Though it happened nearly thirteen years ago, I can still remember my dad’s reaction as I called him that day with the good news. You see, the Lord had been quite gracious to me in school. Going to college was a hefty expense, but because of some scholarships, I was only saddled with the financial burden of paying for room and board and living expenses. And even then the Lord had provided through an R.A. position that paid for my housing and summer jobs that gave me enough money to survive throughout the semester. More than that, on birthdays I could get books I wanted at no cost to myself, and it was great.
So, I honestly felt pretty good about where I was. The Lord had been so incredibly gracious to me, and I had been a responsible, hard-working student. And it only got better. Right at the start of my senior year, I was asked if I would begin pastoring this small church that was meeting in a warehouse. And after much prayer, thought, and counsel, I said, “Yes.”
That meant I would let go of the R.A. job and lose my free housing, but I had a full-time job now, and would actually be able to pay for an apartment, pay for my education expenses, and have money left over. I was in a very blessed place. So, I was feeling pretty good about myself when I picked up the phone to tell my dad.
And again, though it was nearly thirteen years ago, I remember his response. I thought the conversation would begin with me letting him know that I had gotten a full-time job, and he would shower me with praise, thanking God that he had such a responsible son. I thought he might say, “Wow, son, you’ve already been self-sufficient to this point, so now with this full-time job you’re really going to be in a great place.” But that’s not how the conversation went.
My dad did take the time to say something like, “Great.” And we did talk about the position (though we had talked much about it leading up to my decision to take it). But the response I didn’t expect was when he said something like, “Once I total up what I’ve been paying for your car payment and car insurance, I’ll let you know so that you can start paying it. Also, you need to budget money for regular car maintenance, and you’ll want to put back some money each month to replace your car” and on and on and on. In fact, the next time I saw my dad, he graciously gave me a book – Family Budgets that Work by Larry Burkett.
That conversation was a bit eye-opening for me as I realized that I had been living in a make-believe world. Life was actually a lot more expensive than I’d thought. My belief that I was a self-sufficient twenty-one year-old prior to that conversation was built upon a complete misconception of the world around me. In that conversation, my dad began to pull back the veil so that I could see a bit of what reality was really like. And I think I remember that conversation so well is because it exposed for me the fact that I was living in a bit of a make-believe world.
It’s easy for us as evangelicals to live in a make believe world as well, especially in regards to the eternal destinies of unbelievers. It’s easy for us to deceive ourselves into thinking that those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and worship some false God are really decent people, sincerely trying to do what’s right, and trying to honor God as best they can. And it’s easy for us to think they’ll be fine on the day of judgment.
C. S. Lewis represented this view in his last book in the Narnia series. He recounts the conversation between a worshiper of the false God, Tash, standing to give an account before the one true God (named Aslan, in the series). He writes:
“Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash.”
He answered, “Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. … I take to me the services which thou has done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vie can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore, if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.” …
But I said also (for the truth constrained me), “Yes, I have been seeking Tash all my days.”
“Beloved,” said the Glorious One, “unless they desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”1
And, again, I think Lewis represents the thoughts of numbers of evangelicals. However, Jesus helps us by pulling back the veil a bit for us in Mark 11:27-12:27. In these verses, Jesus has confrontation with the religious elites of the day, and in each case he exposes the dark rebellions of their hearts. Jesus shows us the reality of those who reject Christ as Lord.
So, let’s begin by seeing what the first of the text (11:27-12:27) shows us concerning the nature of those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord. And because I believe that the attack of the chief priests, scribes, and elders in 11:27-33, the attack of the Pharisees and Herodians in 12:13-17, and the attack of the Sadducees in 12:18-27 are all addressed as one group in 12:1-12, I want us to start there in Mark 12:1-12. There, we see that:
In the midst of the challenge that had come (and was going to come) to Jesus from the religious leaders of the day (i.e., the chief priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, and Sadducees), Jesus tells a parable in 12:1-12 about a man who owned a vineyard, a vineyard, and some tenants. The parable he tells is that a man planted a vineyard and set it up nicely before leasing it to some tenants who could care for it. This was a common practice then (as it is now). And after a while the owner of the vineyard would come to get some of the produce (or delegate someone else to do so), and that would be the agreement. The tenant farmers get most of the produce, but the owner of the vineyard gets a decent portion as well.
Well, in the parable, the owner of the vineyard sends a servant to get some of the fruit, and they beat him and send him away with nothing. Then he sends another, and they beat him and send him away. He sends another, and they kill him. And on and on this goes until he sends his Son, thinking they’ll treat him with honor. But they don’t. They kill him, thinking that the owner will no longer want anything from the vineyard and it’ll be theirs.
It’s a story that we can imagine. But it’s different than some of the other parables because the imagery of the vineyard is one that is used in the Old Testament to refer to God’s people. Specifically, it’s used by the Lord in Isaiah 5. Therefore, the religious leaders know instantly that it’s a condemnation of them (12:12).
In the story, the vineyard represents the Lord’s people or kingdom or work. The tenants are the religious leaders of the day. They were to mediate to the people the Lord’s authority, work, and word. But instead, they had been devious. They had rejected prophet after prophet from God (the servants), harming some and killing others. And now, God had sent his Son (the Lord Jesus), and they were going to kill him as well. Therefore, these religious leaders (the tenants in the parable) are going to be removed and have no part of the kingdom.
Then Jesus grounds this parable in Psalm 118:22-23, as he declares in verses 10-11, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” By “cornerstone” the psalm is referring to the most important stone in the building, the stone that should be the centerpiece. And that’s what Jesus is.
God the Father has sent his Son to be the centerpiece all of creation. Paul tells the men in Athens in Acts 17 that there were times of ignorance (prior to the coming of Christ) that God overlooked, “but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge he world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
Jesus has split history wide open. He is the centerpiece. After his coming into the world, no man will be pardoned in ignorance. All men everywhere are commanded to bow their knee in faith to the one who will judge the world, to the one whom God raised from the dead – Jesus Christ.
The religious leaders will have no part of God’s kingdom precisely because they reject his Son whom he sent into the world. Those who reject the Son have no place in God’s kingdom; they will not have eternal life.
Now, backing up in the prior section, we see in 11:27-33 that:
The Jewish court that decided all religious matters in the area were the Sanhedrin. And this court was made up of chief priests, scribes, and elders. So, when Mark tells us that after Jesus drove out the money changers and others from the temple and then came back to the temple where he was confronted by this group, Mark is telling us that Jesus is having a showdown with the religious court of the day. And they ask him what we would expect them to ask one who has come into the temple and driven out people, namely, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” (11:28).
But instead of just answering their question, Jesus asks them a question: “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” (11:30). If they’re willing to answer this question, then Jesus too will answer. If they are unwilling to answer, so he will be unwilling to answer.
But Jesus has caught them in a dilemma. They know that if they say that John was commissioned by God to carry out his ministry, then Jesus will ask them why they don’t believe in him, since Jesus is the one whom John testified was the Christ. However, if they say that John was working simply from man (i.e., not commissioned by God), then the people who held John as a prophet would turn against them. So, they answered that they would not answer, and Jesus told them that neither would he.
Jesus really had answered their question, though, hadn’t he? If John was commissioned by God and John pointed to Jesus as the Christ, then Jesus was doing all that he did by the authority of God. The reason that the chief priests, scribes, and elders didn’t believe is not because somehow they lacked enough information. It’s because they were rebelling against God and were more worried about what people thought of them (11:32) than God. They knew the answer to Jesus’ question. But their problem wasn’t an intellectual one; it was a moral one. Their hearts were in rebellion against God.
And they’re not the exception. Paul tells us in Romans 1:18-21, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. . . . So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Yes, their hearts are darkened and unable to understand but it’s because that’s the result of their moral rebellion against God.
Now, I want to say more about that, but let’s look at two other qualities of those who reject the Son before getting to that. Next, we see in Mark 12:13-17 that:
In 12:13, we are told that they (meaning probably the group in 11:17) sent some Pharisees and Herodians to challenge Jesus again. This time they ask Jesus if it’s lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. And they ask this not as a sincere question, but as a test (which Jesus recognizes, asking them in 12:15, “Why do you put me to the test?”). The reason it was a test is because Jesus seems to be in a no-win situation. If Jesus says, “No, it’s unlawful to pay taxes,” then the Roman authorities are likely going to come after him as one committing treason against Rome. But if he says yes, then there’s a large group of Jews who don’t think it’s lawful. Specifically they say it is unlawful because they claim that if God alone is due our allegiance, then we can’t give allegiance (through taxes) to Caesar. So, if Jesus says, “Pay Caesar,” it’ll seem like he is recommending one not giving sole allegiance to God.
But Jesus’ answer is (again) ingenious. He asks for a coin that has Caesar’s likeness and inscription on it and says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (12:16). That is, there’s not necessarily divided allegiance between paying Caesar and honoring God. The coin has his inscription because Caesar was the emperor of Rome, and Rome provided benefit for many Jews. They handled their criminal cases among other things. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with paying Caesar what he is due, and this does not dishonor God. This is the same kind of thing we’ll read from Paul in Romans 13.
But Jesus goes on, “And [render] to God the things that are God’s” (12:17). You see, if the reason these men would oppose taxes is because they claimed to want to honor God alone, the reality is that they were lying. They didn’t want to honor God. They were unwilling to render to God the honor and allegiance and obedience that was due him. But how did Jesus know that? He knew it because they did not believe him.
You see, you cannot refuse to bow the knee to Jesus and honor and obey God. If you claim to honor the God of Scripture (as many unbelieving Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others do) but do not honor Jesus Christ as Lord, then your claim is hypocrisy (John 5:22-23). You don’t want to honor God. The person who worships Buddha or some unknown “general god” and claims it’s because they just want to worship the correct God from a clear conscience are actually in rebellion against God because they will not bow the knee to Jesus Christ. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent and bow the knee to the one whom he raised from the dead – and that one has a name; he is Jesus of Nazareth. So, those who reject the Son do not honor or obey God.
Finally, here we can add from 12:18-27 that:
The next group that confronts Jesus is the Sadducees. This is a group that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and they only honored the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah) as Scripture. So, when they come to Jesus, they ask him a question to try to highlight the absurdity of believing in the resurrection of the dead. And they do it in a very crafty way.
The Law had commanded something called levirate marriage. What this meant is that if a man marries and dies before having a child, then his next closes relative should marry his widow, and the first child they have would be thought of as carrying on the dead man’s name. It was kind of like providing a descendant for the line of a man who had died before being able to produce such a line.
Well, the Sadducees took the concept of levirate marriage and tried to show a situation that could legitimately take place. If a man died without producing offspring, and his brother married his widow but then died without producing offspring, and this kept happening until seven different men had married the same woman without offspring, then which one of them would be her husband in the resurrection?
You can almost imagine them laughing as they ask this question, thinking, “How in the world is he going to get through this one?” But again, Jesus answers perfectly. He is first direct with them, saying, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (vv. 24-25).
You see, one reason they’re wrong is because of their ignorance. Jesus says, “You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” They’re ignorant. They don’t know. They don’t understand the nature of the resurrection.
One key reason why God gave us marriage is for the sake of procreation. We marry, and within the confines of marriage we produce children. Without procreation, the world wouldn’t last very long. However, in eternity, Jesus tells them, we’ll be like angels. And by this I think he means that we’ll be beings who do not die and do not need to procreate. So, there’ll be no need for marriage. The Sadducees are ignorant of the nature of the resurrection, and that’s one reason why they reject it.
Second, they don’t know the power of God. You see, Jesus also notes that God spoke to Moses at the burning bush and said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Jesus adds, “He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong” (vv. 26-27).
You see, when God promised to be faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as their covenant God, then if he had merely let them die and that be it, then God’s covenant promises would only have been good for the lifespan of these men who are now dead. He would have just been the faithful God to men whom he has let die and who have been dead for years. But God is not the God of dead men. His covenant faithfulness means that he has not let death have the last word, but he is the God of men who now live and whose bodies will be raised as a vindication of God’s faithfulness.
The Sadducees ask a question in arrogance, but they are the ignorant ones. They don’t know the Scriptures nor the power of God.
However, we might say, “Well, this is to be expected. They only thought the first five books of the Old Testament were Scripture.” But look where Jesus proves the resurrection from: Exodus 3. That’s where the burning bush story is told. That’s a text they would have known well. So, why then did they not understand the resurrection?
One reason is because they were unwilling to believe what the Scriptures they read and even memorized said, for if they had believed the Scriptures, they would have believed Jesus, wouldn’t they? This is what Jesus says in John 5:46, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me.” They were ignorant because in their arrogance they were unwilling to believe.
So, in this confrontation with the unbelieving religious leaders of the day, Jesus pulls back the veil and reveals their hearts. They are rejecting Jesus as the Christ. They are rejecting God the Son. And Jesus reveals that those who reject the Son . . .
. . . have no part in the kingdom.
. . . are in rebellion against God.
. . . are unwilling to honor and obey God.
. . . are held captive in their ignorance because of their unwillingness to believe.
The pure-hearted man who is trying to love and honor God but simply does not believe in Jesus is as real as the man who flies across the planet on a winged elephant – he doesn’t exist. Well, then, what is their hope? What is our hope in trying to get them to see and believe in Jesus?
Our hope is the gospel. You see, the good news that God the Son took on flesh as Jesus of Nazareth lived a perfect life, died on a cross to pay the penalty for the sins for anyone who would believe in him, rose from the dead on the third day, and offers forgiveness of sins and a righteous status before God for anyone who will repent of their sins and believe in him is a message of good news that is powerful to break through our arrogant rebellion against our Maker. It is powerful to overcome our unwillingness to believe. It is the power of God for salvation.
Therefore, our call is not to figure out devices to try to get men to change their minds, whether dimming the lights in a worship service, telling heart-wrenching stories, or calling people to walk up a middle aisle. It’s not that any of these things are necessarily wrong, but the only thing powerful enough to change men’s hearts is the message of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And when that message penetrates through the hardness of our hearts, we are changed. We go from hating Jesus Christ to loving him and from wanting to disobey him to wanting to please him.
Therefore, this morning, let us be a people who believe in the power of the gospel, speak to our neighbors, and take it to men and women and boys and girls all over the world. For faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ alone is the way of salvation. Let us then come to the table this morning, thanking the Lord for the gospel and asking him to strengthen us in our obedience to be vessels of the good news. Amen.