Turn with me, if you would, back
to Matthew chapter 14. Matthew 14, it has been a little
while since we have been in Matthew. We have been going through the
book of Matthew. but it's been a little while
since we've been here. One of the reasons is because
I was so consumed with Colossians. It's a good place to be. But I felt led to come back to
Matthew this morning, and we're gonna look at the verses our
brother just read for us here, the first 12 verses. Let's begin
reading in verse one. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch,
and that means the governor. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch
heard of the fame of Jesus. Have they not all heard? At that time, Herod the Tetrarch
heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, this
is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead. and
therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him." When
Herod heard of the mighty works or the miracles that the Lord
was doing, he said, this is John the Baptist risen from the dead.
And I'm sure he said that with some fear. Verse three says, four, because
Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison
for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said
unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her. Herod took
his own brother's wife. And John the Baptist told Herod,
it is not lawful for you to do that. You have broken God's law. You are a sinner against God. And in anger and in hatred for
both God's messenger and God's law, Herod had John locked up
in prison. Verse five. And when he would have put him
to death, he feared the multitudes because they counted him as a
prophet. Herod wanted to put John to death,
but he was afraid of what the people that he governed over
would think and do because they considered John to be a prophet.
So Herod didn't do it. What all that proves is Herod
hated God and feared man. And that's a terrible combination.
That's a terrible combination. Solomon said, here's the conclusion
of the whole matter, fear God. That's what he said. Don't fear man, fear God. Our Lord himself said, don't
fear man who is able to kill the body and that's all he can
do. Fear God who is able to put both soul and body in hell. Fear God. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. The fool had said in his heart,
no, God, The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. That's what Psalm 14 says. There
is is in italics. The fool hath said in his heart,
yeah, there is no God. But the fool hath said in his
heart, I hear no God. May God deliver us from the foolishness
of this governor. Really. That's what he did. That's what he said and that's
what he did. Verse 6, But when Herod's birthday was kept, the
daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, whereupon
he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she being before instructed
of her mother, said, give me here John Baptist's head in a
charger because her mother hated John for declaring the truth.
Herod hated John for it. Herodias hated John for it. She
instructed her daughter, I want you to go perform and entertain
before this feast. And he's going to give you something.
And when he says, what would you like to have? you say, behead
John and give me his head on a platter. Verse nine. And the king was sorry. Not because he wanted to spare
John's life, he hated John. He wanted to kill John himself.
He was sorry because he feared the people and he didn't want
them to revolt against him. Verse 9, And the king was sorry,
nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them which sat with
him at meat, because he knew everybody was looking at him,
are you going to uphold your word? He commanded it to be given
her, and he sent and beheaded John in the prison, and his head
was brought in a charger and given to the damsel and she brought
it to her mother and his disciples came and took up the body and
buried it and went and told Jesus. Now here is what I want us to
see today. Clearly Herod was a man who had no heart for Christ. No heart whatsoever. He had no
heart for the Word of Christ. He had no heart for the gospel
of Christ. He had no heart for the people
of Christ. And unless God had miraculous
mercy on him, Herod died in his sins, and he is right now in
eternal condemnation as we speak. That just really struck me, the
thought of that, okay? Unless God had miraculous mercy
on him, he died in his sins, and right now he is suffering
eternal condemnation as I talk. Herod was a wicked man. He was
a wicked man. If you read the commentaries
on this whole situation, there's a lot to this, and I was gonna
tell you a little bit about it, but it's too sidetracking from
the message. And it's just too awful. If you understand the history
of who these people are and what this whole situation is, it is
awful. It's much worse than it even
appears in the story right here, much worse. This was sin in every
way, shape and form. But here's what I want us to
understand this morning. I want us to honestly understand this.
If Herod was eternally condemned, it's not because he was such
a great sinner, he couldn't be forgiven for it. That's not the reason why. Herod took another man's wife. David took another man's wife. And God had mercy on him. Did David suffer the consequences
for his actions? Yes, he did. He was chastened
for his disobedience. But God had mercy on him. According
to God's tender mercies, he blotted out David's transgressions in
his own blood. And he had mercy on him. Herod's relationship with Herodias
was an incestual relationship. Lot fell into an incestual relationship. And God had mercy on him. Herod killed God's prophet. Saul of Tarsus, also known as
the Apostle Paul, he killed many of God's prophets. He killed
many of God's disciples. He was the one who gave the command
and held the coats while his men stoned Stephen to death. and God had mercy on him. If Herod was eternally condemned,
it's not because his sin was so great he couldn't be forgiven
for it. If Herod was condemned, it's
for this reason right here. It's for this reason right here,
verse 1. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch
heard of the fame of Jesus, and didn't believe on Him. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch
heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, This
is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and
therefore mighty works do show forth themselves. in Him. Herod heard and he did not believe. That is the unforgivable sin. That is the unpardonable sin. Our Lord said in Matthew 12,
31, if you want to turn back a page or two to Matthew 12,
verse 31, He said, Wherefore I say unto
you, All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. The Holy Spirit of God is the
one who brings faith to believe on Christ. That's what the Spirit
does. The Father chose The Son redeemed,
the Spirit quickens and calls and gives life and faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And unbelief is the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost. And our Lord said, it's not gonna
be forgiven. Verse 32, He said, and whosoever speaketh a word
against the Son of Man, speaking of Himself, it shall be forgiven
him. But whosoever speaketh against
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come. Herod heard and he didn't
believe on Christ. And he hated the word of Christ.
And that very thing right there is what will condemn a man or
a woman to an eternity of damnation. right there. Turn with me if
you would to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Second Thessalonians 2, this
is speaking of those who will perish. Verse 10. And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish. And here's the reason
why they're gonna perish. It's because they received, and
I wanna go ahead and emphasize the word received, They received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. They received
not the love of the truth. They did not receive a heart
of faith to love and believe the truth, the word of truth,
the person of truth himself, Christ, Christ Jesus the Lord. Verse 11 says, And for this cause,
God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Election is
unto salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit, setting apart of the Spirit, and belief of the truth,
whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, God chose you and called
you through the Spirit, giving you a belief of the truth. You
had the truth revealed to you. and you were caused to believe
it, and it set you free. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
three. Hebrews three, verse six, it
says, but Christ, as a son over his own house, whose house are
we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts
as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my works 40
years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said,
they do always air in their heart and they have not known my ways.
What he's saying is they didn't believe me. They didn't believe
on me. They didn't trust in me. Verse
11, So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart
of unbelief. In departing from the living
God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard,
did provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with
them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to
whom swear He that they should not enter into His rest, but
to them that believed not." Now, if you want to know what He said,
here's the summary of it all. Verse 19. So we see that they
could not enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief. That's the reason why. Unbelief.
Look at Hebrews 4 verse 6. seeing therefore it remaineth
that some must enter therein. And they to whom it was first
preached entered not in because of unbelief." Verse 11 says,
"'Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief.'" Unbelief. That's
the sin unto eternal death. Now look with me if you would
at Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 verse 1 says, Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by faith
the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by the which
he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death and was not found,
because God had translated him, for before his translation he
had this testimony, that he pleased God. Verse six says, but without
faith, It is impossible 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." Faith. We need faith. We need faith to believe on Christ. We need faith to bow to who he
is and to bow to why he came and what he did and why he did
it and what he accomplished for his people through it and where
he is right now. We need faith to believe all
of that. So here's the question. How do we get it? How do we get faith? Look at
Hebrews 12 verse 1. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Verse two says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Faith
is of God. It is the very faith of Jesus
Christ. He is the giver of it. He is
the performer of it. He is the object of it. Ephesians
2 verse 8 says, by grace are you saved through faith. And
that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Faith is
the gift of God. Now, go with me back to our text
and let me show you what brought this message about. Matthew 14. Verse one says, at that time,
Herod the tea trark heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto
his servants, This is John the Baptist." When I read that and
the Lord opened it up to me, when He gave me this message,
it reminded me of a very important question that our Lord asked
His disciples in Matthew 16. And the answer to our Lord's
question is the telling evidence on whether or not a person has
received faith to believe on Christ. Herod exposed himself right here
by what he said. And we're going to see that if
we'll turn to Matthew 16. Go just a couple of pages to
Matthew 16, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that
thou art John the Baptist. That's what Herod said. He said, This is John the Baptist
reincarnated, risen from the dead. Verse 14, they said, some
say thou art John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, others
Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Now here's the thing to realize.
Even though people today do not believe that Christ is one of
these prophets reincarnated. Men and women do not believe
that today. But even so, the unbelief is
all the same. What they were saying is, by
people saying he's John the Baptist or he's Elijah or he's Jeremiah,
what they were saying is, he's no different than all these other
prophets. We don't see him to be any different than all these
other prophets. He was a good man. I believe Herod would even have
to admit he was a good man, just like the rest of them. He
had a good message, just like the rest of them. We can respect
Him for His efforts, but He was just a man, just like the rest
of them. I don't see anything in Him that's
worthy of the highest honor of God. He was just a good man.
Who do men say that I, the Son of Man am? They say that you're
a good man. That's what they say. They say
you're a good man. When you hear people talk about Him in unbelief,
That's what they say about Him. They acknowledge His gifts. They
acknowledge His miracles. They acknowledge His efforts
for good. But to those in unbelief, He
is less than God. To those in unbelief, He is not
God. He is under God. He's just God's Son. And my goal over the next couple
of minutes is to clearly declare that He is not just God's Son. He is the highly exalted Son of
God. We have the Father of God, we
have the Spirit of God, and we have the Son of God. Men say that he was born as a
man and he is the finest example of a man that this world has
ever seen. But he's not Almighty God. I
mean, when we talk about Almighty God, we're talking about the
highest God. We're talking about there is
none else. I am God and there is none else.
That's unbelief. That's unbelief. Verse 13, when
Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man am?
And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias
and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said unto them,
but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ. Oh, I pray God will reveal to
us what that means. That's not just his name. And
that's not just his title. That's who he is. Thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. That's what Peter said. What does that mean? What did
Peter say in saying that? This is what he said. You are
God manifest in the flesh. You are God Almighty given a
body. You are the image of the living
God. You are the Redeemer of the Trinity. You are God's provided mediator
between Himself and sinful man. There was only one way that God
could show mercy to sinful man. God had to become a mediator
for sinful man. You are God's provided hope. You're our only hope. You are
the fullness of our salvation. You are the one who deserves
the highest honor and the highest glory. You're the Christ. You deserve the highest praise
for accomplishing the condescension that you accomplished. If we
could ever enter into the glory of just how high God really is
and how low He made Himself to come for sinners like us. You deserve all the glory for
the humility you accomplished. The service to God for men that
you accomplished. You're God's remedy. You're God's
substitute. You're God's lamb of payment
and appeasement. You are the hope of earth and
joy of heaven. That's one of my favorite lines
in a song. I have 4,903,000 of them. That's one of them. Hope of earth, joy of heaven. Everything down here, everything
up there. Thou art the Christ. You're the
one who holds the position of the Son of God. the equal member of the Trinity
God, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily God. Verse 17. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. He said, you're a blessed man,
Peter, because you didn't come up with that on your own. My
Father revealed it to you. The Father of God, through the
Spirit of God, revealed that to you concerning the Son of
God. Now my time is up, and I know
that, and I still have some pages left. So let me just say this, okay?
Let me just clarify this and I'll close. God is three persons. God is three persons. There are
not three gods. There's one God in three persons. And I know, I cannot get my mind
around it either. But there is one God in three
equal persons. It is not a hierarchy where one
is above the next one and then one is above the next one. There
is one God in three equal persons. It is a unity, it is a harmony
of one will, one heart, one desire, one purpose, and that one purpose
is the salvation of their people, His people. That's the purpose. And that salvation all comes
together, that choosing of the Father on whom we'll be saved,
and that payment of the Son, and that calling of the Spirit,
the fullness of it all comes together in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All focus is on Jesus Christ. All attention is on Jesus Christ. He is the only way that mercy
and truth could ever meet together. He is the only way that righteousness
and peace could ever kiss each other. He's the only way. To
see that in Him is to believe on Him. What is it to have faith in Christ
and believe on Christ? It's to see He's not just a good
man, He's the God man. He's not just the one who shows
us the way to salvation. He's not just the one standing
there saying, come here, here, get behind me and I'll show you
the way to salvation. He is salvation. He said, I am the way. To see
that and to believe that and to hope in that is to believe
on him. That's what faith in Christ is. to see him for who he is and
what he's done for his people. Now, if we end up believing on
him and Herod didn't, or any other person doesn't, what makes
us to differ? Here's the answer. The grace
of God, the kindness and goodness and mercy in favor of God. Where
is boasting then? Do we get the credit for, well,
you're going to enter into condemnation because you didn't believe, but
I did. Do we get the credit or the glory
for believing? God forbid. Where is boasting? It's excluded. This is not of
ourselves. This is the gift of God Almighty
to His people. and whom the Father chose to
give it to, and whom the Son died to receive it, the Spirit
of God will bring it to them, and it will be revealed, and
they will see Christ for who He is, and this is what they'll
cry. And I want to exhort all of us
today, I'll close with this, I want to exhort all of us today,
we read just a minute ago in Hebrews 6, today, while it is
called today, Okay? Today, while it's called today,
the Lord has not come back yet. It's still today, here on this
earth. Let's all cry out, Lord, help
my unbelief. I believe what you're saying
is true. I fear you. You have put fear
in me and I believe that this is the beginning of wisdom. And
in your wisdom, you've caused me to say, I need to believe
on you. My only hope is that I believe
on you, but faith is not of myself, it's the gift of you. Please
increase our faith. Lord, please, we believe, help
our unbelief. Would you do it? If you'll do
it, we'll believe on you. Just like that leper who came
up to him. He said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Lord, if you will, you can make
us believe on you. And if I could, I'd go through
every name. I'd say all your names right now. Cry out to him. Lord, give me
faith to believe on you. I'm a sinner against you. I cannot
reform myself or change my ways or my only hope is in you. Give me faith to believe and
cry out to you. All who ask will receive. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.