The Desperation of Unbelief

Luke 20:19-40
“The desperation of unbelief”
4/13/08

Luke_20_19-40
I. Chapter-20 opened with Jesus being confronted by those who represent the whole cross section of Jewish leadership (chief priests, scribes, and the elders), questioning His authority, we left off in verse-18 with Jesus having exposed and confronted them with the fact that they in rejecting Him they were rejecting God's anointed one.
Luke 20:17-18 (NKJV)
17 Then He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’ ?
18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
II. As we resume our study we read:
Luke 20:19-20 (NKJV)
19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.
20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.
A. From that hour they wanted to kill Him
1. They were angry enough to force a conclusion to their rejection of Him right then but they feared the people, which restrained them.
a. The reason for their rage was that they perceived that the parable of the viyard owner that He had just told was against them.
b. Anger and rage (Problems you and I face)
(1) Makes a fool out of us like Balaam with his donkey (Number 22)
Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NKJV)
9 Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.
(2) Anger poisons our heart and leads to bitterness.
Psalm 37:8 (NKJV)
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.

Ephesians 4:26 (NKJV)
26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
(a) Each one of us has experienced regret for how we have acted in our anger.
James 1:19-20 (NKJV)
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

c. Anger of God provoked by man (God's anger is always righteous)

Nehemiah 9:17 (NKJV)
17 They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them.
(1) Yet over and over again we read of God's anger being kindled, and if we think it through we begin to get a peek into the wickedness that is in our hearts; the gulf between unrighteous man and a righteous and holy God is beyond our ability to grasp fully!
B. They feared the people (instead of God)! (Which is what restrained them)
Acts 5:29 (NKJV)
29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.

Colossians 3:22-23 (NKJV)
22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
1. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom
III. So in their desperation they began to try to trap Him in His words.
20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.
A. The first trap they set regards taxes to Caesar
Luke 20:21-22 (NKJV)
21 Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:
22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
1. It is interesting that they say they know the things that He says and teaches are right
a. But we see no evidence that they live accordingly.
(1) Do we?
2. Also they say that they know He is not a respecter of persons, indicating they see it as a quality yet they ignore it in their own lives!
3. What we see is their hypocrisy and insincerity as they speak these words of flattery.
a. Insincerity and flattery wounds people:
Proverbs 26:28
28A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it,
And a flattering mouth works ruin.
NKJV

Proverbs 28:23
23He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward
Than he who flatters with the tongue.
NKJV
4. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
a. The question is designed to entrap Jesus in a religious political dilemma.
(1) A yes answer would antagonize the people and discredit Him as a spokesman for God.
(a) How could someone claiming to be the Messiah advocate submission to a pagan government?
(2) A no answer would invite retaliation from Rome.
5. But Jesus turns the tables on them!
Luke 20:23-26 (NKJV)
23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me?
24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
25 And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.
a. Notice; He perceived their craftiness, He makes a statement in the form of a question "Why do you test me?"
(1) He knows they are prepared to go to any length, thus He is looking into their hearts! (Desperation when we reject truth will take us anywhere if we let it)
(a) He understands their motives!
(2) He sees into our hearts, which means we are naked before Him in the sense that we can't hide ANYTHING from Him.
(a) We need to be honest with God; to learn to be sincere with God and not try to bargain with Him, or con Him.
b. His Answer to their question.
(1) Bring me a denarius, and He asks them whose image and inscription is this?
(a) The coin was minted under the authority of Herod and the Roman government.
i) To use the coin meant to recognize value in it and secondly recognize or to yield to some degree to the authority behind it.
ii) The fact that they had such a coin implicated them in this sense.
(2) And then He says to them; “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
(a) Jesus basically acknowledges that there are debts owed to man and debts owed to God. Duty to both is not necessarily a conflict.
i) The tax was a debt owed to Caesar for the use of his money and the benefits of his rule.
(b) What things belong to government?
i) In the words of the "Teachers Bible Commentary", Only material things: things that have no lasting value and cannot really reflect the issues of life.
(c) What things belong to God?
i) Again in the words of the Teachers commentary; Our heart, our soul, our love, our obedience, our whole being.
ii) Our relationship to God is to be just that, a relationship, a love relationship.
(1) Does He have our Hearts! (consider the words of a song we sing)
Lord you have my heart
And I will search for yours
Jesus take my life and lead me on

Lord you have my heart
And I will search for yours
Let me be to you a sacrifice

And I will praise you Lord
And I will sing of love come down
And as you show your face
We'll see your glory here

©1992 Kingsway's Thankyou Music
Words and Music by Martin Smith
(a) Perhaps these are indicators as to the truth of our claim to love Him!
(3) We read in verse-26
26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.
(a) They couldn't catch Him, His answer left them speechless, but it did not stop the next group from trying.
B. The next question in an attempt to trap Him came from the Sadducee's.
Luke 20:27-33 (NKJV)
27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,
28 saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children.
30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.
31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.
32 Last of all the woman died also.
33 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”

1. Sadducees did not believe in the soul, life after death, resurrection, final judgment, angels, or demons and they accepted only the Law of Moses as their religious authority; so, if a doctrine could not be defended from the first five books of the Old Testament, they would not accept it.
Acts 23:8 (NKJV)
8 For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.
a. They have constructed what they think is the perfect argument to trip Him up and show their superior wisdom and demonstrate folly in His.
(1) They are playing on a custom known as levirate marriage.
(a) This custom of a brother raising up seed to his deceased brother was something that was a part of the code of Hammurabi and also became part of the law. (Deut. 25:5-6)
b. It is a hypothetical question and hypothetical questions are often very ridicules in their construction and this is a doozy.
2. Jesus nails them not by stating the improbability of their scenario but that the very foundation itself is wrong.
Luke 20:34-38 (NKJV)
34 Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
a. First He says there will be no marriage in the resurrection but men will be like the angels, being God's children and children of the resurrection.
b. But secondly He proves the fact of resurrection to them from the books of Moses; quoting from the burning bush passage in Ex.-3
(1) In that passage God says that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (present tense) though they have long been in the grave.
(2) He is (present tense) Jesus says: "not the God of the dead, but of the living."
(a) And in doing this He demonstrates that they neither know the scriptures nor the power of God.
Mark 12:24 (NKJV)
24 Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?
(b) We see the importance of carefully looking at what the scripture says...
i) Watch out for our pre-suppositions.
(1) Jesus clearly took a literal approach to interpreting the scriptures!
ii) Look at it inductively and not deductively.
iii) What did God mean when He said this? Why did He say it???
C. Then in verses 39-40 we read:
Luke 20:39-40 (NKJV)
39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.”
40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
1. They recognized He has bettered them with the scriptures and they dared not ask Him anymore seeing the futility in this approach to stumble Him.
2. Now in our next study, He is going to pose a question to them, a difficult question, that again challenges them in concerns to who He is.
IV. As we close this morning, what wonderful truth we have here, that there is a resurrection, that when we die that is not the end of us.
A. And in light of this knowledge we really need to see the importance of rendering to Caesar (and the systems of this world) the things that belong to them the material things which have no life or ability to give life (eternal life) in them.
1. And to render to God the things that belong to Him; Our heart, our soul, our love, our obedience, our whole being.
a. Unbelief and the absence of God in our lives leave us with a desperation that will go to any length to deny His existence and our responsibility toward Him.
b. But oh what joy and peace there is in a love relationship with Him based on faith.
Make sure they are yours today…
Be a disciple (a follower) of Jesus….
(1) Let me encourage you all to:
Psalm 34:8 (NKJV)
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!


B. Close with the blessing:
Numbers 6:24-26 (NKJV)
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’