Well, I had worked all week on Exodus, and I actually wrote the sermon. It's done, and then I threw it out yesterday. I've never done that. I will come back to it. But I thought, it being Palm Sunday, and I recently had the privilege of speaking in Chino at a conference, and I had interacted some with Mark 12, and I guess I didn't realize as I had worked through that section of how important that section is to understanding the triumphal entry and what takes place between the triumphal entry and Jesus' going to the cross. There are some events there that are really important and help us to understand why Jesus had to come, what Jesus was doing, and that Psalm, Psalm 118, did you notice there? Hosanna, ever blessed, be he that comes in God's name, listen to this, the blessing of Jehovah's house upon you we proclaim. The question that I want to think about this morning is when Jesus came, was that blessing upon that house? What had happened in Israel? What went wrong in Israel? And what did Jesus have to come and remedy and fix? That's what we're going to consider. So I invite you to turn in the scriptures this morning to mark chapter 12 mark chapter 12 we're going to read at verse 13 through verse 17 and then we'll skip down to verse 28 and read to the end of the chapter this is the word of the lord beginning at mark 12 verse 13 and they sent to him some of the pharisees and some of the herodians to trap him in his talk and they came and said to him teacher we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances but truly teach the way of god isn't lawful to pay taxes to caesar or not should we pay them or should we not but knowing their hypocrisy he said to them why put me to the test bring me a denarius and let me look at it and they brought one and he said to them whose likeness and inscription is this they said to him caesar's jesus said to them render to caesar the things that are caesar's and to god the things that are gods and they marveled at him now down at verse 28 and one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them well asked him which commandment is the most important of all jesus answered the most important is here oh israel the lord our god the lord is one and you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength the second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself there is no other commandment greater than these and the scribe said to him you are right teacher You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. As Jesus taught in the temple, he said, how can the scribes say that Christ is the son of David? David himself in the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. David himself calls him Lord, so how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly. And in his teaching, he said, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and light greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at the feasts who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance. But she out of her poverty has put in everything she had. All she had to live on. And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. Jesus said to him, do you see all these things? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. I'd ask you to, if you keep that open, we'll be referring back to it quite a bit, and especially back to chapter 11 in the triumphal entry. As we consider what we call Palm Sunday and Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, it's important to understand that the Old Testament anticipated this and the events that would follow, here in Mark chapter, for instance, 11, 12, and 13, as the fulfillment of everything that the Scriptures looked for and had anticipated. We're somewhat familiar with what we call the triumphal entry. It's not so much, though, the pomp of the masses that makes his entry into Jerusalem so glorious. In fact, it wasn't as glorious as we might think. Every time I've heard this particular passage preached of the triumphal entry, it seems to be that the general application goes that the ones who were laying down the palm branches and shouting Hosanna were the ones that then shouted, crucify him, crucify him. And we all kind of stood back and said, that's really strange. And I never really knew after that what that all meant. What was the point? What did the biblical writers want us to understand? Well, they wanted us to understand the meaning of this, what was happening in fulfillment. That's the crucial thing that needed to be understood about the triumphal entry, because you'll notice Scripture's being quoted everywhere here. Old Testament. You might think of something like Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation. Humble and mounted on a donkey. He has something. A key psalm that the biblical writers understood was being fulfilled is Psalm 118. I've made that a focal point this morning as we sing that psalm. It's quoted by Mark, you'll notice in chapter 11, verse 9. Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And then you'll notice over in chapter 12, if you look at verse 10, you'll see there, the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. Mark sees the whole string of events here from the triumphal entry and what follows here as he links together Psalm 118, seeing this as a grand fulfillment of this psalm. In fact, you'll notice the connection that as soon as he enters Jerusalem, did you notice that there? In Mark 11, he enters Jerusalem in verse 11. Mark 11, verse 11. And what is the first thing in the next breath that he links together? He enters into the temple. This is on his mind. The temple is on his mind. The temple is driving him right now. In fact, Psalm 118, as we sung out, said, This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifices, Psalm 118. Bind the sacrifices with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you. Did you notice the themes? Did you notice what Psalm 118 is saying? Notice this. I send my messenger. He prepares the way. He's suddenly coming to the temple. This is Malachi. Remember what Malachi said. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? He's like a refiner's fire and like a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier. He will purify the sons of Levi. So, he's going to purify. He's bringing salvation. He's opening up the house for blessing. Offerings are going to be received and accepted by the Lord. That's Psalm 118. And everyone's going to receive light when He comes. These are marvelous promises. These are marvelous promises. Salvation, cleansing, offerings receive light, salvation. All this when He shows up on the scene. What we have in front of us right after the triumphal entry, I believe, shows us that. What happened that the Scriptures would have to say that light would need to be given? You ever thought about that? People in darkness have seen a light. Why would light need to be given? Why would sacrifice and offering have to be dealt with? Why would sacrifices in this new way have to be received? Why weren't they before? What had happened in Israel? What went wrong? Why did everything fall into ruin? This week, as we look at the passion of Christ and the resurrection, we really can see what Jesus was concerned to deal with before he went to the cross and what he was opening up after the resurrection and Pentecost and what would happen to the ends of the earth. It really is one of the best preparations for what we're thinking about this coming week as we come to the table. and we prepare our hearts to understand this this morning i want you to look carefully at what mark places between the triumphal entry and the death of christ the heart of the problem i believe is really exposed in mark 12 when we have the story of a particular test that is given to Jesus from the Herodians and the Pharisees. What a strange combination, let me tell you. If you look at verse 13, this is what we have. They came to him and they said to him, verse 14, Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. This is utter flattery. for you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful? Tell us. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? It reminds me of the scene in the Hoosiers movie where they all get the new coach in the office in the barber shop and they start saying all their victories and then they stop and they say, tell me, do you play man-to-man or zone defense? If you haven't seen the movie, you would have laughed. They were trying to catch him. They've dug a pit. They have dug a big pit here for him. Jesus knows this. Listen, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay up or shall we not? We want to know. Because you're true. Now Jesus knows the trap. if he says you should pay, you can't support giving to a kingdom that's not God's, right? That's their thought. Jews were one-kingdom guys. You could never do that. They had their kingdom agenda. They were transforming everything. They wanted to. But if they could get him to say don't pay, they could get the charge of rebellion against Rome and Rome hated rebellion. Rome hated rebels. They could get him to be done. They could get him done for good. Be done with this rebel. I wouldn't focus on his answer. Bring to me a denarius. They bring a denarius and he holds it up and he says whose inscription is on this. One side would have had a picture of Caesar's head. The other side, an image depicting his reign. In fact, if this was Caesar Augustus Tiberius, we know that it said on the coin, the son of divine Augustus. Claiming that Augustus was God, by the way. The reverse side generally would show a seated female. And it's in this context, by the way, that jesus says render the things to caesar the things that are caesar and to gods the things that are gods now i i did bring my denarius the kids i want to you could look come look at it after this is a little denarius it's silver and it has exactly that it has a rain depicted on one side and it has a bust on the other so the denarius from that time and he would have held this up jesus would have held it up they would have put it right in front of him and can you imagine that whose is that whose image give it to him throw it in the pot but i have something else to say render to gods the things that are gods what did that mean and what do we render to god they might have thought the tithe the law of the tithe 10 percent we give 10 problem was jesus had money money was not on his mind when he talked about rendering to god the things that are gods if they were not giving to gods the things that were gods what were they not giving well to answer that you've got to go back and consider the triumphal entry the triumphal entry is so important to this whole thing as jesus enters into jerusalem he comes into jerusalem and what is on his mind as he enters jerusalem it's the temple he goes right up into the temple and he walks into the temple and the first thing that he gazes and that he sees is in the court of the Gentiles just packed and swelling with people, 14 acres. It's madness. He finds an entrance and they are there selling oxen and sheep and doves and money changers. And they're all doing business in there. No worshipers could have brought their own lamb. What was going on for the sacrifices? Well, you had temple places and you had judges and the lambs they had to bring were without blemish when they came. And do you think that these policemen and these temple police and these judges approved of what the people brought? I've used the description before. It's like trying to get a permit today. You want to pay up, you can get it. You walked into the temple, there were vendors, there were dealers, there were cattle, there were sheep, it stunk. what do you think happened to the prices well when i when i go to a sporting event i don't like paying eight dog eight dollars for a hot dog do you they're gouging people are being exploited and essentially this is what happened in the in the temple a pigeon worth a nickel for the offering would be sold for four dollars by these guys and it had to be the right pigeon, the perfect pigeon. Add to this, every Jew coming into the temple had to pay a temple tax. So you had a temple tax that could only be paid in holy currency. Holy currency were this money that was given and that the Jews accepted. So this is fascinating. In other words, you could never offer up to God a coin with an image of Caesar on it. That's idolatry. So they created their own currency. And lo and behold, some of those currencies were called mites. Well, the money changers would charge a fee for this. You bring in Caesars, you collect it, they charge a fee, you get some holy money. Everything was done to a T. They would sing the Hallels. They would sing Psalm 118. They would remove the unleavened bread from their homes. They would worship. And look at the hypocrisy that really is going on here. Jesus sees this and he is utterly filled with wrath. He is filled with wrath. We know from the other accounts, and I've always been amazed with this because it just doesn't fit the depiction and the imagery of this nice Jesus that we have in our culture. He makes a scourge of whips. He binds together long straps and he comes in swinging. and we read with one of the stronger words in the Greek that he casts them out. He drove them out with force out of the temple. I mean, it's a whip. And then he takes the money bin change and he flips it over on the temple floor. Imagine that. Zeal for his father's house had eaten him up. And now I've always said how we need some zeal today for the Lord's house. but he said something in the midst of all this my house is it not written my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations but you have made it a den of thieves you're stealing the entire temple had become a den of thieves stealing what keep it keep in mind render to god the things that are gods at the beginning of chapter 12 jesus tells a parable of these wicked tenants this man had a vineyard and he leased it to vine dressers and at vintage time you'll notice there he sent for uh the servants and they threw stones at them and they hurt them and they killed them you know that that's the old testament prophets and then and then he ends the parable us and I have the owner of the vineyard of the tenant farmer the owner of that farm said I have one son they will respect my son they will love my son and when they saw that the heir had come they said come let us kill him and the inheritance the money everything that's involved in this it'll be ours they were trying to steal his kingdom weren't they and then Jesus quotes in the middle of this psalm 118 the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this was the lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes that's the first theft the second theft if you caught it when we were reading originally is in verse 38 beware of the scribes they walk around in long robes they love greetings they love to be have attention given to them and they have the best seats in the synagogues and they love the places of honor and guess what they're doing they're going into little widows houses and they're devouring them they're stealing and for a pretense you know what they do they make long prayers so that everyone will listen to them and hear them and think wow what a pillar of religion they will receive the greater condemnation they're stealing god's glory that's what they're stealing kingdom and glory when you looked at these guys you would have said outwardly they are together when you looked at these guys you would have thought that guy right there that's what we all need to be let me give you one more theft render to God the things that are God's one scribe in the middle of this comes up to Jesus and says to him Perceiving that he is answering well. What is the first commandment of all? Jesus says, here it is. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. That's the first commandment. And the second like it is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than these. So the scribe said to him, Well said, teacher. You have spoken truth, for there's one God, and there's no other but he. And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you're not far from the kingdom of God. Markable scene. What's the greatest command? Love. With all of who you are. Notice that. All, all, all, all, all. The scribe says, that's right, you got it. I know Deuteronomy 6. And that is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Jesus says, you've got it. Yes, you're exactly right. You're almost in the kingdom. It's one thing to understand what the commandment requires. It's another thing to be able to do it. Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Let me ask you a question. How are you doing with that one? Do you think you're doing it? If not, you're a thief. How does that make you feel? Can you do it for five minutes? All, all, all, all. Well, that would mean then that there are millions of nice people, well-meaning people. If you were standing in front of this nice scribe that day, he was probably the most respectful of all of them. Good guy. We say that a lot. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. Jesus says he's not in. He's answered really well. Do you see the hypocrisy? They're giving tithes. But stealing love. While they dumped their money in the treasury, it wasn't about God, it was about them. While they're giving their money, they ultimately wanted it all for themselves to steal the kingdom for their agenda. It was a system of bondage. They were so concerned about the law. They loved the law. But here was the sad truth. They were not free. And they're stealing from God. Isn't that the one commandment you've always probably sat back from and thought, I'm actually doing pretty good on that one. Isn't it? You have a hard time with the eighth commandment. I'm not really taking, am I? Kingdom, glory, and love. They should have given that to Him. You see, the Bible contrasts two different kinds of ministries. And I think this is so important to understand that when the new covenant, and as I read from Hebrews, the new covenant that the Lord is making with the house of Israel was the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. Paul calls that the ministry of righteousness in contrast with the ministry of death, which was written on what? Stones. And that's important, that contrast that's made throughout the Bible, because each kind of ministry produces its own kind of fruit in its recipients. Nothing exposed this stronger than in Jesus' day when He came upon the Jewish community. It was under the ministry of condemnation, as Paul called it. And the bad tree was bearing bad fruit. The Jewish community was a legalistic, self-righteous club only for those who did the superimposed rules and traditions of the elders. No one could get into the club until there was complete conformity, by the way. Full of self-righteous pride, the Sanhedrin condemned everyone except themselves. The Pharisees would go so far as to criticize Jesus for not washing his hands well before he ate bread, remember? And then Jesus exposed their hypocrisy by making excuses not to give to support their parents. And then he said, vain do these people worship me, teaching as commandments the doctrines of men. The Sanhedrin did nothing but fight over all the minute points of the law and their shepherding proved to be nothing but a heavy-handed yoke of manipulation. They were grumpy. They loved to fight. No joy, no confidence, no hope. No freedom. That's the tragic consequences of a ministry that kills, by the way. Jesus was so different. Jesus was so different. He wanted to secure a joy for people. Render to God the things that are God's. What's God's? Well, if money was not on his mind, The question that I have, if it is, what coin did God ever give that he stamped God's image on and hand to us to give? He never stamped his image on a coin. Render to God the things that are God. What's he talking about? I think you might be able to answer that by asking where did he put his image? In the beginning, he made them male and female after his own image. He put his image on us. Here were all these image bearers of God running around, stamped with his image, stealing from him. And with all of that, one individual shines in this whole section, doesn't she? Jesus fixes his eyes on one individual as he's now think of the pressure and the agony he knows he has to go to the cross but just before this this individual shines in this gospel narrative um unlike a way i've never understood before verse 41 now jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how people put money into the treasury and many who were rich put in much then one poor widow came in and threw two mites which make a quadrants so he called him his disciples to himself and he said assuredly i say to you do you guys see this i say to you this poor widow has put in more than all of those who have given to the treasury for they all put in out of their abundance but she has put in out of her poverty all that she had her whole livelihood this little widow comes up in the middle of a system that has been completely corrupted with no liberation. Jesus looks at her. She has nothing. She takes. And by the way, I have these too. I've got two little mites here. You've got to see these afterward. Jewish holy currency from the first century. I want to show these to the boys and girls. She grabs them. How do you think she put them in? Was it like the token buck we throw in when we don't have the tithe? Was it reluctant? Was it thank you, Lord? That's really a powerful thought. Jesus ends this section here by saying she gave her whole livelihood. Greek word means life. He gave her whole life. I hear that account, and how do you apply that? are you thinking well maybe we should run the offering by again i don't know what you're thinking what are we thinking well my guess is your application is i should be giving more right that's probably the basic running application that we get when we hear this yeah you know i'm being a little stingy i should probably give more and so so we're willing to hear this and think well maybe i should give more than the minimum is that the application we can do better than that I agree pastor I agree and I would say we're still not listening I'm going to challenge if that's the application that we have not understood this passage at all here's what she's illustrating for us the gospel she really does show us in the midst of all of this Jesus himself jesus didn't give 10 jesus gave his whole life and he gave his whole life and loved god with all of his heart soul mind and strength fulfilling the law because we could never do it now i know that could come across to some people well there you go again you just said jesus did it we don't have to do anything that's not what i'm doing here i'm not making this cheap grace but don't ever let us lose that truth in fear of not being applicational enough the truth is she is teaching us something about what had to be done to shatter this she's teaching us about what fulfillment looks like jesus had come to set people free and he gave everything he didn't say boy you know 10 percent imagine if jesus gave you 10 percent could you imagine if his love was half-hearted could you imagine if his love was like yours it wasn't and i think the way to understand this and appreciate this this morning the way we should follows in verse 13 when as he comes out of the temple all the disciples say to him wow look at these great buildings look at these marvelous stones and jesus says it's all coming down i'm done with this i'm ripping it down and we're not doing this anymore this is not whatever i intended it is a system of abuse you can create this you can create a club you can create we could do this in the reform faith we could create a club we could we could treasure the law we could be hard on the law we could talk about all the regulative principles we want and we could create this we could create a situation where we keep it to a T, but our hearts are far from Him. Yes, we can create that. Granted, the Pharisee is superimposed. But she is showing us fulfillment of Psalm 118. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord. He's given us light. God is the Lord. He's given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. He is lowly on a donkey having salvation what does the lord open up for us in the new covenant the beginning of what it is to taste and here's your application as he's died for us and freed us he opens up with a brand new heart as he regenerates our hearts and gives us life he opens up the beginning taste of what it is to love him sincerely from a pure heart born again by the spirit she gave out of what poverty where does it start everyone else gave out of abundance what does the scripture commend over and over it commends a response of gratitude from a what impoverished heart and that's why i can't get over that the first beatitude begins with blessed are the poor in the Spirit. Theirs is the kingdom. They enter the kingdom. When Jesus paused here and He fixed His eyes there and He looked upon her, He was telling us, not only do I need to fulfill all righteousness for you because you can't love this way, but this is the kind of work I'm after in people's lives. Hearts that love sincerely, that love me, and that understand so much of what I've given to them that whatever they give in return is overflowing in gratitude. You can't set a number on that. That's why the New Testament doesn't come along and say, tithe, tithe, tithe. She gave her life in response to the gospel of grace and the wondrous love of God. And I'm so encouraged that God would consider a lowly widow who was nobody in that society. A lowly widow, a mere offering of two little mites was an expression of the offering of her whole life to God in thankfulness. That's what he's after. So this morning we need to thank him that he came and had the power to give us hearts to truly worship him. And we need to thank him that he fulfilled all righteousness. And if we're going to think this week and every day as we should upon what he's after, just look at the figures he continues to show you over and over in the Gospels. Blind Bartimaeus, the only one who was seeing amongst those who thought they saw when he said, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy. A woman with the flow of blood for years if I just touch. A paralytic who couldn't even walk and is lowered down. And Jesus says, that one. That's who He's showing you. Hearts that understand they can't do anything without Him. And when that happens, when we treasure Him, no longer is the treasure God and man. I come back to the question, what image is on that coin? Caesar's. Render it to Caesar then. Go ahead and give it to him. What image is on you? God's. If you're his, he's restoring you in true righteousness and holiness in the new covenant to love him, to treasure him, to value him because he and his son gave you everything. That's what we're celebrating today, tomorrow, and every day of our life. Let's thank him. heavenly father we thank you for giving us so rich a gift an indescribable gift as peter calls it one that we ultimately could never repay because we can't work up a love like jesus fulfilled but we're thank you and have all of our confidence in him that he fulfilled all righteousness in our place and loved purely so that we now, having been forgiven having been born again by your spirit, would be able to taste that wonderful promise of the new covenant that this law is now written on our hearts and in our minds and we begin to know even now, even though it's a small beginning in this holiness what it is to love you sincerely and on that day in the resurrection to taste that in fullness forgive us for being selfish and forgive us Lord that we have not treasured the true treasure in our life the way that we should thank you for that pearl we praise you this morning and ask that our lives would reflect it in everything we say and do in Jesus name Amen