Challenging The Master | Frank Brancato

I want to invite your attention to a passage that I have on the

screen as I've entitled our remarks today challenging the

Master in Mark chapter 12 and verse 13.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

It says then they sent Him to some of the fair.

Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians

to catch Him in His words. You remember last Sunday I

talked about the triumphal entry in the Jerusalem that happened

on a Sunday. We find that after this happened

on Monday, Jesus cursed the fig tree.

He cleanses the temple. And there was more things that

happened on Tuesday than any other day except for Friday.

In the last week in the Lord's life, they came to him with

challenging questions. They came to challenge his

authority. And what we want to talk about

this this morning for a little while is when the Pharisees and

the Herodians come to Jesus along with the Sadducees, and

they're going to question Jesus once more.

But they've met their match. They're going against the

Master, and he's going to answer them in ways that they cannot

respond to. The Lord was brilliant.

The Lord was perfect. He was the greatest preacher of

the world ever knew. He was indeed and in fact the

Master when they came to Jesus, though they want to get Jesus in

a conflict. And that is between Mosaic

legislation and Roman authorities.

And they're going to ask two questions here.

They are #1 is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?

Now, we're going to talk about today what exactly they meant

about taxes. This is not general taxation.

It was something very specific. So they came and they want to

ask. The Pharisees want to ask, is it

lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? And #2 the Sadducees want to

know what about the resurrection?

Because the Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection.

So in Mark chapter 12 and verse 13, it says then they sent to

Mark 12 · chapter mention

him. OK, Mark doesn't tell us who

were part of the delegation, who was part of this committee, and

who were the ones that sent these people to come to Jesus to

try to catch him in his words. If you go to Matthew's account

in Matthew chapter 22, we find it was in fact the Pharisees.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

They took counsel to ensnare Jesus.

Now, interesting about this, the veteran leaders didn't come to

question Jesus. I think this is very important.

The Pharisees and the Herodians sent their own disciples.

They sent younger people, younger men to question Jesus.

And I think there's a reason that they did that.

I think the reason that they did that is they wanted to do it

under the guise of being look, after all, we're just young

people asking questions. In other words, it's the

innocence of young people just coming to innocently ask

questions. But they had ulterior motives.

They wanted to try to ensnare Jesus.

They wanted to try to trick Jesus.

You know, I thought about this this morning as I always get up

early on Sunday morning when I preach and I get in my office

and I think about what I'm going to say and so forth.

And I thought about this and I thought about lawyers.

And you know, it's said about lawyers in court, especially

when they cross examine a witness, they never ask a

question that they don't already know the answer.

So when they ask a question, it might seem like they're asking a

really nice way or saying a very complimentary thing, and then

they lower the boom and they try to get the person that they're

cross examining to catch themselves or be tricked.

That's exactly what they do to Jesus.

And they do it under the guise of having these younger

disciples of the Herodians. We'll talk about who they were

in a minute. And the Pharisees who came to

question Jesus for the purpose, one purpose, and that is to

stump Jesus. OK, interesting.

Pharisees and Herodians, do you know that this is the only time

that I have read where the Herodians and the Pharisees make

an alliance? And we're going to add something

to this too. We're going to add the

Sadducees. Now you got to picture this.

You got the Pharisees and they oppose the Sadducees.

You got the Sadducees, they oppose the Pharisees.

You got the Pharisees who oppose the Herodians and all this

stuff, and now all of a sudden they're making an alliance

together to question Jesus. Or who were the Herodians?

The Herodians supported the House of Herod.

In other words, the Herodians were a political party.

The Pharisees were a religious party.

So now you've got a political party that was opposed to the

religious party and the religious party opposed to the

political party, and now they're joining forces against Jesus.

Amazing. In other words, amazingly so, as

one man put it this way, the Pharisees oppose the Herodians

on political grounds, and the Pharisees oppose the Sadducees

on religious grounds. But on this occasion, they're

together because they want to catch Jesus in his words.

You know, the word catch actually means a word comes from

a word in its origins to mean to catch wild animals or fish or

two in snare. And here they come with these

questions. And here's the first one in Mark

Mark 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 and verse 14. It comes from the Pharisees.

When they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you

are true and care about no one, for you do not regard the person

of men, but teach the way of God in truth.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Let's back up. First of all, the word teacher,

and I have to put this on the screen, even though you've heard

me say it many times. Got to do it because I want to

make a point about it. In the New Testament, in the

gospels, when they call Jesus Teacher, Master, Lord, it comes

from the word DD scalos that can be translated in one of those 3

English words. We know that OK.

In fact the new King James says in this passage, Teacher, the

old King James says Master. I'm saying this to say this.

It's a term of respect. But these Pharisees have no

respect at all for Jesus. They have tremendous disdain for

Jesus. They want to stump him.

They want to challenge him. They're messing with the wrong

guy. And it all begins with this, oh,

teacher, a term of respect. Then they go further and say

this. We know that you're true.

We know that you are true. They didn't believe that either.

But isn't it kind of brilliant on their part to kind of do it

in that way? Kind of like I was talking about

a lawyer that's cross examining a witness.

You're kind of setting them up for the kill.

They said, you know that you are true.

Now we know that you are true. Now they didn't believe that,

but they knew Jesus asserted that.

But then they say and care about no one.

And on the surface it appears that they're saying, Jesus,

teacher, we know that you're true, but you don't care about

anybody. It seems like that's what you're

saying on the surface, but not so fast.

You know, if I would use this, I might say this.

Now, Chris, I can use Chris because this doesn't apply to

Chris. Chris cares about everybody.

But if I were to say to Chris, Chris, you don't care about

anybody, that would mean that he is selfish.

That would mean that he only cares about himself.

We use that in our common vernacular today.

He only cares about himself. He doesn't care about anybody.

So it appears when you read this in our English translations that

that's exactly what they're saying.

But remember this, and how many times have you heard me say

this? We got to go to context of the

passage. What is the context of the

passage? The context of this passage

actually answers what this phrase means.

What he's talking about is when he says and care about no one,

he's meaning this. You care about no one, meaning

you are not biased toward anyone.

You have no personal bias for anyone.

How do I know that? The very next phrase for you do

not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in

truth, in other words, and that's a true statement, by the

way, about Jesus. That's true as a very true

statement. Jesus taught the way of God in

truth, and he wasn't swayed by the popularity or by a person or

a man of great influence. You know, I'm going to tell you

something that is a remarkable and incredible thing to say

about anybody where they would be so much so divinely or they

would be concerned about what is right, concerned about being

consistent in the truth that they would speak the truth of

God and not be swayed just because somebody of influence

tried to sway them a different way.

That is a brilliant thing to say about anybody.

And that's what they said about Jesus and that is true.

So they're kind of setting him up.

Teacher term of respect. We know that you're true.

We know you have no personal bias.

We know that you don't regard the person by way of pulling you

away from teaching God in truth. And then here it comes.

Here's the question, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or

not? Now what this is talking about

too. In the new King James, it says

taxes. In the old King James, it says

tribute, and the word actually means census or poll tax.

Like I said in my introduction, this is not talking about

general taxation. This is talking about a specific

kind of tax, OK? What is a poll tax?

And the reason they do this is because there was a lot of

controversy about poll tax. What is a poll tax?

A poll tax was a tax that is levied on individuals rather

than property. OK, big controversy about it.

I'm going to give you another New Testament example of this in

just a moment. What else?

A poll tax consisted of one denarius or a penny?

A denarius, a coin that represented one day's wages for

one working man. A poll tax consisted of one

denarius per head and was assessed on every adult male in

Judea. OK, OK.

This is not the only time that this is brought up.

It actually is brought up in another passage in the New

Testament by Judas of Galilee. Not Judas Iscariot, but Judas of

Galilee in Acts chapter 5 and verse 37.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the

census and drew away many people after him.

He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.

OK, Josephus was a Jewish historian, and Josephus said

this about Judas of Galilee. He said Judas of Galilee LED a

rebellion against such attacks in about AD 7, when he angrily

denounced it as being no less than high treason against God.

That's what they're asking Jesus, because sometimes we do

this, sometimes we refer to this passage as proof that Jesus says

we got to pay our taxes. And yeah, it's true, we got to

pay our taxes, and he's going to prove that too.

But in context, what he's talking about is he's talking

about a controversial subject that had a lot of emotion

attached to it. He's talking about a specific

thing, a poll tax. And what do you want to know is

this? Is it lawful to pay this poll

tax to Caesar or not? You know why?

Because the religious people opposed it, and the people that

were for Caesar were for it. So now they want to try to catch

Jesus. And you know what they want him

to do? They want him to answer with one

word, either yes or no. If he says yes, it's lawful to

pay this kind of poll tax to Caesar, then all of a sudden

he's alienated from his religious cohorts and the

Pharisees would hate him and say that he's basically against God.

And if he says no, it's not lawful to pay this tax to

Caesar, then he's branded a traitor to his nation and

country. And that's why they want to ask

him this question. So very clear, very cleverly and

carefully, the question is constructed.

So after that they say this shall we pay or shall we not

pay? In other words, verse 14 says,

is it lawful? Verse 15 says, shall we do it?

And that completes the question. The answer though is absolutely

brilliant. Jesus knowing their hypocrisy

said to them, why do you test me?

And then he said, bring me a denarius that I may see it, you

know, interesting. Why did Jesus ask that question?

Or why did Jesus say bring me a denarius?

Well, first of all, Jesus didn't need more time to answer the

question. And by the way, he didn't need

to see a denarius to make his decision to answer the question

either. Jesus knew the answer.

He was going to prove the answer with what?

What was on the coin. So he says bring me a denarius

that I may see it now. Interesting, the phrase bring me

actually is for the purpose. The reason it says bring me is

because they didn't happen to have one close by.

Why was that? These were Roman coins.

OK, in the Jewish temple only Jewish money was allowed.

Jesus had already driven out the money changers.

So guess what, There was no denarius.

Ordinary eye around at that time.

So in order to get one, somebody had to leave that temple area

and perhaps go out to the court of the Gentiles or go outside

the temple area and find a denarius.

And that's what Jesus says go get me one, bring it to me.

In fact, in verse 16, when it says so they brought it, that

indicates or it's inferred that they had to go and get it.

Now interesting, what was on the coin at the time of this

particular narrative, Tiberius was the reigning Caesar.

OK, so on one side of the coin, it would have been Tiberius

head, his face. That's on one side.

There also would have been an inscription on the other side.

I heard actually it would be, it would have been a, I don't know,

a picture of or a description of him sitting on a throne with a

diadem and a crown, all that stuff.

But on one side it was a picture of his face and there was an

inscription. And this was, by the way, the

inscription. Jesus asked the question, whose

inscription is this? And that's what it would have

said. And what's that mean?

I don't know about you, but I can't read that.

I don't know what that says. What it means is this.

So this is brilliant. The Lord goes like this, they

bring him a Daenerys. He said whose inscription is

this? And that's what was on the

inscription. Then it means this Tiberius

Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus.

That's on one side of the coin. All right, flip the coin over.

On the other side of the coin. It would have said Pontiff Maxim

and that means highest priest. So when the Lord said whose

image and inscription is this in response to them saying is it

lawful for us to pay this tax? We're talking about this poll

tax and should we do it or not? Jesus tried to stump him.

He says go get me a denarius. I don't know how much time by

the way, past. Can you imagine the delay?

And the Lord is patiently waiting for one to be brought

back to him. And now He has it and he holds

it up and He says, whose description, inscription is

this? And that's what was on the

denarius. So when Jesus asked that

question, there was only one answer and that was it is

Caesar's. It is Caesar's.

In other words, the coin answered the question.

Therefore, in Mark chapter 12 and verse 17 we have these words

Mark 12 · chapter mention

and Jesus answered and said to them very familiar words.

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the

things that are God. OK, the word render is a very

important word here. The word render means to pay

something as a debt. Don't let this slip by us

please. This is not a gift.

It is not a gift when you rendered a Caesar that which is

Caesar's, it's a debt. But if you also stop to consider

it's also not a gift when we give our life to God.

It's a debt. That's what the word render is.

And render applies to both things, Caesar and God.

I make this point because sometimes this is what people

do. Well meaning people, wonderful

people sometimes, but they misunderstand what's actually

required of them. The Bible says we are bought

with a price. We have been purchased from the

slave market of sin by the inestimable price of the blood

of Jesus. Romans chapter 6 says therefore

Romans 6 · chapter mention

we are slaves for Jesus Christ, slaves to righteousness.

That's what we are. We're either a slave of sin or

the slave of righteousness. When Jesus purchases us out of a

slave market of sin and we contact the blood of Jesus at

baptism and we become a child of God, we now have a debt to pay,

not a gift, and that debt is to God.

As Paul says, we are debtors and do you know something else?

We are, We're not only a debtor to God, but part of being a

debtor to God is being a debtor to each other.

In fact, the Bible says, Oh no, man, anything.

And we get what that means. We get what that means.

We get that means, look, in the New Testament, it teaches us

that Christians need to pay our bills.

And just because you pay things on time does not mean you're not

paying your bills. If you have an agreement to pay

somebody something, whether it's a creditor, whether it's

personal, whatever it is, you must pay that.

We all get that. And that's what the Bible says

when it says, oh, no man anything.

But then Paul says, but to love one another, in other words,

that is a love of debt that we need to pay or a debt of love

that we need to pay all of our life and we'll never pay it off.

We pay our debts until they're paid off, but we have a debt of

love that will never be paid off Why?

Because of what Jesus did. Don't you see we're debtors too,

and render suggest something that is a debt and not a gift.

What the Lord is pointing out here though, is this.

When you pay to Caesar or render to Caesar your debt to Caesar,

it doesn't remove #1 your responsibility, or it doesn't

remove the possibility of serving God too.

You can serve God and still take care of your debt that you have

by way of taxation with this poll tax.

It doesn't hinder us in any way. By the way.

I love this though, because when he talks about what is the

inscription, what do you see on that?

What are you saying is this? You paid a Caesar that which

bears his image, which is a denarius or a Roman coin.

OK, but guess what? We are all made in the image of

God, so we have a responsibility to him and that's our greatest

allegiance and our greatest alliance.

So yeah, we've got to take care of that.

We've got to fulfill that law. Yes, we do.

But if there comes time in our life when you have to choose

one, Peter says you got to obey God rather than men.

In other words, we obey the laws of the land, we pay exactly what

is owed to us, and we obey the law.

And we're the best citizens in the world.

We're supposed to be Christian until whatever law like our

brother prayed. We pray that there'll be no laws

that would keep us from worship. And we're thankful that we live

in a country that is free, that we are free to worship as we

choose. That's wonderful.

But if there ever was a law that says you can't do it, guess what

we do? We obey God.

We obey God and not men instead. OK, Luke's account says this,

though. Well, first of all, it says they

marveled at him. What does that mean?

Luke actually adds why they marveled and what is meant by

that passage. Luke says they could not catch

him in his words, in the presence of the people.

And that's why they marveled. They thought they really had

him. They thought they had him dead

to rights. OK, that's the Pharisees

question. Now come to Sadducees.

Mark chapter 12 beginning in verse 18.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

Then the Sadducees who say there's no resurrection, came to

him and they asked him, saying, Teacher Moses wrote to us that

if a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind and

leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise

up offspring for his brother. All right, first of all, let's

back up. Who are the Sadducees?

The Sadducees were usually among the wealthy priests.

They were the religious aristocrats, and they tended to

look down upon everybody else. And really, they were

characterized by materialism, That's number one.

And #2 they opposed the resurrection.

Can you imagine being someone that's religious?

Like they were living under the Law of Moses at the time, but

being very religious and not believing in a life after this.

Can you imagine if this is it, If this is all there was?

You know the Bible talks about if there is no resurrection, we

are all men, most the King James says most measurable or

pitiable. If that's all there was, the

Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection.

The Pharisees came and questioned Jesus about taxes.

Now they're out of the picture for just a moment.

Now you got the Sadducees. They didn't believe in a

resurrection. So they think they got a real

big thing here. They got a real proof here that

they can prove that there is no resurrection by coming to Jesus.

Now, why didn't they believe in a resurrection?

Well, there was a couple of reasons.

Reasons. First of all, they absolutely

disdained oral tradition, and the Pharisees, by the way, were

all about oral tradition. What that means is this, the

tradition of the elders that were passed down generation

after generation under Judaism or rabbinic tradition.

In other words, based upon the codification of rabbinic

tradition, where rabbis would add and elders would add various

things by tradition to what God had given them in the law, the

law of Moses, they would add that and they would say that's

binding too. And we know examples of that,

like when you can't carry your bed.

That's why Jesus took a shot at that when he says take up your

bed and walk on the Sabbath, right?

That was one of the things, one of the 39 things they added.

The Sadducees opposed oral tradition.

Pharisees were all about oral tradition.

So the Sadducees said this, if you can't read it in the books

of Moses, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and

Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible, the books of

the law, the Pentateuch, the Torah, if you can't read it in

those books, they didn't believe you should accept it.

So they come to Jesus with something that Moses said, and

this was true. They came with this idea and

they said teacher Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies

and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children, his brother

should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

What they're referring to is Deuteronomy chapter 25 is from

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

the Old Testament. Let me just notice a couple

passages with you and Deuteronomy 25 beginning in

verse 5. If brothers dwell together and

one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall

not be married to a stranger outside the family.

Her husband's brother shall go into her, take her as his wife,

and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

And it shall be that the first born son which she bears will

succeed to the name of the dead brother, that his name may not

be blotted out of Israel. This is called by the way.

And I looked up, I looked up that, you know, you can get

those. You can Google the apps about

how to pronounce ancient words. So, you know, it's hard

sometimes to know how to pronounce all the words.

So this is actually pronounced lever it or lever it law.

And it comes from a Hebrew word lever.

And it means a husband's brother or brother-in-law.

It was lever it law or lever it law.

Disobedience to this law or half hearted obedience to this law.

Like for example, marrying the woman or the widow.

But refusing offspring was a very, very serious matter. 2

passages Deuteronomy 25 beginning in verse 7.

But if a man dies, but if a man does not want to take his

brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate

to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to

raise up a name to my brother in Israel.

He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.

Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him.

But if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then

his brother's wife shall come to him in presence of the elders,

remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and

say, so shall it be to the man who will not build up his

brother's house, and his name shall be called in Israel the

House of him who had his sandal removed.

OK, give you an example by the way, of when that happened, when

a man went in to take the widow as his bride, but did not

fulfill the obligation of conception to produce a child,

to produce a son. You know what happened to that

man? You know, the passage goes back

to Genesis 38 beginning verse 8, and Judas said to Onan, go into

your brother's wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your

brother. But Onan knew that the heir

would not be his. And it came to pass when he went

into his brother's wife that he emitted on the ground lest he

should give an heir to his brother.

And the thing which he did displease the Lord, therefore he

killed him. Also, serious matter.

I'm so glad we don't live under the law of Moses, but it was a

serious matter. That's the scenario.

They presented Jesus to try to disprove the resurrection.

OK, now they come up with this scenario.

In other words, they talk about Leverett Law.

You've heard what Moses said. Now we've got a scenario for

you, Jesus, and this is to disprove you about the

resurrection. Here it is.

Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and dying

he left no offspring. And the second took her and he

died, Nor did he leave any offspring, and the third

likewise. So the seven had her and left no

offspring. Last of all, the woman died

also. Therefore in the resurrection

will they rise. Whose wife will she be?

For all seven had her as a wife. All right in this hip, this

hypothetical question to make the resurrection sound

ridiculous. Here it is.

If the premise of marriage continues after the resurrection

and there is such a resurrection and there will be a

resurrection, that's what they're putting together.

If she had 7 husbands that means she's going to be with seven men

in eternity trying to make Jesus look terrible about the

resurrection. It shows their logic is based on

faulty assumptions and that's based upon ignorance.

Jesus said to them are you not mistaken because you do not know

the scriptures nor the power of God.

They thought they knew the scriptures.

Now get this, what Jesus is saying is, and notice how he

answered the Pharisees question by asking them a question.

He answers this by also asking a question.

He says, are you not therefore mistaken because you do not know

the scriptures nor the power of God?

You don't know the scriptures, you don't know the power of God.

They should have understood the Scriptures, They should have

understood God, and they should have understood, and we're going

to get to the Scriptures in just a moment, but they didn't

understand the power of God because God is so powerful.

He can resurrect a body in such that does not need to be married

or a spiritual body that's going to be fit for heaven.

You don't even know the power of God, He's saying, and you don't

know the Scriptures. I can't imagine how that went

all over them when he said that marriage is necessary to

preserve the human race. But what about in a place, by

the way, that everybody is immortal?

There's no need for reproduction, none at all.

The Bible says we are going to be as the angels of God in

heaven. I'm going to get more to get to

that in just a minute, some more.

When we're in heaven, we're not going to be married.

I don't know all that it's going to be, but I do know this.

Whatever body we're going to get at the resurrection, we're going

to be raised incorruptible in an incorruptible body.

Isn't that great? Because you know what happens?

This body gets a little corruptible.

This body gets sick, this body gets stuffed.

This body dies. This body gets old.

This body wears out. And when you're buried, guess

what? It goes in corruption.

It is sown in corruption. Paul said it is raised in

incorruption. That means in the resurrection

we're going to get a body that is incorruptible, that is fit

for eternity. And the Bible describes it like

this. It'll be like Jesus and it'll be

as the angels of God in heaven, whatever that means, fit for

eternity. You know what the Lord's saying?

You don't understand anything because there is no marriage in

heaven. There's no need for it.

But if we talk about angels, you know, I said the Sadducees did

not believe in a resurrection. Did you know the Sadducees also

didn't believe in angels? And they didn't believe in

angels because they said if it's only oral tradition and not

found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and

Deuteronomy, we're not going to believe it, so it can't happen.

So we don't believe in angels either.

How do I know they didn't believe in angels?

Acts 23 and eight for Sadducees say there is no resurrection and

no Angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.

OK, remember when I said they only believe that if it's in

Genesis, Exodus, the visions number to run?

OK, you know it's amazing in the book of Genesis, the very first

book in the Bible, it talks about angels.

Remember in Genesis chapter 19 with Sodom and Gomorrah, very

Genesis 19 · chapter mention

familiar story. Don't have time to go into it.

Very first book. That's why Jesus said you don't

know the scriptures. Now the two angels to what

angels, Angels. There they are, right there,

angels. Now the two angels came to

Sodom. Where'd they come from?

Messengers of God in the evening, and Lot was sitting in

the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose up to

meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

So in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 19, and one

speaks about angels that they said they understood, but they

certainly did not, and they're ignorant of the Scriptures.

Jesus goes on to say this beginning in verse 25.

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are

given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.

But concerning the dead that they rise.

Have you not read in the book of Moses?

Again, we're going back to the Old Testament, by the way.

Now we're talking about Exodus. We already blew him out of the

water on Genesis 19 about angels.

Now we're going to get him on Exodus very next book, going to

get him by the resurrection. Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

Have you not read in the book of Moses, Exodus 3 in the burning

Bush passage how God spoke to them saying I am the God of

Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

This is absolutely brilliant. Jesus was saying this.

Have you not read in the book you say you believe in and

understand that at the burning Bush passage, Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob had been dead for many years and God saying to Moses, I

am their God, not I was their God, I am their God.

You know what that means? You've heard me say this at

funerals. That means Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob existed somewhere. And that's exactly what happens

when a person dies too, by the way.

They're as alive as they've ever been.

They're just not here. Question is, where are they?

Because we're all going to exist somewhere.

There's only two places. It's going to be one of two

places, but you're going to exist somewhere for eternity.

We all will, right? That's why we got to make sure

we're ready to go and do what the Lord wants us to do in our

life, right? I am their God in the present

tense. So even Moses taught in the book

they said they believed in and the book they said that was

authoritative for them to draw conclusions about and answer

questions about said there's life after this one.

So Jesus says this in Mark 12 and 27.

He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.

You are therefore greatly mistaken.

It is a huge mistake to question Jesus, and it's a huge mistake

to question him then, and it's a huge mistake to question him

now. When the Lord says something,

believe it, apply it to your life, accept it.

If I say something, who am I? Check me, I mean check me.

The Apostle Paul even said that he praised those that Berea for

searching the scriptures daily to see if those things were so.

Don't ever take what a man says, whether it's, well, I'm just

going to say, what about anything that you can't prove?

But I'm going to say about religiously speaking, don't ever

take what a man says religiously at face value and believe it if

you can't prove it with the Bible.

But if the Lord says it, man, you got to accept it.

They came to Jesus to try to test him, to try to tempt him.

They were messing with the wrong guy.

He blew him out of the water. I don't know if using our

vernacular, they, the Lord knocked it out of the park.

They had nothing to say, but I want to ask you this as we wrap

up our remarks this morning. When it comes to our eternity,

there's no greater question in the world.

There isn't, because nothing else matters than the answer to

this question. Here it is going to ask it.

Are you saved? That's the only question that

matters. Someone said one time, if there

is no God then nothing matters, but if there is a God then

nothing else matters. Well, there is a God as the song

says, and he is alive. He is alive and he's real.

Question is. If we're going to spend eternity

somewhere and all this life is, it is a transition to another

time, another place. The question is where are you

going to spend eternity? Are you saved?

Here's what you have to do to be saved.

Not because it came from me, I'm going to give it to you from the

Bible. Here it is.

We always extended invitation. This is from the Word of God.

You got to hear the word of God. Romans 10/17, the apostle Paul

says so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word

of God. After you hear the word of God,

you have a choice. You got to believe with all your

heart. Hebrews 11 and six says without

faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God

must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who

diligently seek Him. Then what?

I got to change my life. I can't continue the life I've

been living when I've been in sin in the world without Jesus.

I got to change some stuff. Acts 17 and 30.

I got to repent in my sins. Truly these times of ignorance

God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

Then what? I got to be willing to say

something. The greatest thing I will ever

say. I got to confess Jesus Christ as

the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if

you believe with all your heart you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. All right.

All of these steps point towards salvation, but the point of

salvation is in contacting the blood of Jesus, and that is at

baptism for the remission of sins.

Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized

will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

This word belief means this. It means having the force to

obey. I believe so much, I believe so

heartedly, so strongly. I'm going to obey what the Lord

said. What did He say?

I need to be baptized. How?

For the remission of my sins. One final passage.

Baptism saves us. It's the act of baptism that

saves us first. Peter 321.

The like figure where to even baptism doth also now save us.

Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of

a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus

Christ. If you've never taken those

steps of obedience to become a child of God, we would love to

assist you in that today. Maybe you have taken those

steps. Maybe you've drifted away.

Maybe there's just something in your life that you need to

correct. Then do that today.

Be want to be your class. Come forward while we stand and

while we see.