442. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus, our blessed
Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory, strength and honor. ? Give to his holy name ? Like
a shepherd ? Jesus will guard his children ? In his arms he
carries them all day long ? Praise him, praise him ? Tell of his
excellent greatness ? Praise him, praise him ? Ever in joyful
song ? Praise Him, praise Him ? Jesus, our blessed Redeemer
? For our sins He suffered and bled and died ? He, our rock,
our hope of eternal salvation Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus, who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him Tell of
His excellent greatness Praise Him, praise Him Ever in joyful
song Praise Him, praise Him Jesus, our blessed Redeemer Heavenly
portals Loud with hosannas ringing, Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and King. Christ is coming. Over the world victorious Power
and glory Unto the Lord belong Praise Him, praise Him Tell of
His excellent greatness Praise Him, praise Him Ever in joyful
song be seated. We'll sing Worship Him. We have
come into this house. Some of you have the little printouts
in the chorus books, but most of us know it by heart. Worship
Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. we have come into this house
and gathered in his name to worship christ the lord worship him christ
the lord so forget about yourself So forget about yourself and
concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. So let's lift up holy faith.
So let's lift up holy faith and magnify His name and worship
Him. So let's lift up holy faith and
magnify His name and worship Him. So let's lift up holy faith,
magnify His name, and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. He is all my righteousness. He
is all my righteousness. I stand in Him complete and worship
Him. He is all my righteousness. I stand in Him complete and worship
Him. He is all my righteousness I
stand in Him complete And worship Christ the Lord Worship Him Christ
the Lord Let's look in Mark chapter 6. I'll read down from verse 14 all the way down to verse 28. And King Herod heard of him,
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 as one of the prophets. But
when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded,
he is risen from the dead. 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 her, It is not lawful for thee, said unto Herod,
It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore
Herodias had a quarrel against him, and in the margin set a
grudge. and would have killed him, but
she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing
that he was a just man and holy, and observed him. And when he
heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. And when
a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a
supper to his lords, high captains and chief estates of Galilee.
And when the daughter of Set-Herodias came in and danced, and pleased
Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel,
Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And
he swore unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will
give it thee unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth
and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The
head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with
haste unto the king, and asked him, saying, I will that thou
give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
And the king was exceeding sorrow, yet sorry, but yet for his oath's
sake and for their sakes was set with him, he would not reject
her. And immediately the king sent
an executioner and commanded his head to be brought, and he
went and beheaded him in prison. And he brought his head in a
charger, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her
mother. Oh, our Lord and our God, our
great dreadful God of judgment and terror, Lord, when we read in your word,
we don't have to look far to see how awful human nature is,
how sinful man is, how sin so deceives him. And Lord, we've
gathered here as we've already sung to worship him, to worship
Christ our Lord, to lift up and exalt his holy name. And I pray
you'd enable me to do that. enable the saints to listen today.
Give me wisdom, give me strength, give me grace. Give me a freedom
of thought and mind to deal with your word as it is. And Father,
forgive us, forgive me of everything that's so unlike you. And our
Father, I pray especially that you'd cause the gospel to find
a lodging today in someone's heart. Lord, men are in darkness,
but you're the light. Men are dead, but you're the
life. Men are self-righteous, but, Lord, you can kill it. And,
oh, Father, please, for Christ's sake, meet with us today. Give
us of your presence. Give us of your power. Oh, as
the old hymn writer and old people used to say, Lord, come down
among us. Come among us. Let us have a day of visitation,
a day of power, a day of your blessed presence. Oh, God, please,
for Christ's sake, have mercy, mercy, mercy upon our children
and grandchildren. Oh, Lord, there's no hope for
anybody except you. You're the one that's the author
of salvation. And Lord, be an author of salvation
today to someone here. And Lord, open hearts, open understanding. Give an interest in the gospel,
an interest in Christ. We pray for these things in our
Lord Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the Bulletin. How tedious and tasteless the
hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet words,
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim, the fields strive in vain to look gay. But when I am happy in him, December's
as pleasant as May. His name yields the richest perfume,
And sweeter than music His voice. His presence disperses my gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice. I should, were He always last
night, Have nothing to wish or to fear, No mortal so happy as
I am I Summer would last all the year Content with beholding
His face I All to His pleasure resigned No changes of season
or place would make any change in my mind. While blessed with the saints
of His love, great palaces of joy would appear. And prisons would palaces prove
if Jesus would dwell with me there. My Lord, if indeed I am
thine, if thou art my sun and my song, say, why do I languish
and pine, and why are my winters so long? Oh, drive these dark
clouds from the sky, Be seated. That's a John Newton hit. No, no, no, no, I'm good. I know, I know. There's one I
want us to learn. It's 216 in the book, Look to
the Lamb of God. Mike Bartram sung that up in
Wheelersburg and it's a wonderful song, Look to the Lamb of God.
Look to the Lamb of God. All right, let's look back here
together. In Mark chapter 6, we're going to deal with Herod. And when I read that, it's astonishing. It's astonishing how this man reacted to John
the Baptist. And one thing I want you to notice
clearly there in verse 20, For Herod feared John, knowing that
he was a just man, and holy, and observed him. And when he
heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly." Now here's
a man, he liked to hear John the Baptist. John was a forerunner
for Christ. He thought he was a just man,
and he was a holy man. And he watched him, observed
him, saved him, kept him. And oh, when he heard him, he
did many things, many things. That makes me think of religion,
all the many things that people do, so many things that people
do. Oh, my, they're busy doing things. They're, you know, and they're
not interested in Christ. They're interested in doing things.
I was watching a church here in town the other day on Facebook,
and oh, my, they had baseball caps on and Cokes in their hands
and a big band up on the stage, and they was making all this
music, and people was dancing. They was having a big, big, big
time. doing many things, many things. No reverence for God, no reverence
for Christ, no reverence for the Bible, but men do many things. They re interested in doing,
that s what they tell you when you go to most churches nowadays,
they won t put you to work. Somebody go to a place and stay
for a year, well listen, I want you to teach a Bible class. I
don't know much about the Bible, that's okay, you'll figure it
out, you'll figure it out. Do many things, they go to work,
they do all the religious things, they read their Bible. I read
a thing the other day that how bad shape you can get if you
neglect your Bible, you neglect worship and all the things you
can neglect. But I tell you something, the difference between religion,
the difference between God's people is, is the difference
in daylight and dark, daylight and dark. But He done heard many
things, and I tell you what, and we view this King, we view
King Herod, and we see how awful, vividly, the deceitfulness of
sin is portrayed. And you know in Hebrews 3.13
says this, Exhort one another daily while it is called a day,
lest anyone be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin
is a very deceitful thing. It's like self-righteousness.
It's like the rich young ruler. When the rich young ruler came
to the Lord Jesus Christ, he'd done three things. He'd come
running. I mean, he was interested. He was busy. I want to get to
see what Jesus got to say. Then the second thing he did
is he kneeled to him, and the third thing he asked, What good
thing must I do to be saved? He wanted something to do. He
said, Jesus will tell me exactly what to do. I've run to him,
I've kneeled before him, and now I've got a question for him.
And our Lord said, well, keep the commandments. Oh, listen,
I don't got no problem with that. I've been doing that since I
was a little boy. But he was a wealthy man. And
the Lord Jesus told him, this is how deceitful sin is. He wanted
to be saved. He wanted to know how to be saved,
what to do to be saved. He come to the right person,
and then our Lord said to him, well, since you've kept the law,
I'll tell you what you do. Give all your money away. Give
every bit of your money away, and then you follow me. That
old boy walked away. He is so sad, so sad. I don't guess I'll be saved then.
And you know what the apostles said after they seen that? Said,
who then can be saved? If this man can't be saved, who
can be saved? He said, with men, it's impossible,
but with God, all things are possible. And we see this man
here, we see this man, and that's what, and here's this man, and
he heard, look in verse 14. He heard of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He had heard all the miracles that Christ was doing, and heard
all the things about Him, and her had heard of Him because
His name was spread abroad, and this is the thing happens, and
His conscience was bothering Him. He felt guilty, and He said
that John the Baptist was risen from the dead. Ah, listen! When your conscience
goes to bother you, you believe anything. John the Baptist is
risen from the dead, and all these mighty works do show forth
themselves in him. I mean, he thought, I've really
made a mess out of things. I've killed this man, and he's
risen from the dead, and he's gonna come back here, and he's
doing all these mighty works. But that's how deceitful sin
is. Oh my. And here he goes on to say this,
in verse 15. He said in verse 15, it said,
well, some said, well, no, no, it's not John the Baptist, it's
Elijah. Others said it's a prophet. But
oh, when John heard of everything that was happening, and he heard
thereof, he said, it's John, and listen to that, whom I beheaded. I'm such a cruel, wicked man
that I had his head cut off. I had him beheaded. and left
him in a cell with just his body, had his head cut off, and he
said, This man s risen from the dead. What s going on around
here? He said, I ve got to face this,
and I ve got to face this. Oh, my! But here s something
else. He said, Oh, John is risen from
the dead. And I tell you, let me give you
some things about how deceitful the sin is. And we look at Herod
here. Herod was warned of his sin.
He was warned of his sin. And I tell you what, God's merciful
to warn anybody of their sin. And here he told, look what John
the Baptist said. This is why he killed him. For
in verse 18, for John had said unto Herod, it's not lawful for
thee to have thy brother's wife. Now, it would be like you or
me, my brother having a wife, and I say, well, listen, she
leaves him and marries me. And that's exactly what happened
here. His brother, Philip, had a wife. Oh, Herod said, I like
her, and I want her, and so Herod, she left her husband, she left
Philip, and she went and married Herod. He took his brother's
wife. And oh my. And I tell you what,
here's the white light of God's law turned on him, and it revealed
the dark, hidden parts of his life. He said, oh my. He said,
here, he's exposed me. He's exposed me. And his sins
pointed out for him. I want you to, let me, you keep
this and look over in Leviticus chapter 20. Look in Leviticus. Third book in the Bible. Leviticus
chapter 20, look what it says over here. In verse 21, you know that's the thing. Paul said, you know, sin deceived
me. That's what he's talking about,
sin. Sin deceived me. He said in Romans chapter seven,
sin deceived me. How did it deceive him? That I'm all right, that I'm
well pleased with myself, so God must be well pleased with
me. And he felt that way until God said, the law said. And that's what happens with
people doing many things, they wanna run to the law. The law
can't do nothing for you. And look what he said here, Leviticus
20, 21. And if a man shall take his brother's
wife, it is an unclean thing, he hath uncovered his brother's
nakedness, and they shall be childless. Oh my, can you imagine? Can you imagine somebody doing
that, going to your brother and taking his wife? Well, that's
what John did. And that's what Herod did here.
And John warned him about it. And there was, King Edward VIII. I don't know
how many times he's married, and he killed almost all of his
wives. And John Huss went to preach to him. And as John Huss
preached to him, he told him, he says, you know, you're living
in adultery. He started preaching to him,
tell you you're living in adultery. And he said, Mr. Huss, I'm going
to give you an opportunity to come back next week and preach
another message. and hopefully you won't say the
same thing again. He said, because don't you know
that I'm the king and I have the power to kill you and destroy
you and behead you? Don't you know that? Old Huss
went back the next week and he said, sir, said, king, I have
a king higher than you that I have to answer to. And I'm telling
you the same thing that I told you last week. It's not right. You're living in adultery, you're
living in sin, and you go out to face God for it. And naturally,
he took and killed him. He did, he had him back. Oh my,
but here comes John the Baptist. He pointed his finger at him,
said, John, Herod, you're a wicked, wicked man. It's not right for
you to take your brother's wife. And his sin is pointed out to
him. And I tell you, his lawless life is exposed. And the only
person who can expose your sin is somebody that's sin of God.
And I'll tell you, His sin is pointed out. And the Scriptures
tells us clearly, clearly, that we have proved before both Jew
and Gentile that all are under sin. All are under sin. And I'll tell you what, you can't
hide yourself. You can't hide yourself. The
very thing you hide yourself in will condemn you just as sure
as anything. Oh my, whatever you're hiding
yourself, if you hide yourself in church, it'll come find you
out one of these days. Hide yourself in the law and
say, oh, I'm keeping the Ten Commandments. Hide yourself in
your morality and say, I'm living a good life. Hide yourself in
your church going, that won't do you any good. Hide yourself
in agreeing with the truth, liking the saints. having a knowledge
of the scripture. That won't do you any good if
you're not saved from your sin by the blood of Christ. There's
always, people's gotta, Isaiah said like this, they made lies
their refuge. They made agreement with hell
and made a covenant with death. Oh, listen, hell's not coming
to me. I've made a covenant with death, death not even gonna get
me. But oh my, and look at his wife s reaction now when this
happened. Look what his wife said here
now, verse 19, Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, an
inward grudge, and listen to this, and would have killed him,
would have killed She just, well, she had murder in her heart.
God already condemned her for murder. That's what I mean. The
law exposes what's in your heart. She would have killed him, but
she couldn't. She couldn't. Let me tell you
something, beloved. This was a day of merciful visitation. God visited that man that day.
God visited that man that day. And you know, when God visits
somebody, and here's the thing about it, he didn't recognize
it. He didn't recognize it. Look in Luke 19 with me. Look
over here in Luke 19. God visits people. You know that?
And he visited this man. He visited this man, Luke 19,
44. He visited King Herod in the
person of John the Baptist. God visits people. I think it
was David that said, Lord, visit this vine. But look what He said
in verse 43, For the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies
shall cast a trench about thee, encompass thee round about, and
keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the
ground, and thy children within thee. They shall not leave in
thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the
time of thy visitation. Hebrews Isaiah chapter 10 says
the same thing. Where are you going to go in
the day of my visitation? And you know, here s the thing,
that s why I say, God, please come among us. God visits us
here, and sometimes God visits you personally, but when God
comes down to visit, He visits in the gospel He visits in His
scripture. He visits in His preaching. God
VISITS us. He comes down in visitation.
Do you recognize that God has come down to visit with us? Have
you ever realized that God Himself, to think that God would visit
you? That take time out of His eternity to come down and speak
to you or speak to me? and speak to me from, and that's
what he did. John the Baptist come, and he was visited of God
that day, and he didn't recognize it. He said, oh, he liked John. He liked to hear him. He observed
him, and he heard him gladly, and he even feared him. Even
feared him. But then he walked away from
it all. Oh, my. Let me tell you something. God's
goodness visits us every day. God's kindness visits us every
day. He visits us with His existence,
visits us with His power, visits us with His will. And I tell
you, you're talking about the goodness of God visiting us when
we're right in the midst of a sinful act or we're going through a
tirade against somebody or something, throwing a fit over something.
That's how good God is to not open up hell and send us to it. But oh my, look what happens
here now. Look around verse 20 again. Herod feared John. That's a good
thing. Heard him. Like religion, done
many, many things. Heard him gladly. Herod knew
who and what John was. Said he's a holy man, a just
man. Observed him. Heard him gladly. You know what our Lord said about
John the Baptist? He said, There's not a greater
prophet born of a woman than John the Baptist, not a greater
one, not a greater one, huh? And yet, yet he wouldn't forsake
his sin, he wouldn't leave off his sin, wouldn't leave off his
high-mindedness, his depravity, his hatefulness, his pride, and
his self-righteousness. He no doubt is thinking that
he's working out his own salvation, probably feels like he's doing
a good job of it. And that's usually the way men
are. Their pride of life is so bad. Oh, a sense of sins often
followed by a reformation of life. I've done that myself. When I first started getting
convicted of sin back in my very early 20s, the first thing I
did, went and bought a Bible. And I said, I'm gonna start living
right. I'm gonna start living good.
I'm gonna straighten up my life. That's exactly what I thought,
I was gonna straighten it up. I went and bought me a Bible.
And I started reading the Sermon on the Mount. I didn't get but
about a chapter or two in that thing and I said, oh my, there's
no way in the world I can live like that. But the first thing
you do when you start feeling bad about your sin, feeling bad
about your life, you know what the first thing you'll do? You'll
start reading the Bible. you'll start reading the Bible,
you'll start paying attention to preaching, but let me tell
you something, none of those things will do anything for you
until God Himself comes and visits your sin. God's gotta do it. I can tell you that. John the
Baptist told him. Did it help him when John the
Baptist said it's not lawful? Did he say, well, listen, I'll
divorce her. I'll stay celibate. I'll get out of this mess. No,
no. His wife got so angry, she said,
I'm going to kill that man. You think about somebody hating
somebody so bad. that they want them killed and
do everything in their power to see that they're murdered.
That's, you think, oh my, let me tell you something. You can do 99 things right, but
you do one wrong thing and that one thing nullifies every 99
things that you ever done. It does. And let me tell you
something else. John the Baptist, when he told
John that, he heard him gladly and observed him. But here's
the thing, that he paid no attention to
it whatsoever. And you don't have to go anywhere
to sin. You don't have to get out of
bed. You don't have to go nowhere. You don't have to do anything
to sin. Do you know that? Just exist. Just exist. There's enough sin
goes on in our mind. How many people you reckon we've
murdered in our lives? Somebody cuts you off in traffic. Somebody look at you wrong way,
wonder what's wrong with them. Somebody say something ill or
contrary to you and you get upset about it, said, oh, that just
hurts my feelings so bad. Oh, people get so upset so easy. And I tell you, that's what I'm
talking about. It's the goodness of God that keeps God from opening
up hell while we're so self-righteous and full of pride that it's a
miracle that God don't open up hell and say, I'm gonna put all
of you in it. I got enough self, you know,
talk about self-righteousness. Oh my, I got enough self-righteousness
in me to damn everybody in Cumberland County. And I've got enough meanness
in me. You all got any meanness in you? Huh? Surely you don't. Surely you
don't get upset with anybody. You don't get mad at anybody.
Well, I tell you what, next time I see them, I'm gonna tell them
this. Well, next time you see him, how you doing, honey? We're
so full of that, you know. But that's what happens, you
know. He thinks, man, I've got this thing worked out. But oh,
this thing called the pride of life, pride of life. And you
know what the pride of life is? Look at me. Look at me. Look what I've done, look what
I've accomplished. That's what pride of life, look
at me. And oh my, but when this sin starts, you first start getting
the sense of, it's like old Herod did. He said, boy, man, I like
that preaching. I'm gonna watch that fella. I'm
glad to hear what he's got to say. I got to glad to hear what
he got to say. Then old Herod, you know, that's
the first thing he done, he started reforming. Oh my. And let me tell you something
else. If we do, I don't know if you do it or not, but we'll
make promises to ourselves that we can't or won't keep. We make
promises. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna
do that. I'm gonna stop this. I'm gonna
start that. And we make these promises. We make these promises
to ourselves. I'm gonna start doing this, I'm
gonna start doing that, I'm gonna do this right, that right, and
I'm gonna do this other thing right. But oh my, we don't keep
promises to ourselves. But I tell you what, until God
himself, all we'll do is reform ourselves until God makes us
sinners. Once God makes you a sinner,
you'll be a sinner all the days of your life until you get to
go home and be with Christ. Now that's a fact. You don't
have to go out and do anything, just get out of bed. Don't even
have to get out of bed. And oh my, he became a slave
by what other people said, by the opinions of other people.
Look what it said up here in verse 17. For Herod said he thought John
had risen from the dead, and Herod himself had sent forth
and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison." Listen
to this, you know why he did it? Because that's what his wife
wanted. That's what his wife wanted.
Honey, you can't let that man accuse us of this. You've got
to do something about this. You know what he's done? He says,
I'm an adulteress. And, oh, you know, he put him
in prison for Herodias' sake, for his wife's sake. What his
wife thought, that's what he did. Now, I'm not saying don't
listen to your wife. I wouldn't say that under no
circumstances. Your daddy used to tell me sometimes,
you know, bless his heart, he said, he said, you know, Ruby
had talked to him, telling him things that he, you know, you
ought to do this or do that. And he said, I'd get so mad.
Her telling me what to do and said, you know what made me so
mad? Cause she was right. And that's how, but here's, that's
what he said, said, my wife wants this. Now his wife, if your wife
wanted to kill somebody, would you go do it? If your wife wants
somebody put in prison, would you put them in prison? If your
wife wanted you to go out and steal something for her, go out
and go in $50,000 in debt to buy her some kind of special
jewelry or something, would you want to? Now that's what he's
saying here. He was so influenced by his wife. And let me tell you something.
You're not going to face God for your wife. You're going to
face God for yourself. And no relationship, I tell you,
any relationship that we have in this world will not never,
never, should never take the place of Christ, never. And here's what happens here,
he's dealing with his sin, and oh my, he laid hold on him and
bound him in prison for Eradius' sake, his wife's sake. Look what
he says down in verse 26. And the king was exceeding sorrow,
sorry, for his own sake, and for their sake was set with him,
he would not reject." Oh my, the voice of reason, the voice
of flesh, the lust gets victory over his conscience and over
what God told him to. It's like Paul when he's preaching
to Felix. He reasoned to him of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment. And Felix said, you go away.
He said, I'll listen at you at a different time, a more convenient
time. Oh, he said to please Herodias,
his wife. He turns against the warning
that John gave him and counts it as nothing. What about you? What about our companions? What
about other people's opinions? Are they going to change his
standing with God? Well, in my opinion, if you change your standing
with God, did John the Baptist's opinion, did Herodias change
his standing with God? No, no, not at all. And I tell
you, some worldly pleasure, what matters most to you, Christ or
somebody's opinion? Oh my, let me ask you something,
for whose sake do you order your life? God or self, God or your
wife, or God or your children. Can't be both. You can't serve
two masters. You can't serve two masters.
I think I've told you this before. I remember years ago, there was
a fella that went to 13th Street, went
there for years. And he went three times a week.
When his wife kept asking him on Sunday night, honey, won't
you stay with me on Sunday night? You know, you go to church all
the time. Won't you just stay with me? Stay home with me one
night, one night. And he said, well, listen, I
love the gospel. I want to go hear the gospel.
So one time she laid down the law to him. She said, if you
go and don't stay with me tonight, stay at home with me tonight,
she said, I'm going to be gone when you get back. He said, oh,
I wish you hadn't said that. Said, I've got to go now. And
sure enough, he went to worship, his wife left, and she never
came back. How many of you all would do
that? How many of you all go on Sunday
morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and your wife or husband
say, if you go, I'll leave you? I tell you what, they'd be better
going than coming, in my opinion, anyway. That's my feelings about
it. You know, if you let anybody, I'm gonna get serious here, I'm
gonna get serious I possibly can. If you let anybody, anybody
come between your relationship and Christ, you don't know Christ. Anybody. I've got a son and a
daughter, I've got grandkids and great grandkids, and I've
got this wonderful wife, And I won't let nothing, nothing
separate me from Christ. That's what Paul said, nothing
shall be able to separate me from the love of Christ. But
I tell you, it don't take much to separate people now. You know,
I'm gonna tell you something else here. I'll finish up my
message in a minute. I'm gonna tell you something
else. You know, when folks leave, and they're gone for two or three
years, And they come back and they know they die. I thought
about this the other day. If they come back and they die
and they say, well, we want you, we want Donny Bell, we want you
to preach our funeral. You know what I'm going to tell
them if they haven't been here in two or three years? Get somebody else. I'm not your
pastor. You didn't want me. You didn't
want to hear what I got to say. You left. You've been gone two
or three years. Why in the world would you want
me to have something to say over you? Is that hard? When you walk off from the gospel,
you've walked away from God. You've walked away from Christ. And you've found something that
means more to you than Christ. Well, I'm going to get back to
my message. I've interfered in your lives enough. Oh, my. He went from hearing
John gladly to being Please look what happens now down here in
verse 21, 22. After you observe John, now watch what happens
now in verse 21, 22. And when a convenient day was
come, that Herod on his birthday. Now Christ never celebrated his
birthday. The only people celebrate a birthday
in the scriptures was heathens, wicked people. And he had a birthday
and he made him a big supper. They do that here in the South
too, you know. To his lords, And his high captains and all
the chief of states, everybody that was anybody was there. People
like me and you wouldn't have been invited. But he had everybody,
all the big shots come into his supper. And then, oh, this woman
comes in, the daughter of the said Herodias, Herodias' wife,
daughter comes in, and she began to dance. Began to dance, and
look what it said, it pleased Herod. It pleased him. And it
pleased them that sat with him. And the king said unto the damsel,
ask whatsoever thou wilt, that will I give it thee. Oh my, now he went from hearing
John gladly to being pleased with some woman dancing fool. She must have really been some
kind of a dancer because she really impressed this whole bunch.
She must have really been some kind of a dancer. I mean, you
know, she had this whole outfit, just, whoa! This thing just got
the biggest kick out of this woman dancing. And oh my, pleased
with the dancing fool. There's a short distance between
the two because deceitfulness of sin. It's like when our Lord
said to Judas, what you do, do quickly. And he did, he did it
quickly. And oh my, and look what happens
in verse 23. You ask me whatever you will
and I'll give it to you. That's how, that's, you talking
about a man that's a fool. Somebody dancing, he's a king,
and he turns around and says to her, whatsoever, in verse
23, whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I'll give it thee unto
the half of my kingdom. You talking about a fellow surrendered
his dignity and surrendered his king, surrendering everything
about him and becoming an utter and absolute fool, here's a man
who did, just because a woman danced. I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU HALF OF
MY KINGDOM!" Oh, my! Oh, my! How the God of this world
blinds a mind of them that believe not! Oh, my! He was more interested in showing
His power, His authority, His wealth, and surrendered His position
of dignity and power. And oh, look what it said! And
she went forth. She went forth and asked, said to her mother,
went to Mama. See, that's another thing, she
went to Mama. She couldn't think of nothing herself that she'd
want. She probably had everything already. What shall I ask? He said, give me whatever I ask.
She said, boy, I got it, got it now. Give me John the Baptist's
head. Oh, my. And she came in and straightway hurried into the presence of
the king, and everybody's still there. I will that you give me
in a charger the head of John the Baptist. A charger is a big
old bowl, just a big old plate thing, a big old bowl. Go down
there, and I want you to bring it back up here. I want to see
it. Jews talking about wicked people,
a wicked, how could anybody want to go and have somebody's head
brought to them to look at it? And oh my, and look what he said there,
and oh my. He said, this John I beheaded just rose up. Oh my
goodness, that's what he was worried about. And this is how
it all happened. He said in verse 26, the king
was exceeding sorry. Oh, I'm so sorry. I made this
oath, so sorry. Oh, I'm so sorry I said this.
I'm so sorry I done this. But for his oath's sake, and
for everybody's sake that was with him, he would not reject
her. He said, I'd do anything but
that. I don't want to do that. But no, immediately the king
sent forth an executioner, commanded his head to be brought, and he
went in prison and beheld him. And look what it said in verse
28, and he brought his head in a charger and gave it to the
damsel. And his daughter turned around
and gave it to his mama. His mom said, boy, I finally
got my vengeance. I finally got what I wanted.
I finally got even. Oh my. Let me show you what our Lord
said about him. Look what I think it's over in Luke 13. Let me see. 1331. Look what our Lord said
about John the Baptist. 13, Luke 13, look what our master
said about it. 13, 31. The same day there came certain of
the Pharisees, get unto him, get thee out and depart hence,
for Herod will kill thee. Look what our master said about
him. He said, you go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out
devils, and I do cures today, and tomorrow and the third day
I shall be perfected." He called him an old fox, an old deceitful,
wicked, wicked man. That's what Christ said about
him. But he remembered the past. It's John whom I'd beheaded. John's risen from the dead, and
men try to bury their sin, but there ain't a grave deep enough
to bury it. But let me show you how John, how his life ended
up. Let me show you. Look over in
Acts chapter 22, I think it is. Yeah. Acts 2. Acts 12. Acts 12. I got it here a minute.
Acts chapter 12. Look what he says here in verse
20, And Herod was highly displeased
with them of Tyre and Sidon. But they came with one accord
to him, and having made Blastus the king's chamberlain, the man
that was over the king and took care of the king, desired peace,
because their country was nourished by the king's country. Upon a
set day Herod arrayed in royal apparel, and upon his throne
made an oration unto them, he gave a big speech. And the people
gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a God, not of a man.
Now listen to what God done to him. And immediately the angel
of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. Worms
got in his body, and eat his guts out, and he died. He died. And you know what? When he got in hell, it's John
I beheaded, it's John I beheaded, he's risen from the dead. Memory
is going to be one of the awfulest things there are going to be
in hell. Oh my, and here's the thing about it. Sin will be an
awful thing. I wouldn't want to die in my
sin for 10,000 worlds like this. I wouldn't. But I tell you what, it gets
you like that. Gets you like that. Oh, our Lord. Oh, God, for Christ's sake. Thank you for your mercies. Thank
you for your goodness. Thank you for your kindness and
your long-suffering and patience with us. Oh, Lord, I'm so thankful
you're patient, patient with me, long-suffering with me. And Lord, forgive me. Oh, God,
please forgive me of everything that's so unlike you, every unkind
word, everything that shouldn't have been said. And forgive me
of what I should have said and didn't say. And Lord, please, for Christ's
sake, convince men of sin, of righteousness and judgment, of
righteousness because they believe not on you. Lord, you're the
only one that can do it. Bring glory to yourself in the
salvation of sinners in this place. Save your sheep. and do it for Christ's sake.
Amen. Amen. There is a fountain filled
with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that flood lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty
stains. See you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.