Welcome to this podcast from Harvest Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina, where our vision is to make disciples who make disciples. I'm your host, Liz Stefanini. Good morning. So it's good to stand before you this morning. If you don't know me, my name is Dan Martin. My wife and I have been here at Harvest for a number of years, for about six, a little over six years. And standing this morning, is special to me because it brings back a lot of memories before we moved to Charlotte. This was a typical Sunday morning for us. My wife playing the piano, working in worship and music, and then me standing and preaching at a church in Dalhart, Texas, the little bitty town in the north panhandle of Texas. So this is a special treat this morning. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to be here and to share from God's Word as I step in for our pastor who's on vacation this morning. We're going to be in Acts chapter 20 as we continue working through. The book of Acts section by section verse by verse and this morning we're we're gonna come to a passage. That's a very Interesting and difficult passage the last time I preached here I had a I had in fact the last two times It seems like Jerry decides to take vacation when there's a passage. It's like yeah, I don't think I want to I Do this one. This one's not a lot of fun. And so this morning, uh, it seems a little bit like that again, but, uh, God has something for us. And so I'm thankful to be able to, to stand and share and look at, at these verses together. And I come with expectation. I hope you do too. Do you ever come to church just kind of because it's Sunday morning and we've always gone to church and you're supposed to go to church and just kind of walk in and really don't expect much? I have to admit that that's not too unusual for me, but I pray this morning that we could come thinking and expecting God to do something special in our hearts through his word and through our time in worship with him. So, we'll read from the passage in just a minute, but I want to start with a story that is a little silly. You've probably heard it before. It's not a new one, but it's the story of a local pilot who took Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and a brilliant professor and a college student on a Sunday afternoon flight in a private plane. They're flying over the Blue Ridge Mountains observing the fall foliage and it's beautiful and it's gorgeous when suddenly the plane starts to have problems. The engines are not working correctly and the pilot tries this, that and the other and nothing seems to be able to make it all work right. And so he jumps up from his seat, he grabs a parachute, throws the door open and said, sorry guys, the plane's going down, jump. And he jumps out and then And the others look around and one of them says, uh oh, there are only three chutes and there are four of us. And they start a little bit of a discussion and they decide that Mother Teresa should go out next because she is doing so much good for so many poor people. And obviously, you know, if anybody should live, it should be Mother Teresa. So they put a parachute on her and she jumps out. And then about that time, kind of a change of the dynamic, the professor says, hey, I am one of the smartest men in the world. And because my IQ is so high, and because I do research and things like that, there's a potential that I could save millions of people through some great discovery. In fact, you know, as one of the smartest men in the world, maybe the smartest man in the world, I think I should jump out and have a parachute and live as well. And so he grabs, jumps out, and Billy Graham and the college student are left, and Billy Graham says, son, I've lived a long, good life. I know where I'll go after I die. So you take the last parachute and jump. I'll be okay." And the college student says, hey man, it's okay. Don't worry. There are still two chutes. The smartest man in the world just jumped out with my backpack. So arrogance, pride, self-importance conceit That's really what we're going to talk about this morning We're gonna see the story of a man who touched the holiness and the glory of God Who chose to appropriate? What is only God's so if you would open your Bibles to Acts chapter 12 and verse I want to begin reading actually a couple of verses before the verses that are going to be on the screen I want to begin reading in verse number 18 And then we'll pick up the screen in verse on verse number 20 in the morning There was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter if you were here last week you remember that that Peter was in prison, middle of the night, God miraculously opens the doors, Peter comes out, goes to the house where they're praying, and surprises them because they weren't there with expectation, exactly what I was talking about a few minutes ago. And so God has miraculously delivered Peter in the morning, there's no small commotion, they're trying to figure out what happened to Peter, And after Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. So now we're in verse number 20. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace because they depended on the king's country for their food supply. On the appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, this is the voice of a God, not of a man. And immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died. but the word of God continued to spread and to flourish. Let's pray. Father, as we step into your word this morning, into a story that seems so odd and so strange for us, into a story that has a lot of contextual elements from 2000 years ago, I pray that you would awaken our hearts to the message that you have for us today, and that you would help us understand who you are and what you are doing in the midst of all of this. In Jesus' name. So what I want to start out with this morning as we look at this passage, obviously the main character seen here, the main visible character in the story is this man, this king named Herod. Herod who just in the previous verses has has been looking for Peter because Peter has escaped. Herod, who now has cross-examined the guards and ordered that the guards be executed because Peter was no longer in prison. And now Herod comes up and is mentioned here, but who was this Herod? Well, to begin with, you have to understand that the word Herod is not actually a name, but it is a title and a family. Title like we would use the word president or we would use the word sheriff There are many people who are who take that office and they're different people, but we still use that same title to refer to them It's also the name of a family because there were the family of the Herodians or the or or the Herod's maybe similar to what would be in Britain with the families of the Plantagenets or the Tudors, or the Windsors, who is now in the role of the king and the queen of England. And so, that's what Herod was. Each of these people, there were different ones. In fact, the Bible talks about five different Herods. And you may not really like history. I'm not a super history buff. But if we're going to understand really where we're at, and if we're going to read the New Testament and understand what's going on, we have to understand a little bit about these. So first of all, there was Herod the Great. Herod the Great is the one that we read about in the Christmas story. He's the first and most well-known of the Herods. We know him in Scripture because he was a great builder. He rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. He was on the throne at the birth of Jesus. He was the one that the Magi from the East consulted. He was the one that called for the death of all of the boys, two and under, in the city of Bethlehem from historical records, we know that he had five wives. So look at this, here is the family tree, if you would, of Herod the Great, and you'll see he had a wife Doris, Miriam, Miriam II, one wasn't enough, Malthaes, and Cleopatra, not the Egyptian ruler, but another Cleopatra. Five different wives and he had children by each of these. That was Herod the Great. Eventually, he went insane. He killed his wife, Mariam I, this one right here. He killed her on suspicion of infidelity. He later killed her two sons, suspecting that they were loyal to his opposition. So he wiped out an entire family just because he was wanting to hold on to power. On his death, his kingdom was split among a couple of heirs. And so we come to the next Herod, which was Herod Archelaus. Herod Archelaus, the way we know him in scripture, he's in Matthew chapter 2, not mentioned a lot, but when Jesus had gone to Egypt, Joseph and Mary had fled to Egypt with the baby Jesus because of the threat, as they decide to return back toward Judea, The Bible says that Joseph heard that Herod was on the throne. Not the same Herod that had been there before, now it's Herod Archelaus. He was a cruel and vicious man, and being afraid of him, he decided to settle in Nazareth. And so we know Jesus as Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee because of this man, Herod Archelaus, who they were afraid of and so they decided to go to Nazareth. So here is him, he would be number two up there, he's the son of Malthus. The third Herod now is Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas was the brother of Herod Archelaus. He killed John the Baptist. This was an interesting guy because he was a son of Herod the Great, full brother of Archelaus. He ruled over Galilee. He divorced his wife and married the wife of his half-brother. Not only that, but in a drunken festival and a birthday party, he decided to have his stepdaughter come out, Salome, and Salome danced and he was so taken up with the dance of this young woman that he promised her anything she wanted. Well, the backstory was that John the Baptist had been telling people that what this man had done was wrong, that taking his half-brother's wife was not right and was a sin, and it made his wife, the one who had been one man's wife and now is with him, so angry that she planted the seed into Salome and said, ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. That's pretty gruesome. Are you getting the idea that these Herods were pretty weird and pretty messed up? I mean, there were some family dynamics here that were going on that were pretty incredible. So that's Herod Antipas. And he is another Herod mentioned in the Bible. So as you're reading along and you read that Herod asked for the death of John the Baptist and his head on a plate, it wasn't the Herod from the days of Jesus' birth. It wasn't the Herod that was there when Jesus returned. These were all different Herods or different leaders. The next one was Herod Agrippa. And that's the one that we're looking at this morning. So there've already been several in power. Herod Agrippa I, one of the things that he's known for is that he was eaten by worms. That's weird, isn't it? That's funny. We're gonna talk a little bit more about that. He was born Marcus Julius Agrippa and we'll talk a little bit more about him in just a minute. But if we were to look on a chart, you would see here, there's been a change kind of in the family lineage And he actually comes from that woman who had been killed and her two sons had been killed, and that is his heritage. And then we have Herod Agrippa II. That's the last of the ones that are mentioned in the Bible. When Paul comes to trial, And he stands and gives his defense again in the same city that we're looking at this morning of Caesarea. He'll stand before Herod Agrippa II in Acts chapter 20. So let's go back and so that's the son of Herod Agrippa II. The first so let's go back and and let's kind of go through a little bit of the story and you say well dan Why are we spending time to go through all of this? I think it's going to help us get a little bit of a picture of who this man was And then what god did to this man on the day that we read about here. He was born marcus julius agrippa uh, he was the son of herod the great who had grandson of Herod the Great who had executed his father on the basis of suspicion of disloyalty. So when that happened, the family understood that he was not safe. This little boy, the grandson of Herod, he might also be executed. So he was sent to Rome to try to preserve him and for education. During his flight to Rome there, he was taken in by Tiberius, the emperor, and he was a friend of Caligula, who was Tiberius' heir. He grew up among the court, among all of the Roman emperor's people and his court. And one day, one of his servants overheard him say that he wished that Tiberius was dead and Caligula was the emperor. The word got back to the emperor and he was thrown into prison. He wasn't executed like many may have been, but he was thrown into prison. But about a year later, Tiberius died and Caligula came to the throne. And as a friend of Caligula, now he was in a great political position. And so at that point, Herod was sent back and given the lands, part of the lands that his grandfather had occupied. And so he goes back and becomes king over an area I think I just, there we go, over an area that covered what today would be Jordan and parts of Syria and over into parts of Iraq. And known as a king, he's called a king. If you read through the scriptures, you find that he's referred to that way, but actually he was a vassal under the emperor. He was given his position and allowed to rule as long as he kept things right with Rome. He was only interested in power and wealth and position. He was a man that would use Judaism and try to be friends with the Jews as long as it kept him in a position of leadership. So he was a man who began to persecute Christians. If you go back to the beginning of Acts chapter 12 in verse number one, it says, it was about this time that King Herod Arrested some who belong to the church Intending to persecute them He had James the brother of John put to death with the sword When he saw that this met with the approval of the Jews he proceeded to seize Peter also So in political moves, he became the enemy of the Christians because that made him the friend of the Jews and And so from our story from last week, Peter has been imprisoned. He's thinking about continuing to expand that. He's imprisoned, he's already killed James. He's thinking he's going to actually kill Peter. And that was the very night that God delivered Peter. So he's risen to power courting the Jews to gain favor. He was a persecutor of the believers. And then one day, he's in Caesarea, a city that was built by his grandfather, and he decides to have games to remember or to celebrate the emperor. In these games, they would be having some of the things that they did in those days, races and chariot races and things like that. And so I want to read to you, again, we're still kind of going through history, but I want to read to you the story of how he died, not from scripture, we've read that this morning and we're going to get back to these verses, but from the historian Josephus. in his writings, The Antiquities. He says, now, when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea, he came to the city of Caesarea, which was formerly called Stratos Tower. And there he exhibited spectacles in honor of Caesar, for whose well-being he'd been informed that a certain festival was being celebrated. At this festival, A great number were gathered together of the principal persons of dignity of his province. On the second day of the spectacles, he put on a garment made wholly of silver, of a truly wonderful texture, and came into the theater early in the morning. There, the silver of his garment, being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays, shone out in a wonderful manner and was so resplendent as to spread awe over all those who looked intently upon him. Presently, his flatterers cried out, one from one place and another from another, though not for his good, that he was a God. And they added, be thou merciful to us, for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature. Josephus goes on to say that a severe pain immediately arose in his belly, striking with a most violent intensity. The pain became so intense he was carried into the palace. It was evident that he would die soon. He languished in pain for five days and finally died. What an incredible story of a life and a man. Let's go back to Acts chapter 12. And I wanna just kind of step back into the last part of the chapter. Because as we see this man whose entire life had been about gaining power and position and prestige, we come to the end, and he's mentioned through Acts chapter 12 all the way here to the end as a man who persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. And so I want you to notice again that description starting in verse number 21. It says, on the appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, this is the voice of a God and not a man. People exalted. He had not necessarily himself claimed that, but he was certainly glad to receive and take that immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God. This is God's Word. This is what God is telling us why this happened. We may, you know, there are a lot of conjectures of exactly what happened to him. Some say it was peritonitis. Some say there were other things like maybe it was arsenic poisoning that killed him. But the Bible tells us that God killed him. That this was the judgment of God because he did not give God glory. And the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. Now this brings up all kinds of questions this morning. Why now? Why him? Does God really kill people? So I'm going to take a few minutes to go back through scripture and see, does God's judgment ever come to the place where he actually takes the life of a person? And so we go back to the Old Testament, to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. where very evidently in Genesis chapters 18 and 19, God looks down and says, the city is so corrupt, I am going to destroy it, I'm going to rain down on it judgment, hellfire and brimstone, if you will, he's gonna rain down a cataclysmic event on these cities, and he is going to destroy them and kill the people who are there. God, judged them by death. In 2 Samuel chapter 6, we find another story, and that is the story of a man named Uzzah. It seems like a very unfortunate story. The ark of God had been taken, the ark of the covenant had been taken, and it's being moved back to Jerusalem, which is a great thing, that was a good thing. but as it's being moved back instead of being carried on the shoulders of the priest it's been put onto a cart and oxen are pulling it and as they're pulling it over the rough roads that would have been uh normal back in those days uh one of the oxen takes a takes a quick move and and the the whole cart jostles and and it looks like the ark maybe is about to fall and a man named usa reaches out to steady the ark and he touches the ark God kills him. He's touched something that God said should never be touched. Number three, Hananiah, in Jeremiah, a king, God has said he's going to take his life and And number four, Ananias and Sapphira. In the New Testament, in the New Testament era, you remember the story, they sell a piece of property. It seems like they had already promised publicly that they were going to bring all of the money, all of the proceeds from that property. They weren't obligated to do that, but they had lifted themselves up in pride and said, oh, we want everybody to know how generous we are. And so Ananias comes in with the money and he proclaims in front of Peter and the congregation what he's doing. And Peter says, why has... Satan put this in your heart and God immediately takes his life They start to take his body out a little bit later His wife comes in they ask her is this really what happened? Is this what you sold the property for she lies to the Holy Spirit as well and God takes her life so if we go through scripture and we take a biblical model we understand that God does take life and In fact, if you look with me at Deuteronomy chapter 32 verses 39 through 43, these are the last words of Moses just before God takes him and as he is proclaiming who God is. Listen to this, see now that I myself am he. He's stating the words of God. There is no God besides me. I put to death and I bring to life. I have wounded and I will heal and no one can deliver out of my hand. I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear as surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. These are God's words, God speaking. Verse 42, I will make my arrows drunk with blood while my sword devours flesh. The blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of enemies and leaders rejoice you nations with his people for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people. Verse 39 says, I put to death and I bring to life. So God took the life of a man named Herod. We've gone through all of this just to get to the point. Can God do that and does God actually do it? He does. So what does that teach me about God? Well, first of all, God is just, and he does execute judgment. It's something that's difficult to talk about and that today we would really rather pass over and forget, but it is a reality. He says that he will execute judgment on those who oppose him. Folks, this morning, I think every one of us sits with this huge uneasiness about what's going on in Afghanistan. I think every one of us this morning wonders, God, what are you doing? And we don't understand why God allows. Why did God allow Herod to take the life of James? Why did God allow Herod to imprison Peter? Why did God allow Herod to imprison all of the other people who had been in prison and to persecute them for the time that he did? I don't understand all of this, but the one thing I learned is that God is just and he does. work in judgment. He does bring to execute judgment. One day, judgment will occur. He is righteous and He is right in doing it. He is just and has the right to judge because He is perfect, He is creator, He is holy, He is impartial, He is all-knowing, and He is never cruel. The second thing I learned about God is that He is holy and His glory is to be reverenced. He doesn't take it lightly when we take His glory from Him. It's no small thing. In fact, this passage says that the reason he was killed by God was because he did not give praise to God. He took it and received it for himself. Now you may be sitting there going, wow, this is pretty heavy, and it is. And I'm trying to present the sovereignty, the glory, the height of who God is into comparison to who we are, the holiness, the otherness of God in comparison to who we are, because the next thing that we find is God pours out abundant grace. You see, the reason I, have not been stricken dead by the judgment of God for stealing the glory of God is because of His grace. He's poured grace on me. I deserve judgment like that, but He's poured grace out on my life. Lamentations chapter 2 says the following, because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. I hope that in some way, which we've looked at about Herod this morning, that idea of we are not consumed comes alive a little more. I hope that in some way I can identify myself and say that I should be there because there are times where I have attributed who I am and how great I am and people give glory and I love to just receive it and absorb it to myself. But because of the Lord's great love, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death. Paul declares to the Ephesians that because God's mercy and great love and grace, that he provided a substitute for our sins, he provided forgiveness, and that God saves us not because we deserve salvation, but because who he is. I believe that I deserve the fate and the judgment of Agrippa, but God has shown grace to me. God is glorified when he acts in grace toward undeserving sinners. And the other side of the coin is that you and I are benefited when we receive God's salvation by grace through faith. So how did the church respond? First, steadfastly. Through all of this, through the persecution, when it seemed like they were pawns being used for the political advancement of a king, they just stayed steadfast. Albeit, not always, perfectly, they showed weakness at times, and sometimes their faith didn't seem as strong as it could be. they still stood fast. And we stand in faith and grace knowing that God is God and He is on the throne. Judgment may seem delayed, but it's never thwarted. God's holiness and glory prevail, and in the end, He will be exalted. And because of that, we walk victoriously. We walk not trying to win, but knowing that we have one. I love the song that we sang this morning and the words that over and over talk about who we are in a past tense. The work is finished. The end is written. Living hope, I am yours forever. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. The grave has no victory or no claim on me. That's where we walk. We walk in the victory of Jesus Christ. So the main idea this morning is this. When God builds a church, human arrogance cannot defeat it. we can walk in victory.