Thank the Lord for his mercy
and kindness that brought us here, and has taught us, and
we believe will continue to teach us and lead us. Each time that
I read and sing that hymn by Isaac Watts, sinner oh why, so
thoughtless grown, why in such dreadful haste to die? And many
today rush headlong to their destruction all around us without
any consideration of their sin and their need of Christ. And there's
not a thing in the world that I can do to change that. Not anything that you can do
to change it. but God who's rich in mercy. He indeed can and does change the hearts
of men. May he give us a mind to pray
for those that perish. We've been looking in Mark Chapter 6, and we had looked at several things, not the least
of which was the anointing of the Lord in sending His 12 apostles
out into the world. Told them to take no script.
That is, no money. They weren't to take anything
with them but to go as he would send them. Now, it also bears
repeating that he also sent them out later on and he told them
to take some money. And he said, if you've got two
coats, take them. If you've got a sword, take that
with you also. The Lord did say that, you know,
while the bridegroom was present, that there could be no fasting,
but when the bridegroom has gone away, then there will be fasting
and praying. And so we are, while we are blessed
by the Lord, We are yet in a place of darkness, relatively, compared
to that place that the disciples were in, as the Lord stood among
them and walked among them, and of that place where we shall
be, when no longer do we see through a glass darkly, but now
we do. And so our reliance is upon the
Lord. We can't rely upon ourselves. And he would have us to be about
the business that he's called us to. Now I don't know what
the Lord called you to. I'm not always 100% what he called
me to. But I would desire to be walking
in that way, and I trust and hope that you as well, by the
work of the Spirit of God in you, that you desire to walk
in that way that He has marked out for you. Now you will walk
in the way that's marked out for you. And as Jonah found out,
he did go in the way of the Lord, but it wasn't as enjoyable as
he might have thought it could have been, but may the Lord work
in us. both the will and the due of
his good pleasure. But anyway, he sent out those
and anointed them, or sent them out to anoint with oil and heal
many that were sick. And they did so, because when
the Lord sends somebody to do something, they will do it. It
will be done. You know, if somebody fails in
something, then it was not the thing the Lord sent them to do.
Now, the Lord sends men to fail. Does he not? I mean, as far as
men are concerned. Now, the Lord's purpose is never,
they never fail. Now, we often fail because the
Lord would be faithful in teaching us that it's not upon us that
these things depend, but upon him. And so if it weren't for
failure, we would often think that we had really accomplished
something, but we're not. But when the milk gets spilled,
we realize how weak we are. We can't really prevent anything
from happening. All we can do is clean up the
mess afterwards. So how wonderful he is, and he
does teach us such things as we need to know. But anyway,
We come to verse 14, and we read, and King Herod heard of him,
for his name was spread abroad. Now this is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Herod heard about this man, Jesus. Of course, he was too important
to spend any time going to listen to him. And you often find that
there are a lot of people that have some consideration that
there is some benefit in the gospel. There are people that
say, well, yes, you know, Jesus was a great man. He taught many
things. There are a lot of people who
would tell you, yes, Jesus was a great prophet, but they've
never read, sat down and read anything that he said. They've never studied what it
was. Now, if you thought that somebody was a great prophet,
wouldn't it be prudent to at least look at what he said? And
yet people think, well, it's just, you know, well, it just
generally, oh yeah, he was a great prophet. Well, they're saying
that because they heard somebody else say it. And they don't want
to be out here saying that he wasn't a great prophet when he
might have been. So Herod, he'd heard of the Lord Jesus. He'd heard about this man that
was going about healing the sick and doing these miracles and
things. He wasn't primarily concerned, however, in listening to what
the Lord Jesus was saying. Now the Pharisees, they weren't
necessarily interested in listening to what he said either. What
they were interested in doing was trying to point out his error.
They were looking to see where they could find him and catch
him and say, aha, you weren't right. You're doing the wrong
thing, you're a false prophet. The Spirit of God would have
God's people to seek after him, believing that what he says is
true, and desiring to walk in the things that he says to walk
in. And so King Herod heard of him,
for his name was spread abroad. And he said, John the Baptist
was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show
themselves in him. Evidently, he must believe in
reincarnation. Huh? I mean, right off the bat,
we know that he was in error in his thinking. You can't be
made somebody else. The Lord made you to be you. And he breathed into your body,
breath. And he gave you life. And it
belongs to him. and he can take it back when
it pleases him. But it is you and not somebody
else and you'll never be anybody else. You know a lot of people
live their lives trying to be somebody else. I see this with a lot of times
preachers. They'll hear somebody preach
and they'll listen to somebody's mannerisms and they'll think,
well man if I could just be like him, you know if I could put
my emphasis on these words just like he does, and I could do
this and that and the other, well, I could really do a good
job. We see a lot of practices in
the churches that wind up like that. But, you know, the Lord
made us individuals. And he gives to every man the
measure of faith as it pleases him. We don't all have the same
understanding. and we don't all have the same
measure of faith. It just hasn't pleased the Lord
to do it, to make it that way. And so we're not to be those
that go about trying to imitate somebody or thinking that we
can rise to some level with our own power that the Lord does
not give us. But so, I don't even know how
I got off on all that, but anyway. He thought that, or he said,
I don't know that he necessarily believed it, but at least he
was saying, well, this must be, I mean, this man's just like
John the Baptist. And he was right in some ways,
but he was wrong in others. Because there were great similarities
between what John came preaching and what the Lord Jesus Christ
came preaching. But John came preaching as the
one who would bring in the advent of the one who would deliver
men from Moses' law. And so by that we say that John
the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He died
without having his seeing the resurrected Christ. He saw Christ
come on the scene, but he was in the dark as to what Christ
actually came to do. Even though he said, behold,
the Lamb of God was taken away the sin of the world. He didn't
understand exactly how that was going to be, but he did speak
the truth. But the Lord saw fit to take
him out of the scene. You remember just before his
death when he was in prison, he sent men to the Lord and he
said, are you really him that's coming or are we supposed to
wait for another one? See, he was beginning to have
his doubts. He didn't know, he couldn't see. He didn't see what
you and I now see and know. Because he thought, well surely
when the Messiah comes, he's going to set up a kingdom here
in Jerusalem, he's going to destroy all these Romans, and we're going
to live happily ever after in this world. That was John the
Baptist's idea because that was the thing that he could see.
I mean, we can't fault him from the standpoint of the fact that
he could only see what he could see. And the Lord would, as the
Lord said, that he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, or
the kingdom of God, is greater than John the Baptist. Why is
that? Does that mean that we have done greater works than
John the Baptist? No. It means we've been given
greater light. We've been given greater understanding.
Because John couldn't see what you and I now see. The glory
of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer
of sinners. That one who died on Calvary's
cross was dead, buried, and risen again. And we see those things. We have seen them by the eye
of faith and know that they have taken place. But anyway, he had
consideration. He said, this man, Jesus, is
just like John the Baptist. And then it goes on. He says,
others said that it's a lie. So others said this is a prophet
or is one of the prophets. Now, there are a lot of people
that believe Jesus was one of the prophets. You hear that? I mean, the Mormons say he was
one of the prophets. The Jehovah's Witnesses say he
was one of the prophets. I mean, a lot of people believe
he was one of the prophets. But dear brethren, that's not
the message we declare. He's not one of the prophets.
He is the prophet sent by God. There's not another. You know,
he's the one who's the epitome of the prophets had faded away
from sight when the Lord said, this is my beloved son, hear
ye him. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners hath in times past spoken unto us by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. So he is not one of the prophets. He is not even the greatest of
the prophets. He is the prophet of God. And all prophets, true prophets,
whoever came before Him spoke of Him. See, they pointed to
Him just like the Lord said, when the Holy Spirit has come,
He will not speak of Himself. Why? Because there's one name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There
is one name which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. He is the
prophet, not one of the prophets, not a great prophet, but the
prophet. And so this was the Jews, they
said, well, maybe he is a prophet, you know, but they weren't, they
didn't recognize who he was. But when Herod heard thereof,
he said, it is John whom I beheaded. He is risen from the dead. He
began to be fearful. It's not unusual for men to lament
their sin. They even become fearful over
it. I mean, he's the man who's been
brought into face-to-face conviction with his sin. Judas was, was
he not? I mean, I believe Judas, he was
crushed. by the wickedness of his heart
in the respect that he saw he had done an evil thing in a moral
sense. Now he stopped short of repentance,
however, because he did not pause and give praise unto Christ and
fall down and worship him, but what did he do? He went out and
ended his misery. He said, I can't stand it anymore. And so it was with him. But when
Herod heard thereof, he said, it's John whom I beheaded. He
has risen from the dead. And then it goes to explain to
us what happened. And this is the only account
in the gospels that tells us exactly what happened to John
the Baptist. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold
upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake. Herodias
was his wife. But Herodias had been the wife
of two other men, one of them Herod's brother. And so he had
unlawfully taken her to be his wife. And as the Lord said to the woman
at the well, thou hast had six husbands, and the one that you
have now is not your husband. So John had come before Herod
and he had said, it's unlawful for you to have this woman as
your wife because she, number one, is not lawfully divorced
and you are in a wicked state of affairs in cohabiting with
her and making her your wife. even also that she has been married
to your brother and you have taken his wife away from him
so Herod's sin was great but you see Herod this didn't bother
him a whole lot because the scripture says that
he didn't put John in jail for telling him that he might have
said well you know he's right They didn't repent, however.
But his wife, on the other hand, she said, well, who does he think
he is talking to me like that? And for his wife's sake, he put
John in jail. I don't know what he intended
to do. He probably hoped that maybe his wife would simmer down
and he'd be able to turn John loose later. And I say this,
I'm not trying to be sexist here, but I believe it is a true thing
that sometimes women are given to carrying out revenge in a
greater measure than perhaps men are. Now I'm not saying that
men don't seek revenge. But I'm saying what we need to
be mindful of is that the Lord give us all a tender heart and
a forgiving spirit in all things and that we be not those who
are set forth. But anyway, she was determined
that she was gonna see John destroyed because he had embarrassed her
in the eyes of the nation. For Herod himself had sent forth
and laid hold upon John, put him in prison for Herodias' sake,
his brother Philip's wife. Now see, it doesn't say his brother
Philip's former wife, it said his brother Philip's wife. See,
it was recognized that she was Philip's wife. But Herod married
her. And I don't know all the legal
ramifications or what all went on, but obviously it was against
the law of God. It was certainly not in keeping
with what the Lord had established for marriage to be. For John
had said unto thee, it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's
wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel
against him. She was mad, and she would have
killed him. She'd have had him put to death
right then, but she couldn't. Why? She didn't have the power.
Power was in Herod's hands. And of course, as we see with
Solomon before this, his many wives led him to do things that
he would not probably have done had he not listened to them. For Herod feared John. He said,
I know this man, you know, he's a just man. He's holy, he's right.
He was telling me the truth. I didn't like it. He did many things. Heard him
gladly. He wasn't, he didn't shun John. He had good regard to him. But he didn't repent. He didn't embrace what John told
him. I mean, if he'd have believed
what John said, what would he have done? He'd have put away
his wife, I mean, the one whom he had married. He would have
have... Say, look, I'm wrong. I can't
go on this way. But he didn't do that. He kept
on his way, even though he was religiously thinking, well, this
man's a just man, he's a good man, he's a holy man. Do you
often hear people, they say all this stuff, talk many things
about the word of God and how true and everything it is, but
then they walk in their life contrary to what the word of
God plainly says. Now, what is that? I mean, can
a man say that he believes the word of God to be true and then
have a disregard of it in an open way? I mean, can he just
go contrary to it all the while saying, oh, I believe this to
be true? No. Light and darkness cannot
commune with one another. And so it is with Herod. And when a convenient day was
come, of course he wasn't even thinking about John being in
prison, he probably forgot he was even in there. I mean, he
wasn't, that wasn't on his mind. I mean, he wasn't thinking every
day, oh, John's over here in prison, what can I do for him?
Or anything else, he just pretty much forgot about it. But when
the day was come, and Herod on his birthday, They had a big
birthday celebration. He made a supper to his lords,
high captains, and chief of states of Galilee. He had all the big
high power governors and whatnot in with him. And when the daughter
of the said Herodias came in, not his daughter, but the daughter
of Herodias by her first husband, not even of his brother, 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 so she was the entertainment.
Now I don't know what this dance consisted of or whatever. I read
a lot of different accounts of different degrees of this, that
and the other. I don't know what it was. But
whatever it was, it was a thing that was very acceptable in their
side at least. And Herod was extremely happy. uh... that she had done this
and so he swore unto her that he would give her whatever she
wanted even to the half of his kingdom how foolish men are I mean you know men do some foolish
stuff I mean think about Solomon I mean he did some foolish stuff
did he not? I mean, it's just the way that
we already said. Whatsoever thou shalt ask of
me, I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom. And so
she went for, she didn't really, I mean, she was probably 12,
13, 14 years old. I don't know how old she was.
But she didn't know what should I ask for. I mean, you know,
she didn't have any idea. She was just basically a kid.
So she went to her mother. Well, her mother knew exactly
what she wanted. And she wasn't about to let this
opportunity pass her by. And she came in straight way.
And so her mother said she wanted the head of John the Baptist. Now that's a pretty macabre thing
to desire, is it not? for somebody to bring you there,
somebody's head on a platter, I mean, that's a level of revenge
that few people actually are given over to. But keep this
in mind, every one of us would be that way, apart from the restraining
grace of God. See, when you see the wickedness
of men played out in a situation such as this, don't necessarily
sit back and say, well, I just don't see how they could do that.
You ever say that? I mean, you see some of these
atrocious murders and things that take place, and you say,
I just don't understand how people could do something like that.
Well, just think about it for a minute, and think about what
you are by nature. Because you could do exactly
the same thing, except for one thing, the grace of God has kept
you from it. That's the only thing. The only
thing that makes a difference between one man and another is
the mercy of God. And so here she was just playing
out what she was. She was exactly what the Lord
made her to be. And she acted upon that which
she was. She did what she did because
she wanted to. She couldn't blame anybody else
for it. And the king was exceeding, and
she came in straightway with haste and said, I will that thou
give me by and by in a charger or on a platter the head of John
the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry.
Well, he didn't want that to happen. I mean, that was not
what he was anticipating, because he really thought of John in
a high fashion, in some way. And yet, for his own sake, and
for the sakes of those that sat by, he couldn't go back on it,
because he'd made this a public thing. So how's he gonna turn
back now? How often have men let their
mouth overload themselves? You know, they say, buddy, I'm
going to do this, and then, you know, the situation arises, and
then they have to say, oh, wow, what am I going to do now? You
know, I've already said this. Think twice before you make any
sort of oath or determination that you're going to do something.
Because he couldn't go back on it. Well, he could have. And he would have if the Lord
had given him a heart of repentance. Because nothing else would have
mattered to him at that point in time than doing the right
thing unto John the Baptist. But he did not have a repentant
heart. And he went in the way of his flesh. And immediately
the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be
brought. And he went and beheaded him
in the prison, cut his head off. And he brought his head in a
charger and gave it to the damsel. The damsel gave it to her mother,
she didn't want it. I'm sure she was wanting to get
rid of this thing quick as she could. But her mother, she was
delighted. Because she had got her revenge. She was happy. And maybe she
died a happy woman. You know, that's what, today,
that's what people are looking for, isn't it? Well, you gotta
be happy. I mean, the Lord would have you
to be happy, would he not? I mean, just get whatever you
need to make yourself happy. Well, surely the Lord wouldn't
want you not to be happy. Well, she was happy, was she
not? But she was happy right under her own destruction. And
so it is, the things that make men happy in the flesh are not
the things that are good and needful in the Spirit of God. And when the disciples heard
of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
Now you'd have thought they'd have had a big funeral procession,
would you not? I mean, wouldn't you thought
they would have exalted John the Baptist and everything? No,
they just put him in the grave. I think we can learn some things
when you read in the Bible about the way that Christians view death and the burial of, I think
we would do well to consider these things. I mean, are we
looking for a big ornate ceremony when we pass on? I mean, is that a thing that
we think we want to be remembered? I mean, what do you want somebody
to remember about you? Right now is when you are causing
men to remember things about you. Not when they have some ceremony and then people come
around and they say, oh, he was a good man and he did all these
things and I remember this, that, and the other. And next week,
guess what? All forgot. Most people never
even think about you after you're dead. I mean, after about a week
passes, that's about all they think of you. Now, I'm not saying
that's good or bad, I'm just saying that's the truth. I mean,
my daddy and mama lay over here, my grandma, my grandpa, many
family members over here in this cemetery. I'll be honest with you, I don't
give all our thought to it. I mean, it's just, they're there
and there from time to time, the Lord brings some pleasant
thought to my mind concerning those whom I love, and I'm thankful
for that. And I don't mean in any way to
minimize the love that we have for one another, but I'm talking
about when John the Baptist was dead, he was dead. There's not
anything you could do to bring him back. And so they laid him
in a tomb, just like when Ananias and Sapphira. died, what does
it say? They wrapped him up in a sheet
and took him out and buried him. Pretty straight forward, there
wasn't much to it. Because brethren, our hope's
not in all of these things, our hope's in that the Lord knows
exactly where the bodies of his saints are. Precious in the sight
of the Lord's death of his saints. And he, in the appointed time,
will raise them from the dead. And so it is that they laid him
in a tomb. And the apostles gathered themselves
together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they
had done and what they had taught. And that was kind of like just
a little snippet of history that was put into the scripture there
to explain what happened to John the Baptist. But it didn't really
alter the course of history did it. I mean, and what I mean by
that is this, it was mapped out and directed by Almighty God
for these things to occur. And we, you know, men in general,
they look at the world as though all these different events and
things that take place, oh, if we could prevent that, this would
happen, if we could cause this to happen, that would happen.
And I wouldn't say there's not a measure in which that might
be true, but know this one thing, that all things occur according
to the good pleasure of the Almighty God who rules in the heavens
and the earth. And nothing can change that.
And He is going to do His will. Now by the grace of God, He gives
to His people a desire to be found not warring against His
way. And thus we pray, Lord, make
us submissive to Thy will. I don't know what that is for
any one of us. But I do know this, that the
work of the Spirit of God in God's people is to cause them
to pray even as the Lord Jesus prayed, not as I will, but as
I will. And what peace that passeth understanding
is given when the Lord applies that to a man's heart. Now, that's not the same as,
you know, there's a lot of fatalistic people out there. They just say,
well, whatever's to be will be. Is that what we're saying? No,
whatever's to be, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying whatever
God wills to be, will be. And there's a difference. See,
we're not directed by blind faith that just whatever may happen,
but we rejoice that all things are in the hand of Almighty God
to do as He sees fit. And that's a good thing. I don't find anything to balk
against. Now that might not go just exactly
like I want it to, but I'm comforted in knowing that all things will
occur as He sees fit. And He's far more merciful and
kind than I would ever be. Just think if you had the, if
things, the Lord said, here, I'm gonna put things in your
hands for a day, what would you do? I wouldn't want to be around
here, because I don't know you. I might have made you mad last
week or something. Don't tell me what you might
do. But you see, the Lord in mercy and kindness, he rules
over the earth. And he'll show mercy. Now, it'll
be those to whom He will show mercy, but He will show mercy.
See, that's a glorious thing, to realize that the God who rules
in the heavens and the earth is a God of great mercy. And
those to whom He has said that He will show mercy are those
that call upon His name. Those that tremble at the mention
of His name. Those that desire to give glory to Him. He will
show mercy. In fact, he's already shown mercy
to them when they began to call upon his name. They didn't know
it. See, you didn't know that the God of mercy had already
shown mercy to you when you began to cry out for mercy. You thought
you didn't have any mercy. You thought mercy had passed
you by. And yet God, who's rich in mercy, he's the one that stirred
you up to call upon him. Remember, when you were under
the fig tree, he saw you. Just like Nathaniel, he said,
I saw you. I knew you were there. Oh, that
the Lord might give us grace to trust him today.