From Ballymunny in County Antrim, we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you with us today as we spend fifteen minutes around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all His fullness. Lester Curran here saying hello and welcome in the Savior's name to our Gospel broadcast. I'm delighted that you're tuning in and I trust that you'll stay with us for the next 15 minutes. Before we hear God's Word today and some words in song, I want for just a few moments to draw your attention to a verse found in the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 32, verse 23. Be sure your sin will find you out. Sin can't be concealed. It meets the eye of God and it affects the heart of God. And unless we find it out, and we confess it with sorrow and forsake it, it will find us out and expose us to God's judgment. It found Achan out and proved his ruin. It found Noah out and covered him with disgrace. And it found David out, so that the sword never departed from his house. God can't be reconciled to sin, nor should we. And however secret the sin, remember God is a witness, and He will bring it to light. The Bible tells us that he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy. Let's be careful that we give sin no quarter. Or imagine that because God loves us, He will not expose sin. He assures us our sin will find us out. Oh, to hate sin as God hates it! to loathe sin as Jesus Christ loathed it, and to become dead to it. It's the source of all our miseries. Sin is the cause of all our pains and the occasion of all our troubles. It cannot be hid, it will find us out, and it will sorely wound us. O God, our sins have found us out and melted us with grief. Before Thy throne ourselves we cast and supplicate relief. To Jesus' feet we now repair and seek and find salvation there. God's Word is clear that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Oh, that that would be your experience today, that you would come to Jesus Christ and know your sins forgiven and have the precious blood of Christ applied to your heart by faith. Our preacher today is the Reverend Ivan Foster and he's continuing to let the Bible speak from Mark's Gospel. Good morning to you, one and all. You're most welcome to our morning program. Here's a fitting hymn for today It's by Frank Boggs, The Old Rugged Cross. the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that little cross where the dearest and best of all world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll Till my trophies at last I lay down, Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me. Where the dear Lamb of God left His glory To bear it on the Calvary So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down And exchange it someday for a crown. Now we're turning to Mark chapter 6, and we're reading from verse 14. I hope you have your Bible with you, and right there to hand. Please do follow as I read. if only to make sure that what I say is indeed what is written in the Bible. I might say that I only use the authorized version of the Scriptures. I believe that it is the best translation in the English language that anybody can obtain. For that reason, I use this old trustworthy edition of God's precious Word. Verse 14, And King Herod heard of Him, that's Christ, for his name was spread abroad, and he said that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. Others said that it is Elias, and others said that it is a prophet, or one of the prophets. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John whom I beheaded, he is risen from the dead. The Reports Concerning the Saviour reports of his preaching, reports of his miracles troubled Herod. These reports penetrated into the palace of that evil man. Surrounded as he was by wickedness, isolated as much as he could, I'm sure, from the holy ways of God, nevertheless he could not hide from the reports of Christ and his ministry. And when he hears these reports, there springs to his mind the memory of an evil crime that he had committed, even the murder of John the Baptist. And this foolish, superstitious man thinks that John the Baptist has come back from the dead, as it were, to haunt him. Oh, the blindness of men's hearts! But it does illustrate for us that there is a coming day when God will call men to an account. Herod felt himself to be exposed for the evil man that he was, and he recalled John the Baptist and how he had beheaded him. John the Baptist had been a faithful minister of God. He had rebuked Herod for his sin. Let me read to you verse 17. For Herod himself had sent forth and led hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him, but she could not. We ought to remember that kings and queens need to be rebuked just like any other person. There are those who feel themselves really to be above the law of God. Power makes people think that they can do what they like. Put upon them the trappings of state authority, the authority to govern the lives of others to a very large degree, and those who are thus arrayed feel themselves to be above the law of God. But that is not the case. And it is required of faithful ministers when sin is manifested in the lives of anyone, irrespective of their standing in society, then they must be rebuked. It is for that reason that the royal household today is in need of rebuke. For there are sins, obvious sins, to be seen within the royal family. It is for that reason that prime ministers and Taoiseachs need to be rebuked when they deceive, and when they lie, and when they seek to mislead their people. Believe me, God's Word is for all, and the rebuking of men's sins is not to be restricted to only those who are, like the rest of us, of the more common herd. Men and women none are above God's law. Herod learned that when this simple preacher, John the Baptist, challenged him about his life. There is a day coming when kings will tremble. That is foreshadowed here. When reports of Jesus come before Herod, he trembled. There's no question about that. He's frightened. And it foreshadows that day when kings of this earth will tremble before the Lord Jesus Christ, and all their sins will be brought forth to judgment. On this occasion Herod is particularly troubled by his murder of John the Baptist, but there is a day when every sin, great and small, will be brought forth and viewed and judged in the light of that great Asises. Have you ever given thought to that great day? Have you ever given heed to the word of God that calls upon you to repent of your sin? Have you ever considered your great need of forgiveness, of pardon? Have you ever given heed to the fact that there is offered freely to you in the gospel a blessed, a full, and a free pardon? Praise God, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Won't you today, before your sin finds you out at God's judgment throne, won't you today hearken to the gospel call to repentance, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and embrace Him as your personal Savior? and know what it is to be reconciled to God and cleansed in the precious blood. God bless you. Goodbye. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak, coming from Ballymoney, County Antrim. We counted it a privilege to bring the gospel of Christ to you in all its biblical fullness, and I trust that you've enjoyed today's program. If you've been challenged, encouraged, or helped in any way, we'd like to hear from you. Our mailing address is Let the Bible Speak, Ballymoney, County Antrim, BT 53 6PE. Let the Bible Speak. Ballymoney, County Antrim, BT 53 6PE. Thank you for listening today. We're on the air here on Gospel AM each morning, Monday to Friday at 9.30. So do remember to join us at this time as we Let the Bible Speak.