[0:00] of Matthew, Matthew chapter 22, Matthew 22, 15 through 22 are our verses this morning. Matthew 22, verses 15 and 22. I know we have within our body a lot of health concerns, a lot of things, a lot of tests being run.
[0:13] We also have one of our body, Brother Pruitt Marshall, is on his way right now down to Florida to go serve with disaster relief at the Duck River Baptist Association. He's going to be down there for a week, have a lot of people that are kind of out of place and out of pocket, and we want to lift them up in prayer.
[0:26] But we're also going to ask that the Lord will move among us as we read his word together and we hear what he has to say to us, and then we really just sit at his feet and say, Lord, speak to us if you will.
[0:37] So would you stand together with me? We're going to open up with prayer, and then we're going to get right into the passage. Let's pray first. Lord, I'm so thankful to be gathered together with your people this morning. Lord, I'm so excited to be in your house.
[0:50] Lord, we are reminded that you are faithful. God, your mercies are new. Your faithfulness is unceasing. Your loving kindness, oh, God, just pours out upon us.
[1:01] So when we come to you right now lifting up the number in our midst who are sick or going through treatments and going through testings, and Lord, there's health concerns and issues there.
[1:11] God, we just ask that in your faithfulness you minister as only you can. We pray for those of our number who are traveling. We pray for those who are going to labor in different ministry capacities.
[1:23] God, we just ask that your presence would be there. But Lord, we know your word says we're two or more gathered together. You are there as well. So Lord, we come before you, not before man, not before one another, but before you saying, oh, God, speak to us.
[1:36] Would you speak to us through your word? Would you speak to us as individuals? And would you speak to us as a body? And Lord, would your word penetrate every obstacle, every hindrance, every encumbrance?
[1:49] And Lord, would it just pierce us to the very core of our being that we may proclaim that we've heard a word from you and our lives look different moving forward?
[2:03] We ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. The word of God says in Matthew chapter 22, starting in verse 15 and going to verse 22. If you remember, this is on the hills of the parable of the wedding feast.
[2:19] Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians saying, Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one for you are not partial to any.
[2:34] Tell us then, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their malice and said, Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the poll tax.
[2:47] And they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
[3:03] And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving him, they went away. Matthew 22, verses 15 and 22. You may be seated. You know that according to Matthew, we are in the Passion Week.
[3:17] You know that Matthew is writing of the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is putting forth Jesus not merely as a man. He is coming as the expected man. He is the Messiah.
[3:28] He is the one that Isaiah has cried out to and spoken of so many hundreds of years prior to this. Jesus is the fulfillment of every Messianic prophecy found in the Old Testament.
[3:40] Jesus is the King who has come to set upon the throne of David. He is the one that the rod of righteousness will rest upon his shoulders, and the kings of the world will never depart from his hands.
[3:51] We also know that he is not only the King of kings and the Lord of lords, he is also the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. The day has come for Jesus to make his triumphal entry.
[4:02] The people are there, and they are crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. He comes in Messianic fulfillment of prophecy. He comes writing as a king, lowly, meek, and mild.
[4:15] He comes nodding to fight a battle, but to claim a victory. And he comes in as the Lamb to be inspected for the days prior to the Passover. He makes himself public in time for people to observe him, to watch him, and to test him.
[4:29] And it is during this testing period that we have this great teaching. It is here that he is shown to be the perfect Lamb, spotless, without blemish, without fault, and without failure. So that when he is crucified, at the moment, the Bible tells us, when they were offering the lambs for the Passover, at the very moment when he is nailed on the cross of Calvary, and he gives up his life at the right time, the Bible would say in the fullness of time, when he does it on time, at the right time, for all time, so that God's people can be redeemed and washed in the blood of the Lamb, right?
[5:04] So that their souls can be cleaned, not their skin. That's what the song said, right? So when he comes, everybody will know, just as the centurion who is at the base of the cross and beats his chest and says, surely this was the Son of God.
[5:20] Because they would have had time for inspection. And it is during this time that we see him being tested. In this chapter alone, we have this test. It will be followed by another test, and people are questioning him, and people are wondering about him.
[5:34] Many would put these two tests together. The next one is about the brothers who have the wife, and the wife gets passed along, and it makes some of us uncomfortable as we read it, but it is a fulfillment of Old Testament truths as well.
[5:45] And we'll see that if the Lord allows us to tarry. But this testing time here ends in this particular chapter with Jesus asking them a question, which they cannot answer, but Jesus answers every single question.
[5:59] And I want you to see this morning from our passage, A Fair Return for an Enjoyed Benefit. A Fair Return for an Enjoyed Benefit.
[6:10] The first thing we notice about this passage is the truth taught. The truth was actually taught from the passage. It tells us, Then the Pharisees went and plotted together.
[6:24] That is, they took some time to discuss, and they took some time to think, and they took some time to connive, and to come up with an idea. They plotted together with one another how they might trap him and what he said.
[6:35] And then were astounded at the very next word because it says, And they sent their disciples to him. That is, the disciples of the Pharisees. Because the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day.
[6:46] The Pharisees were those who were teaching religious truths to other people. See, Jesus wasn't the only man with disciples. As a matter of fact, every teacher, every rabbi had disciples. And Pharisees had disciples.
[6:57] And it says, And they sent their disciples to him. But what is so amazing is this very next word. And it says, Along with the Herodians. Along with the Herodians. See, that doesn't surprise us a whole lot because we don't understand the times.
[7:11] The Herodians were those Jewish people who supported the reign of Herod. You remember Herod the Great, right? He wasn't called Herod the Great because he was a great guy.
[7:22] He wasn't called Herod the Great because he was a great personality. He wasn't called Herod the Great because he was even so great to the Jewish people. He was called Herod the Great because he did great things like develop underwater concrete that was used to create a maritime harbor which the nation of Israel didn't have.
[7:38] Like building an aqueduct from the Mediterranean Sea in about 4 B.C. that actually supplied water to Jerusalem until 1943. Think about that. That's pretty amazing, right?
[7:48] Herod the Great did these things. Herod the Great also killed every one of his children but one. Killed a number of his wives and slaughtered innocent babies after the birth of Christ. Remember him? That's Herod the Great.
[7:59] Herod had this real distinctive quality though that he was half Jewish. He was the last appointed ruler over the people of God in Jerusalem that had any Jewish descent whatsoever.
[8:11] Now he was half Edumaean, he was half Jewish so at least he had a little bit of Jewish blood in him. Rome would appoint the leaders that would rule over the capital city of the Jewish people that would be Jerusalem over that province and they had appointed Herod.
[8:23] We say appointed loosely, that means he bought it. He married the right people, he had the right money, he bought his position which is typically how things worked in the Roman Empire and since he reigned there with a little bit of Jewish blood there were some Jewish people who said we're not going to let anybody but a Jew reign over us and the closest thing we can get to a full Jew is a half Jew so we're going to support Herod.
[8:44] Now they were the backers of Herod even after his family line was dismissed for ruling. They were constantly appealing to the Roman Empire and wanted another lineage of Herod.
[8:54] There wasn't many of them because he killed most of them, okay? You need to understand that. Herod Antipas, his son, reigned but not a lot of them survived so they said we just want somebody with some Jewish blood. Now they were content to live under Roman rule as long as there was a half Jew reigning over them.
[9:10] These are the Herodians. The Pharisees on the other hand wanted nothing to do with a paganistic culture of Rome. The Pharisees wanted God to rule only but it was the God of their own making the God of their own choosing the God of their own studying the God of their own thinking but yet the truth of the matter is is that these two very distinctively opposite individuals these two people who opposed one another on everything else these people who could not get along at any other time in history when it came to standing against Christ all of a sudden they could work together because you need to understand this the world does not matter and does not mind who they partner with to oppose the things of Christ.
[9:55] One of the great truths we see from this is even natural enemies can come together to oppose the teachings of the Savior. We see this over and over even at his trials Pontius Pilate and all those involved the other Herod that is there remember when Jesus is getting sent back and forth and he has six political trials you remember those right they take him before Pontius Pilate it says in that day Pilate and Herod became friends because prior to that they had been enemies.
[10:27] Huh. In their casting off of Christ they became friends. Prior to that they had been enemies. We see this truth of the reality is that those that are so opposite will come together at any moment to oppose the things of Christ which says friends you better be careful to what extent you start opposing the things of Scripture because before you know it you will be united with things you never intended to join together with.
[10:57] There is no end to the lengths that man would go. We see that great truth. The second truth we see in this passage is that words of flattery have no impact on he who knows it all because they came to him and look at what they said.
[11:16] Now they have plotted together how they might catch him in his words. Right? The text is important. They wanted to catch him in what they said. We'll get to that in just a moment.
[11:27] Stay with me. They wanted to catch him in what they said and the way they came against him was with what they said because these who were opposing him came saying this. Teacher we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no word for you are not partial to any.
[11:44] Now that is flattery at its best. These are those who oppose Christ but want to puff him up a little bit. They kind of want to stroke his ego. We see this even when Paul is on trial in the book of Acts.
[11:56] You remember when Paul was brought before Festus and one of the lawyers of the Jews come and he builds up Felix and Festus and he gives them all this pomp and all this glory and all this stuff and that lawyer says a lot of words and he says a lot of things and we're not here to talk about lawyers we're just talking about what that lawyer did.
[12:11] Right? And he says all this stuff and then Paul comes up to defend himself and Paul says all of these things are true we know that but this is what I know to be true. Paul did not say I'm not here to flatter you I'm not here to puff you up I'm not here to talk to you about who you are I want to talk to you about who he is but yet we find these who oppose Christ they come to him with these words of flattery trying to soften him up before they catch him in what he says.
[12:35] But friends be careful don't pander the Savior. Not too long ago we as a church sent a group on a mission trip out to Utah some of you went.
[12:47] I want to tell you this is one of the first times your pastor felt like he got his teeth kicked in and you've got to be careful here. We were there and some of the work we had to do was hard work.
[12:58] We were ripping the roof off of a church we were taking chimneys down off of a church we were putting a new roof on it was high and there was a good number of us from here that went and there was a good number from First Baptist Shelbyville that went along with us right and I was in charge of getting the tickets for everyone we got out there we flew out there and we got there and I knew the listing of work now we had a mixed group those that had come from here we all knew what we had to do we knew what was there those that went from Shelbyville they were kind of trusting your pastor to give them guidance and now don't get mad at me but to be honest with you I looked and there was one senior gentleman that I kind of I didn't want him to get on the roof I didn't want him to do too much he was a great spirited individual but he kept saying what can I do what can I do what can I do and I didn't say much and about the second day he finally looked at me he said pastor don't pander me put me to work from that moment on I put him to work I said that's what you want amen and I want to tell you he was a good worker he said don't pander me don't baby me and I still love that brother in Christ
[14:00] I would go anywhere else in this world with him I love his truthfulness he said don't baby me don't pander me don't treat me like I can't do it put me to work no I didn't let him get on the roof I didn't do that okay but he sure did everything else he was asked to do but see so many people they come to Christ they want to pander him flatter him put on your Sunday best put on your your Christianese talk put on the right words say it the right way sometimes we get a little uncomfortable when people worship a little different than us and boy we get real uncomfortable if they talk a little different than us I mean if they say things in the church that we only say in the world I mean they bring world talk inside the church and it kind of bothers us a little bit because they're actually just being authentic and they're being real and they're being genuine and they're worshiping and it kind of bothers us a little bit because if we come to Christ we better be sure we say it the right way we better say I'm sorry about the mic we better be sure we say it in a kind and gracious way and Jesus says why do you come to me like that see words of flattery have no impact on he who knows it all which means
[15:07] I don't care how good we sound on the outside he knows who we are on the inside and it doesn't matter how much we appease him with the right words if we don't have a right heart it doesn't matter because he says you hypocrites now what they said was truth but the heart with which they proclaimed it from the mouth was wicked and he knew the malice of their heart and he was not judging the truthfulness of their words friend one of the truths we see from this passage is the words of flattery have no impact on he who knows it all so you might as well be yourself anyway and you might as well say what's on your mind and you might as well speak from your heart because the Bible says from the overflow of the heart doth the mouth speak so if you want to change how you talk then ask the Lord to give you a new heart don't ask him to give you a new vocabulary the vocabulary will only take you so far and a new heart will take you all the way so you didn't say
[16:08] Lord change my mouth change my mouth Lord change the way I speak people all the time I wish the Lord would change this about me I wish the Lord the Lord says I want to give you a new heart I don't want to change what you do on the outside I want to change who you are on the inside because see the fruit will be changed only when the root is different and we see this truth here the third truth we see from this passage is that Jesus Christ alone can reconcile two impossibilities Jesus Christ alone can reconcile two impossibilities see they come to him and the reason they brought the Herodians with him is because no matter what he said he was in trouble the Pharisees wanted nothing to do with Roman occupation Roman rule Roman taxes now they did not ask him pay attention to this they did not ask him is it lawful to pay taxes now I know some of your translations just have the word taxes there now the New American Standard actually puts the word poll tax because the word they use for tax in the original language is a little bit different than just the general word for tax and I'm not saying your translation is wrong but you need to understand which tax they were asking about because there was a temple tax that all Jewish people had to pay and let's just be clear on this the Pharisees had no problem with the temple tax the reason the Pharisees had no problem with the temple tax is because the temple tax is what paid the Pharisees so they did not go to Jesus asking
[17:33] Lord is it lawful for us to pay temple tax they didn't ask that because the Romans allowed that to continue now it should not surprise us that Matthew is the only one who writes this because what is Matthew's occupation when he meets the Savior he's a tax collector now Matthew is not collecting the temple tax Matthew is not in the habit of taking the temple tax the temple tax goes to the temple and the Pharisees get the temple tax that's why they don't want to know if that's lawful because the Bible tells them to Matthew collects the pole tax that is every Roman citizen had to pay a pole tax that would be like your income tax just because you live you got to pay a pole tax to the Roman Empire and so what they ask is is it lawful to pay a pole tax now in the Pharisees mindset it was absolutely unlawful and unethical to pay a pole tax to a barbarous idolatrous these people who ruled over them claiming that
[18:34] Caesar was God see that nation that ruled over them for all the Pax Romana and all the peace of Rome that was there and all of the benefits that they enjoyed and everything that was there it was just unthinkable to give back to something that was so unholy now to pay the temple tax well God had commanded them to do that and God's people benefited from that so that was okay see they were separating the secular from the sacred and to them it was unthinkable and as a matter of fact according to the Pharisees no good Jew thought it was lawful to pay a pole tax no good Jew and so now Jesus is caught between a rock and a hard place so to say because if he says yes it's lawful to pay a pole tax then he's going to all of a sudden be opposed by all the faithful Jewish people all the Jewish people are going to look at him and say that can't be a Jewish Messiah because there's no way he is the Messiah of the Jewish people because the Messiah is supposed to sit up on the throne of David and the throne of David wants nothing to do with Roman occupation there's no way that's an anticipated king but if Jesus says no it's not lawful to do it then there's the Herodians that are present as well and the Herodians think it's okay to pay the pole tax so now all of a sudden as soon as the Herodians hear it they're going to take that back to the emperor and to the reiner and then all of a sudden now he's going to be the enemy of the state as a matter of fact isn't this the charge they bring before him at one of his trials remember when they bring him before a pilot they said he is a rabble rouser and refuses to pay the taxes isn't that what they said it was the Pharisees who said it so now all of a sudden
[20:15] Jesus here is caught between the two in their mind and in their thinking no matter what he said he's going to be in trouble with someone you ever been there I've been there a lot no matter what you say you're going to make someone mad it's okay sometimes you just got to count the cost and go with it the truth always prevails but what they didn't count for was that he who is true has a truth for every impossibility and he says hand me the coin used to pay the pole tax he didn't ask for hand me a coin some Bible translators say oh how how wonderful of a savior that he didn't even have a coin to pay his own pole tax he didn't need a coin he could tell Peter to go catch a fish okay his daddy owned the cattle on a thousand hills he could get money anywhere he wanted it he didn't have to carry a wallet he didn't have to carry a money bag he always paid his taxes so anyway he says hand me a coin used to pay the pole tax and they did they got one gave him a denarius which is about a day's wages and he asked them a question whose image and inscription is on this pay attention to this whose image and inscription is on that coin and they said well that's Caesar's because Caesar's image was on one side and on the other side was Pax Romana and this praise to Caesar as king and he gave this truth that left them speechless then render to Caesar that which is
[21:52] Caesar's and to God that which is God's so the truth is this since the coin you carry has got his picture on it then you give it back to him and the benefits you've received from what that coin represents remember the Roman roads remember all the trade commerce that went through that area remember the the enriching of the markets in the Jewish cities because of the Roman roads remember the the protection that they have because nobody picked a fight with Rome and all of a sudden these enemies that were always coming in from the east no longer came in because now this is Roman province so now they have the protection they have the the benefits see they had all of the benefits of the Roman Empire and they were trying to look for a way not to give any back but this seemingly reconcilable impossibilities Jesus says you got it from him give it back to him render it back only Jesus can reconcile two seemingly impossibilities only Jesus such as how can a desperate sinner ever stand in the presence of a holy God only Jesus now that's a truth taught now that's enough teaching we may be we don't eat tonight until five o'clock am I right my brother thank you for that we eat at five o'clock so now we can do some preaching that's the teaching that's the truth now you can put your pens down and you put your paper down and we can just do some preaching you say pastor you just a little carried away on that good the teaching was good but the preaching is changing look at this penetrating application this penetrating application if you open up some Bible translations and they have a heading over this particular set of verses mine has it entitled tribute to Caesar some would say paying taxes others say
[24:05] Jesus' answer to the Pharisees and the Herodians because we put these titles over particular passages of scripture so that our finite minds can maybe comprehend a little bit of the incomprehensible that maybe we could understand the infinite maybe we could break the scripture down in a smaller portion so that we can understand it but friend I want to tell you this passage has got a lot more to say than just paying tribute to Caesar this passage says a whole lot more than just paying your taxes this passage says a whole deeper truth than just giving back to Caesar what is Caesar because if I'm not mistaken that verse had two parts to it it says render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and we say oh that's a great truth right there that'll preach no the second part that'll preach is the second half of that verse and to God that which belongs to God see the greater implication is this my friend we best not keep one and neglect the other because Jesus didn't give a truth there he gave the truth he said there are some things that you give back to Caesar because you got it from Caesar but there are other things that you got from God and you better give it back to God and yes
[25:18] I am about to get excited see the Bible says here that we are to render back to God those things which belong to God but thankfully we have a Savior who has defined for us how we can understand exactly what it is that belongs to God because the way we understand it in the context of the passage he says you know it belongs to Caesar because it bears his image and his inscription see it says his picture is on it and his name is signed on it and since he's got his picture and his signature you know you got it from him therefore you better give it back to him because you gained the benefit from the man who's got the picture and you gained the benefit from the man who put his name and therefore since you got it from him give it back to him because see render doesn't just say give render the word is a two-part Greek word that means to give back it means to give back with implication from the one from which you have received it since you have received this denarius from the man whose image is on it then it is now your responsibility to give it back to him and you have that you must do it this is a command he doesn't say you can think about it he doesn't say you can pray about it he says since you got it from him then all of a sudden you are behooved to give it back to him since it has his image and since it has his inscription and since you know it belongs to him then you better give it back to him and then the other part of that is there are some things which belong to God and he says and you need to give that back to him as well because see a lot of people including modern believers are content to stop it render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and when we stop there we seem to imply that everything else belongs to us and that is a lie from the pit of hell you have to forgive me for my frankness but that is what it is in his good German word it is baloney that's what it means it just is not true it's a falsehood right that's not German that's
[27:09] American I know you can get on to me about that later but it's okay friend listen to me Jesus says there are only two places which things must go back to it is right that's the government there are some things which you receive from the government and you bear the responsibility of giving it back to them now I don't like it I am self employed which means that when I get my check once a month and I get my check from Miss Lynn and she gives it and Miss Brenda has signed it and I have this check and it looks so good and I'm so thankful for the check and the church is so well and I'm blessed that the church pays me once a month because I can pay my bills once a month there's this thing called a self employment tax and there's this thing called all the FICA and all that stuff that is withheld from your check when you get it from your employer well it's not withheld from mine because that's against the law the church can't do that so when I take my check I have to keep out X amount of money I'm not going to tell you how much it is because it's beyond sweet that ain't your business but it is my business right so I keep out X amount of money and I take that X amount of money home and I put it in an envelope and I put it in an envelope and I know that that's really not my money but it's sitting in my house in my firebox under my bed it should be my money now that ain't my money because see every three months I take the money that's in that envelope and I send it to the
[28:25] IRS because it ain't my money and the reason it ain't my money is because I don't drive on my roads I don't I don't rest in protection from my police I don't go to my schools I don't see I have the benefit that the government offers me so I have to send a portion of it back to them now I'm not telling you that I'm just whistling Dixie every time I write the check as a matter of fact I don't ever write the check Carrie writes the check but it's not like I'm ever ever really happy that we have to send the money back because for a moment the bank account looks okay when I deposit that cash you say well pastor why don't you just leave in the bank because I would spend it that's why okay so I put it in the bank and man it looks good but I know in about three days it's going bye bye because that ain't my money I got to give it back to them but the rest of the verse says there are things in my life which bear the image and the inscription of God and I must give it back to him so what I thought I would do and time would fail me if I tried because I tried oh I tried oh how I wanted to try is just to show you everything that bears the image of
[29:26] God oh I wanted to go through I wanted to do a Bible survey of everything that bears the image of God or everything that God has signed his name to and put his inscription upon or everything that says Jesus is king written across of it or the Lord our God written all over it I wanted to go through scripture and tell you everything that bears his image and his likeness but I also know that the Bible opens up within the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and creators own it right so he signed his name to it and it says it's the heavens declare his glory that the sun and the moon and the stars are in the sky for his benefit and for his blessings and it tells us he knows them all by name he named the stars which means the stars belong to him he has authority and then it says let us make man in wait a minute was it say our image so you bear the image of God and then it tells us in Psalm 139 that before the world knew me I was knit together in my mother's womb and then it tells me he knew my inward parts and then the inward parts bear his image and it over and over and over and over again see
[30:27] Jeremiah tells us that even in our suffering he owns that the Bible tells us in the book of Job that he is the redeemer and he owns that it tells us that our pain is his he owns that it tells us that our pleasure is his and he owns that over and over and over and over again in scripture we keep finding these things that bear his image and over and over and over again in scripture we find these things that have his name signed across the bottom of him and have his inscription these are the things which belong to him listen parents it tells you that the children are a gift from the Lord God Almighty the children are his and he gave them to you husbands the Bible tells you your wives he brought you your wife she is his gift to you and she bears his image so your marriage is belonging to him it tells us that our jobs our occupation belong to him see one of the things that I have found is that people think that they belong to their job you don't belong to your job you get a paycheck as an exchange of goods you give time they give money your job belongs to God he has given you your occupation
[31:35] Paul told them in Acts 17 standing on Mars Hill in the city of Athens that God has even appointed the time for you to live that is the place and the time of year that you live in he has appointed according to his knowledge your works your gifts he says he has for ordained for you before you were born the works that you would do so whatever it is you do for the kingdom belongs to him the spiritual gifts he gave you belong to him so you must give it back and we say well how do we give it back see this is what you guys need to do because I'm a lot more excited than you are how do you give it back if it belongs to him the Bible says render to him that which belongs to him and if the majority of my being and all that I have is his then how do I give it back well I got good news for you the Bible tells us when you open up the book of Psalms again I don't have time to take you there when you open up the book of Psalms there are five books within that book you knew that right there's book one book two book three book four book five we don't understand it sometimes we scratch our head but you know the book of Psalms is right smack dab in the middle of your Bible that if you just let your Bible fall open a lot of times it's going to hope open on the book of some 150 chapters in there I mean surely we can find something when you open up the book of Psalms it starts out with man's position blessed is he who does not stand in the place of the wicked or sit among the ungodly so this says that's
[33:13] Psalm 1 1 blesses he who does not stand among the wicked or sit among the ungodly so he starts talking about man's position where man needs to be Psalms 2 and 3 are messianic Psalms they speak about the Messiah's suffering and how the world mocks the Messiah but God laughs from heaven the world may be mocking but God is laughing because he knows the plan right so many Bible scholars would tell you that the whole concept of the book of Psalms are found in the first three chapters here's man's position he's either righteous or a sinner and here's what Christ does in relation to man's position in Psalm 2 and 3 and then you progress for the first half of the book it seems to be speaking about that you understand all these Psalms though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death you are with me I will not fear for your rod and staff are with me Psalm 23 right when he's going again about man's position and where Christ is in the midst of man's position somewhere about Psalm 90 which is the beginning of book 4 things begin to shift about Psalm 90 which by the way is the oldest Psalm in scripture it is a Psalm of Moses I mean man even old Moses wrote a
[34:16] Psalm it's the oldest Psalm so you have book 4 and then all of a sudden every now and then you start seeing a a Psalm introduced with praise the Lord or shout to the Lord or make a joyful sound of the Lord and then it goes back to man's but then by the time you get to book 5 which is Psalm 107 see now all of a sudden you at the end you've been talking about where man is at and where Christ is at and what God has done for man through where Christ is at and all these messianic songs and all of a sudden you're at book 5 and you're at Psalm 107 which you're about to wrap it up you about you got to go through Psalm 119 I know that's a long one right it's going to take you forever to go through that one but it's okay you got all these in book 5 and starting at Psalm 107 you're going to have to search to find a Psalm that does not start with praise the Lord I mean there are only a few of them scattered in there as a matter of fact by the time you get to about Psalm you know what so about Psalm 97 is where it really starts picking up steam starts picking up steam starts picking up steam starts picking up steam man man bam bam bam bam bam and all of a sudden this is like the more I think about man's physician the more I think about what God has done in the result of man's physician and see this was intentionally compiled by the way this was the praise book of the people of
[35:26] Israel and but the more I think about this the more I think about this the more I got to praise the more I got to praise the more I got to praise and it is those songs by the way these it says to shout to the Lord. It says to sing to the Lord a new song. It says clap your hands. See, we think that we got to clap as an applause. We don't clap as an appaused. We clap as praise. It says to dance before the Lord. Some of us think dancing is illegal, but it's not. We can redeem dancing. It's all right, right? You know, as people say, you got to save room for Jesus there. I understand that, but you can still dance before the Lord. David did it and got away with it, and I'm not going to strip down and do it in front of you, but hey, if he leads me to do it, then I might have to do it every now and then. See, it's okay to get a little excited, because the further you go in the book of Psalms, the crazier people go, and the more excited they get, and they're giving back to him what he already gave to them. See, they're giving it back, because they realize all through the book of Psalms, everything I have belongs to you. Everything I've enjoyed is because of you. My deliverance is because of you. My forgiveness is because of you. You searched my inward parts. You know the wickedness within me, yet you love me and redeem me, and your loving kindness has never ceased. See, they get a little excited until all of a sudden they get to Psalm 150, and they don't know what else to say, and Psalm 150 says, praise the Lord. By the way, that's a command. It's in the emphatic Hebrew. It means this is something you ain't got to think about doing. This is something you, well, they got to form a committee and see if it's okay if we praise him. No, this is something you are commanded to do. We say, well, this is Old Testament, Pastor. Right, but the fullness of scripture, praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty spans. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with a trumpet sound. Praise him with harp and lyre. Praise him with timbrel and dancing, it says. It says to do it. Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. How do you give it back? You praise the Lord. And when we don't, we may be giving to Caesar what's Caesar's. But we ain't giving back to God what's God's.
[37:32] Let's pray. Lord, I thank you. I thank you for this day. God, thank you for your word. Lord, we pray you would take this scripture, oh God, and you would renew our hearts and minds. Lord, set our hearts upon praise. Set our minds upon thanksgiving. And God, may our lives be given to you for your glory. Lord, we ask it all in Christ's name. We'll do things a little different this morning. Miss Lynn's going to come. I've asked a couple from the car, a few of them from the car.
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