This time, we'd like to turn into our Bibles to Mark Chapter 6. If you have your Bible with you, Mark Chapter 6. I'd like to continue to learn and to look at the story of Jesus. That's what the Gospel accounts are about. How many Gospel accounts do we have? How many Gospels are there? What's this? Four. Wonderful. Very good. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And looking at the same life, the same events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ from four slightly different perspectives and giving us the beautiful truths of the gospel of who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he told us. Here in Mark chapter 6, we'll jump a little bit right into the story there in Mark chapter 6 in verse 13. The backdrop here is how Jesus Christ equipped and prepared and empowered his disciples, his followers, to go out and spread the message. It is so beautiful to see how when the Lord Jesus was rejected, even in His very hometown, He didn't say, oh, well, too bad. I was gonna tell these people how much I love them. I was gonna help these people for all eternity. Well, they don't want it. Too bad. Your fault. No. He rather goes and steps it up even so much the more. Amen? The offense many times is the best defense. And so He spreads the message even so much the more that, hey, the Savior has arrived. There is hope, amen? And as His message is being spread there, we read in Mark 6 in verse 14, and King Herod heard of Him, for His name was spread abroad. So Jesus was in all the newspapers, was in all the blog articles. Everyone was posting about Jesus, if it were today, amen? And so everyone had heard about this strange new teacher, about this miracle worker and his strange followers, so to speak. And we see tonight several different reactions to the ministry and the words and the life of Jesus Christ. Yes. My Bible has a smiling face, and King Herod heard of him, for his name was bread abroad, smilingly. Yeah, so, you know, it made people happy. It should be. Amen? When we hear the message of Jesus, it ought to make us happy. You see? There's a message in every little detail. Amen. There you go. And unfortunately, sadly, there were some frowny faces too, weren't there? And what a great shame. But you and I, we can rather have a smiley face when we hear the message of Jesus. Amen? And I wanted to do a little bit of a test here. The title of our message tonight is love it or hate it, love it or hate it. And I was going to see, I hope this is not too sensitive of a topic, we don't want to start a riot here, but who here is a Mac user, Mac or iPhone user? All right, wonderful. So, okay, maybe about half or so, just over. All right, who is a Windows user? Who uses Windows? All right, there we go. Okay, we're slightly in the minority. Who doesn't care, they're just glad if they find the on button, amen? Amen. You know, when I was first introduced to the Mac ecosystem, I remember that my friend, she was like, well, you know, Mac is the thing, you either love it or you hate it. And some people think it's the greatest things in sliced bread and others think it's ridiculous and it doesn't work for them. And you know what, I found this to be somewhat true. Now I've kind of been used to using both. And believe it or not, my Mac broke down permanently, so I'm stuck with Windows, amen. But the fact of the matter is, there's so many things in life where it's like, well, it seems, you know, some people are very excited about it, they have smiley faces, and others, they couldn't stand it. All they have is very frowny faces. I find that's a little bit the reaction that we see so many times when people encounter the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel accounts. Some loved Him and were ready and eager to receive Him, and others could not stand Him. In John chapter 1, we see a little bit of that summary of that reaction to the Lord Jesus Christ. If we turn into the last of the four gospel accounts, to John chapter 1, In verse 10, John chapter 1 verse 10, it's talking here about the true light, the Lord Jesus Christ. It says there, he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. Jesus Christ was a Jew. born in Bethlehem, grown up in Nazareth. He went to the temple to Jerusalem probably on a yearly basis. He followed all the instructions and laws and so forth. And he had the Jewish nation. for the most part, rejected him. His very own family thought he'd gone mad. He's a lunatic, he's gone crazy. You know, son, why don't you come home and calm down a little bit? And we just studied that previously there in the Gospel of Mark. And his very own town basically wanted to get rid of him, if not kill him. And so he faced a lot of rejection. He came on his own, his own received him not. And yet though there were those few that, instead of hating him, they did. Realize the wonderful hope that is in the love of God through Jesus Christ. And they did receive it. They said yes. They loved it. And verse 12 says, To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And throughout the life of Jesus Christ, we find that he always causes a very strong reaction wherever he showed up. And again, he was kind of like this love it or hate it issue. In Matthew 12 verse 30 he says, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. In other words, the person and the message of Jesus Christ demanded a verdict. It inevitably produced a response. one way or the other. There really is no neutral ground, no well just from the distance observer kind of a stand in regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. We either love him or we already have rejected him. And tonight, we want to look at several individuals and their response, their reaction to Jesus Christ. And I believe there's a lot that we can learn from their stories. But before we go further there in Mark chapter six, as we turn back, I just want to take a moment to talk to our Father in heaven together and pray tonight. Let's pray. Dear Father, I do want to thank you so much for the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, how he was God come in the flesh, how he was tempted in all things just as we are, and yet without sin. Lord, we want to thank you that Jesus Christ indeed fulfilled all righteousness. on our behalf. Lord, we want to thank You that indeed You send Jesus, Your only begotten Son, into this world. Lord, that all of us, that whosoever now who believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Lord, we want to thank You for that wonderful gospel message. And dear Lord, I pray if there's anyone here tonight or anyone listening online, Lord, that may have never received that gospel truth, the forgiveness of their sins, Lord, for the forgiveness of their sins through Jesus Christ for themselves personally. Lord, we pray that tonight they would make that choice to trust you. Lord, that tonight they would be gloriously saved. And oh, Father, what a joy that we'll be in heaven. Lord, what a rejoicing that we'll be here on earth. And dear Lord, we pray that you teach us from your word. Lord, help us to heed your warnings. Lord, help us to learn from the examples in this gospel account, Lord, that we may have a proper, that we may have the right response to you in our life. And Father, we pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. What is your reaction to the Lord Jesus Christ? Have we ever considered his claims and his message? Have we ever looked at his wonderful love for sinful mankind? How do you and I react or respond to the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, maybe you're here today and you say, well, I got saved on this and this day and praise the Lord. I received the mercy and forgiveness of God in Jesus. And the Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. And so I received, I accepted that gift that God was offering out to me, and hallelujah, praise the Lord, Jesus is now my Savior. And praise the Lord indeed for that. That may have been maybe a year or two ago. That may have been maybe 20, 30, or 40 years ago. It doesn't matter. The question tonight still is the same. What is my reaction to Jesus Christ? You see, each morning that I awake, the mercies of God already are waiting in you, in the fresh. Each day that we live, Jesus Christ is there to aid us, to accompany us, to guide and to protect us, and you and I, though, have to say yes to his way and his working in our life. Amen? Even as children of God, we can look at Jesus in our life from the distance and ignore his involvement in our life. And what a dangerous position that is to be in. You know, we find some of these very religious people, even Nicodemus and others throughout the gospel accounts, that just kind of looked at Jesus' life always from the distance. Or they were interested in it, and maybe they even believed in Him, but, you know, let's not get too involved. Let's not get all out crazy, you know. You know, what would people think, right? We would become one of those extreme fundamentalists, right, for Jesus. And yet we find that those, as we just read in John chapter one, those who received him, what happened to them? Well, they started to have a brand new relationship with God in heaven. It says that God gave them power to become the children of the sons of God. How is our child, father in heaven relationship tonight, amen? How are we responding to Jesus reaching out each and every day to us as children of love? Are we allowing him to guide us? Are we allowing him to speak to us? Just even tonight, how am I reacting to Jesus? in my life, in this world. We see how people in Jesus' day reacted so differently to the Lord. And as we mentioned, we see in verse 14 and 15 here in Mark chapter 6, how number one, the people reacted and the message of Christ spread like wildfire. Amen? And so, It's so much so that when, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus there in Luke 24, we have two guys, one of them was named Cleophas, and he didn't recognize the resurrected Jesus, and he said, Has, you know, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? Hey, I mean, everybody knows what's going on there with this Jesus guy. I mean, how could you not know? Did you just come into town or what happened? And that's how much the message of Jesus had spread And so there were some that received him. There were much more that rejected him. They wanted to rather keep their own life, their own self-will, their own self-rule, their own selfish or sinful desires. And so thank you very much, God. I don't need you. I'm just fine in my life. And the fact of the matter, though, is what about you? What about me? That's the question that Jesus asked his disciples in Matthew 16. He said there in Matthew 16 verse 13, He first asked, who do men say that I, the Son of Man am? And so, his followers answered, well, some say there are John the Baptist, some say Elias or Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, so Jeremiah, that Old Testament prophet, or one of the other prophets, you know. They all have a man-made opinion about Jesus. And then verse 15 in Matthew 16 he says, Who is Jesus to you? I want your reaction to him, your response. Who is Jesus to you? But what say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. In other words, hey, this is not your own idea. This is not a man, not man's opinion. No, this was the truth given to you by God's revelation. Do you know what is the best view? to Jesus, the Son of God. What is the proper response? It is in accordance to what He has revealed about Himself to us. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna trust what man tells me, what some pastor or priest or whatever kind of big shot would like to tell me about God and who he is and what he does. No, I wanna know from himself, amen? And I want to see God the way he has revealed himself to me through the scriptures himself and not what some other people say, amen? Those opinions were all off, weren't they? The only thing that we can know for sure about God and truth is what He has revealed about Himself to us in His Word. As Romans 3 says, let God be true and every man a liar. Amen? I don't care what man says. What does God say? Amen? And that's where I find the truth. And so, secondly, as we go into Mark 6, verse 16, we see here the reaction of one particular person. And that is the ruler of that area. That is King Herod. It says here, but when Herod heard thereof, He said, it is John whom I beheaded. He's risen from the dead. Say, what a weird guy. That dude obviously had some issues, even. He was definitely, you know, obviously there was something weighing on his mind. We see here in the following verses what had happened. In verse 17 it goes on to say, And so John is referring to John the Baptist there, basically the last of the Old Testament prophets. Verse 18, for John had said unto Herod, and it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. That was a bold guy. I mean, he's telling the ruler of that area, he's telling the big shot, the government, hey, what you're doing is wrong. God's gonna judge you for that, amen? That must have taken some boldness, some guts. And praise the Lord for a man of God who are willing to stand up for what is right, amen? And may we have more John the Baptist in our midst. Now, who was Herod? His full name was Herod Antipas. He was one of the co-rulers of Galilee and of what we would now call the area of Israel there. In the first century, he was called the Tetrarch. And he was ruling there during the life of John the Baptist and also the life of Jesus Christ. He was the one who was involved in Jesus's crucifixion, by the way, there at the end of the gospel account. Now, Herod was quite the character. And his reaction to Jesus, I think we can immediately see, revealed a guilty conscience. This guy had lived in so much gross sin and so much immorality and even murder, including murdering God's prophet, John the Baptist. And he was plagued by knowing that that was wrong. Now, it wasn't enough to change his response to God. It wasn't enough to change his life. And so he just lived on, miserable, by doing his own thing. He was living such an immoral and murderous life that he could not escape the guilt And especially when a righteous person would appear, like John the Baptist, who said, hey, Herod, this is wrong. And so he hears about Jesus and all the wonderful works that he does and his astounding message, and at first he's confused, he's perplexed. And there was only really one person that had such a righteous character that he had known before, similar to that, and that was John the Baptist. And so he thinks, well, that guy must have come back to haunt me somehow. Like I said, he really had some guilt issues. Now, let's think about it, though. Why did he have such a guilty conscience? There were several evil acts that were plaguing him. The first one was, of course, imprisoning a just and innocent man, John the Baptist. The guy had done nothing wrong, nothing illegal or unlawful. He just stood up for what was right. Then he went on to steal his half-brother's wife Herodias. And there's a whole story there that we could study out, but to make a long story short, Herod was originally married to the daughter of Eretus, king of the Nebateans, or an Arab tribe. On a trip to Rome, he visited his half-brother, Philip, and got deeply attracted to his half-brother's wife, Herodias. So she was a married woman. He ended up seducing her and talked her into returning to Galilee with him. When Herod's own wife discovered his plans, she fled to her father, King Eretus. We see those two terrible sins that Herod there committed. He put away his own wife and maybe even threatened her life, and he stole the wife of his half-brother. And it was that gross immorality, that terrible selfishness, really, that John rebuked in Herod's life. He imprisoned a just and innocent man. He stole his half-brother's wife Herodias. Then he goes on to commit adultery against his original wife Eretus. Then we see how he moves on. He commits murder by executing an innocent preacher of righteousness, John the Baptist. And he adds insult to injury, so to speak. Now folks, this is a big lesson we can learn from Herod. You say, what does Herod tell me today? Here's what he can tell you. Terrible sins usually start with smaller sins. And small sins, if we allow them to keep going, will sooner or later result in much, much worse things. And we see how he was quite shocked when he realized he had trapped himself into taking John the Baptist's life. But again, he was too much of a pushover. He was too much of a people pleaser to correct that mistake, and so he went ahead. And what he would have maybe thought started out also innocently, which it wasn't, but those smaller sins sooner or later carried with them further and further worse things. Folks, that's the terrible nature about sin. Sin is breaking God's commandments, God's laws. It's doing, as the children would say, doing wrong. And you say, well, who's God to say what's right or wrong? Well, for starters, He's the Creator. He invented this game, so to speak. He can make the rules. And secondly, He cares for us. He has a lot of knowledge, a lot of wisdom and revelation that you and I don't have. Our understanding, our knowledge is finite, is limited. God's is infinite, amen? And so He's looking out for us. When He says don't touch, don't look, don't do, don't say, and He says do this instead rather, guess what? He does that to protect us. He does that to look out for our best interest. So when we obey God, we don't do that, well, because, you know, I better, or else. We don't do that because, well, I just want to make God happy, which, I mean, that is a good motivation, don't get me wrong, but, no, I mean, really, ultimately, it's for our own benefit. It's for our blessing that God has given us all His commandments. And yet, Herod thought he knew better than God. Herod thought he could stand up against God and reject God's commandments in his life. And we see where that resulted in. Not just in rejecting John the Baptist, not just in rejecting Jesus Christ, but in being involved in the killing of the Savior of the world. In Acts chapter four, In Acts chapter 4, the apostles are preaching and they quote from the book of Psalms there and say, Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against this Christ. All people, especially in power and position, for so long have tried to reject God out of their life and they've never succeeded, have they? In verse 27, it says, And so to make a long story short, Herod's decisions ended up resulting in crucifying Jesus Christ. And yet, I find it interesting that his guilty conscience plagued him for quite a while, though. Have you ever pushed away, ever somehow kept under wraps that conviction, that nagging, that guilty feeling of our conscience? That's a dangerous thing to do, because before we know it, we've done this so much and so long and so often that we become numb, that we become dull to the gentle approaching of God. The Bible says that in our conscience God has put his law into our heart and there is a certain innate base knowledge of good and right in each and every one of us. And God help us to heed that gentle voice. Amen? And he kept John, Herod kept John alive for just over a year. And he was interested, he listened to some of what John said, and from what we know from the gospel stories and from historic accounts of King Herod, he had some sort of semblance to religion. Now religion does not bring us closer to God, did you know that? Maybe quite the opposite. Religion does not change our standing before God in any which way or shape or form. Now, Herod thought differently. He thought, well, as long as I look somehow holy and religious to the people, surely I'll be fine with God, too. And yet in his heart, though, he loved the world and the things of the world. The Apostle John of 1 John chapter 2 warns us to not love the things of this world, to not love the sins of the flesh. He says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the things of this world will pass away. But only he that doeth the will of God, he abideth forever. So do you see that difference here, amen? And King Herod missed the point. He was seeking to establish some kind of fake, own righteousness in and of himself. You know, it's kind of like when little children, I'm a young dad, so forgive my illustrations, amen, but it's kind of like when little children, you know, I'm sure we've all been there, even as adults, you know, you know you're not supposed to do something, And so you realize, oh, I'm about to be caught. And so you look like you're doing something different, you know. Maybe you're laying awake in your bed and you're supposed to sleep. And, you know, my mom is here, so she'll have to, amen, forgive me for all my sins, amen. But, you know, I wasn't always a very obedient child. And so my brother and I, we'd love to chat for hours while laying awake in our beds. But as soon as the door opened up and my dad would come to check in whether we were obedient, whether we'd be sleeping where we're supposed to be sleeping. You know? We were instantly snoring, right? And it's like, well, that's ridiculous. That's the old children. Yeah, but you know, as adults, we still do the same things. Just before men, to please men, just before God, right? And that's kind of, that fake righteousness that Herod was chasing after. And folks, the fact of the matter is religion does not save. Only Jesus Christ does save. The Bible says that there's no other name given among heaven by which we must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ alone. In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ himself says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. There's no other. He says, no man can come to the Father but by me, by Jesus. You say, that's so exclusive. Yes, and that's exactly, I believe, part of the great reason why Jesus Christ stirs up such a strong response of either love it or hate it, amen? And the question is, where are you and I at? Has there ever been that time in your life where you've received Jesus Christ as your savior. King Herod, oh, he had a lot of knowledge. He had a lot of religious trappings. He maybe knew some things about God, but he never humbled himself. He never bowed himself before God. Jesus was definitely not his Lord, and he'd never trusted and relied upon God to save him. His life was going too well. He didn't need God. And that's why so many times God will bring us at the end of our rope and allow us to sometimes get into places in our life where we are at the end of ourselves so that we finally are willing to swallow our pride and look up to Him for help, for eternal hope, for what the Bible calls salvation. Do you know that the word salvation means to escape judgment? That's what salvation is about. I want to show you a powerful verse of scripture in the Gospel of John, John chapter 3 in verse 36. And I really wish King Herod would have recognized and acknowledged this truth, but no, he was too busy doing his own thing. He was too busy enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Now friends, tonight, can I be honest with you? You probably never expected to hear that in church, but sin is a lot of fun. Sin is a lot of fun. The flesh enjoys sin. The Bible says there's pleasures in sin for a season, just temporary, just for a short while. It's kind of like that buzz of, you know, any drug or alcohol or whatever. Oh, it gives you the high, you know, for a few minutes or a few hours or whatever, but after that you crash and it's worse than before. And your misery just increases and grows and grows and grows. Sin is just like those sort of addictions. And God says, I want to free you from that once and for all. I want to set you free from the judgment upon our disobedience against God and from that power, that bondage that sin holds over us. We have to be willing, though, to receive His help. Amen? We have to be willing to humble ourselves and say, God, I do need Your help. God, my only hope of salvation, of escaping judgment, is Jesus Christ and Him alone. Notice in John 3, verse 36, the Bible says here, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth, that means stays, on Him. Now, In John 3, verse 17, the Bible makes it very clear. God is not looking to send people to hell or like a fire. He's not looking to be wrathful on people and, oh, I can't wait to judge these terrible, imperfect people. No, quite the opposite. God is so patient. God is so long-suffering and so willing to extend mercy. And even an awful, wicked, selfish adulterer and murderer like King Herod could have received God's mercy if he would have just humbled himself. and reached out by faith to God in Jesus Christ. Notice verse 17 in John 3. Do you see how badly, if you will, God wants us to be able to come back to him and to enjoy the blessings of eternal life and of a relationship with God in heaven? But there in verse 36, what is the condition for everlasting life? It's not any of the religious knowledge or outward rituals and appearances that Herod trusted in. It's not a religion. It's not in a church. It's not in a baptism. It's not in giving or charitable acts. It is not in, well, just cleaning up your act and trying to be the best you. It's not in just, well, being loving and nice to everybody and surely God will be happy. No. Our Creator has one standard and one standard only. that will open up the doors of heaven for each and every soul here tonight, and that is, do you personally, yourself, believe in Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and arose again, according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15, that that righteousness of Jesus and that sacrifice, that payment, of His, on your behalf, that that is enough, that's sufficient, that you can now go free. Salvation means to go free from judgment. See, that is why, for God so loved the world, amen, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever, what, does a lot of good works, tries their best to live a good religious life, Has some special superpower? No, none of that. Believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. You say, well, that sounds so easy. Yeah, and that's exactly why it's so humbling. That's exactly why it's so humbling. And praise the Lord, though, that it's so easy. It's easy enough for a five-year-old child to understand it, amen? And King Herod, though as a great adult man, he thought he knew better than God. And he loved the pleasures of sin for a season more. And we read, if we go back to Mark 6 verse 20, we're almost done tonight, into Mark chapter 6 verse 20, it says there, For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and unholy, and observed him. And when he had heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. So he had this interest in the things of God. He was fascinated by John's righteous character and love of the true God, but, oh, John, I'm just so happy this is working out for you. It's just not my cup of tea. Well, it's not about a cup of tea. It's not about what it's up to your liking, what's your preference, what works for you in life. No, this is a matter of eternal life or death. The Bible says it very clearly, and King Herod has faced that music already, that truly it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. Guess what? King Herod is dead, and he's faced his judgment. Jesus Christ is alive. And John the Baptist is now with the Lord in heaven. We don't have time tonight to look into this very dangerous, very foolish act of drunkenness that caused King Herod to eventually take John the Baptist's life, who yet was innocent But I want us to just learn from King Herod's awful example this evening that, you know what, it never pays to reject God, to reject Jesus Christ. It never pays to live a life of sin. Herod had all the luxury, he had all the pleasures. I mean, he could literally, you know, promise a stepdaughter anything you want. And hey, he was the big shot. Everybody was partying with him. And he had all the attention and everything in the world. Until one day he had to face his maker. And he realized he didn't just waste his life in misery and a guilty conscience. He had also rejected his only hope of salvation. And that was the Messiah. That was Jesus Christ. Now the question is coming down to you and to me through the ages. have we done with Christ? What have we done with Christ? Are we among those who have rejected him, or are we among those who have received him? in faith, and in love. Has there ever been that time in our life where we've said, Dear Lord Jesus, I need you as my Savior, and I fully trust in you and your Lord, what you have done on the cross for me. Isaiah 53 is that He bore our sorrows and our sins. He paid the price for my transgressions, for breaking God's laws. There was a death penalty on that, amen? And praise God, you and I can go free from that. But folks, As believers, as followers of Christ tonight, what am I doing with Jesus Christ, my Savior, each and every day? You see, there's a relationship to be lived. There's a fellowship to be enjoyed. There's a wisdom in obeying the instructions and the guidance of Jesus Christ. And you and I can quickly fall prey to this false thinking and to these lies that, well, I'm going to start living for God one day. We don't know for sure, but it could very likely be that that's the kind of mindset King Herod had. Oh, you know, I'm just observing, John. One of these days, I'm really gonna get to the point of what he has that I'm missing, and I'm sure one day I'll be all fine with God. Oh, I'm gonna start living for God one day. Oh, I'm gonna, I mean, tomorrow I'll start doing right. No, how about tonight? How about tonight we surrender our life to the Savior who loved us and gave himself for us, amen? How about tonight we determine that nothing and no one is gonna stop me in each and every day moving closer in my relationship with Jesus Christ? Because as the old song says, it will be worth it all, amen, when we see Jesus. Oh, it's so easy to get enamored, to get distracted by the things of this world, amen? Yet the Bible instructs us to love the Lord our God with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their soul, not to love the things of this world. Now it takes faith. It takes commitment for that. And thank God John the Baptist had that kind of commitment. He saw that there were things more important than the right hand right now. And he lived for the permanent. He lived for the eternal. And you know what? He was willing, even when it meant to pay the price, to still do what is right. Now what about today? If the heat comes up a little bit, if we get some nasty comments on social media, I'm hurt, maybe I'll be quiet, maybe I won't follow God anymore. Oh, you know, I cheered the gospel and somebody hated me for it. Oh man, you know, I'm hurt. And I'm not mocking those folks. Rejection is tough. We've all been there. The fact of the matter is, John the Baptist felt it was worth it. I mean, what higher price can you pay than becoming a murderer, than paying for doing the right thing, saying the right thing with your life, amen? And we're almost done, but I want us to turn to Hebrews chapter 11, where we read about many other heroes of the faith, many other people who throughout their life have been willing to put God above the things of this world. They said, you know what, my response to Jesus Christ is yes. first and foremost at the point of salvation, but then also each and every day. As I get up, the first thing I want to say is, yes, Jesus, God, what is your will for me? Lord, I want to love you more today. God, help me to serve you better today than I did yesterday, amen? Lord, help me to know you and to love you more as I look into your word. God, give me a hunger and thirst for your righteousness. John the Baptist out, amen? And We see in Hebrews chapter 11, let me just find the verse here, how all these heroes of the faith, they had the promise of God. They were living for a higher purpose. It says there in Hebrews chapter 11, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. See, that kind of a faith that believes in the invisible reality, because of all the evidence that we see of God's working in our life and in the world around us, says as it says in verse six, without faith it is impossible to please him, to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And then it goes on to talk about one hero of the faith after another, and how they were willing, in verse 13, to be strangers and pilgrims on this earth, to be rejected just like the Lord was rejected. Because it's always worth it to do the right thing. So if you don't get anything else out of the message tonight, let's have a heavenly perspective. As it says there in verse 14, For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. In verse 16, But now they desire a better country that is heavenly. Amen? Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them his city. And so if nothing else, I want us to leave tonight with that heavenly perspective. You know what? It's always worth it to do right. It's always worth it to do right. So as we study the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is our job to learn, as God instructs us, what is right, what is wrong. And again, God doesn't tell us just because He just really enjoys running our lives. No. Rather, do you know why God looks out for us? Especially as His children? Because He cares for us. When I tell my little ones, They're allowed to bike on the driveway, but don't you dare go out on the street. As soon as you go out on the street, you're not allowed to play on the driveway anymore. That's not because I'm mean, because I just like to constrain them somehow and love to tell them what I want them to do. No, because I care for them. I want to keep them safe. And that's the same thing with God's warnings about sin, with God's warning about sins like drunkenness that King Herod fell prey to, like selfishness and lust that King Herod fell prey to, like adultery that King Herod fell prey to, like even hatred and murder that King Herod fell prey to, like the fear of men that King Herod fell prey to. And you know what, if he would have listened to God, and if he would have had a receptive response to Jesus Christ, he could have saved himself all that trouble, all that guilty conscience, and all that misery. What is your reaction to Jesus tonight? As we stand, I'd like to encourage you, please, to stand, if you would, and bow our heads, close our eyes in prayer. Cesar comes up and plays a couple stanzas on the piano for us. Let me ask you this, what is your reaction to Jesus Christ? As a believer each and every day, maybe you say, I've never experienced that peace with God. I don't know if there's ever been that time in my life where I asked Jesus Christ to save me from my sin, where I've ever trusted Him and His death on the cross. Can I encourage you to do that right now, right here? There in the quietness of your heart and mind, you can pray, standing, kneeling or sitting. You can come up if you have more questions and I or many others here in this church would be more than happy to take the Bible and explain to you more God's wonderful love. We would love to rejoice with you together. We would love to encourage you. Today is a day of salvation. We don't know. whether we still have tomorrow. Dear Christian, today is the time to commit ourselves to live for God like John the Baptist did. We don't know if we still have tomorrow to serve him. Let's start tonight. Jesus Christ loves you more than any human ever could. The God in heaven is more real than it is we just sat on. Can I encourage you tonight? Now is the opportunity to trust him. You will never regret trusting Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Would you, Lord, I want to thank you so much, Lord, For the encouraging example of John the Baptist, Lord, such a short life and yet it was so worth it. And Lord, I want to thank you so much for that warning example of King Herod. And Lord, we pray that tonight you would help us, Lord, to fix our eyes firmly upon Jesus. the author and finisher of our faith. Lord, in each and every decision, in each and every day, Lord, as we live in a relationship with you, I pray you'd help us, Lord, to say yes, Jesus. Yes, Lord Jesus. Father in heaven, we pray that you would bless richly each and everyone that's come out tonight for service. And we just want to thank you so much, Lord, for saving us. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's love? Thank you so much, Lord, for loving my soul and for loving each and everyone here tonight. And Lord, we ask that you would bless us now in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, we just want to be seated for just a few more minutes.