Luke 20:19-20
This I See
For the last few weeks, we have been looking at the "trap chapter,"
the chapter where the religious leaders do their best to trap Jesus
into saying something that would give them a reason to arrest and
kill Jesus or at the least turn the tide of public opinion against
Him.
Scripture records four attempts on their part:
1. \\#Lule 20:1-8\\ dealt with authority
2. \\#Luke 20:21-26\\ dealt with taxes
3. \\#Luke 22:27-38\\ dealt with marriage and the resurrection
4. \\#Matt 22:34-40\\ recorded a man asking Jesus about the greatest
command. That man was almost saved.
Tonight, let’s glean through these and see some truths which I find
interesting.
I. \\#Luke 20:1-8\\ You cannot deal with the truth haters.
A. The religious leaders attempted to trap Jesus by asking Him by
whose authority He did His miracles.
B. We have already talked about this, but in thinking over it, I
saw something I did not see before.
1. We noticed that Jesus never directly answered the
question. Instead, Jesus asked them almost the same
question about John the Baptist.
2. The reason Jesus did not answer the question was because
if He had told them the truth, religious leaders would
have called it blasphemy and stoned Jesus.
C. What I noticed was that Jesus could not tell them the truth.
1. Isn’t it sad when the truth will cost you your life? (Not
that Jesus was holding on to His life, but He did have a
rendezvous with the cross on Thursday.)
2. What would have happened if Jesus had told the religious
leaders the truth? The same thing that happens when you
tell them the truth today.
a. Reason becomes the enemy.
(1) People who live in their make-believe castles
hate logic.
(2) Pick a topic - The origins of life, child-
rearing, gun-control—any topic, then try to
talk to God-hater about it. For many, you will
find that no amount of logic and reason will
reach them.
b. Rage becomes their rational. I watched a clip of
Whoopi Goldberg interviewing Jeanine Pirro on FB the
other day. It was less than 2 minutes, but what I
saw was a woman whose vulgar wrath made her
incapable of carrying on a conversation of any kind.
c. Retribution becomes their response.
(1) You will see it in Jesus’ life. They will kill
Him.
(2) And you will see it in ours one day soon.
(a) The God-haters are working themselves into
a frenzy and no one is attempting to hold
them back.
(b) In fact, many seem to be stirring them up.
II. \\#Luke 20:21-26\\ It all belongs to this world.
A. This trap dealt with the topic of taxes and has helped me and
no doubt many others as they accept the truth.
B. Why did the Jews ask this question?
1. If Jesus had said, "No. Do not pay the taxes." They
would have brought Him to Caesar as a traitor.
2. Since Jesus said, "Yes. Pay the taxes." They hoped some
of the people might turn against Him.
C. Understand that the Jews did not WANT the Romans to be in
Israel.
1. They were a conquered and occupied people.
2. The taxes the Jews were being forced to pay seemed to
them as if they were being forced to pay for own
conquest.
D. Understand that Americans do not live under any circumstance
like that.
1. We are taxed and we are taxed for some very wicked causes,
causes for which many Christians would never support.
a. Abortion was my crisis issue.
b. But there are many other issues - Funding illegal
immigration, distribution of alcohol, condoms, drugs,
paying people NOT to work, promotion of evil and
wicked lifestyles, and many, many more.
2. However presently, we are not a politically-conquered
people just a politically-deceived people.
3. I day that to emphasize one thought: If Jesus told the
Jews in the circumstances they were in to pay their
taxes, He would certainly want people in America to pay
theirs.
4. Did Jesus want the Jews to pay their taxes?
E. Yes.
Luke 20:25 And he said unto them, Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which be
Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.
1. Jesus’ command was and is that if it belongs to the
government, do what the government tells you to do with
it.
2. Now, I know there are some questions here.
a. I fully understand the government has claimed things
which are NOT theirs.
b. But for simplicity, let me say that Christ wants us to
go as far as we can to obey the authority that He has
placed over us.
c. Remember, we are still blessed to be living in this
country.
d. It is NOT what it was but it is NOT what the Jews of
Jesus’ day lived under.
F. So what do we do?
1. We let God pick our battles.
2. We understand that God is not fighting every battle
right now.
a. God will right every wrong and vanquish every sin.
b. But not right now.
III. \\#Luke 22:27-38\\ There is more to heaven than earthly life.
A. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They
believed when you were dead, you were dead. Not much a hope
or a religion, is it?
1. They created a story (based on an Old Testament command)
where a woman was married seven times on earth and they
wanted to know who she would be married to heaven.
2. Of course they thought their question would show how
foolish life after death would be.
3. Little did they know, their question only made THEM look
foolish.
B. Jesus’ answer gave a lot of new information to us.
1. Jesus taught that the Bible proved there is life after
death.
Luke 20:37 Now that the dead are raised, even
Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the
Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the
living: for all live unto him.
a. Jesus quoted Ex 3:6, where God introduced Himself as
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
b. Not that God WAS their God but that God IS their God.
c. Isn’t it marvelous that we can trust the Bible right
down to the verb tenses God uses?
2. Jesus taught there will be no marriage in heaven.
Luke 20:34 And Jesus answering said unto them,
The children of this world marry, and are given
in marriage:
35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to
obtain that world, and the resurrection from the
dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
a. I know this passage is troubling to some.
(1) Some want their marriage to last forever and
that I understand.
(2) However, what you need to understand is that the
relationship you have with EVERYONE in heaven
will be greater than the greatest marriage
relationship has ever been.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known.
(3) I do not know exactly what that means except to
say the best we have today is a smoky glass.
Everything in heaven is going to be better than
that.
(4) But that being said, I do not believe our
earthly life and loves are erased.
(a) If you loved someone here, how much greater
is your love going to be up there?
(b) If you shared your earthly life with them,
who know what we will share in haven?
(c) Just trust God.
b. I will also point out that this passage does NOT teach
that angels are sexless beings.
(1) I was challenged where I had gotten that notion
from in the Bible.
(2) I thought it was here, but the Bible does not say
that.
(3) It only says there is no marriage in heaven;
however, there could still be male and females
when we get to heaven.
(4) Again, we will just have to wait and trust God!
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