The Death of John the Baptist, Part 2

Introduction and Review of Herod's Conviction

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, July 28th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn with me to the Gospel according to Mark and the sixth chapter, Mark chapter 6, and follow as I read this morning, as I did last Lord's Day morning, verses 14 through 29. Mark 6, commencing the reading at verse 14.

0:40 And King Herod heard thereof, for his name, that is the name of Jesus, had become known. And he said, John the baptizer is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers, work in him. But others said, it is Elijah. And others said, it is a prophet, even as one of the prophets.

1:11 But Herod, when he heard thereof, said, John, whom I beheaded, he is risen. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him, and she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe.

1:55 When he heard him, he was much perplexed, and he heard him gladly. John said unto Herod, And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee. And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him. And the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever you will, and I will give it you.

2:30 And he swore unto her, Whatever you will ask of me, I will give it unto you, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went out and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the baptizer. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that you forthwith give me on a platter the head of John the baptist.

3:00 And the king was exceeding sorry, but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat, he would not reject her. And straightway the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard thereof, that is, the disciples of John, they came in and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

3:43 Let us again seek the face of God, that God by the Spirit will take this very unpleasant portion of his word, and make it to be a word of edification and life to our hearts. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you again for your holy name, your holy word. We believe that you have given it to us for our salvation and instruction.

4:17 We remember the words of David who said, Moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. And we pray that the warnings and the reproofs that are woven into the very texture of this passage shall come to us with great clarity and with true inward spiritual power, that we may not simply stand back in disgust at this unprincipled man, Herod, that we may not simply stand in condemnation of his wicked and adulterous wife,

5:01 but, O Lord, may all that is here come home to us in all of its personal and burning relevance, that when this hour is over, each of us will know that we have heard your voice speaking to us from this very portion of your word. Hear us, we plead, as we offer our request in the name of your beloved Son, our only Mediator. Amen. We come this morning to our second meditation upon this portion of Mark's Gospel.

5:43 In it, we are given a graphic account of the events leading up to and inclusive of the death and the subsequent burial of John the Baptist. Furthermore, this passage takes us behind the scenes, even into the mental and spiritual processes at work in the various individuals which precipitated the events leading to the death of John the Baptist. In our initial study of the passage last Lord's Day, we noted that this is the first portion of any significant length in the Gospel of Mark in which the Lord Jesus,

6:27 either in his mighty works or in his profound words, is not the explicit focus of attention. Rather, the focus in this rather lengthy passage is upon John, the forerunner of our Lord, and upon Jesus, and upon a pathetic, unprincipled ruler called Herod Antipas and some of his relatives. What I attempted to do in our initial study last Lord's Day was simply to open up and to explain the passage and then to make but one pointed application of its contents. And in the opening up of the passage,

7:08 I suggested that the text presses upon us two major divisions. The narrative comes to us with two groupings of the record of the various events. There is, first of all, in verses 14 to 16, a record of Herod's conviction regarding the identity of Jesus. The passage begins with the statement that Herod, having heard of the fame of Jesus, seeks to give him an identity other than the one which he claimed for himself.

7:47 And even though others seek to shake Herod in that conviction, others bring forward contrary opinions. That section concludes in verse 16 with the statement of Herod's resolute conviction that he is convinced that this is John the Baptist risen from the dead. And then in verses 17 to 29, we are given an account of Herod's actions which lay at the root of his convictions. Why was he convinced that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead?

8:29 Well, Mark explains that and this is why verse 17 begins with the connecting word for. Herod is convinced that John whom he beheaded is risen from the dead. That's the identity of Jesus in Herod's mind for Herod himself had sent forth. And there we have a description of the activities which led to this conviction and it was those activities which form the tap roots of the judgment of Herod's mind with reference to the identity of Jesus.

Correction and Clarification on John's Reproof and Herod's Intentions

9:09 Now before reminding you of that one pointed application which very naturally grows out of a study of the passage, I do want to make a brief word of correction and give a word of clarification. And I'm thankful that someone pointed this out to me during the week. The word of correction is this. I gave you last week the decided impression that John's reproof first reached Herod's ears in a second hand manner.

9:40 That he probably reproved Herod publicly in his public ministry and that word of this reached Herod and probably precipitated his imprisonment. And that can be justly inferred from the parallel passage in Luke 3 and verse 19. But that is only an inference. In Mark 6, 18 and in Mark 14, 4 there is an explicit assertion that John spoke directly to Herod about his sin.

10:13 Note in our text in Mark 6 and verse 18 for John said unto Herod and you have similar language in the parallel passage in Matthew. So I should not have been as top heavy in what is implied and more accurately have asserted that it is clear that he reproved him face to face. It is possible that he may have reproved him earlier. And furthermore I gave the decided impression that the murderous intentions were primarily those of Herodias whereas the parallel passage

10:56 in Mark 14 indicates that at the time of John's imprisonment Herod also shared in those murderous intentions for Matthew 14, 5 says and when he, Herod would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. So I do want to make that correction in the interest of accuracy and then this word of clarification. In the exposition I mention my determination to be restrained in the use of the imaginative faculty that the graphic details of the text are enough to speak their own message and they do not need

11:41 the embellishments even the legitimate embellishments of the imagination. However in describing the nature and circumstances of the dancing of Herodias' daughter and the semi-drunkenness of the guests you may have thought that that was purely imaginative on my part and I should have said that I described it in that way because those who have studied into the history and pattern of Roman feast and birthday parties of this nature are unanimous in their description of the drunkenness that went on in such occasions and any dancing by a woman was indeed of the nature

The Torture of an Awakened Conscience (Review)

12:26 that I described but it could have appeared as though I were going back on my commitment not to use the imaginative faculty but to use the imaginative. Now with that word of correction and that word of explanation and clarification given I trust you will remember the one pointed word of application that we considered from the passage and it was this this passage teaches us as few passages in the Bible that there is no mental and spiritual torture like unto the torture of an awakened conscience that is fully rejecting what it knows to be right and true

13:10 the whole explanation of Herod's determination to identify Jesus as John the Baptist risen from the dead all of this was rooted in the horrible torture of the conscience of this man who though knowing John to be a holy and a righteous man yet was responsible for his being beheaded John whom I beheaded Herod says and we sought to demonstrate from the passage that here was the acting of a mind under the horrible torture of an awakened conscience that willfully rejected

13:54 what it knew to be right and true in doing some further reading this week I found this comment in Matthew Henry which summarizes the point that I sought to make last Lord's day a guilty conscience needs no accuser or tormentor but itself Herod charges himself with the murder of John which perhaps no one else dare charge him with I beheaded him and the terror of it made him imagine that Christ was John risen from the dead he feared John while he lived and now when he thought

14:37 he had gotten clear rid of him he fears him ten times worse when he is dead one might as well be haunted with ghosts and furies as with the horrors of an accusing conscience those therefore who would keep an undisturbed peace must keep an undefiled conscience now there are many other vital applications of this passage and the more I have meditated upon it and sought to understand what is here the more I've been convinced that I'll not even be able to complete

Moral Madness: Herod's Ethical Inconsistency

15:21 those applications this morning having considered the first that there is no mental and spiritual torture like that of an awakened conscience willfully rejecting what it knows to be right illustrated in the experience of this man Herod we learn secondly from this passage that there is no moral madness and ethical inconsistency like that found in a man with an enlightened conscience who is yet a slave of his darling sins there is no moral madness and ethical inconsistency

16:05 like that found in a man with an enlightened conscience who is yet a slave of his darling sins what a pathetic picture of moral madness and ethical inconsistency is painted by the facts of Herod's actions let's look at them on the positive side note what Herod is prepared to confess in verse 14 and again in verse 16 Herod says John the baptizer is risen from the dead here is a man who does not stumble over the thought that God can raise the dead even a dead man

16:50 whose head he saw on a platter with his own eyes so there was no thought that the man was merely in a deep coma that the man had merely swooned he knew John was dead he had ordered the severing of his head from his shoulder his head from his shoulders and though he saw that bloody mass sitting on a platter he now says when the reports come to him of the mighty works of Jesus that is John risen from the dead here is a man who has faith that does not stumble over the doctrine of the resurrection furthermore he does not stumble over the doctrine of miracles therefore do these powers these mighty actions

17:35 work in him when he hears of the miracles that Jesus is performing he does not question the validity of the testimony he does not stumble over the resurrection he does not stumble over the doctrine of miracles there are multitudes in our day and not a few of them so called Christian scholars I will never use the term of them I call them unbelieving skeptical professional religious teachers or educators or people in pursuit of knowledge but they are not Biblical scholars and they stumble over the doctrine of the resurrection they stumble over the doctrine of the miraculous not Herod he confesses a belief

18:19 in the miraculous in the fact and possibility of resurrection furthermore we see that he feared the man of God we read in verse 20 Herod feared John here was John this rough hewn prophet of God dressed and living an ascetic lifestyle a man who had nothing of this world's power with which to threaten the king a man whom he has imprisoned for now up to a year and yet the king is afraid of John he has a wholesome fear of the man of God and that's a virtuous thing you remember when Samuel came into town one day the people trembled

19:04 and they said are you coming on a message of mercy on a mission of mercy or a mission of judgment they knew Samuel was in touch with God when he prayed God did things and there was a wholesome fear of his identity as a prophet a virtuous thing furthermore it is said of Herod that he was not impervious to the preaching of John that when he heard John he was much perplexed here was a man who simply didn't sit there and listen to sermons and say ho hum and when the amen was sounded go out and say ho hum he listened and there was absorption to the point of inward agitation and disruption of his spirit

19:46 something that is said I fear of all too few under biblical preaching but he was perplexed and disturbed furthermore the scripture tells us he heard him apparently frequently and he heard him with delight he heard him gladly he did not listen with a view to carping and criticizing picking apart John's homiletical method he did not listen with a view to pouncing on some apparent flaw in John's grammar or his syntax or his outline he heard him with delight this is a virtuous man furthermore

20:30 he not only fears the man of God voluntarily loves him he listens to him frequently listens to him attentively listens to him with delight he even protects the man of God when his life was threatened for we read in verse 19 Herodias set herself against him and desired to kill him and she could not for Herod feared John and kept him safe when he became privy to his wife's plots and desires to kill John he intervened and protected the man of God and now add to all of this he contemplates the death of the man of God

21:13 not with a little twitch but with the deepest kind of sorrow imaginable for we read in verse 26 and the king was exceeding sorry and the only other place in Mark's gospel where this kind of description of deep sorrow is found is in Gethsemane when our Lord says my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death now look at those particular things that are said of Herod and you would say surely either that's a man with carloads of common grace or under the pressure of prevenient drawing grace

21:57 he's one of God's elect whom God is already drawing or he's in a state of grace manifesting the virtues of a new heart if I told you nothing more about a man than this I say you know I know a man I've observed a man a man in a place of great authority among the world's big shots and you know what I know about this man he confesses without reservation a belief in the resurrection of the dead in the supernatural deeds of Jesus and of other prophets he fears men of God he listens attentively to preaching

22:39 he's disturbed by that preaching he listens with delight to preaching he uses his influence of power to protect the servants of God and if he hears of the impending danger of any one of them he's filled with grief you'd say that's a righteous man that's a Christian or at least that's a man with oodles of common grace now that's one side of Herod now have I read anything into the text you see it there with your own eyeballs but now let's look at the other side of Herod this is my point you see no moral madness and ethical inconsistency like that found in a man with an enlightened conscience who is yet a slave of his darling sins

Herod's Vices: Slavery to Darling Sins

23:24 what do we see on the negative side well Herod wishes and would have caused the death of John when he first feels the shock upon his spirit in the exposure of his sin and there we have the witness of the parallel passage that I read earlier in Matthew 14 and in verse 5 when John's initial rebuke reaches Herod's ears his first response is I'll kill that character who is he to speak to me the king and mess around with my private love life and it says he would have put him to death

24:06 and only one thing kept him at that time he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet murder was in his heart but he was so wedded to his man-pleasing spirit that he could not give vent to the sin of murder because he was restrained by the greater sin of a man-pleasing spirit one sin prevented another it was not grace preventing him it was one sin preventing another sin furthermore he manifests this man-pleasing spirit not only in this initial action but later on in Mark chapter 6 we read that though he is exceeding sorry

24:50 at the thought of the death of John notice what overcomes this deep grief that percolates as it were through his entire being but for the sake of his oaths and them that sat at meat he wouldn't deny her he didn't want to lose face he'd rather have the man of God whom he fears he'd rather have the man of God whom he's protected from the designs of his own life up till now he'd rather have the man of God have his head severed from his shoulders than lose face before the political and social and military leaders of Galilee

25:33 furthermore this passage tells us that he took another man's wife even his own brother's wife and secular history gives us the sordid details of his trip to Rome and his so-called whirlwind love affair with his brother's wife and then he takes her to himself and before he can even legitimately divorce his own wife she goes back to Papa a horrible sordid affair he's an immoral man who attaches himself to both deliberately and illicitly to a vile and a manipulative woman what kind of a character is he? furthermore

26:16 this man tolerates and encourages the debasing bawdy displays of his stepdaughter in the dance that he permits before the eyes of the great ones of Galilee the leaders it was with his consent that she is welcomed into the court of the men the men and women not mixing in general social company such as this and the only women who would appear in such company would be those who would dance as she danced in the manner in which she did and he encourages it and then he shares in the lustful sinful enthusiasm of these great ones

26:57 whom as I say were probably in a semi-drunken state and then added to these things he makes a rash and a boastful promise he says I'll give you anything up to the half of my kingdom he had no kingdom to give away and when she comes in and says I want the head of John though his conscience told him it was wrong to keep that vow it was wrong to behead the man of God under that combined pressure of saving face and giving the semblance of being a man who keeps his word he orders the soldier to go out and to sever the head and he is conscious that he bears full responsibility for that action

27:41 and he doesn't try to shift it to his own wife for you remember back in verse 16 Herod when he heard thereof said John whom I beheaded and we pointed out last week in the original this is brought forward for emphasis this one whom I beheaded John he is risen I beheaded I beheaded him oh yes it was the broad action the axe of the soldier but that axe was but the extension of my hand I beheaded him now you look at a man like that suppose I say I want to describe to you a certain man that I've seen who never acts by principle

28:25 but is always looking over his shoulder to see how his actions will settle with those around him who's governed in moral and ethical choices not by right and wrong and conscience before God but who's governed by expediency as he tries to as it were feel the existing climate and put his finger up to the wind of prevailing pressure what kind of man is that what kind of man is it that takes his own brother's wife and enters in to both an adulterous and an incestuous relationship with her for she was within those bloodlines forbidden by the law of God what kind of a man is it

29:08 that will welcome his own stepdaughter in to perform the kind of dance that Salome performed before the presence of all of these leaders out of Galilee what kind of man is it that will make such rash promises who in a place of leadership has no more sense of responsibility than to run off at the mouth and to seal it with an oath then when he knows that his oath should be undone is so afraid of men's faces that he would rather see the death of a man of God and say why a man guilty of this idolatrous lust inflamed relationship to Herodias

The Tug-of-War: Conscience vs. Sin

29:49 dominated by this man fearing crowd pleasing spirit and disposition he's a reprobate well I ask you the question who's the real Herod who's the real Herod the one whose virtues we saw in the text is that the real Herod or is it the one whose vices are outlined who's the real Herod well Herod is both those people it's as though Herod feels a hundred horses tied to his soul pulling him in the direction of an enlightened conscience in the direction of truth and righteousness and uprightness

30:34 and honor but there are two hundred horses tied to his spirit pulling him in the direction of his carnal lust and his passion to be a man pleaser his two besetting sins my friend you put a hundred horses against two hundred and apart from a pause or two in the tug of war there's no question who's going to win no more question than if you take ten teenagers of average build and put them on the end of a rope and then get ten men who are offensive linemen with one of our professional football teams on the other end of the rope and say we're going to have a tug of war I mean it's over before there's any tug

31:17 and if those offensive linemen stand there and play with the kids for a while and hold their rope with one finger and even let it slip for a little bit it looks like they're winning it's only a game it's over the moment those guys for real lay hold of the rope and give one good pull you teenagers have had it not only you teenagers take any one ten of us men take any of us six feet and over hundred and ninety pounds and over we still had it we're pygmies next to those fellas well that's what happened with Herod you see he's the picture of a man in whom the teenagers of an enlightened conscience are pulling in the direction of righteousness and uprightness and virtue the offensive linemen of his passions and lusts

32:01 are pulling him in the direction of the unprincipled of the immoral of the lawless of the tawdry of the man pleasing he's the picture of a man who is that mass of moral madness you see a madman you can't predict what he's going to do one moment he's smiling the next minute you see the madman has lost all rationality and all ability to relate rationally to those around him that's why I use the term moral madness one moment he's protecting the man of God the next moment he's saying to the soldier go quickly and sever his head one moment he's listening to John

32:45 preacher of righteousness with joy the next moment he and his fellow sinners are watching with lust dripping eyes upon an immoral dance what moral madness and ethical inconsistency and what's the resolution of that what's the answer to it it's because he is still a slave to his sin whereas we read in the book of Proverbs a very interesting statement that contrasts these two conditions here is Herod in Proverbs 21 and verse 8

33:25 the way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked the man with an accusing conscience doesn't know how to walk a straight path of uprightness it is exceeding crooked he zigs and he zags moves a foot in the direction of truth and right and uprightness and holiness and then he moves 180 degrees the opposite in the direction of untruth and uncleanness and all the other forms of sin the way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked but now go to Proverbs 11 and verse 3

34:07 the contrast with the truly righteous man the integrity of the upright shall guide them but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them verse 5 the righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness you see a man who has a new heart in whom the dominion of sin has been dethroned by grace in whose heart there is something more than the pressure of an enlightened conscience to do right there is the power

34:51 of renewing grace to do right and there is a world of difference between those two unless you have seared your conscience and been given up by God to judicial hardness your conscience when you listen to it and when it feels the pressure of the word of God is always calling in the direction of the first picture of Herod calling in the direction of what is true and right and sympathetic to God's word and God's servant and God's standards you can no more rid yourself of that than you can rid yourself of your own identity

35:33 unless you are given up by God to a seared conscience and Herod at this point was not yet given up and so there was that pressure of the conscience but then there was his bondage to his sin and Jesus said whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin he was sin's slave and the one great emancipator who was setting such slaves free by the word of his grace who was moving all through the Galilean region and Herod hears of him he heard of his mighty works no doubt the message that this is the one who even forgives sin

36:16 had reached Herod's ears but the one who could emancipate him he refuses to recognize for who he is and he says under the horrible ghost-like pressure of that accusing conscience this is John the Baptist risen from the dead you see what Herod needed to do is what Daniel said to old Nebuchadnezzar break off thy sins by righteousness there is a way of forgiveness there is a way of pardon and when John preached to Herod had he been willing to give up Herodias had he been willing to repent of the sin of being governed by a man-pleasing spirit

37:01 had he committed himself to God as revealed in Christ to become a holy and a righteous man then the first picture would have been amplified and would have been supported by the principles and power and dynamics of grace but here is that man in whom there is moral madness and ethical inconsistency do you see the picture now let me ask you a question is that a picture of you what are you when it comes to making moral and ethical decisions that is decisions about right and wrong and what I'm going to do in relationship to right or wrong

Application: Are You a Slave to Sin?

37:46 when mom asked me why did you do that that's an ethical decision shall I lie to save face to cover up someone else's tracks or will I tell the truth and take the consequences if it's a spanking a withdrawn privilege what do I do when the crunch is on if I tell the truth I stand to be hurt if I lie I seem to get away with it what do you do children your conscience says you ought to tell the truth but now what reigns your enlightened conscience or your sins some of you children are already clever little liars and the Bible says no liar shall enter the kingdom of heaven that's why this silly notion that children can't go to heaven to hell unless they're 12 years old if they die in their sins

38:30 is not supported at all by the Bible when the Bible says no liar shall enter the kingdom of heaven some of the most inveterate clever liars I ever met are well under 12 years of age and they lie willfully and deliberately and knowingly and the word of God says that liars will not enter the kingdom of heaven what do you do when your lust calls and there's the pull to go by that porno shop and to drink in that sleazy sloppy shall not be felt what do you do when your passions call and conscience says no who so looketh to lust on a woman whether the living fleshed out woman

39:12 or the woman who has been imprinted upon a glossy page who so looketh to lust hath committed adultery already in his heart no adulterer shall enter the kingdom of heaven when your enlightened conscience says no that's a violation of the sanctity of sex it's a violation of my marriage commitments what happens do you go my friend listen you better answer this question honestly it's the difference between heaven and hell light and darkness grace and mere nature what about you women touched on children

39:55 touched on an area where many men are vulnerable particularly in our day what about you women what is it with you where conscience calls conscience pressures is it in the whole area that is being bombarded by the world of accepting your God given identity as a woman your God given role under the shadow and protection of your husband's arm and rib and authority is it a rearing back and saying no what's this notion that my identity is in any way dependent on my relationship to a man you go to hell as much for that as if you reject God's norms for sexual activity my friend

40:39 conscience says no you are a woman you have a God given identity will you embrace it conscience says you ought but you're bound to your sin of rebellion and you won't have I made enough specific applications Herod's two big horses the two steeds the two big offensive tackles that had him in their grip were lust and the fear of men what steeds have got you what offensive linemen have got you so that sitting here this morning sitting here many mornings sitting in other churches many times on your bed at night

41:24 since thunders and accuses you still go on a slave to your passions and your sins why because the slavery to sin has never been broken by grace and that's the only way it can be broken whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin Jesus said but thank God he went on to say whom the Son sets free is free indeed thank God Christ can set us free to live under an enlightened conscience in the power of his own grace and indwelling spirit that's the second great lesson that we see in this passage

Men Will Believe Anything But Christ's Claims

42:07 not only do we see in the passage that there is no agony no torture no mental and spiritual trauma like that of an enlightened conscience that refuses that light but we see there is no moral and ethical inconsistency and madness like that of one who has an enlightened conscience but is still a slave of his sin then I want to draw out another application this morning and it looks like we are going to have another dose next week I see in the passage this third vital principle men will believe almost anything concerning the identity of Christ

42:50 except his own clearly attested claims men will believe almost anything concerning the identity of Christ except his own clearly attested claims notice how the passage begins we have been seeing our Lord as we have been working through the Gospel of Mark there in the Galilean region performing his mighty works going about in the power of the Spirit healing the sick casting out demons speaking as no man ever spake and yet this passage opens in verse 14 with the words

43:34 King Herod heard and he said John the baptizer is risen from the dead what had he heard? it says he had heard of his name King Herod heard for his name had become known he was not in doubt as to what the name of this mighty worker was he was called Jesus of Nazareth is not this the carpenter out of Nazareth or is not this the carpenter's son the one out of Nazareth his name and the fame of the name of Jesus had come to his ears

44:17 and we have every reason to believe that with that came the claims that Christ made about himself he had previously been in his own synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and said this is my identity Isaiah 61 this day the scripture is fulfilled in your ears I am the Messiah the Spirit of the Lord is upon me he has anointed me to preach I that speak unto you am he in his earlier ministry days in his earlier ministry down in Judea he had again and again claimed equality with his father he had to avoid stoning on one or two occasions when he made those claims

45:01 and one of the very reasons at this time he is ministering up in the northern part of Palestine from the human side is to escape a premature death down in Jerusalem where there was such concentrated hatred because of his claims no Herod was not ignorant of the claims of Jesus nor were these other people but listen listen to the conclusions they come to Herod's conclusion is oh that's John the baptizer risen from the dead and performing these mighty works other people say no that's Elijah others say no it's one of the prophets and in parallel passages some were saying it is a prophet risen up in the line of the great prophetic line

45:44 but now think of the inconsistencies they were willing to live with they would rather tolerate these mountains of inconsistency than accept Jesus' own claims about himself now the Bible clearly teaches John had performed no miracles John continually told people who he was and who Jesus was people said are you the prophet? no are you this? no what are you? I'm a voice a voice crying in the wilderness I'm the one set before Messiah and John's message was behold the Lamb behold the Son of God behold Him who will baptize in the Holy Spirit

46:27 John's message focused upon the identity of Christ John chapter 1 John chapter 3 it's explicit and in the synoptic gospels his message was a call to repent and to believe on the coming one that was his message prepare the way of the Lord I am not the Lord the attention is not to be focused on me I'm merely a forerunner and when the King comes the forerunner goes off the scene the herald who announces the coming of the King doesn't take front and center stage the King does yet he's willing to believe that John is untrue to his own self-confessed identity and mission while living it says John performed no miracle

47:12 now that he should become the greatest miracle worker ever known in Israel all of the inconsistencies but you see Herod would rather live with any other conclusion than that which Jesus Christ himself gives about his own identity what about these other people he's Elijah oh wait a minute did Elijah ever lie did Elijah go around telling lies no he said I'm Elijah servant of God as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand he did all of his mighty works in the name of Jehovah now here's a man comes who doesn't say in the name of Jehovah rise up and walk he says I say unto you get up and walk here's one who claims to have plenary power

47:56 to forgive sin son thy sins be forgiven thee does Elijah blaspheme and claim to have power to forgive sin does Elijah lie and yet they're willing to believe that this is Elijah with all those inconsistencies and you carry it right through they have no problem living with a whole bucket full of inconsistent conclusions or inconsistencies if they could live but with one conclusion Jesus can't be who he says he is now why in the world are people willing to do that there was nothing Jesus claimed to be that he did not attest by his life and by his works right he could say to his enemies which of you

48:39 can charge me with sin people who had been going around looking at him with a magnifying glass to find a flaw and he could say which of you can charge me with sin he said if you don't believe my claims in word believe me for the very works sake and they didn't say what works are you talking about we don't know what you're talking about oh no he shut their mouth they knew what works he was talking about the most simple conclusion to draw about Jesus of Nazareth is that he's exactly who he claimed to be any other conclusion makes you live with a whole carload of inconsistencies now why in the world are men willing to do it I'll tell you why and I'll tell you in the language of scripture

49:22 this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest he that doeth evil will not come to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest you see men are willing to draw any conclusion about Christ except the right one for this simple reason the moment you can see that Jesus Christ is who he claims to be and has come to do what he says he came to do you've had it you've had it you've had it

50:07 there's no sin that you can now cherish because he will brook no rival in the human heart he will say to a noble upright religious young man I see in your heart there is a gross form of idolatry and though you as a good Jew would never bow down to a God of wood or stone or pagan idol young man you have an idol in the form of your riches smash it you'll have treasure in heaven he went away sorrowful and I wonder what conclusions he came to about Christ after that

50:51 you see he couldn't live with the claims of who Christ really was and cling to his idolatrous opinion he had no attachment to money one had to go he says to some would-be disciples you want to follow me I promise you nothing but myself foxes have holes the birds have nests the son of man hath nowhere to lay his head someone says oh I'm willing in my heart Lord I just got a few domestic things to attend to he says let the dead bury the dead go thou preach the gospel Lord I've just got a few matters to attend to with my relatives he said he that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God you see once you give that Jesus Christ is who he claimed to be

51:32 he is God incarnate as we heard in the Sunday school class this morning and that he came to do he actually does what he said he came to do to be the only way to God the only savior of sinners with supreme listen supreme demand or with demand for supreme allegiance upon the soul of everyone who would know his salvation once that's understood you've got to do one of two things fall down like Thomas and say my Lord and my God you've got to say wait a minute I've got to find a flaw in him he's not who he claims to be he doesn't do what he says he does

52:16 you've got to find some way to wiggle out from the pressure that Jesus Christ always brings when he comes to men in the gospel now may I ask you a personal question what is your conviction and conclusion about the identity of Jesus do you confess him to be what he says he is and do you by grace comply with what he demands of all who would be his followers in this passage we see the great principle that men will believe almost anything concerning the identity of Christ

A Child of God is Invincible Until His Work is Done

53:00 except his own clearly attested claims and as then so now Jesus is this Jesus is that Jesus is the other as though he needs men's accolades but the one thing men will not afford him accord him is that worship and homage and trust which he demands and which is of the very essence of saving faith and then I conclude this morning skipping over some of the other points that will have to wait till next week and I want you to notice in closing what is a vital principle in the passage and it's this that a child of God is invincible that is you can't destroy him

53:44 till his work is done a child of God and a servant of God is invincible until his work was done why was John in prison the text said that he's in prison because he had sent forth and laid hold upon John for John had said unto Herod it is not lawful for you to have her humanly speaking John was in prison because of his pointed powerful searching reproof of Herod's immoral relationship to Herodias isn't that what the text says that's why he was in prison why was John beheaded well you know the story I hope you do after two weeks

54:29 you know humanly speaking why he was beheaded but you see the real issue is deeper John had a task to perform and while he was doing that task no one could touch him you go back and read some of John's preaching and if you think he made it hot on Herod you see how he made it hot on the Pharisees a generation of snakes he says you know how much God needs your Jewish bloodlines he needs them like he needs a bucket of stones what to say within yourself we have Abraham to our father we be sons of the covenant we don't need to go through this ritual that acknowledges symbolically what you're telling us we got to acknowledge inwardly

55:13 that we're vile and polluted as filthy as the gentile nations and the only way to come into the kingdom of the new order of the coming one is to come under this baptism of repentance not us John we be Abraham's seed and if God's going to do a new thing and form a new community he'll ease us in but not we don't have to take the place of dirty gentile dogs not on your life John says God can raise up seed but not Abraham out of stones he says your bloodlines in this new order are no more worth to God than a bucket of stones fellas now this crowd wasn't against plotting murder they plotted and effected the murder of Jesus

55:57 how come they couldn't get to John how come nobody could get to John till this guy Herod I'll tell you why he had a work to do and that work was to be the forerunner the voice crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord and he knew that that was going to be a short work you read about it in John 3 because when people began to shift from John to Jesus they came to John and thought they could get him upset and they said hey look everybody's running after him what do you think about that John said it doesn't bother me he must increase I must decrease my mission's coming to fruition and fulfillment when all men are running after him

56:42 my work's done and when my work's done I don't want to see I don't want to sit around whittling I don't want to sit around making cat's cradles when my work's done I want to go home so you know what God did God made a door through which he'd take him home and he used some pretty strange materials he used the rough raw materials of the lust of Herod and Herodias he used the raw materials of this unprincipled foul woman who had exercised such a horrible influence upon her daughter he used the climate of that horrible birthday celebration

57:24 he used the unprincipled judgment of this man fearing man pleasing Herod out of all those raw materials you know what God did he made a door and he put it down in front of John and said now John it's time to come home here's my door and when the broad axe came down that was the last piece of fabric in the door and the door was fixed John's spirit flew off into the presence of his God and no sooner did the axe hit the stone floor in John's head than his spirit winged its flights to worlds unknown and looked upon the face of God with joy

58:09 and he was waiting there when Jesus came home oh there are a lot of things I wish I could have seen in the Bible but that's one of them what John's spirit must have experienced when Acts 1 took place when as the disciples were gazing Jesus went up out of their sight enveloped by clouds oh how John must have shouted above the shouts of all the redeemed here was the forerunner who had cried behold the Lamb look to him who are you John just a voice look to him hey John they're following him aren't you jealous no he must increase Christ filled his world with his vision now he looked upon him with sinless

58:54 undiscouraged undoubting eyes he was invincible till his work was done and when his work was done God in his sovereignty constructed a door out of strange raw materials to take him out of this life and into his presence and thank God John didn't get special treatment every child of God gets the same treatment you are invincible till your work is done and my friend when your work's done you don't want to stay around and cumber the ground do you that's my prayer again and again Lord help me to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me and when that's done Lord take me home 55 60 80 the length of life is not vital

59:38 Jesus said of this man with such a short ministry there is none greater born of woman save none greater than John none greater in all of the epic of the history of redemption up to that point none born of woman of greater stature than John short ministry tragic death sacrifice to an unprincipled leader and to his lust and to all of these sordid details and yet we must see behind it God's sovereign activity to take his servant home when his work was done with some of us it may be the news from a doctor you have an inoperable cancer

60:21 you need to learn to train yourself that if you hear those words you say God's door God's door God's door God's door God's door God's door God's door or others may be the news that so and so was taken away in a tragic accident someone whose mind was blown on booze or drugs crashed into a careful law abiding child of God and his life was snatched out you say God's door God's door God's door he takes his children home when he wants them that's one of the great lessons of the life of John my friend let me ask you do you have that prospect in the face of death

61:05 I was looking in our hymn book and if I knew this hymn was there I had forgotten it and in closing this morning I want to read these words you may want to follow as I read them hymn number 597 there is a land of pure delight where saints immortal reign infinite day excludes the night and pleasures vanish pain there everlasting spring abides and never withering flowers death like a narrow sea

61:46 divides this heavenly land from ours sweet fields beyond the swelling flood stand dressed in living green so to the Jews old Canaan stood while Jordan rolled between but timorous mortals start and shrink to cross this narrow sea and linger shivering on the brink and fear to launch away oh could we make our doubts remove those gloomy doubts that rise and see the Canaan that we love with unbeclouded eyes could we but climb where Moses stood and view the landscape or not Jordan's stream

62:30 nor death's cold blood should fright us from the shore not the swordsman not the soldier with the broadaxe not the physician with his x-ray plates not the diagnostician with his sad tale none of these would frighten us with carnal fears we'd say God's door to take me from here to there oh may God help us to be like John so confident not in ourselves but in the efficacy of the work of Christ the lamb who takes away sin

63:14 that we can face the prospect of death not with a stoic spirit while death is part of life no death is a horrible intruder because of sin but Christ is come and conquered sin and death and all who are in him by faith share in that conquest and so we are realized about death John was and now for these many years he's looked upon the face of his God and upon the face of his savior may God grant that we shall join him no matter what unprincipled men may do to us in this life even if they kill us all they can do is be God's carpenters to form God's door to get us home

Closing Prayer and Call to Heavenly Mindedness

63:58 let us pray oh God our heavenly father we thank you for your word we thank you for the richness of it we thank you that it speaks to us where we are in our sin or in a state of grace and we pray that these things that we have contemplated this morning will become effectual in the hearts of all who are present for those our father who know the torture of an accusing conscience who are a man who are a mass of moral contradiction and ethical contradiction

64:41 because an enlightened conscience is not enough for them to live a holy life oh Lord shut them up to your son may they even today cry out with their chains clanging about their hands and feet son of David have mercy and then our father how we thank you for the prospect of looking upon your face with joy looking upon the face of our savior departing from this life to be with Christ which is far better oh give us a biblical view of death take from us the world's perspective poor worldlings who have no heaven

65:23 but that which they can eke out here upon this sin cursed earth oh Lord make us a heavenly minded people and may we be brought home through the grace of your son safely into your presence oh seal your word and may much fruit be born in our lives to the praise of your name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen