Chapter number 12 starts out with the parable of the vineyard. We already
covered this last week in chapter 11. I kind of grouped this in with the parable
of the fig tree just because the topics went together so well. So actually I'm
going to start out in chapter 11 verse 27 because this is something that I
didn't get to last week when we did Mark chapter 11. And this is the first of a
series of times when the Pharisees, the scribes, people come to Jesus and they
challenge him. And they challenge his authority or they try to stump him with
with hard questions. And they're going to do this several times in a row. And in
verse 27 the Bible reads, they come again to Jerusalem and as he was walking in
the temple there come to him the chief priests and the scribes and the elders
and say unto him by what authority doest thou these things and who gave thee this
authority to do these things and Jesus answered and said to them I will ask of
you one question and answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do
these things the baptism of John was it from heaven or of men answer me and they
reasoned with themselves saying if we shall say from heaven he will say why
then did you not believe him but if we shall say of men they feared the people
for all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed and they answered and
said unto Jesus we cannot tell and Jesus answering saith unto them neither
do I tell you by what authority I do these things so this is the first in a
series of interactions Jesus is going to have with these religious leaders where
he gets the better of them every time he always confounds them he's always
smarter than them he always turns things around on them now when they come to him
and say by what authority doest thou these things what things are they
talking about you remember from last week what happened in Mark chapter 11
remember he flipped over the tables cast out the money changers dumped out
their money now it would take a lot of boldness to do such a thing and you can
imagine that if you do something like that someone might question you know
whether you had the right to do that to come in and flip things over and and
cast out all the money changers so they're coming to him and saying
basically you know who do you think you are doing this what authority or what
right do you have to do such a thing and he says well I'll ask you one question
if you can answer it then I'll tell you the answer and they say okay you know go
right ahead and he asked them the question the baptism of John was it from
heaven or of men now John the Baptist was the one who came and preached and
and basically all the people counted John to have been a prophet in fact
that's why Herod was apprehensive about executing John the Baptist because he
feared the people and he knew that the people counted John as a prophet and he
didn't want to make them upset but he ended up executing John because of the
oath that he made when Herodias danced before them but even when John the
Baptist was preaching the scribes and the Pharisees came to be baptized by him
not because they actually believed his message because John the Baptist preached
that they should believe on him that should come after you know John the
Baptist preached about the coming of Jesus Christ and the Pharisees and
scribes didn't even believe John's message but they showed up to be
baptized simply because everyone else was being baptized and they wanted to be
accepted of the people and they wanted to fit in and be looked up to and they
didn't want to miss the boat of this religious movement that was happening
but they had no change of heart that's why John the Baptist rebuked them and
said Oh generation of vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to
come bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say
within yourselves we have Abraham to our father for I stand to you that God is
able these stones to raise up children of the Abraham and now also the axe is
laid onto the root of the tree every tree therefore the bringeth not good
fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire now when John the Baptist said that
unto the Pharisees and the scribes that came to his baptism what is it what he's
saying is he didn't he didn't actually believe that anything had changed about
their faith okay when he said bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance he's saying what do you have to show me that you're not the same old
Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees that you were yesterday he knew that they
were showing up to be baptized simply because everybody was doing it not
because they'd actually been saved now according to the Bible the one thing
that a person has to do before they get baptized is they have to believe now the
great scripture on this of course is act 837 where the man asks you know what
does hinder me to be baptized what's stopping me from being baptized and
Philip tells him if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and he
answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God and then they
stopped the charity baptized him so that's the biblical prerequisite for
baptism is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and by the way a baby can't do
that you know it's not even old enough to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so
you believe then you get baptized according to the Bible well when John
the Baptist is rebuking the Pharisees and telling them bring forth therefore
fruits meet for repentance he's rebuking their unbelief Jesus is later gonna tell
them over and over again how they don't believe on him and he says how John came
unto you in the way of righteousness and you believed him not but the the
publicans and the harlots believed him so the Bible is real clear that the
Pharisees and the Sadducees their problem was that they didn't believe the
preaching of John the Baptist that's why John the Baptist refused to baptize them
okay a lot of people will try to twist that and say well hey in order to
eyes you have to show the fruits of repentance meaning you know I want to
see a change in your life and there are some churches that won't let you get
baptized right away after you get saved you know I just heard from a guy who
said you know that the pastor found out that he had used drugs and and basically
refused to baptize him because he had used drugs recently other churches have
said you know if a man has long hair he needs to get a haircut before he can get
baptized or you know hey if you're living with your girlfriend you know
you're gonna have to get out of that fornication before you can be baptized
and this is very common where churches will put other requirements on baptism
other than faith in Christ another thing that they'll sometimes do is have a
baptism class that can last from four to six weeks you know I like what one
person said you know is the water that deep you know that people have to be
trained you know how to be baptized they need a class on it but they say you know
we don't just baptize people right away you know you got to make them go through
the class and you got to make sure that they're really making changes in their
life and blah blah blah the Bible says that when Paul won people to Christ in
Acts 16 they were baptized the same hour which was midnight I mean this guy got
saved in the middle of the night Paul baptized him in the middle of the night
and so the Bible teaches that baptism is the first step of obedience not you know
later on after you've done a bunch of other obedience you get baptized no the
first step of obedience is to be baptized you know and if you haven't
been baptized you know you need to get baptized right away and there's
nothing to wait for once you're saved that's the first step of obedience is to
get baptized and and when we say baptized we're talking about being
dunked underwater not just not just you know kind of sprinkled or whatever but
an actual real baptism where you're actually dunked underwater now the
reason I bring this up is because people will say you know bring forth therefore
fruits me for repentance he's saying you know and go to Matthew 21 if you would
what he's saying is have you even changed what you believe your Pharisees
your Sadducees you're part of a false religion have you changed what you
believe now a lot of people twist this to where John the Baptist is saying to
the Pharisees are you still living with your girlfriend now that nothing could
be further from the context of the passage right because there's no
evidence that the Pharisees were into drinking or drugs there's no evidence
that they had long hair or were living in fornication with their girlfriend
what was the big problem with the Pharisees that they don't believe the
Word of God they don't believe in Christ they don't believe John the Baptist that
was the repentance that needed to take place was that they needed to change
what they believe and John said I don't think you've changed what you believe
show me some evidence that you've changed what you believe and that's why
he refused to baptize him now this this is laid out here in Matthew 21 verse 32
it says for John came unto you in the way of righteousness and you believed
him not but the publicans and the harlots believed him and ye when ye had
seen it repented not afterward that ye might believe him now if you compare
Matthew 21 go back to Mark 12 you'll realize that Matthew 21 and Mark 12 are
the exact same time in Jesus ministry in fact it's the same day the same day are
the events of Mark 12 and the events of Matthew 21 they're parallel passages so
what Jesus is telling them there is that you still don't believe in John the
Baptist you didn't believe him when he preached back then and you still don't
believe what John the Baptist preached and Jesus confronting them with that
again saying hey the baptism of John was it of or was it from men now they
didn't believe John but everybody around them did so that here's what they say
look down at your Bible in verse 31 they reason with themselves saying if we
shall say from heaven he will say why then did you not believe him because it
wouldn't make any sense to say oh yeah John the Baptist was a real prophet he's
a man of God okay why didn't you believe in him why did he turn you away and not
baptize you why did you never get baptized by John the Baptist but they
said you know if we shall say of man verse 32 they feared the people for all
men counted John that he was a prophet indeed and they answered and said it to
Jesus we cannot tell you know that we don't know because he put them in a
position where they can't win and Jesus answering saith unto them neither do I
tell you by what authority I do these things now here is a telltale sign of
false prophets they won't give a straight answer to a simple question I
mean here's just a real simple question is John the Baptist a real prophet of
God or not was his baptism from heaven was it something that God ordained or
was it just of men was it just something that he made up he just started dunking
people in the water and it was just something that he came up with and they
won't answer that very simple question because they're trying to please
different groups of people and so forth and it's the same way today when you ask
a preacher a simple question and he won't give you an answer you can't
figure out where he stands you know I've walked up to a pastor and asked him just
one of the most basic questions of all I just said you know do you believe that a
person can lose their salvation and the guys took like a half hour to answer me
he drew a picture and drew a chart and after literally drawing me two pictures
and talking to me for about 25 minutes maybe even 30 minutes I could never
quite figure out where he stood on it and I kept trying to pin him down and I
well let me get this straight you know what if I believe on Jesus Christ and
then I go out and live a life of sin you know would I still be so well but no
Christian would ever ask that question you know that yeah that day we shouldn't
think that way here's how we should think about it you know he's just blah
blah blah look is it eternal or not can you lose it or not are we saved and
eternally secure or is it conditional upon our obedience to the laws of God
well then salvation is by works but but pastors sometimes don't want to be pinned
down on where they stand you know you ask them a simple question you know are
you King James only and they can't give a clear answer to that or you ask them a
simple question of you know is abortion murder and you know they don't want to
give a clear answer to that anytime somebody who's a man of God so called a
pastor will not just clearly state where he stands on important issues that's a
red flag right there you know why is he equivocating why won't he just let it be
known Jesus said what you hear in the ear he said the preach it upon the
housetops there's nothing concealed that shall not be revealed he said and
so why would we try to hide what we believe now false religions though they
always hide what they believe think about the Mormons they hide what they
believe right it's all done in a secret ceremony secret handshakes the Mormons
literally believe that you must know a secret handshake to get into heaven but
is that what they come and tell you at the door with the name tag hey we're
here to invite you to a religion where you get to heaven by learning a secret
handshake because no one would listen that because it sounds so bizarre and
stupid because it is bizarre and stupid but the reason that people fall for it
is because they start out hiding that and then they get you into it and they
get you into it and it gets weirder and weirder and it's like the frog in the
hot water by the time you get to the weirdest parts you're already so deep
into it that you're not going to get out of it in fact a big part of the weirdness
doesn't start until you get married that's where they really bring out the
weirdest doctrines when you go to get married in the temple that's where they
start you know worshiping Lucifer and that's where they start teaching you
your handshakes and all that give you the weird underwear that you have to
wear 24 hours a day the special magical underwear that you wear 24-7 it's true
this is all fact about the Mormon Church but you don't find it out until you get
married and that's by design because they teach their people that if one of
them either husband or wife wants to leave Mormonism and the other one wants
to stay in they'll divorce their spouse they'll divorce they'll say well you
know what if your husband's leaving the faith you're not going to get to heaven
unless you divorce him and marry a Mormon because you're relying on him to
get you so what they do is they get them sucked in they ease them in they start
out by getting a man just with the social life and they focus more on Jesus
and the Bible and everything like that and they hold off on some of the
weirdest stuff then once they're already in and they've got the social network
and the friends and the family and then they get married then they start getting
weirder and weirder but then it's like well wait a minute if I back out now am
I going to lose my spouse so usually when you'll see people leave the church
of Latter-day Satan I mean Saints then basically when they leave they'll have
to do it as a couple they'll have to both talk about it and decide oh man you
know we need to get out of this this cult you know that was started by Joseph
Smith and Brigham Young but but it's hard for one of them to leave and the
other one to stay in okay but but what does that show you about religions who
hide what they believe the more another one that will that will hide what they
believe sometimes are the Jehovah's Witnesses you know they'll come and they
they won't really want to give straight answers to your questions when you ask
them hey do you believe this do you believe that we as Christians though we
should just proudly answer any question about the Bible if we know the answer if
we know what we believe and not try to hide what we believe there's nothing
that we believe that should be hidden or concealed we should just preach it
from the housetops and just be be proud of the Bible and not ashamed of Christ's
words but false prophets they do things in the dark listen any secret society is
always wicked okay well the the local Bible believing church everything's done
in the open it's all open it's all exposed there's nothing hidden nothing
secret all secret societies whether it's the Masons whether it's the Ku Klux
Klan you know whether it's the I don't know the Illuminati what other secret
societies are the skull and bones you know and even these fraternities and
things think about how weird these fraternities are and the weird
initiation and the hazing all of these organizations when they have secret
societies and secret rituals and you get inducted and hazed and initiated stay
away from all of that stuff everything should be open to the light and we
shouldn't be part of secretive organizations and so these people won't
answer a simple question Jesus basically makes a fool out of them they come to
confront him who do you think you are buddy and then he turns it around them
and they kind of go away with their tail between their legs scared when it's all
said and done okay so let's go to Mark chapter 12 so Jesus really gets the best
of them there at the end of chapter 11 so now they're gonna try to get him back
you know okay you know Jesus one Pharisees zero but you know we're gonna
we're gonna take this thing back we're coming back so it says in verse 13 they
send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to catch him in his
words so basically they picked some of the the sharpest smartest people and
they're gonna trick him they're gonna trip him up and they're gonna try a few
things so look what it says in verse 14 and when they were come they say unto
him master we know that thou art true and carest for no man for thou regardest
not the person of man but teach us the way of God and truth now what do you
notice that they're doing right away buttering him up they're flattering him
and you should always beware of people who give you excessive compliments and
and especially because these are his enemies these aren't people that you
know have been following him and and loving his preaching so these are his
enemies the Pharisees and they come to him just praising him and telling him
how wonderful he is because they're trying to get him off his guard so that
they can trip him up so then they ask this question is it lawful to give
tribute to Caesar or not now when they say is it lawful they mean is it
biblical is what they're asking you know according to the Bible according to the
Old Testament law according to Moses should we give tribute to Caesar or not
says in verse 15 shall we give or shall we not give and they're thinking like
you know we got him now you know he got us good on John the Baptist but we're
gonna we're gonna really make him look bad and they're gonna trick him he says
in verse number 15 there but he knowing their hypocrisy I mean he knew they
didn't really want to know his opinion but that they're just trying to get him
in trouble knowing their hypocrisy said to them why tempting me bring me a penny
that I may see it and they brought it and he saith unto them whose is these
this image and superscription and they said unto him Caesars and Jesus answering
said unto them render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the
things that are gods and they marveled at him meaning they were amazed at how
he basically answered the question in a way that was impossible for them to
argue with they can't really argue with that it's his face on the coin and he
wants it back then give it to them and they're like then they look stupid in
front of the people you know for for asking that question and because he
rebuked them for their hypocrisy now there there are two teachings of the
Lord Jesus Christ on taxes the other ones found in Matthew 17 go over to
Matthew 17 this is earlier in the ministry of Jesus Matthew 17 comes
earlier than what we see in in Mark 12 because Mark 12 is parallel with Matthew
21 but look if you would at Matthew 17 verse 24 it says and when they were come
to Capernaum they that received tribute money and you know tribute money is
basically taxes came to Peter and said doth not your master pay tribute he
sayeth yes and when he was coming to the house Jesus prevented him meaning that
basically Jesus started speaking before Peter had a chance to say anything to
Jesus what thinkest thou Simon of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or
tribute of their own children or of strangers Peter saith unto him of
strangers Jesus saith unto him then are the children free notwithstanding lest we
should offend them go thou to the sea and cast and hook and take up the fish
that first cometh up and when thou has opened his mouth thou shalt find a piece
of money that take and give unto them for me and thee now what Jesus teaching
here in Matthew 17 is that if we were truly free we would not have to pay
taxes if we were free but basically the taxes are in place and he says lest we
offend them you know go take a piece of money for thee and for me now some
people will try to take a different interpretation of that passage and say
that Jesus you know tells us not to pay taxes because there are a lot of people
today who do not pay taxes and they say Jesus never taught to pay taxes never
taught that we shouldn't pay taxes a lot of people who say that but if we look at
these two scriptures is Jesus in either of these two passages condemning someone
for paying taxes is he ever saying hey if you pay taxes you're not right with
God now isn't he in fact saying just the opposite because in Matthew 17 he
explains that philosophically he doesn't agree with the tax isn't that what he
explained in Matthew 17 he's saying you know I shouldn't have to pay this Peter
you shouldn't have to pay this but we're gonna pay it lest we offend them you
know let's fast forward to 2014 lest the IRS come to your house in the middle of
the night with machine guns drawn because they do that actually just ask
Kent Hovind you know he didn't pay and they came to his house in the middle of
the night you know in in bulletproof vests with assault rifles and busted
into his house in the middle of night ripped him out of bed and he's been in
prison for you know over eight years so yeah basically the IRS will come after
you they're very aggressive they're ruthless they'll talk to your neighbors
they'll tap your phone they'll come after you hard and if you don't pay the
piper you know they're gonna put you in prison now there are some people who do
get away with not paying taxes but usually it's because it's not a large
amount of money you know people who make very little money and it's not really a
big deal to the IRS can sometimes get away with not paying taxes but but
here's the thing with with Kent Hovind we're talking about a guy who had
hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars coming through his hands they're
gonna pay attention to that because he had full ministry so they're gonna pay
attention that they're gonna watch that you know and let me be clear you know I
support brother Kent Hovind and you know I don't think he should be locked in a
cage for the last eight years I don't believe that he should be in prison and
I believe that you know the justice system that put him there for so long
and wants to just lock him up and throw away the key is is corrupt and obviously
we should always stand with our brother in Christ against the world against the
unbelievers of this world you as he didn't you know cross the T and dot the
I as far as the IRS is concerned you know I'm not going to condemn him for
that because honestly you know our country is so corrupt and and and they
tax us to death and whatever but that being said I'm not going down that route
I pay taxes I paid my taxes personally when I ran a business I paid business
taxes because honestly it's not worth going to prison over taxes you say oh
well you know I want to be like you know Paul Revere and Sam Adams and the people
who you know started the American Revolution but honestly though that's
not really my calling in life you know I want to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ I want to serve God I'd rather raise my family and pastor this church
than to go to prison because of financial issues and political issues
and taxation issues it's not worth it for me now look do I believe that our
taxation in America is out of control yeah I'm like Jesus where I look at it
and I say you know we shouldn't have to pay this this isn't freedom when 40
percent of our money or 50 percent of our money is going to the government to
be spent on things that we don't even believe in but at the end of the day I
am not willing and people can condemn they want I'm not willing to go to
prison over taxes now I am willing to go to prison over preaching this book I
mean if they make a law against preaching any one page of this book I
don't care what page that is I will continue to preach that page and I will
preach the whole counsel of God and if they say hey it's illegal to preach
against homosexuality I'm gonna keep on preaching it's homosexuality and if they
say hey it's illegal to preach these just thank your kids I'm gonna keep on
preaching these just thank your kids and I'm not gonna let them intimidate me
from preaching the Bible but if they want a Federal Reserve note that's got
Alexander Hamilton's face on it you know give it back to Alexander Hamilton the
central banker and let him have his money then render unto Alexander
Hamilton the things that be Alexander Hamilton's and unto God the things that
be God's not that these Federal Reserve notes even have any real value anyway it
only has value in our imagination anyway so we might as well give it back to him
and they can take it to hell with them for all I care you know they're so what
because you know what we should be more concerned with winning souls preaching
the gospel raising our families and so on and so forth and look I'm all for
being politically active if you want to fight the freedom fight and fight for
liberty great but it's not worth going to prison over that's where I stand you
don't agree with it fine you know and I and you know I think I say that since I
even had my face bashed in by the police you know standing up for for my Fourth
Amendment rights so you know I believe in fighting for freedom but I don't
believe in in you know not paying taxes and going to prison I don't think it's
worth it I don't think it makes sense and I don't think I don't think Jesus
wants us to do it because he never told us to do it show me one scripture where
he says don't pay taxes and here he says you know render unto Caesar the things
that be Caesars and unto God the things that be God's and you say well but it's
not Caesars it's mine he just said whose face is on the money and and look one of
these bozos is on every single denomination of the money true or false
if it's not Ulysses s grant it's Benjamin Franklin and if it's not
Benjamin Franklin it's Alexander Hamilton or Abraham Lincoln or George
Washington you know or if you have the coins it could be you know John F
Kennedy for example you know and that's all I can think of right now of people
Thomas Jefferson's on one of the coins right whatever it's not important it's
not worth it and so do I support people who are brothers and sisters in Christ
who've gotten in trouble with the IRS because of all the stupid laws and
technicalities of course I support them and will stand with them and and try to
get them you know free out of prison and try to try to encourage them and be a
blessing I would not condemn them or judge them but me personally I'm gonna
pay the tax you know that they say that I owe just so that they don't come kill
me or put me in a cage for the next eight years okay and I suggest that you
do the same thing you know do what you want but you know you can't prove it
scripturally that we should be not paying taxes so anyway they're they're
trying to catch him up and and he again just blows them out of the water so the
Pharisees couldn't really trip him up so now the Sadducees they're gonna take a
crack at it move over Pharisees we got this you know we're gonna we're gonna
show him now so it says in verse 18 then come into him the Sadducees which say
there is no resurrection and they asked him saying master Moses wrote unto us if
a man's brother died and leave his wife behind him and leave no children that
his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother now there
were seven brethren and the first took a wife and dying left no seed and the
second took her and died neither left he any seed and the third likewise and the
seven had no seed last of all the woman died also in the resurrection therefore
when they shall rise whose wife shall she be of them for the seven had heard a
wife so they bring up this bizarre hypothetical situation and by the way
people will always hit you with these weird hypothetical situations it's
always ridiculous you know this woman marries a guy he dies so then she
marries the brother he dies she marries the brother he dies you know this was
like Elizabeth Taylor's role model apparently seven husbands you know in a
row so you know instead of seven brothers you know it's just one bride
for all seven of them I mean could such a thing really happen that she just goes to
all seven guys I mean it's just it's a strange scenario given here but these
hypotheticals that people hit you with just we were out soul winning today and
one of the groups that was out soul winning you know a guy hit him with what
about these people out in the jungle that have never heard of Jesus that's a
favorite that the famous you know what well here's the thing if anybody ever
met that guy he'd no longer be that guy you know because he'd be coming in
contact with Christians now so this guy we just have to believe that this guy
exists and he's usually in Africa right what about the guy that's deep in Africa
and he's never heard the gospel he's never heard of Jesus but here's the
funny thing about that I think probably people in Africa have heard of Jesus
more than any other continent because there are more missionaries in Africa
than anywhere else in the world and there are tons of Christians in all
parts of Africa and tons of missionaries and so you know this guy doesn't even
exist but it's always a hypothetical you know or you try to condemn sodomy you
know what about people with both you know just the stupid bizarre
hypotheticals and so they're hitting him with this crazy story but of course they
show their lack of understanding look what Jesus answers in verse 24 Jesus
answering said unto them do you not therefore err because you scriptures
neither the power of God now notice when people are in error it's usually because
they don't know the scriptures he says look you err not knowing the scriptures
if we're gonna be error free in our doctrine we better know the scriptures
because error comes from a lack of knowing the Bible that's why most people
are in error now there are false teachers out there that just maliciously
purposely teach lies but most of the people in the pew in these churches are
just evil people they just don't know the scriptures and if we don't it's like
I preach on Sunday night if you don't know the scriptures you're gonna be
tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine and so Jesus says you are not
knowing the scriptures neither the power of God for when they shall rise from the
dead listen to this they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the
angels which are in heaven so the Bible is real clear that marriage ends at
death that's why we say when we get married till death do us part so my wife
and I will not be married to each other for all of eternity now the Mormon
Church again let's get on them tonight you know we live in the second largest
Mormon population in the world did you know that because the biggest is Salt
Lake City and then Mesa Arizona is number two and in Gilbert Arizona also
they don't want to leave you out but Gilbert Arizona there are so many
Mormons they are not knowing the scriptures they think that they're gonna
be and I showed this to a Mormon because I was I was given the gospel this Mormon
lady and you know we were taught we got to talking somehow and I said somehow to
this Mormon lady I said you know we believe that you know marriage is till
death do us part and that you know we don't believe in divorce you know we
believe that we should stay married and this is what she said she said oh yeah
well we believe it goes even beyond death so that's even worse and I was
thinking like you know I wouldn't want my wife saying that it's worse to be
with me for all I hope my wife loves me I mean I hope my wife is disappointed
right honey that ends at death yeah see did you see how big vigorously she was
nodding her head just now you know but then she said like oh man it's even
worse with us well you know personally I like being married I want to be with my
wife for my whole life but apparently not so much with this lady but she said
you know it's even worse with us because it even goes beyond death it's forever
and ever and ever so I shouldn't say it like that but but I showed her this
verse I pulled out the Bible and I said well look what about this right here
you're erring not knowing the scriptures because in the resurrection they neither
marry or given to marriage which of the seven I mean she was married to seven
guys which one's she gonna be married to up in heaven in the next world in the
resurrection and he says none of them because in the resurrection they neither
marry nor are like the angels in heaven then he turns it around and then he's
gonna blow them out of the water now so he basically he evaded you know they
came at him you know and he blocked that one and then now he comes in with his
move and it says right here you know as touching the dead that they rise have
ye not read in the book of Moses how in the bush God spake unto him saying I am
the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob he is not the God
of the dead but the God of the living ye therefore do greatly err you guys are
really because of the fact think Abraham Isaac and Jacob are just dead but God
said hundreds of years after they died physically I am the God of Abraham I am
the God of Isaac I am the God he's not the God of the dead he's the God of the
living that's why Jesus also said Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was
glad so Abraham is alive and well Isaac and Jacob are alive because their bodies
are dead but their souls are alive in heaven and their bodies will rise again
there will be a resurrection where their bodies will rise and and be changed and
glorify the moment in a twinkling of an eye now it's it's interesting because
someone asked me the question recently of you know in the millennium because in
the millennium we're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ Jesus and also
even beyond the millennium in the new heaven in the new earth the Bible teaches
that we shall reign forever and ever and somebody asked the question what about
women you know will women be ruling and reigning in the millennium is just going
to be the men that are ruling and reigning because obviously the Bible is
real clear that today in this present world men are to be an authority in the
home you know the husband's the head of the wife and the wife's obey the husband
also in the church the Bible says I suffer not a woman to teach nor do you
serp authority over the man but to be in silence Adam was first formed then Eve
Adam was not to see but the woman being deceived was in the transgression and
then obviously he says let the women keep silence in the churches so at this
time women do not rule over men men are in charge in the home the husband's in
charge in the church the pastors a man the deacons are men okay and even in the
political realm we should have men ruling over us according to the Bible
and it's not that women have any less value than men but they have a different
role and a different function that they are not to be in positions of authority
now they do have authority over their children of course but not over their
husband not over the church not over the nation but here's the thing I actually
and it's hard to say a hundred percent just because the Bible does not
specifically deal with the subject but I would say that women will rule and reign
with Christ and here's because first of all in the resurrection there's no
marriage so there's not going to be a husband that they are basically subject
unto or submissive unto there's no marriage but not only that Eve was not placed
under Adam's authority until fall when they sinned do you remember that because
if you remember before that you know Adam and Eve are in the garden and
everything's great but then once they sin there was a curse placed upon the
man and a curse placed upon the woman and the curse upon the man was that he
was going to have to work by the sweat of his face and toil and and suffer and
he's gonna be thrown out of the garden and have to work really hard to make a
living and then he said unto the woman I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire
shall be thy husband and he shall rule over thee so the whole statement that
the husband would rule over his wife was a result of the the fall of of Adam
and Eve that's when God ordained that the man would be in authority and that
the woman would be subject unto him within marriage so therefore if we're in
the resurrection and there's no more we don't have any more sin you know that
would be my inclination would be to believe that you know even women will
rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ in the millennium and beyond but
again I could be wrong but that's what I believe and I'm the most misogynistic
male chauvinist pastor in America so that you know that means something
coming from me all right ladies but anyway I let's let's look down at the
Bible here in verse number 28 it says and one of the scribes came and having
heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them
well asked him which is the first commandment of all so he notices that
they're trying to stump him they can't stump him they can't resist what he's
saying he always gets the better of them so then the scribe wants to ask him a
question and I think this guy is actually sincere because of the answer
that he gives so this guy basically sees that he's answering them well so I think
he's asking this question because he actually just wants to know the answer
you know because there are two kinds of people who ask you questions some people
want to know the answer other people are just trying to stump you trying to
trick you trying to fool you so he comes to him and says which is the first
commandment of all and Jesus answered him the first of all the commandments is
hero Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy
strength this is the first commandment and the second is like namely this thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself there is none other commandment greater
than these and the scribe said in him well master thou has said the truth for
there is one God and there is none other but he and to love him with all the
heart and with all the understanding with all the soul and with all the
strength and to love his neighbor as himself is more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices and when Jesus saw the answer discreetly meaning that
he answered wisely he said unto him thou art not far from the kingdom of God and
no man after that durst ask him any question durst means they dared not
nobody even dared to ask him a question because they did not want to be made to
look foolish so they would not no one would even have the guts to ask him a
question after that now a lot of people will misinterpret this go to Romans 13
Romans 13 is a good place that explains this thing of what is the greatest
commandment Romans 13 because remember the Bible said that the greatest
commandment was the first commandment the most important commandment was to
love God right and of course he expresses how much we should love God
you know with all our mind all our strength all our all our heart and then
he says the second commandment the second greatest is to love our neighbor
as ourselves these two there's no other greater commandment than these two
commandments now a lot of people will take this and just say those are the
only they'll say those are the only commandments we need and then what
they'll say is that you know hey we shouldn't worry so much about all the
do's and don'ts of the Bible just long as we love people just as long as we
love God and love our brothers and sisters you know what we don't have to
worry about all these rules and you know try to figure out what God wants us
to do and all you know all these do's and don'ts and you know that's why
people are leaving churches today because there's just too many do's and
don'ts too much religion you know just too much too much legalistic preaching
all we need is just love love love but let's read Romans 13 and get this in
perspective why Jesus is saying that's the greatest commandment and why there's
none other greater commandment than these look what the Bible says like
first of all just common sense would tell you just because they're the
greatest commandment that doesn't mean it's the only commandment number one
just because something's the most important thing doesn't mean it's the
only thing I mean think about that the most important thing is to love God the
second most important thing is to love our neighbor but he didn't say that's
all that matters he just said those are the top two things but watch this though
in Romans 13 because it's explained very well here in verse 8 oh no man anything
but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law
watch the explanation for this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt
not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not
covet and here's the key if there be any other commandment it is briefly
comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself love
worketh no ill to his neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law now in
that scripture we have the explanation that according to the Bible if we truly
love our neighbor we will follow the commandments of God because he said if
we love our neighbor we're not going to kill him if we love our neighbor we're
not going to steal from him if we love our neighbor we're not going to bear
false false witness about him if we love our neighbor we're not going to commit
adultery with his wife we're not going to look upon his wife to lust after her
if we love our neighbor we're not going to covet and desire the goods that
belong to our neighbor if we love him we're just going to be happy that he has
that stuff so think about that he's saying he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law and he didn't just list those five he said if there be any
other commandment so what the Bible is really teaching is that when we break
God's commandments we're proving that we don't love our neighbor and we're
proving that we don't love God that's why the Bible says this is the love of
God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous he
says in first John 5 3 for this is the love of God that we keep his
commandments his commandments not grievous he also says again in second
John is and this is love that we walk after his commandments and this is this
commandment that as you've heard from the beginning you should walk in it so
how do we show love for our neighbor just because we feel loving no we show
it by doing what's right by our neighbor by walking righteously by our
neighbor in God's opinion and how do we show our love for God Jesus said if you
love me if you love me keep my commandment so see how foolish it is to
say well as long as you love God and love your neighbor it's okay if you
violate the do's and don'ts you know just just don't worry so much about the
do's I mean just just put that away put away the Bible put that book away put
away the doctrine let's just love let's just have a love night we're gonna have
a Wednesday night love service and we're just gonna get together and just the
love but here's the thing it'd make more sense to get together and learn the
doctrine and learn the commandments because then we can actually show God
that we love him and we actually show our neighbor that we love him because
we're keeping his commandments because we're not stealing and ripping people
off and and coveting and less look do I love my wife if I'm committing adultery
or coveting another man's wife that shows I don't love my neighbor because
my wife is my neighbor too so all of these commandments that are in the
Bible are gonna fall under one of two categories love God or love your
neighbor you're either when you do wrong when you sin you're either sinning
against God or you're sinning against another person or both so that's why God
says look if you just love God and love your neighbor you'll walk according to
his commandments and you'll do right by people and you'll do right by God so
that's why Jesus said you know that's the greatest commandment is to love God
and the second one is to love your neighbor as yourself he's not saying
those commandments are great and just don't worry about everything else
because honestly if you get those two right you'll automatically you'll
automatically obey the other commandments because the fact that love
does no ill to his neighbor look what it says there in Romans 13 if you're still
there it says love worketh no ill to his neighbor love is the fulfilling of the
law because why did God give us the laws that are in the Bible so that we won't
hurt other people so that we won't do ill unto our neighbor because stealing
killing lie committing adultery fornicating these are all things that
hurt other people they do hurt others and that's why God doesn't want us to do
them because he wants us to do right by our neighbor and love our neighbor and
he wants us to love him and if you think about it the five commandments that he
listed there in the category of loving your neighbor are the last five of the
Ten Commandments he listed the last five well if you think about the first five
have to do with our relationship with God and then the latter five have to do
with our relationship with our fellow man remember they're on two tablets and
so they all hang the law and the prophets all hang on love God and love
your neighbor that's how it would be stated in its shortest form but that
doesn't mean we should throw away our Bibles and just write that on a three by
five card all right everybody open your Bibles and we all pull out a three by
five card that just has these two verses on it just mark it just has mark 12
30 and 31 you know well we'll include verse 29 to you know it'll fit on a
three by five and that's our whole Bible no he gave us the whole Bible for a
reason so we can learn how to love God and so we can learn how to love our
neighbor because the commandments will teach us how to do that according to the
Bible so let's keep reading here he tells this guy you know this guy gives a
smart answer a correct answer and Jesus tells him thou art not far from the
kingdom of God so Jesus is complimenting this man for having the wisdom to accept
his answer and so he tells them thou are not far from the kingdom of God now it's
funny because it says at the end of verse 34 no man after that durst ask him
any questions so everybody's afraid to ask him another question oh but he's not
through yet he's like oh you're not gonna ask me any more questions huh well
I'm I'm not done showing the world what a bunch of false prophets you are so now
I'm gonna stump you now I'm gonna start asking you questions and so he asks them
you know what say ye of of David whose son is he but in in Mark it stated this
way Jesus answered and said well he taught in the temple verse 35 mark 12
how say the scribes that Christ is the son of David here's a question for you
why are the scribes teaching that Jesus Christ or not Jesus Christ because they
don't believe in Jesus but how are they saying that Christ or the Messiah is the
son of David for David himself said by the Holy Ghost the Lord said to my Lord
sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool David
therefore himself calleth him Lord whence is he then his son and the
common people heard him gladly common people are loving it the religious
people are saying that we're wrong you know because they've been teaching wise
that's why and so he stumps them you know why is he not considered the son of
David well physically he's of David but because Jesus was in the beginning with
God and he was God this is another great scripture on the deity of Christ because
it's showing that he's not just a descendant of David but he actually was
in the beginning with God and he was God that's why Jesus said before Abraham was
I am before Abraham was I am so what he's saying is how could he be the son
of David when he was before David when he created David and when David calls
him Lord and this is why it rubs me the wrong way when the Catholics call Mary
the mother of God that's not accurate now Mary was that but this is their
logic well Mary's the mother of Jesus and Jesus is God therefore Mary's the
mother of God so I can see where they're getting that logic because that does
make sense logically but here's the problem with their argument is that
Jesus was man as well as being God he was not just God Jesus was 100% God but
he's also 100% man Jesus was a human that's the mystery of godliness that's
the the amazing thing about the deity of Christ that he could be both God and man
he's the son of God but he's also called the son of man and Jesus you can see his
humanity when he's when he's crying and weeping and he doesn't want to go
through with the cross because you know it's gonna be too it's gonna be hard and
he says not my will but thine be done so Jesus both human and God so Mary was
not the mother of him as God she was just his earthly mother so Mary's the
earthly mother and saying Mary is the mother of God implies that Mary came
before God and in fact God came way before Mary and God created Mary and so
forth that's why and I think this scripture I've even pointed Catholics to
this scripture when they say Mary's the mother of God because I'm saying I show
will you know Christ here isn't even the son of David according to Jesus in
the sense that he's the Lord now in a human sense he was the son of David but
in the sense that he's the Lord he's not because he came before David he created
David how is he then his son okay so anyway he's stumping them and confusing
them with that now how many of you today have a King James Bible that says in
mark 1236 the word Lord in all capital letters in the second line put up your
hand okay now how many of you today have a King James Bible that in mark 1236
does not say Lord in all capitals it's lowercase yeah but it's okay yeah now
did you notice that about 90 some percent of people had it with the all
caps mine has all caps I've rarely seen a Bible that doesn't but did you know
that is a typo that is a that is actually a typo but here's the thing
though God never promised to preserve spellings and capitalizations and
punctuations and this is just I point that out to show you that every single
King James Bible that I've ever seen or owned has some typo in it if you read
the Bible long enough you'll find a typo anybody who reads a lot of Bible
and they have a lot of Bibles at home you'll find a typo eventually in your
Bible and 90 some percent of the people in the room tonight have a typo in their
Bible you say well how do you know that's a typo well first of all because
the capital L capital O capital R capital D is meant to represent the
tetragrammaton which is only found in the Old Testament number one number two
we have a replica of the 1611 King James Bible back there and it is not in
all capitals in the original 1611 edition this is a typo that was in now
where did this typo come from this is a quote from the Old Testament so whoever
was putting this Bible together when they pasted it in from the Old Testament
they basically just kept it in you know for some reason they just said well it's
capital in the Old Testament somebody just thought well if it's capital in the
Old Testament we better put a capital in the New Testament but that's that's
really not correct because it doesn't it isn't any different word in the Greek
than when it's in lowercase so this is an error to have it in all capitals now
you say Pastor Harris are you saying there's errors in the Bible no here's
what I'm saying everybody listen very carefully capitalizations don't matter
everybody get that real clearly because a lot of people will say oh man these
King James some of these King James are corrupt because they don't capitalize
the S in spirit or they do capitalize the S in spirit and blah blah look what
is it that we're supposed to live by every word it's the word is Lord the
same word whether it's in all caps or not so there's not some mistake in your
Bible and oh man let's freak out and and you know we don't trust our Bible
anymore it's just a capitalization it's just a punctuation but people will use
these discrepancies so-called to try to make you think oh the King James Bible
keeps changing people will lie listen there's a reason why we have that big
replica of the King James back there you know why we have it back there because
people are constantly lying and saying oh the King James Bible is constantly
changing oh it's been changed ten times it's been revised four different times
it's been revised a hundred times they've made 31,000 changes and 15,000
changes Dwight listen to me if you believe and they'll tell you all the
1611 is nothing like what you're reading you want to know the difference between
that 1611 back there on the table and the one that you have in your lap the
differences are it's in a different font it's in a very different font okay it's
has different spellings it has different punctuation and get this the
capitalizations are very different very different the capitalizations in that
1611 edition are going to be extremely different there's going to be about two
or three times as were many words capitalized in that thing as as in your
modern-day King James but you know what's going to be the same between the
1611 and the one you have in your hand the words the words are the same that's
what matters so don't get hung up on oh well you know the King James have been
changed because you're at lowercase instead of uppercase spirit well
remember the Word of God was spoken holy men of God's bake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost and when people speak you can't see capitals I mean when
Jesus said David himself said by the Holy Ghost the Lord said unto my Lord do
you think he stopped and said like now the Lord said unto my Lord the Lord said
unto my Lord no because capitalizations don't matter okay and are there
discrepancies in capitalization between the 1611 of course because the rules of
grammar and the rules of spell so you have different punctuation different
spellings different letters so don't let people get you sucked into this oh is it
the Oxford or the Cambridge it's both they're both fine they both say the same
thing there is no meaningful difference between the Oxford and the Cambridge
edition none zero oh here's a list of 12 differences lowercase s here yeah say
oh good night you look at all 12 they're all bogus we had a scene on that for New
World Order Bible versions and it ended up on the cutting room floor and I was
because I get so sick of you know we had a scene where we went through the the
12 and showed you know but of course you know the movies already too long you
know we gotta you gotta edit it down but honestly these spellings punctuation
capital don't get hung up on them it's what is the word saying what are the
words say that's what matters and just the proof right here is that 90 some
percent of King James Bibles have a typo in this verse but does it matter does it
change the meaning is any meaning changed by that typo no but it's not
correct because that is not the tetragrammaton underlying that it's the
same Greek word as the other Lord in the same verse that's in all lowercase so
it's a it's a typo but you know you'll find in that 1611 edition you'll find
lots of typos because back then they didn't have computers and they're doing
it by hand a lot of the typesetting and there's typos but just because a book
has typos and it doesn't mean that it's not the Word of God okay the translation
is perfect it's it's the same as the original but each individual copies
gonna have typos in it but here's the thing about typos aren't they always
obvious you know now in this case it's not obvious but that's because it's not
meaningful but in other cases you know typos will be obvious like a lot of
times instead of saying you I've had a King James where in one place it says
saying you it said yo like they just left off the you but you look at it you
immediately okay it's a typo or like in the King James 1611 edition you'll be
reading an excess and there's a place where one line is just a couple lines
are just repeated and it's just the same line again and you know you can
just tell okay but you know what people will try to compare that with like what
the NIV does to the Bible it's apples to oranges my friend so anyway not trying
to to go real deep or confuse you but I just wanted to point that out to you in
verse 36 that that should not be all caps like that it's just it's just a
typographical error that's in modern King James Bibles for some reason but it
doesn't really change the meaning thing I want to point out in this chapter and
then we'll go it says in verse 38 and he said unto them in his doctrine beware of
the scribes and he has just hidden these people hard he's just humiliating them
you know making them look foolish with questions and answers and defeating now
he's just he's not done with them he says beware of the scribes and he says
here's how you'll know which people to beware of which love to go in long
clothes notice how false prophets will often go in long clothing they'll wear
these robes we saw some woman at the park on Sunday baptizing a baby with
sprinkling she's by Kiwanis Lake giant body of water and she's sprinkling you
know but but what's she wearing long clothing what does the Catholic priest
wear long clothing you know these long flowing robes but isn't it funny how they
always portray Jesus with long clothing now do you really think Jesus is wearing
long clothing and then preaching like beware of the scribes they love to wear
long clothing do you think but he's wearing long clothing while he said that
who believes that well then what they can you tell that to every single Sunday
school literature artist in the world but anyway now sorry to confuse you
with the facts there but beware of the scribes which love to go in long
clothing well Jesus just went long clothing he just didn't love it come on
get real he didn't wear long clothing it's always been the aristocratic the
rulers people who are very full of themselves who love to go in long
clothing we're talking we're not we're not talking about women we're talking
about men I mean look I I don't think we could find a man in this room who's in
long clothing tonight who's it is there any man here that's in long clothing
does anybody have a jacket on that basically goes to their feet or a robe
or a coat that goes down to their feet I don't see any but the Catholics will do
it the Muslim Imam will do it monks and other clergy type people will do the
long clothing you know this is a Baptist outfit short clothing right
shirt just stops right here none of this long flowing garments of the Pharisees
he says they love to go in long clothing and they love salutations in the
marketplaces what does that mean they love to dress in such a way where
everybody sees them Oh father so-and-so Oh rabbi and greet them everywhere they
go they love those greetings and to be exalted of men and it says they love
salutations in the marketplace and the chief seats in the synagogues and the
uppermost rooms at feasts which devour widows houses and for a pretense make
long prayers these shall receive the greater damnation now look over and over
in mark 11 and mark 12 Jesus is rebuking and attacking false religion isn't he
point he gets specific yeah I don't like their clothes and they're so full of
themselves and they love to be greeted everywhere that they go and they're
lying and preaching false doctrine but then today's preachers don't want to go
after false prophets and false religion I mean I've even heard I've even been in
a church where they didn't even want to name Mormonism they're like now there's
a certain false religion and I don't want to name it but you know this
religion thinks that you know you're gonna be married for all eternity and
these are good people and we love them and I don't want to name the name of
that religion but they're wrong no Jesus would name it you know and we ought to
name it as well Jesus was at war with false religion and false teaching and we
ought to be as well and he told you say well why what's the point because Jesus
said beware we are to warn people about the lies and false teaching that's out
there so that they're not sucked in by it that's the purpose of preaching
against these other religions to warn people let's bow our heads and have a
word of prayer father we thank you so much Lord for your word and we thank you
for what we can learn from Mark chapter 12 tonight Lord help us as we continue
to study the book of Mark and and to learn about your ministry Lord just to
take an example from it to learn from your wisdom and and the way that you
handle things Lord help us to follow in your steps you like you and in Jesus
name we pray amen