(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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