The Miracle of Money

As we continue our series in the miracles in the life of Peter, we read from Matthew chapter 17, beginning at verse 24, perhaps the most unique miracle of provision recorded anywhere in the word of God. Matthew 17, 24.

And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus spoke first to him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute, of their own sons or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the sons free.

Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, cause them to stumble, go thou to the sea and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up. And when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money, that take and give unto them for me and thee. And this explains why Peter could write, Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

There is never a dull moment when you follow the Lord Jesus Christ and obey him. Peter and Andrew and James and John discovered this when they became disciples of Christ. Here in Matthew 17, the chapter begins with Peter and James and John going up on a mountain.

There they met Moses and Elijah. There they saw Jesus in all of his glory. Then they came down from the mountain, and they were in the valley, and Satan was attacking.

And here is a boy who is possessed of demons. And the chapter ends with Peter going down by the seashore and casting in a hook and catching a fish and paying his taxes. There never is a dull moment when you're following the Lord Jesus, because he plans the experiences of life.

Jesus and his disciples had been out ministering, and now they've come back to home base, which is Capernaum. You'll recall that Peter lived in Capernaum, had a house there, and at one time had a fishing business there. And of course the tax collector showed up.

I think it was Daniel Defoe who originally said, Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Well, this is not the civil tax. He was not paying an income tax.

This was a religious tax. It started way back with Moses when Moses took up an offering to build the tabernacle. Then later on when the temple had to be repaired, they had a box and asked the people to contribute.

And this became a standard procedure for the people of Israel. Once a year, each male in Israel would give the half-shekel tax to help support the temple. Using this money, the priests would buy the sacrifices and repair the building and take care of the expenses of the ministry.

Of course, Peter didn't have any money. The shortest speech that Peter ever made is in verse 25. Yes.

Now ordinarily Peter would have made a speech. He would have chosen a text and given a sermon, but not this time. The tax collector comes to Peter and says, Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? What kind of a loyal Jewish man is he? And Peter couldn't think of a thing to say except yes.

By the way, if somebody asked you what Jesus would do, would you know? Peter did. Peter said yes. And as he turned to go into the house, Peter's brain began to spin.

The wheels began to turn because Peter was never left without either an explanation or a plan. He always had several alternatives to choose from, and this was one of Peter's problems. But the Lord anticipated Peter and straightened the matter out, and Peter paid his taxes not only for himself but for his Lord, and it was a miracle.

This miracle is a great help to me and to you when we face needs and face problems. Perhaps your problem today is not paying your tax—it may be. Perhaps it's just finding a job, or perhaps there's sickness in the home, or perhaps there's some affliction or some burden that's oppressing you.

I don't know what it is, but I'm sure that everybody listening to me today is facing some kind of a need. And perhaps someone has said to you, Doesn't your master, this one that you believe in, this one that you follow, doesn't he take care of these things? Satan may be whispering in your ear and saying, See, it doesn't really pay to follow him. Now if you'd follow me, we could take care of these things.

I'd make sure, Peter, that you'd be rich. You'd never have to live like that. So this particular miracle is a tremendous encouragement to you and me when we face the problems and the demands of life.

Because from this miracle we find three great encouragements, three great assurances. Nothing is sure but death and taxes. I know some things that are a lot more sure than death and taxes.

And so from this miracle, let's just quietly pull out three great assurances to help you when the night gets dark, to help you when the door is closed, to help you when the trap door is open and you start to fall. When you find yourself facing a need and a problem, you can be sure, first of all, that Jesus Christ knows your need. Now Peter thought he'd have to go in and explain it.

Our Lord was inside the house. Peter was outside the house. The tax collector wouldn't come and talk to the Lord Jesus, but he would talk to Peter.

Peter, doesn't your master pay the temple tax? Yes. How are we going to do it? How will we do it? I've left fishing. And so Peter began to try to figure the whole thing out.

You've done this. You've done this. I've told you about my friend who keeps under the glass on his desk a little slogan that I have not forgotten.

Faith is living without scheming. And Peter's wheels began to turn, and he was going to go in and tell Jesus exactly what to do. After all, our Lord needs help.

And when Peter walked into the room, he began to open his mouth, and the Lord silenced him. In one of his excellent little booklets, Watchman Nee has a study of the three times that the Lord silenced Peter. It's interesting.

Up on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter woke up and saw Moses and Elijah and Jesus in glory, Peter had to say something. And he said, Lord, let's build three tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. And he was going to go on to say, let's just stay up here and have a great meeting.

But at that time the voice of God the Father came and said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And God the Father silenced Peter.

Here in Matthew 17, verse 25, God the Son silenced Peter. Before Peter had a chance to open his mouth, the Lord anticipated him. Over in Acts chapter 10, Peter was preaching a great sermon, just getting started, preaching to the household of Cornelius, and the Holy Spirit silenced him.

For while he was preaching, the Holy Spirit came down upon them that believed. And that was the end of Peter's message. He never did get to finish it.

You know, it's good to be silenced. That's how you get saved. That every mouth may be stopped.

Has your mouth ever been stopped? Do you tell God how good you are and how fortunate he is that you belong to his family? It's a good thing to be quiet. Be still and know that I am God. Jesus already knew the need.

Before they call, I will answer. Now, Peter didn't know his need. Peter thought he needed money.

Peter didn't need money. Money is a byproduct. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine.

Peter didn't need money. Peter needed faith. You say, oh, I need health.

No, you need faith. I need a job. No, you need faith and character.

Abraham thought he needed another wife. He didn't need another wife. He just needed patience.

Moses thought he needed an army. If we had enough people with enough swords, we'd take care of Egypt. No, no, Moses, you don't need an army.

You need a lamb. When you get that lamb and put the blood on the door, that'll take care of Egypt. You see, we don't know our needs.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You say, oh, pastor, I need this. Are you sure that's what you need? Jesus knows what you need.

Now he knows what you need, first of all, because he's God. If any miracle shows us the deity of Jesus Christ, it's this one. He's God.

As Peter comes in, Jesus says, Peter, I know what went on out there. I wasn't listening. I knew all about it anyway.

I'm glad that God knows my needs because I don't know them. He looks into my heart and my mind. He studies my life and he says, now, this is what you need.

And here I am running over here trying to get a hold of this trinket or this toy. That's not what I need. I need what he has for me.

He knows what you need because he's God. I was listening to a lecturer this week talking about the origin of the universe. Very interesting.

He did it beautifully. He was not theologically sound, but he just had some marvelous scientific facts. He said, for example, do you know that the basic building blocks of the stars, oxygen and hydrogen and nitrogen and carbon, are the same basic elements that make up our body? And I said, isn't that interesting because David knew that a long time ago.

And I turned in my Bible to Psalm 147 and I read to myself verses 3, 4 and 5. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds. He appointed the number of the stars. He calleth them all by their names.

Great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite. The God of the stars is the God who takes care of a broken heart.

And my scientist lecturer said, the same elements that are up there are down here in our bodies. And I said to myself, and the same God who knows the name of that star knows my name. And the same God who can count those stars is counting the hairs on our head.

When you face a problem and a need and you don't know what to do, just lay hold of this first assurance. Christ knows your need because he's God. And secondly, because he's man, you see, we're prone to say, well, Lord, you've never been through this.

Oh, yes, he has. We parents sometimes tire of hearing children say, you don't know how I feel. Well, we do know how they feel.

We've been through it. When a child comes to the Lord Jesus with a prayer, Jesus was once a child. He knows what it's like to be a child.

When a teenager comes to the Lord Jesus with a problem, he knows about teenagers. He was once a youth. When a working man with calluses comes to him with a problem, he knows about it.

He was once a carpenter. When somebody who belongs to a minority race comes to him, he knows all about that. He belonged to a minority race.

When somebody behind the Iron Curtain comes to him, he knows all about it. He was once living in a police state. When somebody who's suffering comes to him, he knows about that.

He suffered. When somebody who's slandered and lied about comes to him, he says, I know just how you feel. They spat upon me.

When someone has his civil rights taken away, Jesus knows about this. In his humility, his justice was taken away. When somebody is going through the valley of the shadow of death, he knows all about that.

He went through it. Oh, my friend, Jesus Christ knows your need because he's God and because he's man. He was there.

You don't have to explain it to him, or you can share it with him, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. But he knows your need today. The second assurance is that Jesus Christ is concerned about your need.

Many people may know your needs. As I visit in the hospitals, and I'm sure Pastor Filkin has this same experience, we meet total strangers who tell us about their needs. They say, oh, I've had this problem or I've got that problem, but we don't quite know them.

They're strangers. When we visit our own people, somehow we have a kind of a deeper concern. I suppose this is natural, but with the Lord, he is concerned about our every need.

Isn't this marvelous that the God of the universe, who has galaxies upon galaxies to watch over, knows the burden and the need of our hearts individually? And he's concerned. He is concerned, first of all, for our sake. You know why the Lord Jesus is concerned about your needs? For your sake.

Here was Peter, and Peter had to pay his taxes, and our Lord was concerned about this. After all, Peter had left his fishing business. A few months later, Peter would say, silver and gold have I none.

I want you to turn over to 1 Peter 1. Peter wrote two letters that we have in the New Testament, and he has something to say about this business of going through difficulty. First Peter 1, verse 6. In this ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold trials, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love. In whom, though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

It's an interesting paragraph. It starts with heaviness in verse 6 and ends with happiness in verse 8. And Peter is saying here, when you have a problem or a need, Christ is concerned about you for your sake. What does he want to do through you? Well, verse 7 says he wants to purify my faith.

He wanted Peter to grow in his faith. Peter, don't trust your fishing, don't trust your boats, trust me. Oh, Peter had all sorts of schemes.

He had plan A, B, and C. If that fails, we have plan D. The Lord said, no, one plan, my plan. Peter, will you just trust me? The reason we have problems and needs is because the Lord is concerned to purify our faith. He says your faith is the most valuable thing you have.

It's like gold. Gold has to be invested. When you trust me, you're investing your faith and you get dividends back.

Now, if that gold is not pure, I can't bless you. So I want to put you through some trials and some difficulties to purify your faith. The second result he wants to bring is he wants to purify our hope.

He says, I want this to be praise, to bring praise and honor and glory. When Jesus comes back, when you and I are facing a need and a problem, oh, how it lifts our hearts to want to see Jesus come back. And so Peter was facing this need and the Lord said, let me purify your faith, Peter.

Let me purify your hope. You're getting your eyes off of that future hope, Peter. He also said, I want to purify your love.

Verse 8, whom having not seen you love. Peter, I don't want you to be concerned about taxes. I want you to love me.

Peter, if you love me, you wouldn't be afraid because perfect love casts out fear. Once again, think of a mother and father. It hurts mothers and fathers when their children worry.

It really does. When a child is worrying about, will I have notebook paper and will I have shoes to wear? It hurts the parents because the parents delight in providing, even at a sacrifice, all that their children need. And when the children say, well, I don't think I'm going to have it, it hurts their love.

And Jesus is saying to Peter, Peter, look, I love you. If I love you, I'm going to take care of you. Now, don't worry.

Something else, he wants to bring us joy. He wants to perfect our joy. Verse 8, believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

One of the greatest joys in life is for God to supply your need. Isn't that marvelous? When God meets some need and solves some problem, oh, we rejoice before him. And so the Lord Jesus is concerned about your needs for your sake.

He wants to purify your faith. He wants to purify your hope. He wants to purify your love.

And he wants to give you joy. Isn't it interesting that we go from heaviness to happiness, from burdens to blessings? But our Lord is concerned not only for our sake, he's concerned for his sake. You see, he had something at stake here.

Suppose he hadn't provided the money. Suppose that Peter had to go outside and say, I'm sorry, we don't have any money. They would have said, oh, sure.

This is what you get for trusting him? Oh, he is God. He tells us that his father supplies every need and you can't pay a half-shekel tax? You see, if the Lord Jesus Christ does not do something about your needs, he loses glory. I tell you that God has more to lose than you do if he doesn't take care of you.

It's just like the parents. If parents are not taking care of their children, oh, they lose reputation and testimony. And Jesus said, now look, you go pay this tax for me and thee.

I like that little phrase, for me and thee. That means that my needs are linked up to his glory. That's why we pray in the name of Jesus.

When we come to ask our father for something that we need, our needs, not our greeds, we say we ask this in Jesus' name. What does that mean? We are asking for something that he would ask for. Now, if it's something he wouldn't ask for, we had better not ask for it.

But when we say in Jesus' name, we are saying, I am linking my needs to his name. And by supplying my needs, we will glorify his name. That's why God doesn't answer selfish prayers.

Selfish prayers don't bring glory to his name. But Peter had a need, a legitimate need, a real need. And so Jesus said, look, Peter, I'm going to meet this need not just for your sake.

I'm going to meet it for my sake. I want to bring glory to my name because I'm the king. But he also is concerned about our needs, not only for our sake and for his sake, but for the sake of others.

There's an interesting little phrase here, notwithstanding, verse 27, lest we should cause them to stumble. Here's the outsider. Here's the unbelieving Pharisee.

Here's the fellow who came to collect the tax. And the Lord Jesus said, we can't afford to cause them to stumble. By the way, isn't it interesting that Jesus paid his tax to a temple where he didn't agree with everything that was going on? Now, if our Lord had been like some rebels, if he'd been like the zealots, for example, if he'd been like those who want to tear down all the institutions, he would have said, indeed, pay a tax.

That temple is corrupt. Caiaphas is corrupt. The Pharisees are corrupt.

I already have cleansed the temple once, and I'm going to have to do it again. He didn't say that. You see, the common people wouldn't have understood this.

The Lord just simply said, all right, Peter, we don't approve of everything going on down there, but lest we should cause some little one to stumble, we're going to pay the tax. The Lord Jesus is giving us a beautiful example of how we Christians can lay aside our privileges for the sake of others. Ever heard a Christian say, I don't care what they think? Well, sometimes in courage we can say that.

Martin Luther said it. Here I stand, I can do none other, so help me God. But there are times when you and I had better lay aside the selfish exercise of our own privileges lest we cause somebody else to stumble.

I was standing at a street corner recently while out visiting and waiting for the traffic light to change, and there was no traffic coming. And I could have gone across the street and not been killed, but there was a little boy standing next to me, and I thought to myself, if I start going across the street on this red light, I'm setting a bad example for this kid, I'll just wait here. And so we waited, and we walked across together.

Did I have the privilege of going across the street? Yes. I would have broken the law. The law says you don't go across the street on red lights unless you're being chased by somebody, and that too happens in Chicago.

I wouldn't have hurt myself, but I might have hurt him. You know, this solves a lot of problems for us. With this principle, lest we cause someone to stumble, you can rip out a lot of the guide books in some churches.

We won't do this and won't do that. No, when a Christian walks in love, when he says, I will do nothing to cause someone else to stumble, that solves a lot of problems. You see, I don't have the right to give up my liberty.

Jesus bought that at the cross, but I do have the liberty to give up my rights, and it's a good thing to do sometimes. Paul says when he writes to the Romans, it is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. Christ knows your needs, and Christ is concerned about your needs.

He wants to do something for you for the sake of others and for his glory. He's concerned about your needs for your sake and for his sake and for the sake of others, which leads us to our third assurance. Jesus Christ knows your need, and Jesus Christ is concerned about your need, and Jesus Christ will meet your need.

You see, he has the power to do it. I don't have the power to meet all my needs, but he does. You see, he's the king.

That's the whole point of this miracle. Peter, I'm the king. They have no right to tax the king.

They have no right to tax the king's children. That's all right. I'm the king.

I will show you what God can do. He has dominion. That's the whole theme of Matthew.

This miracle is found recorded only in Matthew. Mark doesn't have it. Luke doesn't have it.

John doesn't have it. Only Matthew, because Matthew is the gospel of the king. Where is he that is born? The king of the Jews.

Well, there he is. How do we know he's the king? He commands the fish. I've mentioned to you in other messages that God gave to man, God gave to Adam, dominion over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the earth.

And Jesus Christ exercised that dominion. He kept all the birds in Jerusalem quiet until one bird began to crow for Peter. He had somebody drop a coin in the water and not dive in after it.

That's a miracle right there. And he had a fish come along and get the coin and not strangle. The coin stayed in its mouth.

Then he had the hook go down, the fish come along, and even though the fish had the impediment in its mouth, it bit at the hook, and Peter caught the right fish. Now, our liberal friends say, look, it wasn't really a miracle. Jesus just said, hey, go catch a fish and sell it, and whatever money you get we'll pay our taxes.

He didn't say that. That sounds fishy to me. He didn't say that.

It's a miracle. He said, look, I'm the king. I have the power to meet your needs.

He said, Peter, let's you and I pay our taxes together. Now Peter didn't sit in the front porch and wait for the fish to come to him. You see, when God is going to solve your problems and meet your needs, he's going to work in you and through you.

He'll tell you what to do, and he'll enable you to do it, and then what you can't do, he'll do the rest. That's how he solves your problems. He says, look, I'll tell you what to do, and you go do it, and I'll give you the strength to do it, and what you cannot do, I will do.

I'll give you the faith. And Peter did this. Jesus Christ can meet your needs because he has the power.

And he can meet your needs because he gives the promise. Dear friend, you believe the promises of God and you act upon them. Now it takes no imagination to see this.

Peter, go down to the sea, take a hook, cast it in, and the first fish you catch, the money will be in the fish's mouth. Peter knew the whole thing. Now it's interesting that there is no verse 28 to chapter 17 of Matthew.

Ordinarily, verse 28 would read like this, And Peter went down to the sea, and cast in a hook, and caught a fish, and he found in the fish's mouth a coin, and went and paid his taxes. It doesn't say that. And yet everybody here today believes that that happened.

You know why? Jesus said so. He is able to meet your needs if you believe his promise. I can just see Peter going down there to the sea.

There's always a bunch of boys hanging around the seashore, you know that. And he gets down there, and he puts some bait on the hook and throws it in, and a little kid comes along and says, Hey, mister, what are you doing? I'm fishing. Aren't you Simon? Well, you usually use nets.

How come you're using a hook? Boy, you can't catch many fish with one hook. Well, I don't use my nets anymore. I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Oh, why are you fishing? I'm paying my taxes. Oh. Don't you have any money? No.

You mean when you follow Jesus, you don't have any money? No. But you don't need any because you have Jesus. Oh.

Well, what's this fish going to do? Well, he's going to have some money in his mouth. Oh. Just then, boom, pulls him in.

I can just see that boy's eyes getting wider and wider, and Peter reaches into the fish's mouth and pulls out the coin, hands the fish to the kid, and says, You see? The kid says, Mister, what kind of bait do you use? You see, the Lord Jesus Christ keeps his promises, and so when you have a need, just get into his book and say, What promise can I claim for this need? You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to meet your needs because he has met the greatest need in your life. You know what that is? Salvation. That's the meaning of Romans 8, verse 32, that if God spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him also freely give us all things? If God gave you his Son, a few dollars won't break him.

If God gave you his Son, he'll give you whatever you need. You see, this money was redemption money. This wasn't ordinary money.

When you read the book of Exodus, you find that Moses said every Jewish male give a half a shekel every year. It's redemption money. They took that silver and they molded those big blocks of silver into which the posts of the tabernacle went.

It was redemption money. You see, God meets our needs because he redeemed us. Isn't that great? We're his children.

And if he did the greatest thing for us and met the greatest need, can't he meet all the other needs? If he broke the power of canceled sin and set the prisoner free, can't he feed the prisoner? Can't he clothe him now that we've been set free and we're the children of God? Sure he can. And so this little miracle encourages me. It says to me, you can be sure that Jesus knows your need.

You can be sure that Jesus is concerned about your need. And you can be sure that Jesus will meet your need if you'll trust him and do what he tells you to do. And Peter writes many years later, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you.

We're thankful, Father, for this glimpse into the miracle power that is available for us. Oh, Lord, how wonderful it is you can take the commonplace things of life and turn them into miracles. You can take hooks and lines and fish and money and put them all together and do a miracle.

Thank you we don't have to go up on the mountaintop to have the glory. We can see it in the everyday things of life. Thank you that you know our needs.

Father, we don't always know them. Thank you that you're concerned about our needs. We don't want to cause anyone to stumble.

We want to bring glory to your name. We want to grow. Thank you, Father, that you'll meet our needs.

The power is there and the promise is there. And you've purchased us and we're yours. Oh, Lord, give quietness and confidence to hearts today that have been troubled because you will meet all of our needs according to your riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

And because of this, we worship you, we give you praise and thanksgiving in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.