And in that defense, he declares with a clear conscious three things, three things that as a minister, he did not do.

And these are three things that are true servant of God, especially in the place of proclaiming the word and teaching the word. These are three things that a true man of God will not do. What's the first thing? It says here in verse five, we didn't use words of flattery. We did we we didn't flatter people.

No. No. No. No. No.

Here's the second thing. He says, nor were the pretext for greed. We did not use preaching as a cloak for us to covet and to satisfy our greed. In other words, we didn't use ministry as an opportunity to get rich, to be successful, to fill our pockets. No way.

And then lastly, this is probably the most difficult one in verse six, nor did we seek glory from people. We didn't use ministry as an opportunity for us to feel better about ourselves, to sense a purpose in our lives, a meaning in our lives. We didn't fish for people to love us and to get a following. No. No.

No. We didn't flatter people. We didn't use ministry to try to get money from people, and we didn't even use ministry to get praises from people. And the first thing as you know is the words of flattery. And note, this is more than just him saying, I didn't come to you showering you with compliments, coming off in a nice way so that I can gain your appreciation or your support.

It's more than that. There's a subtle form of flattery that ministers especially maybe committing and not even realizing it. By modifying and shaping the truth to be less convicting and more, if not completely commending. You can flatter people in your preaching. If you're thinking, well, is that really what he's saying?

It is. Because look what he says right before verse five. Look at the context in verse four. First Thessalonians two four. But just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts.

Then he says, we didn't come to you with words of flattery. It is it possible for someone who preaches the word of God to flatter people while preaching? Yes. Absolutely. And here's how that looks, where there's an intentional effort to avoid any possible offense, to try to not get people to be convicted, to try to get people to be upset.

And why would a preacher do that? Well, I can tell you at least one of many reasons. They don't wanna lose the supporters in the church. They don't wanna lose the money coming in. They they don't wanna offend even if they might know of the things that are being done in that place that offend God.

They rather flatter and tiptoe around these things that would cut the heart. Paul says, you're not gonna find that in my ministry. I did not flatter. I when I preach, I primarily have one audience in mind and that's God. I preach to please God first, and that's what he's getting at here.

I didn't tailor my message because of any insecurity of mine, and that's what he wants us to know for the true minister today. And if you're not a preacher, this still applies because there will be times where you and I with the truth have to avoid the temptation of giving into flattery and instead giving it the way Jesus did though it would be laced with love. May God the Holy Spirit help us be like the Lord Jesus. In what? In discerning what people say to us, but also in never utilizing flattery for whatever our motivation might be.

But to do everything with the constant sense that we want to first honor God. The trap of flattery. But that's not the only trap. Let's come back to Mark chapter 12 together, and let's look at verse 14 for the second trap. In verse 14 again, 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.

Here's the second trap. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? What a timely word, Or not? Should we pay them or should we not? The second trap, though it is very unique to Christ's situation, universally applies if we dig deeper.

The second trap that you and I have to be mindful of as Christians is the trap of a faulty view of human government. The trap of a faulty view of human government. What kind of quandary are they trying to place Christ in right right here with this question? It's very easy to understand. Because if Jesus here answers this in any way, in the minds of these men, it's a lose lose situation.

It's almost like the best equation that they came up with. Because no matter how Jesus answers, he's gonna get in trouble with one party. So if the Lord Jesus says, yes, we must pay our taxes to Caesar, then he might be assaulting what is commonly held in the Jewish community as the sovereignty of God being the right to rule over the people, not Rome. And so the Pharisees would love for Jesus to say yes, so that they can use that as ammunition to diminish his popularity among the Jews. Look at this rabbi.

You guys think that he's this and that, but do you realize that he actually supports the Roman Empire? But if he says, no, we shall not pay taxes to Caesar. And if he might even follow it up with, God is the one who truly rules and reigns over this land, over this people, then the Herodians are right there, ready to take that confession and race to the authorities to have Jesus arrested and potentially put on trial. This is inescapable almost. From a human standpoint, this is something that might actually work.

And although you and I are on the edge of our seats to discover how Christ's wisdom is gonna manifest at this moment, you and I also have to pause and remember that what Jesus will answer is imperative for you and I as well. It's absolutely vital what Christ is about to say here. Because you see the problem of human government isn't just limited to this situation. It is something listen. It is something believers need to get right even today, or else we will find ourselves in a different kind of trap.

Jesus' trap here is different than you and I, but the theme and the subject here is still a trap. A trap that will create a wrong way of thinking, which will impact your testimony in mind before a watching world. And a trap that if we give into will grieve God who longs for every facet of our lives, every lane to be dedicated to reflecting and glorifying him, even the way you operate in this pagan society with unbelieving rulers. And I'll tell you why this is needed today because for the first time in America, the first time ever, we are seeing a dramatic and blatant shift away from cultural Christianity. For the longest time, Christianity has been tolerated and even praised and even shared among those who don't really believe it.

It was esteemed and held as a part of the fabric of The United States and that is being dramatically altered. And you have Christians now who perceive that. All of us can perceive that. You don't have to be a prophet to see it. But at the same time, more than just perceiving it, you have genuine believers trying to navigate the way that they should respond.

And what is my responsibility now? What should I do at this time with all these laws and all this blatant rebellion and wickedness assaulting the very truth that you and I hold dear to? It's a slippery slope at this time and I'm afraid that the growing temptation of Christians is to frame their perception of how they should practically live this out, not from God's word, but out of anger. Out of confusion, even in the flesh in the spirit of rebellion. This is why you and I have to see this as a trap to avoid, because there's something at stake here.

I'll tell you what's at stake about how you and I view human government. It's in first Peter two. And I want you to read it with me beginning in verse 13. Peter, by the spirit, builds on what the Lord Jesus says and what we're about to discover together in the closing part of this message. But I wanna just show you a brief understanding of what's at stake if we don't take this seriously.

First Peter two thirteen. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. Whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. Why? Why, Peter?

Why should I do that? For this is the will of God. One. That that you should just stop right there. It's the will of God.

These authorities have been delegated by God. They've been placed by God. They they did not escape the sovereign will of God. For this is the will of God, here it is, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. In other words, there is constantly a people looking for reasons to criticize you as a Christian.

To give reason for why they should not give to your gospel, and obey it, and submit to it. Including how the believer lives under, speaks about, relates to, and communicates about human government. And so we come back to Jesus' words and we see what his answer was. In verse 15 of Mark 12, but knowing their hypocrisy. Isn't that a scary part of that verse?

Jesus knows hypocrites. He knows when they're being hypocrites. Like, you can't hide. You can you can fool people. You can't fool Jesus Christ.

Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius 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, Caesar's.

Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Let's stop there. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And then he goes on to say to God the things that are God's. Here's how Jesus is in that first part giving his instruction.

Pay the tax. Give the government what they are asking of you. Now it's true that the Lord Jesus' answer here does not provide a full explanation of the obligation of a Christian concerning government, but it does undeniably define that there is an obligation that the Christian has. The believer does have an obligation. In this case, the obligation is to fulfill your duty to give back to the government the services that they give to you, no matter how you feel about the quality of their services.

But what if? And what about? And what about when? I get it. I can feel it.

And most of those objections and those concerns are answered in the second part of Jesus's reply and to God the things that are God's. There is a multilayered meaning to Jesus as simple as it is, the statement. It is absolutely profound. So let's look at them one by one. The immediate implication of Jesus saying, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God is this, that you and I must submit to all governing authorities, but ultimate loyalty belongs to a loftier authority.

He who receives all things, and all things are subject to him, God almighty. Your highest submission, your your highest surrender is to a divine court. In other words, your submission to earthly government stands as long as such demands do not encourage you in any way to violate what God says in his divine law. Here's how that would work in this case. So historically speaking, most believe that the coin that Jesus pointed to in his explanation had this inscription on it.

Tiberias Caesar, son of the divine Augustus. That's what would be inscribed on that coin. And so as that coin is being held up and Jesus says render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. In other words, in a applicable way for us, it's if you're asking me to pay my taxes to fund the services that I benefit from, then I will do so peaceably. I will comply.

But remember that inscription, even at that time, Tiberias Caesar, the son of the divine Augustus. That's a claim to divinity. That is a ridiculous claim. And I know that our politicians have made crazy claims lately and I have a feeling they're gonna get worse. But nothing has reached this category yet of claiming divinity.

You want me to pay my taxes? I'll pay my taxes. I'll render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar's. But if you're asking me to worship Caesar, that I will reject with absolute resistance. Why?

Because my master told me to render unto God what belongs to God, and that's worship. And that's something that these believers would need to remember because persecution is gonna rise in a few years where that very temptation, that very command from the government would be made. And they would make the choice to render unto God what belongs to God. So when the government interferes and meddles with the clear commands of scripture concerning you and I as believers, you have every right to protest, resist, and at any cost, obey God over man. Render unto Caesar the things that belongs to Caesar's.

And as Peter said, do it for the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. In other words, don't view government as this one sphere here and the church and God's word here. No. Understand that government is something, again, that God established and that you were to view it through the lens of his word and you were to seek the wisdom of God to know how to relate to that.

And and it's not very difficult because you have everything you need to know about God and what he asks of you here. But there's something else here. There's a wider implication. Christ says, render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, but he said something right before. Let's revisit it again in verse 16.

And they brought one and said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? Whose likeness and inscription is this? Does that language sound familiar? It should. And I have a feeling that there was a Hebrew scripture that flashed before the mind's eye of these Jewish listeners the very moment Jesus shared it.

Genesis one twenty six. You remember what saying what it says there? Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. I'm sure I rung a bell. Jesus being very strategic with how he is saying this.

Whose likeness and inscription is this? And then he follows it up with render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and unto God what belongs to God. Do you see the connection that Jesus Christ is making by phrasing his question in this way? If this coin should be returned to Caesar because his image is on it, then the object that reflects God's image should also be returned to him. And what is the object of creation that bears the image of God?

You. You. Give this to Caesar, his image is on it. But you forgot what image is on you. God's image is on you.

So you have to understand how the Pharisees would have heard this and how the Herodians would have heard this. You see, the Pharisees who were supposedly concerned about what responsibility we have to the Roman Empire were reserving something else of greater importance at this time, themselves. Here they are talking about what should we give to Caesar and here's God in Christ reminding them, hey, I know we have to talk about this and make this clear, but let's talk about something else that you're not giving that you need to give. Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but render unto God what belongs to God. What belongs to God?

Your image is God's image. You must give yourself to God. And these Pharisees were rejecting that principle because they were not giving themselves to the son of God. So he cuts through that. Now what about the Herodians?

You have the Herodians who were completely caught up in politics. They had this view of the Herodian dynasty almost as though they were a messianic kind of figure. And their whole world view was wrapped up in the temporal, in the worldliness of things. And here is Jesus reminding them even through that statement. You Herodians, you fell short of giving unto God what belongs to him, which is your heart and your ultimate obedience.

Is it not true that we have people today that view government, that view politics, that view elections as though there is no other hope? Have you met those kind of Christians? They're experts in politics, but they're babes in Christ when it comes to the things of God. Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. His image is on it, give it to him.

Whose image is on you? God. So give yourself to God. Did you do that yet? You're not a lone wolf.

You're not an accident. You didn't just appear. You're not the byproduct of the love between your father and your mother. You are created in the image of God. And as precious as that is and as wonderful as that is, it has implications of ownership.

You don't belong to yourself. You belong to someone who made you, and he is good and he is perfect. And in the same way that a person can refuse to pay taxes to Caesar, you have the ability to refuse to give yourself to God. And in the same way that a person who does so against a human government risk facing consequences for such resistance, there is a God in heaven who will call each of us into account for failing to acknowledge him as our rightful owner. Is it a mystery why at the end of verse 17, it says, and they marveled at him?

They're stunned. This is convicting. Yeah. Give it to him. I'm not here to encourage a revolution.

I'm not here being preoccupied with human government. You're saying, but brother, you don't understand. No. I actually do understand because the same Jesus that render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar is saying that about the government who in a few days is gonna nail him on a cross. And so for the Lord's sake, when it's difficult, whatever your situation might be that would encourage you to respond in the flesh instead of in the spirit, do it for the Lord's sake.

Even with your taxes. I know, who loves taxes. Right? Even your it your money doesn't belong to you. Like, hey, you're traveling by in this life and you're not bringing anything with you.

Nothing. Just pay your taxes, honor God, live on, and trust that he's gonna take care of you. Okay? Okay. Very simple.

Just travel lightly in this world. Travel very lightly for the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. And when they begin to impose and infiltrate and attempt to act as the head of the church, no no no no no no. We don't give in.

We submit to Christ. And this is what his word says, and we pay whatever price we have to pay to honor God above man. They marveled at him. I wonder what that marveling did to them. I wonder for if a moment, their icy hearts were thawed a little bit.

You know, it's possible to marvel at Jesus, marvel at his word, be moved by what his word says, marvel, like, really be amazed, and not be changed by Jesus. Can I show you how these men who marveled did not change? Can I show you how it's possible even in a setting like this to be moved but never transformed? If you are being moved, that's your opportunity to know transformation, but it's possible to marvel and your heart remain the same. Look at this, and this is our final text before we end.

Look at Luke 23. Matthew, Mark, Luke 23. Here's Jesus, precious Lord Jesus, on trial. Verse one. Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate, and they began to accuse him saying, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ a king.

Did you see it? What were they saying? This Jesus is misleading our nation by saying we shouldn't pay taxes to Caesar. Is that what Jesus did? Has anybody ever taken your words and twisted them?

Has anybody on your behalf said that you said something when you didn't say them? Welcome to the club, Club Jesus. The one in whom there was no deceit found in his mouth, people had the liberty and the venomous willingness to say Jesus. Me? Okay.

I make mistakes. I can say some things. I understand that I'm not the perfect communicator and that things can be mistranslated. But Jesus Jesus said that we should not pay tribute to Caesar. Do you see how you can fellowship with Christ in all your afflictions?

Even this. If what what would it take for you and I in that kind of a setting where in a trial where you would face horrific torture to not say, you're a liar. Jesus doesn't go there. I'm just marveling at Jesus again. I'm sorry.

I can't help it. I wasn't supposed to end this way. He's amazing. He's amazing. I wanna be like Jesus.

But I wanna show this for this main purpose. Marveling at Jesus is not the same as giving your heart to Jesus. And I want you to give your heart to Jesus because the image of God is on you. And because of a fall, that image wasn't completely deleted. It was marred.

That that mirror that was supposed to perfectly reflect the glory of God through the mud of sin was splashed all over it. But Christ comes into this world to rescue us and with his blood to cleanse that and to restore that. And one day fully and total glorification, renew that. But you, in the same way you might be tempted to give that coin, when you have the option to keep it to yourself, give your heart to him. And let him renew you, forgive you, restore you, rejuvenate you, revive you, and bring you into a life that Jesus said is abundant.

And today, as we break bread together, we are reminding ourselves that because of the body and blood of Jesus, we are forgiven. And no matter what we've done, even if we have cheated, even if we have loved money more than God, even if we have, unlike Jesus, did things in the flesh and retaliated with vengeance, We are forgiven because of Jesus. And so in a moment here, we're going to sing as I invite the praise team to come up to do just that, to reflect to reflect on this truth of the cross. And as you're sitting there, just prepare your heart. Prepare your heart to partake of this wonderful ordinance.

Ask God to cleanse you of anything that would grieve the spirit. Ask God to instill in you a joy, to not do this mechanically, but to do this with the celebration of your life. I've been forgiven by Christ. I'm redeemed by the Lord. I have no concern about my eternal standing before God because not because of me, but because of this this body and this blood.

I have total security that I'm saved. Lord, we thank you for this message, for instructing us about how we can be more like Christ, for reminding us, though in a brief way, how to avoid these traps, these minds that we might have not noticed before. Lord, in every area, we wanna glorify you. In every way we we live, we want to be able to reflect you and please you. Help us do that.

But, Lord, for this moment, we ask that despite our poor performance or our weaknesses, we come to reflect on the fact that because you're strong, we're strong. Because you paid the price, our debt is canceled. And so, Lord, may may the joy of our hearts now be in the truth that you did everything, and it is finished because of your love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We're singing to remember that even on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he sang a hymn with his disciples. I don't care how you feel right now. The truth is good enough to let your heart soar. If Jesus could sing when he was about to be betrayed, you can sing despite your tribulation today. Can we do that to him?

Yes. Let's stand and worship the Lord.