This is my fourth message in a series of talks on The Credentials of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In our foregoing message, we saw how Jesus, when His authority was challenged by the chief priests and elders of Jewry, rebuffed them with a bewildering dilemma that completely foiled their attempt to impeach His Messianic claims. They had to make a forced retreat in obvious embarrassment, but this didn't settle the matter by any means; it only inflamed a number of influential factions to try their hands where their officials had failed. The priests and elders had made a frontal assault on the assumption that the Savior would cower before a show of their ecclesiastical clout, but now the rest would take a subtler, more oblique approach.

My Bible is open at Matthew, chapter 22, verse 15, where the record says: "Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle (Jesus) in His talk."

The Pharisees do not intend to run the risk of another failure. Their strategy is to confront our Lord with some highly controversial issue on which whatever position He might take will alienate Him from various dissident groups and lay Him liable to disastrous consequences. Nor will it be hard to find such an issue in these hectic times, for the masses are sharply divided into many hostile camps. For example, the Pharisees themselves are confirmed reactionaries both with reference to their religion and their politics--extremely zealous for the letter of the Law and just as bent on seeing their nation liberated from its Roman conquerors. The Sadducees, with equal zeal for the recovery of Israel's lost autonomy, have long ago abandoned the historic Jewish faith. And the Herodians are just unscrupulous opportunists who are eager to ingratiate themselves with the Romans in order to secure political, economic, and social advantages. All three of these contentious factions are implacably at odds among themselves, but for the moment, as much as they despise one another, they are drawn together by an even greater hatred for the lowly Nazarene who claims to be their promised Messiah.

"And," we read, "the Pharisees . . . sent out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?' (Vv. 15-17.)

Never were appearances contrived more cunningly to mask the real identity and intentions of one's mortal enemies. Too shrewd to face the Lord themselves with such effusive duplicity, the Pharisees send a delegation of their disciples along with a company of Herodians, hoping by this device to catch the Savior off His guard and, thus, elicit an answer that can be used against Him regardless of what He says. The complicity of the Pharisees in this conspiracy would be self-evident if they had approached the Savior personally; but, no, the whole detachment of His questioners appears to be a polite and affable coterie of Herodians who have come sincerely seeking His advice, whereas, as a matter of fact their compliments are meant to inveigle some ill-considered reply that the Pharisees can turn into a capital offense. Unlike the clerics who had bruskly challenged our Lord's credentials, these men hasten to concede that He is true, that He teaches the truth, and that He never compromises in order to win the praise or escape the wrath of anyone. But while affecting such high esteem for Him, their purpose is to lure Him with their suave amenities into a deadly trap.

Everything they say is baited with deceit designed to lead Him to a false conclusion about their real objective.

"Master," they say, "we know that thou art true" (v. 16)-as if to say, "You have our confidence, and we want yours."

"Tbou teachest the way of God in truth" (v. 16)-as if to say, "You can feel free to answer us, for we will regard your reply as the voice of God."

"Neither carest thou for any man" (v. 16)-as if to say, "In view of your supreme devotion to the truth, your impartial judgment, and your utter disregard for what others think or say, we have decided to submit a question which no one else can be trusted to resolve." In other words, these genteel fellows are saying: "We like you, and we want you for our champion. Here is a case which you alone are competent, and brave enough, to grapple with. Don't disappoint us, Sir; put out your neck!" And through their subtle flattery, they hope to break His neck!

Then, at last, they come to the point: "Tell us, therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" (V. 17.)

That is the question, simply that; but it is loaded with a ton of dynamite. To pay a poll tax to a foreign power is to acknowledge its supremacy and its right to rule. If Jesus tells the Jews that they should pay this Roman tax, the Pharisees will brand Him as a traitor to His nation and will ridicule His Messianic claims. At a time when they are yearning for the Messiah to appear in mighty power and banish Rome's accursed armies from Jewish soil, it is unthinkable to them that the Messiah Himself would countenance a token of subjection to a pagan overlord. But, on the other hand, if Jesus should forbid the payment of this hateful tax, the Romans will arrest Him for a crime against the Emperor. So either way, His critics seem assured of victory. He simply must reply; but when He does, He will incriminate Himself.  Or so they think...

"But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites?" (V. 18.)

Thus His first retort shows that all their deceit and flattery have gone for nought, and this disarms them with a single surprising blow. Still, their challenge stands; and now our Lord must meet it or admit defeat. What will He say?

"Show Me the tribute money" (v. 19), He demands. "And they brought unto Him a penny" (v. 19).

So they do have tribute money-Caesar's money-for here it is. The fact bears witness to itself, and it testifies that they themselves have tacitly acknowledged Caesar's dominion over them.

"And He saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?" (V.20.)

"They say unto Him, Caesar's" (v. 21.)

"Then saith He unto them, Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God, the things that are God's" (v. 21).

All this was as if to say: "I asked you for a piece of your national currency, and you hand Me a coin with Caesar's image and superscription on it. Thus you have already answered the question you put to Me. Your money shows that you are already in subjection to Caesar and, hence, obliged to pay him his dues, whether you like it or not. But, what is even worse, your servitude bears witness to your apostasy; for if you had paid your proper dues to God, the image of Caesar would not be on your coins. But here it is, and no amount of casuistry can take it off. Your unbelief has sold you into bondage with its bitter debt-the penalty of your unfaithfulness to God (cf. Deut. 28). Even so, your debt to God remains, and in your recognition of it lies your only hope" (cf. Deut. 30:1-10).

And so, the record says, "When they heard these words, they marveled, and left Him, and went their way" (v. 22).

This is one of the saddest statements in all the Bible. Literally, it reads this way: "And having heard, they marveled; and leaving Him, they went away." After hearing our Lord's reply, His questioners marveled at its convicting power; but rather than submit to His authority which they could no longer doubt, they turned their backs on their own Messiah and went away in willful unbelief.

This text presents an inspired depiction of apostasy. Not only does it describe the tragic reaction of those who on this particular occasion turned from light to darkness after having been convinced that they had heard the truth, it also illustrates the process whereby unbelieving Jewry as a nation will one day turn from Christ to Antichrist (cf. Jno. 5:43). Our Lord came in His Father's name, and they rejected Him; but when, eventually, the Man of Sin exalts his own name in the temple of God (cf. 11 Thes. 2:3, 4), they will accept him as their long-awaited King (cf. Jno. 5:43). "To leave" means more than simply "to depart"; it means to go, nay more, to go off in the opposite direction! Those who leave the Lord go off into apostasy, and those who turn from Christ turn to the Antichrist.

These men of Israel heard the Truth

And marveled at the Light,

But turned their backs upon the Sun

And went away into the night!

They heard, they marveled, they left, they went away; and, thus, they sketched the course of their nation's subsequent history.

When the Jews first heard the Gospel from the mouth of God's own Son, they were so astonished at, His doctrine that they had to confess, "Never man spake like this man" (Jno. 7:46). They also marveled at His mighty works: "What do we?" they exclaimed, "for this man doeth many miracles" (Jno. 1 1:47). But though they were amazed at both His words and His deeds, they left Him at the mercy of a callous Sanhedrin and went away to wander in the labyrinth of history for well-nigh two thousand years as a result of their unbelief!

We might go on, but what about Gentile Christendom-have we pursued a better course than they? Have we not also heard the Word of Truth, and marveled at its power, and left the faith, and gone into apostasy?

Yes, we too have heard and marveled, but wherein have we left the faith and gone into apostasy?

We are as blind as Jewry in its darkest hour, with less excuse. Many of our churches, not a few of our leaders, and all too many of our colleges and seminaries have long since abandoned the ancient faith for modernistic infidelity. Some of our largest denominations have turned the "temple courts" into houses of merchandise. Religion has become a racket, and anyone who dares to lift a scourge against it is virtually certain to be crucified. The lowly Nazarene fares little better at the clergy's hands today than when He faced the clerics in Jerusalem.

The road to hell still has four signs along the way: " They Heard," "They Marveled," "They Left," "They Went Away."

Whatever others do, may God give you the grace to recognize our Lord's credentials and follow Him by way of Calvary to victory. The road to Glory starts where the great Apostle beckons, when he says:

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. "