The Lord has given us another Resurrection Sunday to worship Him. As we gather around His Word, we look into His Word, and we're interested in what He has to say and not what men have to say. And I'm here to start out with saying, darkness loves darkness. You ever pick up a board in the backyard? Maybe some of you young kids are in your backyard, one of those big rocks or boards you pick up, and all of a sudden it looks like the ground is moving. It comes alive. Those little critters underneath there, some worm-like, some bug-like, go burrowing into the closest thing they can find that's dark. They love darkness and they run the darkness. So, the human heart, after the fall, loves darkness. Our Lord said in John 3, and this is the condemnation, the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Today, we're going to consider some very deep, dark places. In fact, of all the places you can go on planet Earth, the deepest caves, the scariest places, there's no more place darker and scarier than the place we're going to go into today. It's the human heart. It's the heart of man after the fall is where we're going to go. Well, we're coming back to this great book, this book of Matthew. We're going to look at it today. Gospel. First Gospel we find in our Bible in the New Testament. And as we reflect back, we have already studied the ancestry of the King. Remember Mark chapter 1. There the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ is traced out. He is the King to come. The King who is on the throne even now and to come and rule on the earth. The rightful heir to the throne. We've studied the arrival of the King through the birth of the Virgin Mary. We've studied the adoration of the King. Wise men came, and what did they do? That little lad fell down and worshipped Him and gave Him gifts. We've studied the prophetic anticipation of the King. We've studied the announcer of the King. In John chapter 3, we saw John the Baptist, the pointer, the one who announced the Great One to come. We've studied the affirmation of the King. At the Lord's baptism, the Father's voice spoke out of heaven and said, This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. We've studied the Affirmation of the king we studied the advantage of the king Chapter 4 we saw there Satan himself defeated by it is spoken. It is written. It is written We've studied the activity of the king where he teaches preaches and heals. We studied the Address of the king in chapters 5 to 7 there. We saw the Great Sermon on the Mount and there's no message greater than that spoken by the greatest preacher of The greatest sermon ever delivered. The principles of the kingdom. Kingdom life. Then we've studied the authentication of the king in chapters 8, 9, and 10. There we saw chapters full of miracles. Pretty much anybody can pretty much say anything. Christ said some profound things in that Sermon on the Mount. Now he backs it up with profound miracles. Healing the leper, raising from the dead, and so forth. Profound miracles in those chapters. Then we studied the answer to the king in chapters 11 and 12. Once you're exposed to the Lord Jesus Christ, you have to do something about it. There's no such thing as neutrality. We're born in this world with our backs to God and we continue down that path until we, by God's grace, turn unto Him. And so, there's no neutrality. We either make a decision. And that's what they did. After hearing all that light, many of them rejected Christ. Then we studied the analogies of the kingdom. chapter 13 there we saw seven different parables one parable after another parable the soils the parable of the mustard seed and So on and so forth explaining well in this time of rejection How do we understand the kingdom the gospel to go forth? And that's what we saw in these number of years since Christ has come the kingdom living we have now and the kingdom still to come And now today we're going to study the attitude to the king by those in authority. What's the attitude especially the Herod's the Herodias is of of the day. How do they respond? And that brings us to Matthew chapter 14. I encourage you to take out your little outline there in the bulletin to follow along with us, jot down a few things as we go through this. Notice the proposition there. We're going to look at four voices today. There are four voices that reveal the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly too, which shows us that our hope is only in one, in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, as we enter into this, we need help, do we not? You cannot understand Scripture of yourself, not the spiritual dimension of it, nor can I. So, let's go to our Lord and ask for help. Father, we're about to approach Your Word, how we're filled with gratitude that we do have Your Word, the complete revelation, all 66 books. And now today, Father, this moment, in this time, in this worship service, by Your Spirit, teach us the words You have written, by Your Spirit. that I might be part of our life, that we might know them and understand them and love them and do them all for the glory of the Lamb. Help us, Father. We ask it in the name of our King Jesus. Amen. If we notice the first voice here is the voice of Herod. Let's take a look here. Matthew chapter 14, verse 1. It says, at that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard the report about Jesus. Now, there's a number of Herods in Scripture. When you look at Scripture, there's quite a few of them, actually. The Herods were Edomites. They were from the land of Edom, which is on the east side of the Dead Sea. In fact, they were not Jewish. They were from the tribe of Esau. They were Arabs. So this Herod really has not much interest in the Judaistic religion, nor their ways. He's not interested in those things so much. Rome now controls Israel and this particular Herod now has been appointed by Rome to oversee this territory that he rules over. This Herod happens to be Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas, one of the three Herods of the Great. Herod the Great had three sons, this is one of the three here. He rules over a small section of Israel, just Galilee and Perea, just a small piece, nothing like his great father did. But like father, like son, Herod the Great, he had a very cold-blooded way of taking care of his enemies, should I say, those who got in his way. In fact, on one occasion, he took care of the whole Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious authority, stood up against Herod. What did he do? Annihilated them all, had them all killed in one day. He had at least one of his wives and two of his sons executed. He was very suspicious about them maybe wanting something to do with the throne, at least his son, so had him taken out of the way. That's the kind of man he was. And don't forget, down in Bethlehem, when he heard about this king, now imagine, he's in his 70s, what could a little babe down in Bethlehem mean to him? But this paranoid king went down there with his henchmen and had all the babies killed down in Jerusalem, or Bethlehem, of all things. So, that's the kind of king Herod the Great was. And like father, like son, so the same is done to John the Baptist here. This Herod Antipas that comes before us here. Verse 2, And he said to his servants, this is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead. Therefore, these powers are at work in him. That's amazing, isn't it? He believes in a resurrection. Remember the Sadducees? They were materialists like our liberals today. They really don't believe in any of the spiritual side. And they don't believe in a resurrection, the Sadducees. And yet, Herod himself does. He thinks Jesus is who? John the Baptist. I suppose one of the greatest fears of a murderer is for that murdered victim to come back and haunt him. And that's what we have here, so Herod thinks. It's my understanding that those who commit murder, some who have a guilty conscience, in their deepest and darkest nightmares, they actually see the face of that one they've murdered come back. Such is the case. Well, that's what we have before us here. And you see what he says at the end of verse 2. Therefore, these powers are at work in him." What's that? What powers is he referring to here? What miracles did John do? John the Baptist did what kind of miracles? Raise the dead? No. Walk on water? No. According to John 10, verse 41, John performed no sign. John did not do miracles. So, it is not miracles, but Scripture says John would come, how? In the spirit and power of Elijah. That's the kind of man John would be. Just like Elijah. Tremendous strength in the Lord. It's very interesting to note, like John, Elijah was a man of the desert. And you spend time in the desert, you don't have too many to talk to except the Lord above. It's something about those who get away and spend time with the Lord. How's your devotions doing? How's your family devotions doing, dads? So important. So important. But here, these two men, Elijah and John, in the desert, and I suggest to you, they spend intimate time in solitude and silence and grow, and they're men of power, men of integrity, men who could face down a whole army and not even wince about it. Their power comes from the Lord above. Remember Elijah? After three and a half years of drought, he prayed for a drought because of Israel's sin. Then he prayed again, and what happened? It rained. Talk about power. Talk about the Lord answering your prayer. And then on Mount Carmel, he took on the prophets of Baal, 450 of them. They have 400 prophets of Ashtoreth as well. And he confronted them. He said, let's see who the real God is. And they built a sacrifice there and said, OK, let's see you bring fire down in a sacrifice. So the 450 prophets of Baal did everything they could, gnashed themselves, gashed themselves, cried out to their God. And even Elijah had a few things to say about them, about their God. Where's your God at? He's maybe asleep. Maybe he's walked away for a while. He said a few other things as well. And finally, he said, let me try it. And he went out there, restored that sacrifice. They were jumping all over the sacrifice. I mean, the thing was a mess. So they put it back together. He poured water on it. He poured more water on it. And then he prayed what? 28 words. He prayed a simple prayer. And then out of that cloudless sky, beautiful blue sky, fire rained down on that sacrifice. And presto, it was on fire. And Israel bowed the knee and said, the Lord God is our God. Indeed, Elijah was a powerful man. All the false prophets he had killed there, that's power. Now, if God is on your side, if you're a man of integrity, a person of integrity, if God's on your side, then guess what? You're in a majority. And so Elijah is, and so is John the Baptist. He comes in that kind of power. Verse 3, For Herod had laid hold of John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. That's a flashback. This is telling us. It's already happened something We're going to go back and review now here in the book of Matthew When the Harrods didn't like somebody you know what the Harrods did they would just get rid of them It's sort of like you you know you in the house, and you pick up the rug there goes a little bug across the floor And what do you do you you squish it and that's what the Harrods did that's what Harrod Antipas does he squashes who gets in his way? Harrod put John in prison But prisons in those days were no picnic places. They had no ballparks in them. They had no exercise rooms, no TVs in the cells. No, that's not kind of the prisons they had back then. Josephus tells us he was at Macarius. It's the name of the prison. Actually, there's a castle system. I can remember when we were touring Israel there and taking classes, and our professors were going along the Dead Sea, pointed out on the other side, near the upper part of the Dead Sea, on the other side, that's where John was, at Macarius, out there across the sea. And it's a very foreboding place. It's got a deep pit there. There's even marks in the wall today where the prisoners were chained day in and day out. Can you imagine? They didn't feed you. No, no. Your relatives or friends would bring you food if you wanted to stay alive. That's the kind of prisons in those days. No picnic place. So here's John chained in prison by Herod himself. Jesus said of Herod remember what he said he said go tell that Fox he had a few words for him John Jesus had his own agenda He wasn't about a Herod kept wanting to see Jesus Jesus wasn't interested in seeing him But that word there for Fox is in the feminine gender in another words What he's saying is go tell that vixen go tell that she Fox Let me suggest to you what probably is behind that that term there. He's using of Herod He knows who really controls Herod who is it? Herodias, his wife. She's the power to be behind him. And so our Lord makes that slur. Often behind loud, pushy people are timid people who are very sensitive, very insecure, so they have to squash people and be loud just so you know, yet you don't know what they really feel about themselves. So thus we have this arid, this really pathetic leader over his little territory here. That's one voice today. But there's another voice, the voice of a powerful man, the voice of John the Baptist. Let's look at him in verse 4, one verse there for him. For John had said to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. Now who's he talking about? He's talking about the wife he currently has, his brother Philip's wife is who he's referring to from verse 3 there. Now remember here, there's none like John the Baptist, right? He's great. He's holy. He's righteous. He's the last of the Old Testament prophets. In fact, in Matthew 11, 11, it says, Jesus says thereof, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. He is the greatest man who ever lived on earth. That was truly a man. He is the greatest one who had the greatest message pointing to the Savior. And when he saw Jesus, remember what he said? He said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He understood who Jesus was, and that was his commission, to point him out. John was a man who was an outdoors man. Some people are like that. You know, they just love the outdoors. They camp out there. When it's time to come in, they don't want to come in. And John was like that. He was an outdoor man, and yet he was confined. He had a divine mandate to preach the Word of God, to declare the good news, but now he's confined. He's muffled. He's in a tomb, in a prison. in precarious of all places. This one was also spoken of by the last book of the Bible, right? Last book of the Old Testament, that is. Malachi 3.1, Behold, I'll send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. His job was to introduce Jesus Christ to the world, to prepare the way for him. There is none greater than this one. His calling and his character are great. They're very significant. His message was to repent. He confronted people where they were and he said, it's time for you to turn from your sin and to trust in the one to come. He had a strong message of holiness. And people don't like to hear about that in general. Herod is mistaking Jesus now for John. Does that tell you anything about John the Baptist? To mistake Jesus for John? Tell you something about his character, his integrity, his righteousness? Well, that's Herod. And so, in verse 4 again, John had said to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. Wow. You know, it's quite dangerous to rebuke a tyrant. You know, you go over in the Middle East today, there's still kings over there, and you say something against them, you want to keep your head down, pull it back in your shell very fast. That's what you want to do. That's precisely what John did. He confronted him. But regardless of the cost, John was going to speak the truth. Herod had already been married And yet he went to Rome, and when he was in Rome there, his eyes fell on his brother Philip's wife, and he was infatuated with her. He had to have her, and so he plotted, and so he got her. And Herodias divorced her husband, Herod divorced his wife, and the two got married. What does John say about this? Again, very bluntly, very boldly, it is not lawful for you to have her. He confronted the king of his day. Go over to Luke chapter 16. We're here in the book of Matthew. Go over just two Gospels to Luke. Why is John doing this? What's going on there? What's behind this? Take a look here at Luke chapter 16 and verse 17. John's confronting this king of his day, this Tetrarch, and he knows his life can be on the line. Verse 17. easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. What's Jesus saying here? He's putting the highest authority, the highest stamp of approval on Scripture. All the Word of God is from God, and it's not to be tampered with. And when you hear someone saying there's myths, there's errors in the Word of God, you can be sure they don't understand the truth of what Jesus is saying. He knows it all, and that's his stamp of approval on Scripture. Now, what part of Scripture might he go to prove his point. You know, in that day as in this day, things are challenged, right? And there might be some weak points, people think. He picks out one of those, doesn't he, in verse 18. Luke chapter 16, verse 18. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. Wow. Note the first word there in verse 18. It's whoever. Notice that. Whoever divorces his wife, no exceptions. I'm always amazed. Some people, were they saved or were they unsaved? They want to go into all this? Listen. If somebody murders another person, do you ask, were they saved or unsaved? I mean, a crime's a crime. Evil's evil. A sin's a sin. It makes no difference what state they were in, spiritually or unspiritually. They've committed sin. They're accountable. Why does this person commit adultery when they marry another person? Why would that be the case? Well, first of all, Marriage is what? It's a covenant. And that covenant is still valid. It's still ongoing. It's a covenant according to Malachi 2.14 and Proverbs 2.17. And the one thing that dissolves a covenant according to the Word of God is death. 1 Corinthians 7.39, A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she has the liberty to be married whom she wishes only in the Lord. What's really interesting is Herodias here, it's never said of her that she's Herod's wife. All scripture never refers to her as Herod's wife. It's always what? It's always the wife of his brother Philip. That's always how she's referred to. Now look at the rest of verse 18 here. Whoever divorces, his wife marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband. Now this is probably one who's not been married before, but even if he hasn't been married before, he marries one who's been divorced, says he commits adultery. How so? Why would that be the case? Because what? The one he's married is divorced. Therefore, in the eyes of God, that's still a valid covenant going on. The pure union is what? Been adulterated. The fly has entered into the ointment. Therefore, we have adultery. There's no exceptions. To tamper with this now, what's Christ saying? It's like to tamper with trying to move the heavens and the earth. This is what he goes to. This is the stamp of approval Christ puts on it. In the eyes of God, once you get married, young people, you're married for life till death do you part. There's no question this subject affects all of us in one way or another in our families, maybe some even here today. Let me say this, God is a forgiving God. When we go to Him and confess our sins, He does what? He forgives us of our sins. All of us have sinned, have we not? And the beauty is when we sin and go to Him, if we confess our sins, And we confess them before Him, He forgives us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness. The beauty of forgiveness in Christ. Young people, understand this truth. Wed yourself to the Scripture. And as you think about marriage, as you enter into it, keep in mind the permanency of it. Keep in mind what the Lord has laid down for us here. Never use the D word to one another as you get married. Use the divorce word. It's not an option. It's never an option. In the United States of America today, a recent survey they did, it said nearly 40% of those engaged couples accept the fact that their marriage would not last. They actually believe that. 40% of them out there, they don't even think it's going to last. In fact, Jodie Foster, the actress, explained this. I do think about marriage. I'm sure I will get married. I'm sure I'll divorce too. Now with positive thinking like that, let me guarantee you, That is sure to happen. Now, wed yourself to the Scripture. Understand what our Lord Jesus Christ is saying. And even John. It's interesting. There's many out there that think there's exceptions about this or that. There's good men who debate this. I understand that. But if that be the case, then John lost his head for nothing. There's none greater among men. John had a problem with the marriage of Herod and Herodias. John was committed to the truth and to righteousness. It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife And that cost John his freedom. That cost him his message. He was silenced. That cost him his life. He was put away. Herod killed John because of a man who told the truth. Ephesians 5.11 says, "...and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." We're called to holiness and righteousness, not to draw back in their corner. Yes, we're to be loving. We're to have a boldness, though, and we're to state the truth. Especially in a world in which we live where the truth is so much the not to be found First Timothy 520 those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear You know the world has many great standards grant many standards of greatness I should say these standards include intellectual achievement political military leadership scientific and medical Discoveries, wealth and power, athletic, dramatic, literary and musical skills. They lift up people with any of those things and they say, they are so great. But John the Baptist had what of those? None of those. Not one of those and yet our Lord says there's none greater born among women than John. John was neither a compromiser nor a diplomat. John feared nothing but God. A.T. Robinson said this, It costs him his head, but it is better to have a head like John's and lose it than to have an ordinary head and keep it. I'll let you think about that one. Well, let's look at another voice here. You thought it was dark already? Hang on. Let's look at the voice of Herodias. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 5. And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. So Herod wanted to do away with John. He wanted to get rid of this one who pointed out his marriage was unlawful. Yet he was afraid what the people might say. So now enters another, verse 6. But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. Men had birthday parties in those days, but they were stag parties. No women allowed at them. No, no. And what they did is a very gluttonous affair. a lot of clamor a lot of just gluttonous Merity going on and then near the end they would bring in the women Dancers would come in female dancers that would dance in seductive ways and the whole thing turned into one carnal activity Job says in 2111 then they send forth their little ones like a flock and their daughter and their children dance and They sing to tambourines and harps and rejoice in the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave. You know, we live in a world that promotes dance. You know, you see it everywhere, dance. How many kids' programs or whatever, kids, and dancing is in there before long. The world's music comes in with a seductive beat and there it is right before us. You know, when animals dance, you know, they have a very ritualistic, some of them very exotic. It's amazing how animals dance. from the little birds to big game animals. It's quite amazing. And you know what that's all about, right? A riding dance goes on just before they mate, just before courtship. That's what dance is all about. I mean, this isn't that hard to figure out, is it? I don't have to go down to minute detail to explain to you what dance is about, do I? And so we see that's what the world does. That kind of dancing does. James tells us in 4.4, Adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You know, whatever we do, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we need to ask one thing. Does this glorify God? Do I have my father's stamp of approval on it? Is this the best way I can glorify God at this moment, given my resources, given who I am? And if we can't do it, and say yes to that, don't do it. So they danced. And that dance cost someone his head, didn't it? Verse 7. Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. In his stupor here, in his drink, he makes a ludicrous, incredulous statement there. Up to half the kingdom, one version says. Verse 8, so she having been prompted by her mother. Notice that. She having been prompted by her mother. Herodias is one of those most wicked and perverse women in all the Bible. In fact, I'm going to say second to maybe Jezebel, she's the most wicked we can find in the Word of God. She'll stop at nothing to get her way. And to get someone's life, she'll use even her young daughter here. Notice what it says at the beginning of verse 8, prompted by her daughter. This whole thing is what? It's a setup to get John the Baptist, to go after him. She takes her daughter, she's probably only 16, 17 years old, and has her dance in some kind of lewd, suggestive way. Belly dance, whatever, she did before him. In fact, the plan worked so well that look at the end of verse 6. How did Herod take it? He was what? Pleased Herod. Oh, this is really well done. You know, I don't have to interpret that for you, do I? This lecherous, luring, dirty old man, it pleased him, so he offers up to half his kingdom. You see, Herod is king at his birthday party, but there's coming a day when he'll stand before the king of kings. And this is the one who pointed out, even, the King to come, John the Baptist. Wow. What does Herodias want? What does she want out of this? Verse 8. So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter. Wow. You know, they were having dinner. Now it's time for dessert. So she wants the head on a platter. And you might think I'm joking, but listen, you get somebody with a vindictive evil, murderous heart, and there's nothing more delicious than what she's painting out right here. She must silence the one who pointed out her sin, even if it means murder. Look at verse 9. And the king was sorry. Nevertheless, because of the oath, because of those who sat with him at the table, he commanded it to be given to her. He was sorry on two cases. You see what it said there in the text in verse 9? The reason was what? Because of the oath. He made a stupid promise here. A stupid promise, and she took him up on it. And the other reason he was sorry was what? Because of the people. See, when you're proud in nature, you don't want to humble yourself, you don't want to back down, you have to go along with what you just said. He could have said something different, but he didn't. So he's sorry for a moment, but immediately he sends the servants out. Because he lacks humility, because he should have said, you know what I said, I didn't mean it in that context, that's not what I meant, and back down. He couldn't do that. And because of lack of humility, because of pride, it cost him the price of hell. Look at verse 10. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was brought on a platter. Given to the girl and she brought it to her mother You go to the Art Museum today a good Art Museum like we have here in Toledo You often see some great paintings, and this is depicted in there. What a scene Can you imagine how horrific a scene this is and yet we see it painted often in our museums? Congrave says hell has no fury like a scorn of a woman Here's John He's in the dungeon. He's waiting for the kingdom to come in. He sends his disciples to see if Jesus is the one. And our Lord sends back, yes, I'm the one. It's not going to be on your timetable. But John can't wait to get out to proclaim the message again. And he's just waiting. It's any moment he gets out. And what happens? He loses his head for telling the truth. That was a common practice in those days. If someone was sent to take out a person, they would want that head to be brought back to prove that the dastardly deed was really done. Those things did go on in those days. It's reported that when the head of Cicero was brought to Flavia, the wife of Antony, that she spat on it, pulled out its tongue, and drove her hairpin through it. The early church father, Jerome, believed that is precisely what Herodias did too. That was the word going around, what she did with the head of John the Baptist. Now here was one who spoke the truth. There was none born greater among women. And this is the cost he paid. This is what it got him. To live righteously in an evil world, there's no friend of grace, there's no friend of Christ. There is a cost. And sometimes this is the ultimate cost. Acts 14.22, For we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. There's a cost to serving Christ. Philippians 129, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. After a year in prison, John's work is done. It's over. His reward is now given to him. His head's removed. He dies in prison. He's ushered in the glory into heaven itself. Remember what Paul said to the Philippians? Having a desire to part and be with Christ which is far better You know what the problem with us American Christians is? We make our heaven on earth. You know, we have it so nice here, in so many respects we think we do, and the idea of death, of giving my life for Christ? You know, the martyrs, that was a gift, that was an offering. You lift up your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. I suspect, you know, you look at the Muslim lands today and how they stamp out Christianity at every turn and take care of people's heads even there in the name of Christ. I suspect in order for us to win the Muslim countries, we need to raise up young people and even older to go to Muslim lands. And maybe it'll take about 25,000, maybe 50,000 missionaries to be beheaded in the lands of Muslims. And once that blood's poured in the land, maybe then they'll begin to come to Christ. What could be better than to offer up your life? Look what the Lord's done for you, to give yourself for Him. Well, we've seen the voice of Herod. We've seen the voice of John the Baptist. We've seen the voice of Herodias. There's one voice left. The voice of Jesus. Matthew 14, verse 12. Then the disciples came and took away the body and buried it and went and told Jesus. Can you imagine? Disciples who loved John, who spent time with him, who grew to appreciate him and the love of his boldness and the truth he stood for. And now they go and take that body, that headless body, and they bury it. And then, What do they do? They go and tell Jesus. They went and told our Lord. Oh, our Lord loved John. John was a faithful proclaimer. He already set out great a person. He was the forerunner. And now, his body is buried. It's very interesting. In Luke chapter 99, after Herod killed John, it said he kept seeking an audience with Jesus. He wanted to discuss a few things. He wanted to see a miracle from the Lord Jesus Christ. Then over in Luke 23, there's Herod questioning Jesus. He wants to know all about, where are you from? What's going on? Tell me all about this. Remember how Jesus responded to Herod. What did He say to him? Here's the opportunity to preach the Gospel, Lord. But you don't cast your pearl before... How many words did Jesus speak to him? Not a one. He wouldn't even open his mouth. You ever talk to somebody and maybe they didn't hear you, so you ask them the same question again? Finally ask him again, and you you know now they hear you, but they just don't want to talk to you Doesn't feel too good does it here's Herod finally had his chance and Mums the word not a word see he doomed his fate into hell He did it back with John and now it's sealed and you're gonna hear no truth from me from the Lord Jesus Christ himself and Now we have verse 13 our last verse When Jesus heard it he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. Jesus goes to a place that is deserted. Now, we don't know for sure what He did there, but let me suspect that He saw the evilness, the cruelty, man's inhumanity. Here's an image-bearer of God. They'll actually destroy that image-bearer because they just don't like what comes in the ears out of that one's mouth, even though it's pure truth. They'll destroy it. So, Jesus gets along with His Father here and just, you know, This is the race. He's going to die for these people. He's going to die for the likes of them. For you and me. And now He's alone here in this place and has time with His Father. Contemplate the cross, no doubt. Utters here the evilness of man's heart. He contemplates. And then in Genesis 6-5, our Lord has to no doubt remind Himself. The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Brethren, do you really know what you're made of? You're no different than Herod. You're no different than Herodias. From the moment you entered into this race, you did as far as something worse than they did. You turned your back on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not creature versus creature. This is creature versus Creator. A whole other dimension, a quantum leap in sin. And therefore, our most righteous works are like filthy rags. None of us measure up. Here's the greatest person in the human dimension, John the Baptist. He has the greatest calling. He was committed to proclaim the one who would come and save the world, John understood he had only one to please. And it was not even himself to please. The only one he had to please was his Father above. He wasn't even concerned about what others thought of him. You know, so often if we're in the workplace or in a crowd, I don't want to speak too loudly or too much about this, they might think I'm a little... Didn't slow down John at all. John was given a message from God and he did not dilute that message. He did not change that message. He preached that message. It was a pure message preached from a pure life. And God honored him. God took him right to heaven. The world sat up and took notice of John. Isn't that amazing? The whole world did that to have his day. Even the Herod's. Let me ask you a question. How many notice you? Do you have a pure message? The life you live, the words that come out of you. Do you have a pure life? So the world will hear your pure message. They listen to John. 1 Corinthians 4, it is required in a steward that one be found faithful. We don't own anything, do we? You don't even own your life. It's bought by another. Either Satan owns it or Christ owns it. If the truth be known, us rich Americans own really nothing. We own our sin, but other than that, we own nothing. And therefore, the steward doesn't take ownership. He's entrusted with a little bit for a little time and tries to improve it, and then he goes on. God gives you a little bit of time, money, talent, effort, energy, And you are to use that for His glory. Then you go on. And we'll stand before Him. John understood that. There's only one whom is worth listening to. It's not Herod. It's not Herodias. It's not even John the Baptist. He was what? Just a pointer. He said, listen to Him. Listen to Christ. Of the four voices we see before us today, the good, the bad and the ugly, there's only one worth listening to. The Supreme One. The supremely good One. The Lord Jesus Christ. The One who committed no sin. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes in the Father but by me. He's the way. Jesus said to the woman at the well, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. Isn't that like the word, you know, you get something, you can't wait to get it, and you finally got it, and after a few weeks, a month, what are you doing? Oh, I need this other thing now in my life, you know. Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. He who has ears to hear Let Him hear. Isaiah said, why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what do not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for sinners. We've all sinned. And He's died for us at the cross. Is He your Savior today? Do you know Him intimately? Have you turned from your sin and simply trusted in Him? Have you seen how horrific your sins really are? Our Lord says, our most righteous works, the best things we've done are like filthy wet rags. Come. Come to Christ. Just as you are. He's never rejected one. There's a Pakistan report back on April 8th here that a Pakistani Christian a number of years ago, back in 2001, He was the head schoolmaster of a private Christian school. His name was Pervez Marshai. He was taken to a nearby river, told to deny his faith in Christ at gunpoint. But he would not. He would not deny Christ. He was jailed under false blasphemy charges for five years. Just recently released. After years of inhumane treatment, threats, beatings, trials, the headmaster of the private Christian middle school was found not guilty of violating law 925c, blaspheming the prophet Muhammad. See, parvez of Marsha, I understood there's what? There's only one to please. There's only one to live for. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, we're called unto a credible Savior. May we live for His glory. Let us pray. Father, we thank You. Thank You for Christ's amazing love. The one who would die on a cross 2000 years ago, the one who never committed one sin, the one who took all of our sin, all of those written in the Lamb's Book of Life, every single one of those sinners, all their sin and rebellion, placed them upon Himself, and there paid the full and just price. Father, how we thank You that by faith alone and Christ alone, we have salvation in the Lamb alone. May we rejoice and lift up His glorious name today. Yes, our hearts are evil, but our Lord has come to cleanse our hearts, our minds, and to live for His glory. We thank you that we are no longer a Herod or Herodias, but rather we follow after Jesus. In Jesus' name, Amen.