The Beheading of a Man of God | Mark 6:14-29 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

What a wonderful time of praise. Crown him king forever. He will be king forever. He is king now. And as our brother said, his dominion and his rule and his reign shall be everlasting and everlasting.

I'm eager to be in the word of God with you. And so meet me in Mark chapter six, and let's come together the verse 14 as we discuss this afternoon the beheading of a man of God. The beheading of a man of God, a very graphic title for a message, but the Bible is honest and direct and plain, and there is great value in what we have before us today. And so we come to verse 14, and we've read these verses before, but let's revisit the ones that we covered and then explore the ones that follow it. In verse 14 of Mark chapter six, we read, King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known.

Some said John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others said he is Elijah, and others said he is a prophet like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised. The human conscience is one of the most obvious fingerprints that testify of the reality of God.

The universal impression and experience that we all have with the conscience undeniably calls for a divine designer who has determined what is right, what is wrong, and has deposited that moral awareness in those that he has created in his image. And you and I looked into that. We looked into the origin of the conscience, and we looked into the function of the conscience, and how it is one of the many mercies that God has established in this fractured world. And more than just a mercy to restrain evil, it has a redemptive and sanctifying purpose once that conscience has been has been met with the gospel and it is responded to correctly. And we looked at that conscience, and we looked at what God says about it.

And what we learned last week about the conscience was brought forth to us because in the verses that we just read, we see a man's conscience powerfully at work. That man has to be dealing with something to be convinced that John the Baptist has come back to life. And this is nothing more than a person who is haunted by his guilt. And he is dealing with a past sin, and he can't shake it off easily. And as we come to this text, we realize that Herod's conscience is is alive.

There is a pulse. Scroll down quickly to verse 20 to let me prove that to you. It says here in verse 20, for Herod feared John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. Herod knew that John was a righteous and holy man. He could make the distinction between what was righteous, what was unrighteous, what was holy, what was unholy, and it's now here to accuse him.

He has done something unrighteous. He has done something that is unholy. And so as unconverted as he was, there is some aspect of hope in this man. But why would he think why would he think that Jesus was John the Baptist? Well, you already heard it last week, and you heard it again in these verses.

Because he did something to this man, John the Baptist. He performed a great injustice to this man, John the Baptist. And in summary, he killed him. For no justifiable reason, he had him executed. He had his head removed from his shoulders.

And now day and night, he remembers. He remembers. He remembers how one command so quickly, because of the pressure of his surroundings, he removed a holy servant of God. And what he lived with is this anxiety that perhaps this man could come back and get me. I have the impression reading about Herod that he always had this feeling that if he were to do something to John the Baptist, that there would be dreadful consequences that would follow.

That's why he was hesitant to some degree to touch him him because he knew that he was a different caliber. He he was not like these Pharisees. He he's special. He's sent by God. And so he's riddled with fear.

And as we're about to learn in this very text, we're going to see that John the Baptist's death played a role in the behavior of Herod here. And I look at this and I think, if you just scale through the verses with your own eyes, you realize how much is given over to this man's martyrdom. How much of John the Baptist execution is taking up real estate in our Bibles. Now the Holy Spirit could have summarized it. He could have summarized it easily here in verse 16 that John was beheaded and that he he did this.

Herod was the one who performed this atrocious act. But instead, we get this elaborate detailed angle on how it happened, why it happened. When I look at this, I realize here that this is one of the most extensive accounts of a person apart from Christ. This is about chiefly John the Baptist and it's one of the most drawn out explanations of what happened to somebody or about somebody apart from Jesus himself. And Mark was moved by the spirit to patiently pen this story, which tells me at least one thing.

He doesn't want us to glance over it. He doesn't want us to just understand that John died and he was murdered and to move on from there. Obviously, there is something in these texts, in these verses that are for our benefit, and that's what we will seek to do. We will seek to try to understand what it is that God intended to say to us. And I think the best way to go about it is not to hold on to a specific theme, but to just pick up certain truths as we go, and to see what it is that God would wanna say through this through this terrible experience and this terrible event.

And so let's read. Let's read from verse 17 and see what it is that the spirit of God would say to us. For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. We get a flashback.

We're getting a flashback of what happened with John and why it is that Herod is feeling this disturbance that we read and we learned last week. And the first thing that I wanna bring to your attention in light of this truth is the unseen work of conviction. The unseen work of conviction. Notice that although Herod could get rid of John, he could not forget him. He could not easily dismiss him.

And what I love about this example is that even after John died, what we see here is that conviction was aggressively at work in this man, this politician, this king. And for some time, Herod might have seemed calm and collected before his audience, but what was happening all along was that there was this internal agitation because he heard a message from John and he did something to the messenger. And I look at that and I think, I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged to some extent.

And if you're a servant of God who cares about seeing people coming to God, then you'll be encouraged by this. As you look at it, consider it. Consider it further. If you are a person who wants to see people surrender their sin and embrace the savior, then realize that Herod's example proves to us that sometimes something is happening in some people's hearts and you're not aware of it. You may not perceive it.

It may not be so obvious to you. Now think about John and put yourself in his shoes. There he is preaching and from time to time, Herod would come to the 1PM service. And when Herod would come, he would be intrigued. He would pay attention.

It says that he listened to him with gladness, but no sign of change. Moreover, he mercilessly handles him. He ultimately takes his life. That would be discouraging concerning the effectiveness of your message. And yet, even when John the Baptist is removed from the scene, the message of John, what happened to John, John's submissiveness to the providence of God at the hands of Herod is eating him up inside.

It is keeping him up at night. This man, John, might be dead, but I'll tell you this, his message and his martyrdom was alive and active in the mind of this corrupt, twisted, and cowardly ruler. As believers, you have to understand something. Don't measure the impact of your life, of your message, the message that you love, you sing about, you hear about week after week. Don't measure the impact of that based on somebody's apparent response, based on their reaction, based on their facial expression.

I see a lot of facial expressions week after week. I'll tell you this. I've learned over time not to take any of it at face value. Look at this man. Look look at look at Herod writhing.

Look at him wondering. Look at him speculate him. Look at him unable to shake off his encounter with John. And think about your life and people you've encountered and the people that you wanna see come to Christ. Are you discouraged so easily?

Are you moved to despair? Here we see here the unseen work of conviction. Let it build your faith that truth and truth alone has the power to deal with that soul. And you just have to give it. And give it consistently and live it.

Live it consistently by the grace of God. I'll never forget how the Lord taught me this, not just in his word but by experience. I remember many, many years ago beginning to preach, speaking at one particular meeting, and that particular meeting was about the coming judgment. The coming judgment for the world and the coming judgment even for the believers. The judgment seat of Christ.

And after I'd preached that message, months had gone by and I was at a different meeting in a different state altogether. Several months had gone by since that original meeting. And there I was at some conference sitting in the lunch hall and I was sitting at a random table and there was a young man beside me. And after just talking to them with just, you know, casual surface level conversation, this young man turned to me and he says, do you remember me? I said, honestly, I don't.

I'm sorry. And he named the conference that he was at and he he named some people that we might have known and he said, I was at one of your meetings. And I was sitting in the back row and I have to apologize to you. Me and my friends were laughing while you were preaching. I said, to be honest, you don't have to apologize because I didn't even recognize, I didn't even see, I didn't even know you were there.

So apology accepted, I guess. And he says, no, you don't understand. I wasn't really laughing. We were laughing, and we got up in the middle of your message and left. I was dying inside.

You were talking about the judgment. You were talking about the coming judgment. You were talking about hell. You were talking about, are you ready to meet with Christ? And I have to tell you something, I'm terrified.

And I've been terrified since. And the conviction was so strong, I couldn't sit there anymore. I had to leave and I had to laugh it off to try to save face. And I looked at him and I says, well, are you still scared? Said, I am.

So we put down our pudding, and we left that lunch hall, and we had an hour long conversation about the condition of his soul. I don't know where that young man is, but I learned something valuable. Even when a man is laughing while you're preaching, he could be cutting in his own heart, bleeding with conviction, wondering if there is a wound that could be healed. I remember another time, one of my brothers were there for this so they can testify to it. You just have to figure out which one it was.

We're at a meeting, different state, different place. A message was preached, People lingered around. And I saw two men sitting in one of the pews, and one of them looked visibly disturbed and the other one seemed normal. We approached them and we greeted them. My brother was with me.

And when you saw these two sitting beside each other, you could easily assume and see which one was disturbed and which one seemed to have just gone through the motions of that night. And as we begin to speak to one who was opening up his heart into the stresses of life and where he's brought himself and what sin has done to him, he'd even in that moment expressed how he wants Jesus and he hears about Jesus and he wants to what does it mean to surrender to Jesus? Can he deal with this situation in my life? And while I was conversing with this man, I looked at the other one and he was stone cold. He didn't just look disinterested, he looked upset.

And he just stared off into the distance. And so I tried to include him from time to time and all I would get back is one word answers. So I thought to myself, okay, If there's a parable of the sores with the four I can guess which one this one is, and I can guess which one this one is. So we just dealt with the one individual who seemed to be more open, obviously. And there was tears, and there was a a voice cracking, and here's his friend here unmoved like a statue.

We prayed and we moved on. Weeks later, months later, we reconvened with that same group and I realized something. The man in that moment who poured out his heart and was expressing his need and his desire was nowhere to be found. In fact, he was back into his old ways and guess who got baptized? And guess who plugged into the local church?

And guess who was serving consistently with that place? The guy that I thought, I don't know. I don't know if his heart is open. The unseen work of conviction. You don't know what's happening in that heart.

You don't know what's happening in their thoughts. You don't know what's keeping them up at night. You don't know what they're thinking about through the day. And there's another example of this in the scriptures. Come with me to Matthew 21.

And notice what Jesus says in a parable in verse 28 of Matthew 21. In Matthew twenty one twenty eight, Jesus says, what do you think? A man had two sons and he went to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he changed his mind and went.

And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his of his father? They said the first. Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

Here's Jesus addressing the religious elite, and he is masterfully bringing them to a a conclusion on their own about their own indictment, their own condemnation of how they're dealing with the gospel that's been presented to them. But what I love about this is this parable provides a principle, a principle beyond the obvious. Notice that the two sons that Jesus presents gave an immediate response. They both did. They both said something to the wishes of their father.

One said, I will not. The other said, I go sir. Now let me ask you, between the two, who seemed more respectful? The second one. He didn't just say, I go, he says, I go sir.

So the other one was even a little bit more rude than the second one. And so you have these two reactions, you have these two responses, you have these two apparent decisions. But what happens? We see that there is a different outcome. Now, if you were in the presence of this interaction between the father and two sons, what would you esteem about the relationship from the second one and the relationship between the first one?

Oh, surely this one loves his father. Surely this one will obey his father. Surely this one reveres his father. And the first one, there's no hope. What kind of attitude does a son have like this to the wishes of his own of his own dad?

And if you would say that the second one was walking in obedience and pleasing the father, you would be wrong. You would be wrong. Even with all the presentation of politeness and obedience, you would be wrong. And what Jesus is teaching here is that actions are more important than words. Actions are more important than words.

You said it, but did you do it? This is what is valuable to Jesus Christ. Words are important. Absolutely. But what he's trying to state here is that actions speak louder.

But more than that, here's what you need to understand. Initial response is not the indicator of the condition of the heart. Both of them said something. One of them changed his mind. The other said something and he was hypocritical.

He didn't understand what he was agreeing to. He didn't intend to actually hold his word. You don't know what's happening in someone's heart. Why am I presenting that truth to you? Oh, would you be relieved?

Would you be arrest? Would you just like that parable we heard many weeks ago, plant the seed and go to sleep? And just believe that truth has the ability to deal with a man even though like John, you may not even be here anymore. He may be gone altogether. And there are certainly many men who are dead but still speak.

John was one of those men. The unseen work of conviction. But let's move forward here and see in these verses the consistency of the Baptist. For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

Okay. We we look here and we realize that Herod was obviously convicted of inciting an illegitimate marriage. And there's a lot of history that can tell you exactly how this happened, but but if you just come from a a purely scriptural standpoint, you'll see that all you have here is that he had his brother's wife. Somewhere along the line, Herod must have convinced Herodias to divorce his brother and to be with him instead. And if that is the case, then according to the law, you know that this is an invalid and an adulterous relationship.

And it could be that Herod did this during the time and during the ministry of John the Baptist and it outraged the prophet. This was like a scandal in the headlines. And John would not keep quiet about it. He had a public platform. This was a public sin.

And he realized that this man was in a place of authority and he could have influenced others. And so what does he do? He confronts the unrepentant man with this message. It is not lawful for you to have this. What you did was illegal.

What you did broke God's law. Now we could turn this into a teaching of divorce, but just wait a few months. There's gonna come that teaching in Matthew Mark chapter 10 rather. But instead, I want you to consider something inspiring about this man of God. This is the inspiring thing about him, that regardless of whom stood before him, he was a man who did not waver.

He would speak to kings the same way he spoke to the common folk of Israel. He would speak to men of power, and he would speak to poor men. He would speak to men of prestige, and he would speak to pathetic people. This was a man who did not change. This was a man who was constant.

This was a man who was fearless. This was a man who had courage. God help us. We need a few John the Baptists in America. And what I love about this, and the reason why I bring this to your attention is because he was the same person with the same message whether he was addressing whoever, and this is the quality that Jesus Christ prays about John.

Those disciples came from the prison and told Jesus about the doubts that John the Baptist had. They went back with the message that Jesus gave them. And then Jesus looks to the crowd that he was teaching that day, and he begins to commend John and to speak of his praises. And he says one thing that I love in light of this truth that we see here. In Matthew eleven seven, he says, what did you go out to see?

I was speaking about John. What did you go out to see? A reed shaken by the wind? A reed shaken by the wind? And the obvious answer is no.

What is a reed? It's like a tall, slender, grass like plant. You see them by river banks. You see them sometimes in the countryside as you're driving along the freeway. And those reeds are so sensitive that any direction of the wind, they would dance to it.

They would dance to it. Forward, backwards, side to side. Whatever the breeze was, they bend it. They bend it to whatever the breeze said to do. And what he is saying here is unlike the reed that is influenced by the elements outside of it, John was constant.

John was not pressured. John was not influenced. John did not waver. John did not move a wink. Despite of all the things that might be happening around him, he was an oak of righteousness who stood firm.

And despite the environment, you found the same guy. The same guy. I read that and I thought to myself, this is what Jesus loved about John. He loved that he was not a reed shaken by the wind. He loved that no matter where John found himself and who was around him, you had the same John.

Whether he was in a palace or whether he was in the wilderness or some rock screaming his head off towards a bunch of people. The same guy with the same convictions, the same attitude. I thought if Jesus, if you commend John because of this, then would you find the same characteristic in me? In me. Oh, would you give me the grace not to be a reed that is shaken by the wind?

Oh Lord, would I not be different in my living room than I am on the pulpit, than I am in the classroom, than I am in the workplace, when I am at the outing? Lord, let me be the same. If this is what you look down on and you say, ah, this is a reed who is not shaken by the wind, and this is what you adore and praise and love, then may you find it in me. Can he find it in you? Are you a reed shaken by the wind?

Do the elements outside of you, the external factors bend you? Are you pliable? Are your conviction stronger in some settings than others? Are you willing to confront sin in others, but when it comes to people who have some business relation to you or who give a certain amount to your ministry, are you more hesitant to speak up and say it is not lawful for you to do this? Oh, that you would be like an olive tree in the house of God.

Oh, that you would be immovable because of your devotion to Christ. Oh, that you would have the ever present awareness of Jesus walking with you, living in you, ever protecting you, ever supervising you so that you can stand before Herods and you can say the same thing you would tell some poor soul who comes whimpering to you, this is how you're saved. This is why you need to repent. This is why you need to come to Christ. I see the consistency of this man of God.

He was not influenced. He was the same. And if you wanna win the commendation of Christ, I encourage you to ask him for the grace to not be like a reed shaken by the wind. But we see something else here when we move on. He had been saying it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

But then in verse 19, we realized something else happens. And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, but she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed and yet he heard him gladly. Unfortunately, what you can say about John, you could not say about Herod.

Here we find this man, although confronted about his sin, although dealt with concerning his conscience, although his wife would nag about him every night at dinner because he shamed their relationship. With all of those things, we are told that he gladly heard John, that he intentionally sat under his preaching even more. This is this is weird. This is a little strange to me and yet it is so common. We are told that he heard him gladly.

The word there is with pleasure. With pleasure. John was not an ordinary preacher. You know that. He was not like these cold Pharisee PhDs that had no unction, that had no urgency, that had no authority.

No. When he preached, there was fire. When he preached, it was plain. When he preached, it was direct. When he preached, it was about Jesus.

Oh, yeah. John. John, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I'm sure Herod heard it. I'm sure he heard something of the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the kingdom of God.

And not only did Herod tolerate that preaching, he was charmed by it. He was fascinated. He was mesmerized. He was spellbound. He was he was drawn to this man's confidence and his consecration and he gladly he gladly heard him.

This is disturbing. Do you know why? Come to verse 22. For when Herodias' daughter came in this is later another scene at his birthday. For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guest.

And the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you. K. This type of dancing is not a professional performance. It's not an interpretive kind of dance of some sort. This is provocative dancing.

This is seductive dancing. And this is the entertainment of the night for his birthday. And we are told that the same Herod who experienced pleasure sitting under the messages of John also knew a pleasure as he had a young lady in his home erotically dancing before him and his guest. Isn't that strange? A great preacher once said that Herod was a man who wanted heaven but loved the road to hell.

Herod was a man who wanted heaven, but he loved the road to hell. And we see it plainly here. He could genuinely appreciate a sound, well crafted, passionately presented truth, and yet applaud a young lady very likely stripping before him. His stepdaughter? How can this be?

How is this so? And yet unfortunately, there's a principle here that is too common. I meditated on this contradictory way of life and here's what came to mind, that delighting in the ministry of holy men and enjoying the presence of holy people is not sufficient evidence that such a person is yoked with Christ. Delighting to sit under the ministry of holy men and enjoying the presence of holy people is not sufficient evidence that such a person is yoked to Christ. And I can say that confidently about Herod here because regardless of the reasons for his admiration about John, regardless of what it is that was pulling on his heartstrings, I know this one thing about Herod.

I know one thing was true about this man. Whatever he was enjoying, it wasn't because of Jesus. It wasn't because of Christ. Saying, prove it preacher, gladly. Think about the hours just before the crucifixion.

And in those concluding chapters of the gospel of Luke, we have an encounter between Jesus and who? Herod. And do you remember what Herod did with Jesus? Let me remind you in Luke 23 verse 11. And Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him.

Then arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. The same man who can sit under the teaching and preaching of John, who surely presented Jesus when it came to a face to face visit and appointment with the same Christ that he heard about, treated him with contempt, mocked him, and scorned him, and despised him. How? Well, let me tell you this one thing. Do you remember last week's message on the conscience?

Do you remember how the more you ignore your conscience, the more you silence your conscience, the worse it gets, the quieter it gets, the deader it gets, and the more danger you invite to your life? Oh, I believe that's what's happening here. After quieting it and silencing it and suppressing it, the same man who feared to touch John can now come and openly mock Jesus Christ. How did that happen? Because between John's message and Jesus' encounter, he did something with those thoughts.

He buried them. He subdued them. He ignored them. And what happened? Became more and more seared.

More and more seared. But there's something else here. Could it be the how John, or rather Herod is treating Jesus at this point is revealing something that was in him all along? And if that is true, then think about this. Herod Herod being able to love sermons.

It's possible to love sermons and treat Jesus with contempt at the same time. That's a terrifying thought. It's possible. This man proves it. I ask you today to look beyond your respect for the minister.

I ask you today to look beyond your enjoyment of the fellowship of the saints, being in a place with people who are kind and nice and have conservative values. Look beyond that. Look beyond all of that that might be justifying something that is actually deceiving. And ask yourself this one question this afternoon, I beg of you, please. Ask yourself this question.

I beg of you, who is the person of Jesus to you? The person of Jesus. Not messages about him. Not the people who claim him. Who is Jesus to you personally?

What is your face to face relationship like with Jesus? Is it like Herod? Is it like Herod? Oh, I hope not. I pray not.

I hope that everything that you hear, no matter how practical or deep the message is, it would stir your heart for Jesus, for Christ, to love him and adorn him and crown him and obey him. Oh, this is not the case for Herod. He can digest and and receive and contemplate and be perplexed and even be convicted. And yet when it came to the person of Christ, not only was there no connection, there was contempt. There are some who openly show contempt and there are others who indirectly show contempt to Christ.

But I see something else about Herod here. His puzzling relationship with the truth shows shows the danger of being in a setting like this and being able to praise bold proclamation at the same time, be shriveled up in your soul concerning the person of Christ. But there's more to this, even more. Could you believe it? Yes.

What we see here is that even Herod sitting under the ministry of John, holy men like John, also proves that you are not guaranteed freedom from the bondage that you're in. Back at verse 21 of Mark six, but an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias' daughter came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish and I will give it to you. You're told about that. You're given the scene immediately after being informed that Herod heard John gladly.

Meaning, that even being under the truth accurately and powerfully proclaimed does not guarantee liberation and transformation. The same man can come and listen to this and then go home and have such a birthday. Do you think that happens on Sundays? Think so? It's possible.

Is it because truth wasn't being preached? Not necessarily so. You can have John Baptist come up here and preach and still have people act like Herod Howe. Well, it's just like me giving you a recipe and you hearing every ingredient and me spelling out the instructions of how to go about it and you understand it and you might amen it and you might be even excited about what that recipe will look like and you go home and you don't you don't honor the recipe. It's like me giving you directions to a desired location and you understand everything and all the turns and all the warnings and you're excited because you wanna go to this place that you heard about, but you never get in your car, you never turn it on and you never go.

You can hear all about Jesus, how wonderful he is, how glorious he is, how you can know him, how you can grow in him, embrace it, nod your head to it, maybe even get excited about it and go home and have a birthday like Herod. It's It's true. It's not like people to hear, but it's true. And look at this attitude that Herod has and the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish and I will give it to you. What's wrong with you, man?

You're willing to give half your kingdom to a girl, a teenager? I present to you the intoxicating influence of lust. Not just alcohol, I'm sure there was alcohol, but lust. Lust has the ability to inebriate you and to cause you to make misjudgments and to cause you to evaluate certain things more great than they are and and see the great things as less as what they truly are. Men, if you can conquer lust, you can conquer so much.

If you can conquer the appetites of the flesh, you can conquer so much in life. And here's a man who is so stirred, so aroused, so moved by this sight that he makes this silly vow. You're what? Whatever. Half the kingdom and I'll give it to you.

It's Herod, do you realize that Rome is your supervisor? Do you realize that if you even if you do if you do get this request for half the kingdom, because he's a man who obviously kept his word, we're about to find out, you're gonna get in big trouble. You're gonna get in serious trouble. But this is this is a picture here of how sin makes us foolish. It makes us stupid.

I mean, look at what he's willing to throw away just for a moment of satisfaction, just because he's been exhilarated in the flesh. Look what he's willing to give up. And I think about sinners today that throw away so much, not Herod's kingdom, God's kingdom. His purposes, his plans, his love, his satisfaction. They're willing to just just waste it and throw it away for what?

For something so trivial? For something so silly? For something so, dare I say, perverted? Yes. Yes.

Sinners make foolish decisions. They make rash vows, they make rash decisions, and they're willing to give up so much for something that is so trivial and so temporary. But here's a man who would leave unchanged after being under John. How do you change then? How do you change?

Well, go beyond appreciation. Go beyond being perplexed and stirred and challenged and come to him. Come to Jesus. Come to the Lord. He's real.

He's there. He he's available. I remember the early days of walking with the Lord, sitting under a young adult's ministry, And and and the Lord was so fresh to me, so real to me, still is, but in that time, you know, the first moments. And I always use this as example as a joke, but I remember there was a particular Sunday night. We had a Sunday night service.

And the preacher got up there and he shared about Elisha when those young kids came out and says, go up you bald head, go up you bald head. And Elisha turns around with the authority of God, calls a curse upon him and two she bears come out and maul 40 something of those kids. It's a tragic story, but it's deeper than how it sounds. And I remember sitting there hearing that story, a story that would cause the skeptic to say, how can a good God do such a thing? How can the true God do And you know what I was feeling in my heart?

Oh, Lord, you're amazing. You're beautiful, Lord. I wanna spend time with you. You're you're glorious, Lord. Look at the authority.

Look at the holiness of God. Look at the faithfulness of God. Look at his protection over his servant. Look at how this was actually fulfillment of a warning in Leviticus that if you were to continue to reject God and his purposes that your children would suffer by wild animals. That's what it was.

Oh, Lord, look how deep your word is. And I just want to spend time with Jesus. Yeah. After hearing about the the bears mauling children, yes. Because it's God's word and it reveals God.

Oh, come to him. Everything in this text, even hearing about even hearing about John the Baptist being beheaded, let your heart be stirred and hear the wisdom of Christ and let it pull you to his person. I love this verse in Acts 17 when Paul preached there to these Gentiles and he said in Acts seventeen twenty seven that they should seek God. Talking about how God created the world and how he put different people in different parts of the world, and he has determined the boundaries of their dwelling place for what purpose. And he says here in verse 27 in acts 17 that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

And then he says this in verse in the second part of the verse, and he's actually not far from each one of us. That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. God created you so that you would find him. And then he goes on to say, he's actually not far from each one of us. And he confirms in the following verse, for in him we live and move and have our being.

He is here. He's always around you. He's one call away. He is the city of refuge that has been established at a distance where you can go and find safety. That's Christ.

Also, even in a moment like this before a message even ends, you can call upon Christ. Lord, I've been far from you but now I wanna come to you. Lord, I don't wanna leave this message shackled in my sin anymore. I want to be free. I want these chains to fall down at my feet.

Christ can do it. He can do it. And we see here Paul says, he's right there. You don't have to jump through hoops. You don't have to stand on your head.

You don't have to climb some mountain. You don't have to spend some weeks with monks. He's right here. Jesus, the son of the living God, the resurrected Lord, the one who conquered the grave, the one who will return again. He is here and he's always here.

We preach a Christ who can save and set free. This is the Jesus whom I bear witness. This is the Jesus who commissions us to preach this truth. Not a one who just saves, but one who satisfies, one who delivers, one who sets free. And Herod heard it.

I'm sure John preached it, but he couldn't let go of that one sin. He couldn't he couldn't get away from that claw that was around his neck. Herodias is her name. A New Testament kind of Jezebel couldn't. He feared her.

He feared the men that he invited over for his birthday more than God, and and it would cost him. I can say so much more, but I'm gonna scroll down here. We see what happens next. He vows this to her. The little girl goes to his mother her mother.

What should I ask? What should I ask from him? I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And Herod was sorry, exceedingly sorry, not sorry for what you would think. He's not convicted.

He's worried about what kind of consequences this will breed. And he's in this place of tension. If I say no, these men will mock me. I'm not a man of my word. If I say yes, the people, they prized John.

We can cause some kind of upheaval here. But his pride got the best of him. He could not deny his oath even though his oath was for evil and he submits to the request of his witch of a wife. And it says in verse 27, immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother.

They couldn't even wait for the birthday to end. I wonder what kind of silence was in that room. I wonder what kind of feeling came over them as that grizzly man's head laid on that platter, perhaps with his eyes opened. I don't just look at Herod as a coward. I look at these men who knew very well of John the Baptist as cowards just as much, not being able to speak up to stop this evil.

And here they are with this decision, irreversible, determined, done. And something happens in verse 29. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. These brave men, they came into that place, they retrieved the body, headless. Their loved teacher, the preacher that they learned so much from, his way of life that inspired them to be ready for the coming of the Messiah He's no longer alive.

They put him away with dignity and honor. But what I love about this verse is how Matthew adds a detail to it. And I wanna show you that detail in closing. Go to Matthew 14 verse 12. Matthew fourteen twelve.

It says, and his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. They went and told Jesus. Wise men. I don't know what was going on through their minds. Did they go tell Jesus to warn Jesus?

Do you think John was afraid of Herod? Nah. Not if you preach like this. K. John wasn't afraid.

Do you think Jesus was afraid of Jesus? Jesus was afraid of Herod? No. When he was told another time about Herod, he says, go tell that fox. Remember those words?

Go tell that fox. Doesn't sound like a man who was afraid about what Herod could do to them. They come and tell Jesus, I'm sure to inform him, but I'm under this persuasion. You could disagree with me. You would have to disagree with me and Matthew Henry though.

That they they didn't more than report what happened. They sought comfort from Jesus. Jesus. John is gone. Lord, the forerunner, he's no longer here, and they they open their hearts to him.

They brought this tragedy to him. They brought their sorrows, their heavy hearts to to the perfect person. So, yes, he is so close to the sinner as Paul preached in acts 17. If he is not so far from them, how much closer is he to you, beloved child of God? How available is he to you that you can come to him once you're holding your arms something that you can't fathom and comprehend and trust that as you do come to him, he can console you and pour his love and his presence heal you and strengthen you.

Oh, I look at this and I think to myself, Lord, don't only teach me how to be like John who was not like a reed easily shaken by the wind. Teach me to be like John's disciples who knew who to go to when even their counselor, their mentor, their father in the faith was no longer available. You know who you can go to when the most spiritual man you know of is no longer there? The one who called him and made him. The one who used him to bless your life.

The source, the mouth of the river of all the blessings that you enjoyed through him or through her. Go to Christ and sit at his feet and pour your heart out, but trust that men and women of God will come and go, but Christ will remain forever. He's there, and he's a friend, and he's the ever present mentor. He's the one who's given all those things, all those things through those people to you. Does he not have an abundance himself?

Does he not have all the things that you need himself? He does. He surely does. Oh, there's so much more I can say, and maybe we'll say more next week, but for now, I think that's a perfect place to end. Come to Jesus.

Come to Jesus with your sorrow. Come to Jesus for salvation. He is close. Lord, this afternoon, we magnify your great name. With the simplicity of these truths, Lord, we are reminded of things perhaps that we have known.

Oh, Lord, we ask that at this time, we would not be like Herod, far from it. Lord, that what we heard today would draw us closer to you and would stir us to say, oh, I want to be with him. I want to walk closer to him. Lord, we pray that you would make us like pillars in your house, not like reeds, but pillars. And Lord, you would also help us as we go out into this world and try to be faithful and effective that we would believe in the power of your truth.

And that like Herod, we don't know what's occupying a heart when it has come into contact with who you are. Help us believe that you are in control of all things. And help us be like John who was faithful until the end, though he could not perceive the great extent of his efforts in a man as hardened and difficult and perverted and deviant as Herod. Lord, we know that there are people like Herod who will be convicted but never change, but oh, help us, oh God. Believe that there can be people like the parable that Jesus taught that can say, I will not, but will later change their minds and submit to your will.

And Lord, if there is that person in this place who has many times said, I will not, I will not, may today be the day where they say, I I will. I I won't walk away anymore. Lord, only you can do it. We bless you. Jesus name.

Amen.