Study the Word

Guest (Male): Today on Study10 the Word from pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: Jesus was and is the final messenger. Jesus is God's ultimatum. He's the last message you're going to get. There is no other messenger. There is no other message beyond the message of Jesus. And if you spurn that call, that message, that messenger, there is no other. There is no hope. No hope exists if Christ is refused.

Guest (Male): Peter in his second letter tells us that God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So the Bible answers the essential questions of life and how to live it. We'll consider some of those questions today on Study the Word. Our teacher is pastor Tom Keller. And we're making our way through Mark right now. In chapter 12 Jesus responds to a question with a parable. It not only reveals the patience and love of God, but the judgment coming on those who reject Jesus.

Pastor Thom Keller: Mark chapter 12. The new living translation says Jesus told a story. King James calls this a parable. And a parable, Jesus told a lot of parables. And it's a fictitious story that has a moral, makes a moral point. And so that's what this is, a fictitious story that makes a moral point. Mark 12:1. Then Jesus began telling them stories. A man planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. Verse two.

At grape picking time, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. The owner then sent another servant, but they beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. The next servant he sent was killed. Others who were sent were either beaten or killed until there was only one left. His son whom he loved dearly. The owner finally sent him thinking, surely they will respect my son. But the farmers said to one another, here comes the heir to the estate.

Let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves. So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard. It's interesting to note to kind of get the the impact of what's really happening here is that the owner planted the vineyard. He built the wall. He dug the pit. He built the tower. And the tower was where the wine was stored after they pressed out the grapes. It's where the farmers lodged. It was where their they made their home. And it was also the tower is where they would watch for robbers who would come and try to take the crops.

The owner did all of this for these these tenant farmers. And then he left. He then leases it to farmers who are going to farm it for him. This tenant uh arrangement was very common in Jesus's day. Under the law, the owner of the land could not collect uh rent until 5 years in. So in this story uh this man, the owner would have built all this up, would have prepared the whole farm. It's ready to go. They just walk in and they begin farming. So for 5 years they don't hear from him. 5 years he has no right to anything because they're getting the farm established.

After 5 years, he starts sending people to collect the rent that's due. Now what's going on in the story here is that the owner is God. The owner is God. The vineyard are the people of Israel. The farmers are the religious leaders, the religious rulers throughout Israel, really throughout all of almost all of history uh up until this point. And the owner's son is who? That's right. The owner's son is Jesus. Well the farmers who rented the farm, they didn't buy the vineyard. They didn't plant the vines. They didn't build the wall or the pit or the tower.

Yet they felt no obligation whatsoever, no gratitude to the owner, and even turned against him because of their greed for power and money and their stubborn refusal to be accountable to God. It really is a perfect picture, a photograph of what Jesus was encountering with the religious leaders of his day. You know we look at this and we say that the murder of these messengers sent by the one who had given them everything reflects a hardness of heart that it's difficult to imagine. It's hard to imagine that that this man that set them up with everything they needed, that they would treat him so shamelessly, with so little respect.

And yet I wonder how many messages from God and messengers from God have you rejected? Think back. How many times has God spoken to you, given you a message, given you a word through the word spoken to you, through a messenger, through someone speaking to you? And you rejected him in the same way I rejected him in the same way. Have there not been times where we have been just as hard hearted? Well finally the owner sends his son. And it's interesting that they recognized this man son. They know it is the owner's son. The problem is that he interferes with their plans.

They want what they want and they're not going to bow to any man. And so they kill him. And it says they throw him out of the vineyard. It's interesting that when Jesus was crucified, it was done outside the city, outside the city walls. We know it's you you listen to the story and you kind of get to the end and you think have they absolutely and totally lost their minds? I mean think about it. Uh uh uh a very wealthy man owns this property. Do they really think they're going to get away with this?

That they can kill all these people? They can kill his very son? And that there's not going to be some accountability? You know in second Peter three it it makes this thought, this this idea. It says that that that in the latter days scoffers are going to come along saying, so where is this Jesus? Where is this Jesus and his promised return? As long as man can remember, he's been saying he's coming back. Where is he? He is not coming. And you know we live in a culture today that's like that, just a disregard for the king, a disregard for the one who has given us everything we have.

The reason you are here this morning, the reason you have the health to be here this morning is because God in his kindness gave that to you. You know the Bible said says that the kindness of God is meant to lead a man to repentance. You know you say why is God so kind to those that are wicked? Because he he loves them and he wants them to come to Christ. His kindness is meant to lead them to repentance. But instead, we fight, we kick, they refuse. Jesus was and is the final messenger. The owner in this story would send no others.

After this he came. Jesus is God 's ultimatum. He's the last message you're going to get. There is no other messenger. There is no other message beyond the message of Jesus. And if you spurn that call, that message, that messenger, there is no other. There is no hope. No hope exists if Christ is refused. You know to share the same fate, you don't have to throw him out of the vineyard. To share the same fate, all you have to do is not let him in. It doesn't take that hardness, that cruelty to to throw him out.

All you need to do is not let him in. Let's go on to verse uh nine. Jesus then goes on. He says, what do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do? I'll tell you. He will come and kill them all and lease the vineyards to others. Didn't you ever read the scriptures? I love when Jesus says that to the religious leaders. Didn't you ever read the scriptures? Can you imagine every time they say that I picture their face is just screwing up like they go into contortions. Didn't you ever read the scripture and didn't we ever read the scriptures?

How could you? You know fuming. Didn't you ever read the scriptures? The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous to see. The Jewish leaders wanted to arrest him for using this illustration because they realized he was pointing at them. They were the wicked farmers in the story. But they were afraid to touch him because of the crowds. And so they left him and went away. The crowds were crazy about Jesus. They loved Jesus. And every time the crowds were around, it stymied their efforts to do what they wanted to do to Jesus.

And that's why eventually when they captured him in the garden, it was when the crowds were not around. They were looking for a moment when the crowds were not there. He says, didn't you ever read the scriptures? And you know it's the same thing with us, the Holy Spirit. We have the ability to reject or to accept. They could have accepted this message, couldn't they? They could have they could have the Holy Spirit convicted them. They knew it was them. They weren't blinded in the thinking this was about somebody else. They knew it was them.

But instead of accepting that, they rejected it. Instead of repenting, they rejected it. Let's go on verse 13. The leader sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to try to the Sadducees, to try to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. Teacher, these men said, we know how honest you are. You are impartial. Now they're trying to trap him. You are impartial and don't play favorites. You sincerely teach the ways of God. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not? Should we pay them or should we not?

Jesus thought saw through their hypocrisy and said, whom are you trying to fool with your trick questions? Show me a Roman coin or show me a denarius and I'll tell you. When they handed it to him, he asked, whose picture and title are stamped on it? Caesar's, they replied. Well then Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God. You can always picture the scene after he says this. They just kind of uh just kind of wide mouth. You know this whole crowd of religious young guy, you know 33 years old.

And all these old guys in their regalia. Yes, Dan, some older than me. Standing there in their regalia. And uh and their and it says this reply completely amazed them. Well they're trying to trap him. And they use flattery. Proverbs says that flattery is a trap. And it is. When someone flatters you, look out. When you read the stories about Jesus, when you read the stories about Paul, look at every time the place adjectives are used, where something's used to hype up, to add to something's going on. And they're flattering it. We know how honest you are.

You're impartial. You don't play favorites. You sincerely teach the truths of God. The definition of flattery is insincere praise. And the problem with pride is you believe all flattery. I think for a proud man there is no flattery. It's just truth. And uh Ben Franklin said the devil sweetens poison with honey. The devil sweetens poison with honey. And men, in particular women true too. In the workplace, if someone of the opposite sex starts flattering you, run away. There's no good going to come of that. Just don't believe it's true. You know better. You're not that good.

You're not that cute. You're not that funny. Ted is, but you know he doesn't run that risk. Well there's what's behind the trap. The Jews were required to pay tax into the Roman treasury. It was the principle that they're after. Uh being under Roman rule, uh some refused to pay. The Zealots refused to pay this tax uh because they were so anti-Roman. The fact that that the Jewish nation would be under the control of any occupied nation just drove them to distraction. They couldn't stand it. So some would refuse to pay, but when they paid it, they paid it with great anger and resentment.

Because every time they paid it, it was a sign that they were under someone's domination. They did not want to pay it There were three taxes that were paid to Rome. 10% of all grain, 20% of all wine and fruit. There was an income tax of 1% that sounds pretty good, huh? 1% income tax. That's a nice flat tax if they changed it. And then there was a poll tax. Men 20 12 to 65 and women 14 to 65 were required to give one denarius per year. And a denarius was a day's wage. This is an actual coin.

And on the back it says pontifex maximus, which means high priest of Rome. Now how do you all think Jews liked giving and carrying a coin and paying? Then on the reverse side it said that the that the Caesar is the high priest of Rome. A denarius was equal to a day's wage. So if someone made makes $30,000 a day, it would be rough it would be $100. So it was a fair amount of money. It was a $100 bill to us. And in this time coins were were the sign of power. They were the sign of power.

When a nation was conquered, new coins were issued. Remember there's no paper money. Everything is in coinage. So when a nation was conquered, new coins would be issued proving that the ruler on the coin had the rule, the right to rule that group of people. When a coin was honored, where a coin was honored, the king held power. It was the sign of who was in power in any given place. The trap that they're trying to set on Jesus here is to side with the Romans because again there's this hatred for Rome. And yet they're compelled to pay tax.

And so they say to Jesus, is it right for us to pay tax or not? Either way they have him because they're trying to take away his popularity of the people. The people hate paying tax. If he says no, the people applaud and the Romans are come come haul him off. If he says yes, you should pay your taxes, well the Romans will be satisfied with that, but the people will be disappointed. So he says, I see your I see your trap. It's interesting that this trap is centered in a nationalism. You know that Jesus eventually as we're coming up at his trial, the charges that are brought against him are this.

It says Jesus is telling the people not to pay their taxes and he's claiming that he's a king. The charges that eventually got Jesus crucified were a charge of nationalism. Pilate tried to release him. Do you remember? He said I find no fault with this man. And he tried to set him free, but the Jewish leaders, the thing that finally pushed Pilate over with the edge was this. They said, if you free this man, you are no friend of Caesar's because he proclaims himself to be a king. And that was it. Pilate was done. He signed the decree and Jesus was crucified.

In Acts 24 where the lawyer Tertullus is before Felix, the charge brought against Paul is that Paul was inciting the Jews to rebel against Roman rule. It was in Russia under Lenin. It was true in China under Chairman Mao. It's been true in hundreds of civilizations under despots. It is this charge of nationalism against our our citizenship in heaven that is used many times to try to bring us to ruin. We should not be surprised that this is starting to take place in this nation. Don't get me wrong. We are to submit to the rules of this land.

Romans is clear in that. There is no authority anywhere except it has been ordained of God. But we should not be surprised that over time even in this nation that's changing. Do you know that in the United States a pastor, a preacher is not allowed to endorse a political person from the pulpit? Do you know that? Do you know and and that's okay. I'm not into that. Do you know in Canada that from the pulpit it is illegal for a pastor, a preacher to talk negatively against homosexuality? Did you know that? Because it's a hate crime.

It 's a hate speech. That's in Canada now. How far are we from that? Well on the flattery issue he brushes it aside. He said, why do you test me? Whose picture's on it? And again we said this before, but he asked the question. Jesus is always asking questions because it takes him off of the defensive and puts him on the offensive and puts the person he's asking the question on the defensive. Whose picture's on it? They say Caesar's. He said, well if it's his, give it to him. Look if it's his, why shouldn't he have it?

And it baffles them. They are amazed. Going to verse 18. Then the Sadducees step forward. A group of Jews who say there is no resurrection after death. They posed this question. Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will then be the brother's heir. Well there were seven brothers. The oldest of them married. Do you get the picture here? A woman is married. Here's the law. A woman is married and she has no children. Her husband dies.

So he dies having no children, no heir to his legacy, to the family name. The Bible commanded that if that happened, that that widow, she was supposed to marry her dead husband's brother. And so that's what happened here. They said there was a woman who had there was a there was a woman whose husband died and there were seven brothers. The oldest of them married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but soon he too died and left no children. Then the next brother married her and died without children. This continued and all the brothers until all the brothers had married her and died and still there were no children.

Last of all the woman died too. So tell us, should you eat her cooking? I just said. You know hey what was she doing? Last of all the woman died too. Uh so tell us whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Can't you just see them, these sly guys? You know so last of all the woman died. I always love these pauses. I draw lines in my Bible where I think a pause ought to be. And there's one right here. Last of all the woman died. Long pause. They look at him. They get that smirk on their face.

So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For she was the wife of all seven. Now remember their premise behind all this is they don't even believe there is a resurrection. They don't believe there's a heaven. They don't believe there's life after death. So they're really going after a bigger point, but they're trying to make him look like a fool because they're so smart. And Jesus replied, you you love this. Your problem is you don't know the scriptures. You don't know the scriptures. And you don't know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they won't be married.

They would be like the angels in heaven. But now and then cuts right to the chase. But now as to whether the dead will be raised, haven't you ever read screwed up faces? Haven't you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, Isaac and the God of Jacob. So he is a God of the living, not of the dead. You have made a serious error. Now the Sadducees or the the group that come with him, they were a Jewish political party.

They were not very large. They were very conservative politically. They were wealthy. They were worldly minded. And they were very willing to cooperate with the Romans in order to get power, prestige and money. So if there were any Jews, powerful Jews that were in bed with the Romans for their own ends, it was the Sadducees. And isn't it interesting that those that didn't want to believe in an afterlife wanted it all here. Makes sense. When we looked at the life of Solomon as it's an interesting truth about Solomon. If you read Ecclesiastes with the understanding that Solomon really didn't believe in a life after, the futility of life, the purpose of it without anything afterwards, it just changes into one big game.

And that's what these men were into. These the Sadducees did not accept the oral law which the Pharisees worshipped. The high priest was usually usually a Sadducee. And the Sadducees believed that when the body died, the soul died, they did not believe in any afterlife. They did not believe in spirits. They did not believe in angels. Well uh this goes back to Deuteronomy 25 and I said as the marriage. means brother-in-law. So it was called the so that the family name and inheritance would go on and not be uh split off to some other. The child was of that second brother or the third brother or the fourth, wherever that boy would finally come from, was considered a son of the original husband.

In every way he was considered a legal son of the husband who had died. All seven brothers all marry the woman, no children. Whose wife will she be in heaven? He says your problem is you don't know the scriptures. Again can you see their faces? These guys are about to blow a gasket. I I mean I picture veins in the neck, veins in the forehead, red faces. You know just like guys like this. And I picture the disciples kind of down here like this watching this going You know they're either doing that or they're or they're down here like oh here he goes again.

Here he goes again. This isn't going to be pretty. You know but he lets them have it. He says when the dead rise. There it is. There's his answer. When the dead rise.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Study the Word with pastor Tom Keller. And we're studying the book of Mark right now. To hear this message again, simply go to ccleb.com and look under resources. We're at ccleb.com. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call 717 507 7862. That's 717 507 7862. And for those that give to the ministry this month, we'll say thanks by sending you pastor Tom's entire study of Daniel. It's called Lions, Tigress and Scares, oh my. There are 22 messages in all. We put them onto a flash drive. Get the entire study of Daniel for a gift of any amount by calling 717 507 7862 or write Study the Word.

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