Well, I wanted to bring a devotional to you here at this time, and if you'll turn with me to Matthew chapter 17. I want to read from verses 24 to 27. When they had come to Capernaum, that is Jesus and the disciples, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the temple tax? And he said, yes. And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers? And Peter said to him, From strangers. Jesus said to him, Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea and cast in a hook and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money. Take that and give it to them for me and you." What an amazing incident this is in the life of our Lord. It holds some lessons for us, which I think should convince us of what a great Savior our Lord is. First of all, the omniscience of our Lord concerning Peter and us. Verses 24 to 26. The issue in this incident is right away given to us in verse 24 that Jesus had come to Capernaum and he was staying at Peter's house. And Peter, leaving Jesus in the house, went on by himself to go to town for something. And on the way, he encountered a group of men who, recognizing him as being one of the foremost of Jesus' disciples, they asked him this question, does your teacher not pay the temple tax? Perhaps they were wanting to collect from Jesus personally at that time, and seeing Peter, they knew that they could ask him about it. And Peter said yes. but not having any money to be able to pay this half shekel tax, either for himself or for the Lord, he told them that he would mention it to Jesus and give back to them. This temple tax, by the way, was not a civil tax, a federal government tax. All the civil taxes were required taxes. Jesus said at a point a little later in his ministry in Matthew 22, 21 to the Herodians, who had asked him, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? He said to them, you hypocrites, show me a denarius, whose image and inscription is on it. And when they told him, he said to them, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. and to God the things that are God's. So Jesus was never a man who avoided paying taxes legitimately owed. However, this tax was somewhat different. This tax was a tax enacted for the upkeep of the temple. And if you'll turn with me over to Exodus chapter 30, I want to read to you verses 11 to 16. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, when you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord. When you number them, that there may be no plague among them, when you number them, this is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is 20 geras. The half shekel shall be an offering to the Lord. Everyone included among those who are numbered from 20 years old and above shall give an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel. When you give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves and you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting. that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for yourselves." So this tax was collected at the same time that the census of the children of Israel was taking place in Moses' day. And at that time, every man would give a half-shekel as a ransom, it says here, for himself. to the Lord. Every male of 20 years old and older was to pay this tax. And when they did this, they were acknowledging that they were sinners. You'll notice. Whether they were rich or poor, they would pay the same amount. And their complying with these instructions was their saying that this was the way, ceremonially, that they would give a ransom for themselves. and make atonement for themselves through paying this tax. This paying of this tax was intended to make them see their need, I believe, of the sacrifice of Christ, who would one day come and redeem all of his people, the one who would truly atone for their sins. Now, in paying this tax, they would be acknowledging that they needed this ceremonial cleansing. which took place at the tabernacle and later at the temple. And they were also then in paying this tax, recognizing the need for the upkeep of the temple or the tabernacle in the earlier time. And they had to pay this tax once a year, once every year, because they needed to keep making this atonement for themselves. By the way, the law could never save anyone. the ceremonial law even as good as it was in pointing out the need for atonement and a need of a sacrifice. These men who were trying to atone for themselves had to do this, to pay this tax every year and confess their sins and In doing so, they were saying that since we are sinners, we recognize that we need to have a tabernacle, we need to have sacrifices offered on our behalf for the cleansing of our sins. They were saying, we recognize the need for this, and so every year we will pay this tax. Peter had told these men that the Lord Jesus would pay this tax, but he also didn't know how they were going to pay it because they were so poor. As far as I can determine, the tax was about $60 for each of them. So Peter goes back home, and when he comes through the door into the room where Jesus was, Jesus had anticipated him, it says. He went before him in the conversation. And before Peter could relate anything of what had happened to him, When he was out, Jesus said to him, What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes? From their sons or from strangers? And Peter said to him, From strangers. Now in saying this, Peter was acknowledging that the sons of a king never paid taxes. Do you see that? Only the strangers to a king, as it says here, that is his subjects who were not of his family, that's what it's referring to here, paid them and for the kingdom's maintenance. Jesus says, then the sons are free. Meaning, I am the Son of God Peter, the son of the king, who is the one whom this temple was built for, therefore I am free from having to pay this temple tax. And Jesus was telling Peter that he himself was exempt from paying this tax because he was the son of God and the temple was built for God. But the thing that I want you to see from this exchange between Peter and Jesus for your devotional purposes is this, Jesus' omniscience. Jesus' omniscience is really set forth in this particular episode between the two of them. Because Jesus being the Son of the Living God, the Great King over all the earth, He knew exactly the things that were said by these men who were collecting the tax, even though he wasn't there with Peter at the time when the conversation took place, which is why Jesus was able to say when Peter entered the room, first thing, what do you think, Peter? How should this be? It was because the Lord was omniscient. He was vitally interested and concerned that Peter would understand his omniscient power, and you and I need to see this as well for our own devotional purposes, whether it's in prayer or our having fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus every day. These things were written for our instruction too, because we very much need to know and believe that the Lord Jesus knows every conversation that we have with other people. Now, I don't know whether you think about this much, but if God is omniscient, and He is, and the Lord Jesus Christ is God in one of His two natures, then He knows every conversation that we have with other people around us. And I think that the Lord would have us to remember that this morning, and not to make us afraid so much, As to encourage us in our prayers and our fellowship with Him, I think it will help us to pray more so that we might know Him better. That's why I'm bringing this devotional in this way at this time. When we pray and ask for wisdom, we'll be able to learn from Him what His good will is. Sometimes we think we know. Peter thought he knew. But in this case, Jesus was exempt from paying this tax, but it's very interesting what's going to happen here in this conversation between Jesus and Peter here in just a moment, but I won't get to that quite yet. In the dining room at my home, I have a wooden plaque on the wall. Maybe some of you have seen it. there in the dining room, it says this, that Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation. And that is entirely true. And you and I, if we remember that, I think it will help us in many, many ways. That Christ will interact with us, knowing our conversations and knowing what we need. And he will be able, he has the ability to hear our every conversation. He can direct us into his word. He can give us wisdom by his spirit. He can and he will interact with us, I'm saying. Now second, I want you to see Christ's humble understanding of his own exalted position in relation to Peter and to us. Verse 27a, nevertheless, lest we offend them. Jesus says. So here's the Lord of glory, the Son of the King of Heaven, who knows that he as a son is free from having to pay this tax, but still he's concerned, lest he and Peter offend those collecting the tax, or those people who might hear about his choosing not to pay it. Why was this? It was because Jesus understood what his own mission was. And he knew that his father had sent him into the world out of love for poor, fallen, sinful mankind. And he as the mighty God would choose to take upon himself human flesh and lay aside the prerogatives of his deity. That is his right to rule and his right to command authority from people around him. He would choose to humble himself to the point of death even the death of the cross and become a ransom for us. So even in the way that he lived his life, he was showing his kindness, his love, his concern for our sinful plight, because Jesus had no sin. He had no need to ransom his own soul. He had no need to give to the upkeep of the temple, because as he said at one point, one who is greater than the temple is here. Matthew 12, 6. So when Jesus came in His incarnation, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as it says in John 1, 14. He came to tabernacle with man. He was greater than the temple that day because He was the true temple that we worship God in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. So all men ought to have honored Jesus, but they did not in that day, and they do not in our day. But Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, he says. So Jesus is the great high priest of all men who believe in him. And I want you to see that he would willingly pay this ransom for us. His willingness to pay the temple tax, not to be offending those who were collecting it, shows his sympathy for those he would suffer and die for. We have a very sympathetic high priest. Like it says in Hebrews 4, 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. And then finally, I want you to see his providential ordering of all things related to paying what Peter owed and what we owe. well verse 27 nevertheless lest we offend them go to the sea and Cast in a hook and take the fish that comes up first and when you have opened its mouth You will find a piece of money take that and give it to them for me and you Now once again here, I want you to see Christ's omniscience, Christ knew exactly how he wanted Peter to obtain the money to pay this tax. He knew exactly where he wanted Peter to go to find it. He knew about all the details of this because he was omniscient. He would appoint a fish. And I want you to see that God is in the, the Lord Jesus Christ is in the details of everything that we are about in our life. That's the devotion of this morning, that he would appoint a fish for Peter to go cast his line, and it would be the first fish that came up, took the hook, and he would haul it to the shore, and he would open its mouth, and there would be a shekel. Not a half shekel, but a shekel. In other words, enough for Jesus and him. Do you see that? I just think this is so very, very precious. That he would appoint the fish to swim to that very place, having a shekel in his mouth. Now, how did he get the shekel in his mouth? Did some careless fisherman drop it out of his waistband while he was out fishing and the fish just happened to come along and take it in his mouth? Oh no, it was that the Lord appointed that that would be so. Do you see that? That's God's providential working. And he does that in each of our lives. He also would appoint that Peter would successfully catch this fish first off. No repeated attempts. It was right away. The fish bit on the hook. And it would be a miracle if we can think of it this way, of providential ordering. I don't know if we think of God's providence as being miraculous, but I think that we ought to, in certain ways, that He orders all things according to the counsel of His will and is able to intervene in our life at any given point to provide for our needs. Do you see that? So, I'm saying what a marvelous miracle this was. that these things would happen in this way. And what he's doing is he's, the Lord is showing us his willingness. He was showing Peter and all of us his willingness to come into the world and to redeem us. As we were just thinking about sympathize with our sins and our weaknesses that something needed to be done about them that we couldn't do. And this is why we don't have to, over and over again like the Jews did in those days, offer up the same sacrifices or pay the same taxes year by year, which couldn't atone for them. But Jesus came and fulfilled it all. And I'm saying that it was His willingness. to come into the world to be our Savior. It was according to the Father's purpose to send Him. He came and He would come out of love to the Father and to all who He would lay down His life or He would pay our sin debt by going to the cross. And therefore, in concluding this, I just want you to see and ask this question, will you not believe that this miracle of Christ's divine providence is something that in not so obvious a way is being done for you. Day by day, Christ died and rose from the dead. He ever lives to make intercession for you. And now in His providentially ordering all things, He goes before you. and is watching over you and having saved you, he will provide all that you need for life and godliness. And he's gonna order all the circumstances in your life and see to all the details related to providing for all your needs, both physically and spiritually, both now and all through your life, until he brings you to himself. to be with him forever. Well, why don't we pray? Lord, we pray that this would be devotion to our hearts this morning, that we would see your omniscience, that you're with us always, and that you are always watching over us, always with us, always caring for our needs, whether we realize it or not. So help us. to see how strong and mighty you are to be able to accomplish everything that concerns you. And we especially want to think about our own personal growth and grace and our relationship with you, that we would see you in this holy way that we have talked about here this morning. That we would see how willing you are to come and help us and to take upon yourself all of our cares. You care for us. in ways that go way beyond our understanding and fulfill all of your Father's purposes. Help us to take heart and to take courage and to live our lives unto you, even today and the days to come. In Jesus' name, amen.