The Book Of Mark #58

But every preacher has to deal with people who attend to hear him preach the sermon, but do not come to hear God’s Word preached! They come to find fault with what he preaches.

For example,

• One Bible preacher was preaching a sermon from the Word of God, and he stated that a lot of the counseling that is done today is unnecessary. Then he explained what he meant by making that statement. If people come to hear a Bible preacher preaching the Word of God, people are going to hear what God’s Word says about different things that face the people of God. And if they hear it from the pulpit, there would be no need for them to come to the office and hear it again. A lady that heard that sermon went out and said the preacher did not believe in counseling. This is not what he said!

• Another Bible preacher was preaching a sermon on the cleansing of the temple. In his sermon he was showing the congregation how the Lord wanted us to reverence our body, the temple of God. He illustrated today how some people dress to attend church like they are going to Walmart. This woman went around telling people that he said that you should not come to church wearing Walmart clothes. This is not what he said!

Every preacher has to deal with people like this.

This is something the Lord also had to deal with. Every where He went He had people following Him for the right reasons and for the wrong reasons.

They did not just happen to be there to find fault with His teaching and preaching. They came from different towns to find fault with Him.

Illus: One of the favorite things that some women do is to FIND FAULT WITH MEN. One lady said:

• Men are like place mats -- they only show up when there's food on the table.

• Men are like government bonds -- they take so long to mature.

• Men are like bank accounts without a lot of money -- they don't generate a lot of interest.

• Men are like high heels -- they're easy to walk on once you get the hang of it.

• Men are like handguns -- keep one around long enough and your gonna want to shoot it.

These people actually came to hear the Lord just to find something they could criticize.

Illus: They remind me of the family that returned from Sunday morning service:

• The father criticized the sermon

• The daughter thought the choir's singing was atrocious

• The mother found fault with the organist's playing

• The small boy of the family piped up, "But it was a good show for a quarter, don't you think, Dad?"

Did you know that those who criticize the most, do the least? When you find a person putting their heart into something, they will be the last to criticize.

The scriptures make it clear they came for that purpose. They came to SET A TRAP, to find ways that they could trap Him with their evil plans.

Let’s look at two traps they set for Him. We see -

I. THE FIRST TRAP

At the end of the previous chapter, Jesus has just had an encounter with the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who demanded to know who gave Him authority to cleanse the temple in the manner He cleansed it.

Jesus told them He would not tell them unless they expressed an opinion about John the Baptist’s authority - from God or man?

They wouldn’t answer because they were either afraid of people’s opinions or unwilling to confront their own unbelief.

So now Jesus moves right into the very subject they were asking about, but He does it in a very interesting way.

The Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews, had met officially and plotted how they might catch Jesus in His words.

Look at verse 13, we read, “And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.”

First of all - beware of flattery.

Look at verse 14, we read, “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 men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

Illus: Two old men met on a street corner.

The first old man said, "Where have you been for the past few years?"

The second man replied, "I was in jail."

"Why were you in jail?" asked the first man.

The second man said, "Well, I was standing on a corner and this beautiful young woman rushed up with a policeman, pointed to me and said, 'That's the man, Officer. He's the one who sexually assaulted me'."