All right, so we're going to
be in Mark 6, where everybody should be. Mark 6, and the actual
text is verses 14 through 29. And as we heard, this is an account
of John the Baptist's beheading. And you'll notice that it's recorded
for us here in between when the Lord sent the 12 apostles out,
his chosen 12, where we read in verses 12 and 13, and they
went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast
out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick
and healed them. And then it falls in between
the time when they actually returned from going out and preaching
the gospel in verse 30, and the apostles gathered themselves
together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they
had done and what they had taught. So in between this service of
theirs, they're preaching the gospel, and news of Christ comes
to Herod's ears, and he remembers what he had done to John, and
it's recorded here. It was likely through their preaching
that Herod heard of Christ, and it brings back to his memory
that he murdered John for very wicked reasons. And when looking
at John, we see that he was serving the Lord and he was faithful
in preaching the truth. He was declaring the truth to
this man, Herod, who's a king. And he was warning men, even
though they wouldn't hear what he was saying. And one of the
things that we see in this account is it ought to make us shudder
to think of Herod and to consider our own heart because really
he's just typical of what we all are by nature. He's very
typical of what is in our own heart. He's a very religious
man. and yet he's a wicked man. And so the scriptures, you know,
they ask us, they bring us to these points in which we're to
pause and to consider our own heart. The Lord asks us so that
we might know what's in our own heart. He had Paul write in Romans
2, verses 4 and 5, and we're not to dismiss it, but to pause
and just ask, is this me? Is this my heart? In Romans 2
verses 4 and 5, Paul asks, or despises thou the riches of his
goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, but after thy
hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God. So we see in the scriptures that
men are willfully ignorant of this fact that God is angry with
the wicked and he's going to judge the world. He's going to
bring this world, the whole world, into judgment. And we're ignorant
of the fact that he destroyed the earth once, every living
thing, when he brought the flood of Noah, which is recorded in
in all kinds of cultures throughout the world. They know there was
a flood and that one family was saved. They know that. And it's
in many different cultures. They understand that this happened.
But he promises that he's going to destroy the world again. And
Paul records for us in Romans 9, verse 28, he says, So we do well to take heed, to listen
up and hear what the Lord is declaring to us in his word. Now, we'll notice here as we
look at this that the Lord puts a difference. He puts a difference
between his seed and the seed of the serpent and that he's
provided a great deliverance for his people. He's delivered
them from the depravity our own heart which we see here worked
out in Herod we see depravity that's in our heart and the Lord
delivers us he must deliver us from that darkness that that
that that bondage that we're in by nature whereby we cannot
know God. We can't set ourselves free from
the bondage that we're in. We can't make amends for it.
We can't write it. We can't do anything that erases
it in our own works. But the Lord's provided the means
of forgiveness in his son. So if there's any here today
and you're looking at this Herod and you're harboring a love for
this world and a love for sin as Herod was, If you're harboring
that, pause and hear what the Lord is saying in his word, that
we would seek him for repentance and to be delivered from the
love of this world and delivered from these things which entangle
us up in sin and keep our eyes upon us and what we want to do
versus what the Lord has done and what he's given to his people
in his son, Jesus Christ. Our title is Division, Depravity,
Deliverance. And that'll be our divisions
as we go through them. So division. And what we notice
here is that there's a division of seeds. There's a division
of seeds. And there's only two kinds of
people in the world. We might break them down. differently
as we're thinking about people, but really there's only two kinds
of people. There's the seed of Christ and the seed of the devil. That's it. There's just two kinds
of people in this world. If you remember what the Lord
said in Genesis 3.15, speaking of Christ who is the seed of
woman, He said, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman. It is between the serpent and
between his church, between the seed of the serpent and the seed
of his church, and between thy seed and her seed, which seed
is Christ, it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his
heel. The serpent might inflict some
pain and suffering temporarily, but he's crushing your head and
destroying your works and delivering his people out from the bondage
that you have them in. So we who hear the Lord, who
believe the testimony of God concerning His Son, we who believe
Him and trust Him and look to Him for our salvation in the
Son, We do so because we're springing forth from the seed of Christ.
We're Christ's seed. He's put his life in us, his
seed in us. And that's where the child of
God is born. It's not from this flesh. It's
not from some work that we do in the flesh. It's by the grace
and the mercy and the compassion of God shown to us through the
son. And we have his seed, his spirit,
his seed in us. If you turn over to 1 John 3,
verses 9-11, the apostle John speaks of this in his epistle. He said in verse 3-9, Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in
him. And he cannot sin because he
is born of God. In this, the children of God
are manifest and the children of the devil." Those two, children
of God and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this
is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another. Now, one thing about that is
I can't know whether you know whether you love God and whether
you love your brethren. I know whether I love God and
love my brethren, but I can't know that about you and you can't
know that about me. We believe the best in one another.
we're looking to the Lord. And the Lord, he works that love
for him and the love for our brethren in us. And if we don't
see that love for the Lord and don't see that love for the brethren
in us, then we ought to cry out to the Lord and ask him for help
and to give us that love, to create that love of God and love
for his people in us, because it's not there naturally. There's
no love for God and for his people naturally. Now if you look over
in 1st Peter, 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 22 and 23, he also
speaks of the seed. And he also speaks of, he connects
it with loving the brethren. That we who have the seed of
Christ will love our brethren. And it says, verse 22, seeing
ye have purified your souls and obeying the truth, through the
Spirit, not by the flesh, but through the Spirit unto unfeigned
love. That is, it's not fake, it's
not made up, it's a true love of the brethren. See that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And that incorruptible
seed is Christ. If it's of the flesh, It's corrupted
already. It's already defiled. It must
be of Christ. That's how we live and know God
and serve God and love Him and are brought to love our brethren.
By the seed of Christ in us. What we see in the scriptures
over and over is that that seed of the serpent, the seed of the
devil, hates and persecutes the seed of Christ, the seed of God. It hates them. The seed of this
world hates them. So when we do show that we love
the Lord and when we aren't partaking in the things that they partake
in and loving the things that they love, that's when they recognize,
oh, you're not like me. and they begin to hate them and
persecute them in various ways. So we see this persecution. In fact, in Revelation 12, and
at the very end of the chapter, it could be summed up here, it
says, and the dragon was wroth with the woman. the church, the
woman is the church, and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ. And there's many scriptures like
that where we see the seed of Satan persecuting the seed of
Christ. Cain slew Abel. Why can't I think of Abraham's
first Ishmael persecuted Isaac? He persecuted Isaac. He made
fun of him because he hated him. And that's what we see throughout
the scriptures is the the righteous seed being persecuted by the
seed of the devil. So we find among men that there
are varying degrees to which they show their hatred for the
church, right? Not all just come at us with
a knife or with a gun and seek to kill us, but there's varying
degrees. But even if they're subtle in
their hatred, the result's still the same. They suffer a horrible
death for all eternity, separated from God and from his people. So look there in Mark 6, verse
17. Mark 6, verse 17. For Herod himself
had sent forth and laid 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's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore
Herodias, the woman, had a quarrel against John and would have killed
him, but she could not." So you see here that with Herodias,
she made no pretense. There was no hiding the fact
that she hated John and hated his message and didn't want to
hear him. And if she could, she would just outright kill him.
But she had a king over her, and the king was the one who
determined whether or not John was going to live or not. And there too you see what an
awful state the heart of man is in. And those who so loathe
the preaching of the gospel and would rather be anywhere than
here in the gospel, doing anything other than hearing the gospel,
it's like having the heart of Herodias. And that's not where
we want to be. We want to be delivered from
that corruption and that hatred because it's wicked. If you could,
you'd rather that person preaching the gospel dead so you wouldn't
have to hear it and be under it anymore. You'd rather be home
doing what you want to do when you want to do it. That's the
heart of man. They just hate the gospel and
don't want to hear it. But not all are like that always. There are some, like Herod, who
was willing to hear for a time. He wanted to hear and was moved
by what he had heard. And so Herod, you know, it says
that he appreciated, well, it doesn't say that he appreciated,
but he heard what John would say and he did things gladly.
It says there in verse 20, Herod feared John, knowing that he
was a just man and unholy, and observed him, and when he heard
him, he did many things and heard him gladly. And yet, it was just
a short while later, this man who heard John, heard him gladly,
and did many things based on what he said." Verse 27, we find,
"'And the king, this same Herod, sent an executioner and commanded
his head to be brought, and he went and beheaded John in the
prison.'" And many comfort themselves by the things that they do, right?
By the religious things that they do. They come to church,
they read the Bible, they pray, and they do various things they
give, and they put on a pretty good show. And so did Herod. And do you think that Herod thought
that he was a believer and a child of God? I would think that he
did. He did a lot of good things.
The historians record that he did a lot of good things for
the Jewish people. And he was very sensitive to
the things of God. But in the end, what did he prove
to be? a child of the devil, right?
He proved to be a child of the devil. He was the one, ultimately,
even though he showed a lot better character, he was the one ultimately
that had John put to death. Even though it was through Herodias'
subtlety, but it was Herod that actually did the actual command
for him to be killed. So we see that you know, there's definitely
a difference in the seeds. And again, when you look at the
placement of where this is, it follows in Matthew, it's immediately
recorded right after the Lord gives the parables, many of the
parables that we looked at in Mark. And as we saw, we went
through Mark, it was just a chapter earlier in chapter four, where
the Lord gave his parables where he taught us many things about
the church, about those who are true believers and those who
are not true believers. If you remember, Christ spoke
of the good seed. the fruitful, the leaven, the
wheat. He spoke of a treasure hid in
a field, that pearl of great price, and he spoke of the good
that is gathered into vessels, and that's because Christ is
the seed. He is God, and he gives his life He gives life to his people.
He puts his seed in them and gives them life where there is
no life. He gives them, he creates his people in him and brings
them into the kingdom. And that's compared to that corrupt
seed of the serpent, right? The wayside hearers. the stony
ground hearers, the thorny ground hearers, the tares, and that
which is cast away, all being reprobate seed, the seed of the
devil. And in John 8, 44, he said, ye
are of your father the devil, right? He's speaking of the wicked
seed, the wicked seed that aren't his now. And he says, the lusts
of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar
and the father of it. And then that brings us to our
next point, depravity. And we see that in the text.
We see Herod, Herodias, and Herodias' daughter as well. They're examples
of what we are by nature. Just that depraved heart, that
depraved mind that hates to hear the things of God and what God
is revealing to us. And it's because the scriptures
are just a shining bright light. They're just showing, they're
exposing what's in the heart of man. It's exposing to us our
phony fig leaf religion. It's exposing to us the things
that we love in the flesh and what we pursue after. And so
it's showing us that from the very beginning, it's always been
this way, that when we were in Adam, we sinned. We sinned in
Adam and we fell into corruption. And Paul wrote in Romans 5, verses
12 through 14, he said, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in
the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law." And he's
speaking of Moses' law, which came long after Adam. In fact, it was 430 years after
Abraham was on the earth, and Abraham was after the flood.
So all that time, men and women were dying because of sin. And
what Paul's showing to us is that we all were in Adam, We
all disobeyed God, we all broke his law, and we're all worthy
of death, because even before the law, he said, you know, without
the law, sin is not imputed without the law, so there must be sin. There must have been a law, which
he spoke to Adam, and he said, don't you eat of that tree. Well,
Adam sinned, and we sinned in Adam, and we all became corrupt,
because we're all dying, even before the law was given. As
he says in verse 14, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. We were
all represented in Adam, we all came forth of his seed, and we
died. And so all that Christ comes,
and all who Christ represents, all who are of his seed, shall
live. They are of his incorruptible
seed, and we have our life in him. The scriptures, though,
are teaching us all that. In Adam, we're all guilty sinners.
There's not one of us that's excused from that. We're all
wicked and all corrupt. And God's telling us this truth
to show us that we cannot save ourselves by our works. and that
judgment is coming upon us so listen up and and look to the
God that speaks to the Lord to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
because in Him and in Him alone is eternal life so that After
Adam we see how the Lord showed us again when he brought the
flood and destroyed every living thing and that only one family
was saved and Noah and then he brought the law of Moses right
and when he brought the law of Moses and they lived and moved
him under the law and yet all died in the wilderness having
the law of Moses so that we see that even when we try to keep
the law we see I can't do this thing if we're being honest with
ourselves we know I can't keep the law of Perfectly and God
is perfect and holy and he's not accepting my best effort
because my best effort isn't perfect It's less than perfect
and and God is perfect and holy and he does not accept our best
effort So the law was given Not just to trip us up and to make
us feel bad about ourselves, but it's to shut our mouths so
that we see it's nothing I can do. It's to bring to light the
fact that I am a corrupt sinner in need of his grace and mercy.
And without his grace and mercy, I'm doomed. And yet many people
don't want to hear that. They don't want to accept that.
They want to be able to do something. They want to be able to look
to their own righteousness and not take God's free gift of salvation,
which he's provided for his people. They can't hear that. They won't
hear that. There's something that they must
do. So they're looking to what they
do, but that's the law was given to shut our mouths and to show
us. And then he sent numerous prophets, and the prophets foretold
that God had provided salvation. They made it more and more clear,
because maybe it wasn't clear. So he made it more clear by sending
all the prophets, declaring that Christ should come, that Christ
would be our righteousness, that Christ would put away the sin
of his people, that he would be the deliverance for Israel.
And not just for Israel, but all the Gentiles. The light would
come to the Gentiles sitting in darkness, and that they would
see that he is salvation. What did they do with the prophets?
They stoned them, they slew them, they cut them in half, they beat
them up. They didn't want to hear what
they had to say, so they drove them away. Finally, the Lord
sent His Son, His own darling Son, very perfection. and went
about doing good and healing his people, doing everything
that was good, and declared the truth to them, and they still
wouldn't hear him. And it's all showing us this
light that God is holy, and he doesn't accept our works, but
he's provided salvation in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that
he is sufficient. He did all things that he, when
he went to the cross, He bore the sin of His people. He worked
righteousness beforehand that said He is righteous, showed
that He is the very perfection of God, that He is the Messiah.
He bore our sins. He bore our sicknesses. He bore
our diseases. He patiently did all that and
taught us everything that we needed to know that He is God,
that He is the Son of God and He is very God and He's our hope.
And all he was was kind and gentle to all those who said, Lord,
have mercy upon me. Help me, Lord. I can't do it.
And those who said, no, I don't need what you have. He was very
honest with them. And he told them very plainly
that you're going to perish in your sins. You continue trying
to do your own works. You're going to die in your sins. So he told us the truth. And
he was kind and gentle to all who came to him, saying, Lord,
I need help. I can't do this. I'm not perfect. I need your
help and your righteousness. And he gave it to them freely.
He showed them mercy and kindness and compassion. And what did
they do with him? They took him and with wicked
hands they crucified him. They put him to death. And thankfully,
it was all in the very weakness of God, we see the strength of
God in delivering us in his son dying there. So, the Lord's showing
us the depravity of our hearts. He said, for out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. And that's why, when we understand
that, when we see When the light shines on us and God shows us
mercy and grace to see it, we see I am depraved. Naturally, I have a depraved
heart. Naturally, I don't know the things of God. I don't want
to know the things of God. I don't want to do the things
that God says I ought to do because I love God. the things of this
world. I want to do what I want to do and I want to satisfy my
own flesh and do the things that appeal to me. But when he shows
us that which dwells in our hearts, then we understand the great
sacrifice that Christ himself has made for us in making atonement
for us, how that as our surety he bore that filthiness that
that I am he bore that and he paid the price for me to put
it away to to to to destroy the works and the power that it has
over me to bring me out of that sin and that death so we see
that then and that's when we realize Lord you did that for
me a wicked vile sinner unworthy of your grace and your mercy
and yet you did it for me Lord help me teach me and keep me
walking after you and and don't let me fall away don't let me
prove to be like this wicked one Herod here who seemed to
be so good and seemed to do so many good things and yet in the
end he persecuted the church of God and he put them to death
so He's showing us our depravity, He's showing us our great need,
and that the only one that can satisfy that great need is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's shutting us up to Christ.
He's making us to see this is salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. All we are is going through this
world and we're on a great broad way and it's gonna come right
on down very narrowly till we're standing there face to face with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's gonna be us before him
and we wanna be covered in his blood and have his righteousness
and not our own righteousness, not just pursuing the things,
the temporary momentary pleasures, like it says of Moses. He could
have enjoyed great pleasures in Egypt, I don't care whether
he was going to be Pharaoh or not. I don't see it there. But
even if he was or wasn't, he's still going to have a lot in
Egypt. But he forsook all the momentary pleasures that he might
go and suffer with the people of God. And he bore that shame
in wandering the wilderness and died there on a mountain. He
only got to see the Promised Land. And yet, I'm certain that
he is happy. He knows that he made the best
choice in serving his God and looking to Him and seeking Him.
Now he's with the Lord Jesus Christ. But we see how the Lord
puts a difference. It says in 1 Corinthians 6, verses
9 through 11, Paul says, know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Be ye not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you, but, but, but for God, for it's
Christ who makes the difference, who delivers us from the corruption
and the evil of these things. But ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. So it's Christ who makes a difference
for his people. It's not because we're so righteous
and so perfect in ourselves. Christ is our perfection. Christ
is our holiness. He says in 1 Corinthians 4, 7,
For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what is thou
that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? So we see how the Lord humbles
us and shows us it's all of Christ, all of him, that he's done Everything
and he makes us to rejoice in him and to be glad in him We
see that it's God who makes us to differ from another and it's
all according to his good pleasure as he says in Romans 9 13 for
Jacob I have loved but Esau have I hated so that it's by we see
it's all by his divine love for us Not that we've merited it.
In fact, we we haven't married it If anything, we've done to
take ourselves out of the running, really, when we think about it,
but the Lord in his love and mercy saves us because as soon
as it becomes something about our merit, whatever it is, whether
you're looking to the law of Moses or you're looking to something
that you need to do before you can hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
that he shed his blood for you, if you're looking at that, When
it becomes something of merit, it then becomes administration
of condemnation and administration of death, as Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians 3. Because whether you think you've
got it all together and that you've arrived and now you've
got everything going well and you're good, Then it becomes
a ministry of condemnation and death because you're condemning
others that don't measure up to your standard and level of
righteousness. And so you slay them in your
condemnation of them. Or if you're looking at yourself
and you're seeing how you're not, you're doing your best to
do these things, it becomes a ministration of condemnation and death because
Hopefully the Lord brings us to see that we can't do it and
that we become condemned by it and guilty of what we've done
or not done and are brought into that ministration of death except
the Lord bring us out of it and show us the Lord Jesus Christ.
We also see now, though, how the Lord, he meets us right where
we are, and he addresses that thing, that sin that is standing
between us and Christ, and he deals with it. And we see that
in our text as well. It says in Mark 6, verse 14 through
16, And King Herod heard of him, for his name was spread abroad
of Christ. And he said that John the Baptist
was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show
forth themselves in him. others says it's Elijah and others
said that's that it's a prophet or as one of the prophets but
when Herod heard thereof he said it's John whom I beheaded he
is risen from the dead just think about that that man was He had
a guilty conscience. He was terrified. He was thinking,
that's not Christ, this is John the Baptist, whom I slew, I killed
that man, and here he is back again, and he's doing all these
mighty works, and it just shows us the fear that came upon him,
and he was never delivered of it. He never looked to the Lord
that John preached. He never saw Christ as Christ
whom John preached and declared. All he could see was the guilty
sin that he had committed in slaying John, who was a just
man. So don't be fooled and don't be content with just appearing
religious. You know whether you love God
or whether you love his brethren or whether you don't love God
and don't love his brethren. And we see in the scriptures
how there's many examples of some seemingly good people that
were pretty, almost there, pretty religious or almost there. It
says of Herod, just real fast, in Mark 6 20, Herod feared John
knowing that he was a just and holy man. and observed him, and
when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly.
And then in Acts 24-25, when Paul was preaching, he reasoned
of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. And Felix
trembled. He trembled at what he heard.
And Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,
Paul. But he didn't. He didn't believe
him. He didn't hear what he was saying. You know, ask yourselves,
you who don't know Christ, who don't trust Christ, who aren't
looking to Christ, ask yourselves, what is your hope? What thing
in this world is so much better than Christ? What that you're
pursuing in this world is more precious than your soul? What
is it that you need? We see what And what Herod looked
to, he was hot for his wife there, Herodias, and enjoyed the adultery
that he was living in with her, and he wouldn't put her away.
He wouldn't be done with it. He had to have that above Christ
and what is it that that we're so fixed on in this world that
prevents us from resting in Christ and trusting him and Desiring
to grow in him and to be nourished by him and his spirit and lead
of his spirit Is there anything more? Important than that Christ
asked what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul So we see how the Lord will deal with our
primary point of rebellion He knows exactly what it is that
that each of us Loves in his flesh and is keeping us from
just resting in Christ and trusting him You know John said to Herod
it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife, but he wouldn't
allow He wouldn't put it away. And now think of that man, where
he is now in hell, where the worm does not die and the fire
is not quenched. And he's just mulling that point
over. Why didn't I just let that thing
go? Why wouldn't I hear John? Why
instead did I put that just and holy man to death? And so it
even says in verse 26, Mark 6, 26, and though the king was exceeding
sorry, Yet for his oath's sake and for their sakes which sat
with him, he would not reject Herodias' daughter. He said,
ah, I don't want to do it, but I'm going to do it anyway. So
you see, even though he was sensitive and broken about it and sorry
for it, he still went ahead and did it. Will such be said of
any of us here? I pray not. I pray that the Lord
will turn us from that which keeps us from coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because you think about it, being
in hell, will any of our worldly attainments, will the goals that
we set for ourselves and the things that we're trying to do
and accomplish in this world, are they going to comfort us
then when we're sitting in hell apart from the Lord? Not at all. Not at all. And I say this, that
you who don't trust in Christ and aren't resting in that, you
would flee to him. He's a merciful, gentle savior. If you see him
as but austere and hard like that, that one of the parable
of the talents where he said, I knew thou wert an austere man
and that you read where ye didn't sow. And God said, oh, is that
what you think I am? All right, I'll judge you according
to that. Then why didn't you do more? If you know that I reap
where I don't sow, if that's what you think of me, why didn't
you do more? Why didn't you seek me? And why didn't you seek to
do those things that are right? But he didn't do it anyway, so
man doesn't have any excuse. God'll address us right where
we are, but if he's showing you that we do love the things of this
world and we ought not to love them, and that our eyes are taken
off of Christ, Just ask him for mercy. He's so kind. He's so
gentle. He's so peaceful and patient. And you who go to him, knowing
that he is patient and kind and gentle, just say, help, Lord. Help me. Help me to see you.
Help me to know you. If you're struggling to believe
him, Lord, help me to believe. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. And he's kind and gentle to do
that for his people. But don't be hard in your heart
and don't stiffen up and say, well, it's got to be this way,
my way or the highway. It's not going to be good for
anyone who rejects him in the end. But those who know, even
though we're not perfect in all our ways, even when the Lord
said, Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, thou knowest, thou
knowest. And we know We know the weakness
of our flesh, but the Lord is kind and gentle. He's brought
each of you here to hear the gospel this morning. That's a
kind thing. That's a kind thing. He said to all of them that were
listening to him in Luke, if any man will come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever
will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what
is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself
or be cast away? We all have these various things
that we think are so important, but the Lord will address them.
He really will. Just seek the Lord and confess
your sin to Him. He said, if we confess our sins,
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And Paul said, for if ye live
after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So seek the Lord. And if you're
struggling and you don't believe Him or you're not sure, confess
it to Him and ask Him for help and ask Him to make it known
to you. Ask Him to show you these things
and be willing not not to prove him and test him he may save
you from that he may deliver you from that but but we see
how Herodias she died in her sins and she hated the Lord and
Herod who played around with it to a degree he also died in
his sins but because he wouldn't hear he wouldn't hear what John
said and hear what the Lord says he's provided Christ he's showing
us that well we're all there's a judgment coming for all and
those who flee to Christ, they shall be safe and protected in
him. The wrath of God will not be
poured out upon us because he bore it in our place. It's already
put away, the judgment's put away, and we'll stand before
him in that righteous, beautiful robe that Christ has accomplished
for us, that he made for us and puts upon us in his own work,
in his own perfection and holiness. Now, again, we're almost there,
but he's, again, just looking at the placement where this thing,
this account of John's death is recorded for us, again, it's
in between when they went out and they served the Lord, when
the apostles were out there preaching the gospel, and when they returned. And this is when this thing is
relayed to us. And if you can hear it, don't
you see how the Lord in service to him, he teaches us, he leads
us, and brings us to die to ourselves. He extinguishes those passions
that we have in the flesh. He is so gentle and so wise in
how He knows right where to put the finger in each of us and
the thing that we love but he also lifts it. He doesn't leave
us with that burden to figure it out. He lifts it. He shows
us this has got to go and then we also see how he makes it to
go. He delivers his people from that
which is most deadly to them." So we see here, just even in
that service, even though it's two different people, we see
how the Lord brings us to die to self, even in the midst of
serving Him and serving our brethren. As John said, even before he
died, he said, but the friend of the bridegroom
withstandeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease." So that was the heart,
that was the willingness that the Lord gave to John before.
He was willing to lay down his life, he was okay with it because
he knew that he had served his purpose and his time was done
and the Lord was to be exalted. So, you know, Paul tells us,
he says, you're complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. So we're complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he'll give us he'll show
us how he's hid our lives in him and that we live in him. So. You know, when we've died
to self in this world, like the disciples of John and Christ,
we see how even in this, in this text here, how it leads us to
Christ in all our sorrow and in all our joy. So in the sorrow,
we see how John's disciples were driven to Christ. It actually
says in Matthew 14, it doesn't say quite as clearly in Mark,
but it says in 14.12, Matthew 14, 12, and his disciples, John's
disciples came and took up the body of John and buried it and
went and told Jesus. So they were driven him. And
that's what the Lord does. He shows us that in all things we
come to him. So in their sorrow, they went
and they told Jesus. And then back in our text in
Mark 6, 30, it says, And the apostles gathered themselves
together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they
had done and what they had taught. And so we see that in sorrow
and in joy, the Lord leads us to him. He brings us to him and
draws us to him that we might find our all to him. And I just
pray that the Lord would give us that heart of John. to die
to this world, to be willing to die to this world and to serve
the Lord and His people, to seek Him, that He would create in
us a heart that loves Him, our God, and a heart that loves brethren
and and he reveals that to us he shows us that and that he
makes us faithful to the end so let's pray and seek the Lord
our gracious Lord we thank you for your spirit we thank you
for the son who died for us and that even while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us and put away our sin and how you give us life
and that you give us your spirit and Lord we don't Lord, we don't have it in ourselves,
in our flesh, Lord, to do that which is pleasing to You. But
we pray, Lord, that by Your Spirit You would lead us and guide us
and teach us, that You would give us that love for our God
and love for our brethren as we ought to have, that we would
see Christ formed in us, that there would be a true desire
there to grow in our Savior Jesus Christ, to grow in the faith
and the knowledge of our Savior, Lord, and that we would be made
a perfect man in Christ, Lord, and that we would see and rejoice
in the various gifts which you give to your people here to make
one complete body in serving our Lord. And Father, even as
our brother prayed earlier, that you would minister this gospel
to the people here of this community, that you would send your word
forth, that others would hear, even as Herod heard But Lord,
that they would not be indifferent and that they would not prove
to be terrors, but Lord, that you would gather in that which
is good into vessels. Lord, that you would gather in
the wheat and the precious seed of Christ together with all your
people, Lord, that we may rejoice and know our Savior and serve
him here. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.