That was worth coming over for.
I was thinking of that song yesterday and asked Mike to sing it. I think it fits the message. Title of the message, John lost
his head but not his life. He lost his head but he didn't
lose his life. As we shall see, the gospel will
cost us our life. Maybe not in this manner. Today
it's more subtle. It's so much more subtle. It's
easier to look an enemy in the eye, eye to eye, than it is with
this subtlety that goes on. Compromise. It's a lot easier
just to look him right in the eye and know who the enemy is. But our life is always going
to be, there will always be times, When this earthly life will conflict
with our new and real life in the Lord Jesus Christ, it will
always happen. We will be faced with following
Christ on the narrow road or compromise. From time to time, we'll always
be faced with it. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
11. Look in verse 15. Well, let's go to verse 13. These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire
a better country. They don't want to go back. They
don't want to go back. When faced with it, they want
to follow on to know the Lord, to be with Him. Now they desire
a better country. And heavenly, wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for
them a city." Now look over in Matthew chapter 10. Look in verse 39. He that findeth his life shall
lose it. He that finds this earthly life,
this is what he gives himself to, he lays himself out to this
earthly life, he's going to lose it. That's what our Lord says.
Now, that doesn't mean you go quit your job or it doesn't mean
you have to go take a bad paying job. It just means that If that's
your aim and your goal, you're going to lose it. When you die,
it's not going to go with you. You're not going to take it with
you. It'll be over with. We have a little while to live
on this earth. As Job says in Job chapter 9,
my life is swifter than a post, swifter than a ship, and he says,
swifter than an eagle flying to its prey. He said that's how
fast it's gone. And if you lay yourself out to
this life, you'll lose it. It's not saying
you young people don't get an education, get a good education,
get a good job, but I'm telling you, if you lay yourself out
for this life, eventually it's over. It's over. And he that loses his life for
my sake, shall find it. Where do you think John is right
now? We think here it is. Herodias. Don't you think she hates the
thought of seeing that face every day, that she had him beheaded. John's with the Lord. He lost
his head, but he didn't lose his life. We must expect conflict. The absence of conflict over
the gospel reveals a real problem. There's a real problem if I don't
have any conflict over it. If I'm okay, they're okay, we're
all okay. Somebody's not okay. Somebody's
messed up. If we don't go looking for conflict, the faithfulness to the gospel,
to the preaching of Christ and Him crucified will bring it.
It's going to bring it. Now, who was John? was the forerunner of the Lord
Jesus Christ. John was the messenger. A messenger. Look over in Matthew chapter
11. Matthew 11. Look in verse 7. And as they departed Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the
wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind.
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment. Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet. Yea, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written, Behold,
I send my messenger. before thy face which shall prepare
thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, among
them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he," because there's only one really
great one in the kingdom of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
greatest. The rest of us are on equal footing
in Him. But He's the messenger. He's
the forerunner. John's coming was the fulfilling
of Scripture. There he is, Malachi. Malachi
3.1 speaks of him being the messenger coming. There he is. He's the
fulfilling of Scripture. He's coming to represent or to
preach the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's God's messenger. He's
not just a messenger. He's God's messenger. He's called
of God, sent of God, ordained of God. To point out to Israel,
behold the Lamb of God. He's God's messenger. And He's
the last of the Old Testament prophets. Israel has not had another prophet
since, and they won't. And there are no more prophets.
There are pastors and teachers, but there are no more prophets.
He's the last of them. Christ is that prophet. He's that prophet that should
come. And there's none other beside Him now. He's that prophet. And John was a faithful witness
unto the end of the Lord Jesus Christ. He cried out, Behold,
the Lamb of God was taken away the sin of the world. And the
next day, over in the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and 2, there where
it speaks of John. The next day, he sees Jesus coming,
and he said again, Behold the Lamb of God. His message never
changed. Not at all. He was a faithful
witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why is he in prison? He's
a prophet. He's the Lord's messenger. He's
sent of God. He told the truth. Why is this
man in prison? I'll tell you why he's in prison.
He's in prison for telling the truth. He's in prison because
of his message. It was offensive. And he stood
before Herod the king. He did not compromise. Think
about this. I mean, this man did not take
the edge off the sword. He's standing before the king.
Who's the greatest now? Who's the greatest here? John
the Baptist? or King Herod, John the Baptist. And he's standing there, and
he does not cow down to that king. He tells him the truth
about his sin. He tells him the truth about
what he's done, and it's wrong. He said, you're wrong, you're
dead wrong. You're wrong. John spoke the truth, and he
spoke the truth at all times, no matter who he stood before.
Look over in Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3. Look in verse 5. Then went out to
him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about
Jordan. were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to his
baptism, was he impressed? Would I be impressed? How would
I handle that? How would I handle that? How would I handle the
most prominent men in this town coming to this service? How would
I handle the president coming to this service? How would I
handle that? John, how are you going to handle
that? He said unto them, O generation of vipers. Boy, that's not nice. That's not politically correct,
is it? He called them vipers. You snakes,
you poisonous snakes is what you are. Who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit,
meat for repentance. You need to repent. He's looking
at those Pharisees, those Sadducees, and he's saying to them, you
need to repent just like these others need to repent. Don't
think you're above repentance. You need to repent. You need
to be on the same level these others are who are being baptized there,
confessing their sins. One place we'd be not centered,
we're Abraham's seed. No, he said, you're vipers. That's
what you are. You're vipers. Truth exposes hypocrisy. If you want to expose hypocrisy,
it's going to be with truth. Truth exposes a false refuge. Truth exposes lies. If you want
to expose a lie, you tell the truth. If you want to see how
crooked a stick is, just lay a straight one down beside of
it. That's all you have to do. You have a crooked stick, it's
got a bow, if you have one that's got a bow in it, you just put
a straight edge on it. You know, out shop, sometimes
we have metal come in, and you can't, you're looking at it,
you can't really tell if it's got that much of a bow in it
at all, if it's 20 feet long. But then you take a straight
edge, that's straight, and you let it right across the top of
that beam. And if it's got a bow, it shows. You can see daylight
underneath it. You want to expose a lie, you
slay the truth on it. And it'll show you how crooked
it is. Truth exposes hypocrisy, it exposes
falsehood, it exposes lies. Truth pierces the heart of a
man and lays it in the dust. It'll run the rats out of the
hole. Truth convicts of sin. That doesn't
always lead to salvation. Not always. David, thou art the
man. That led David to true repentance,
didn't it? It broke David's heart when Nathan
said, thou art the man. You know, it pierced his heart.
It just crushed him. But when John said to Herod,
What you are doing, taking your brother's wife, is not right
before God. I know you're the king, and you
make the laws of your kingdom. But you've got to abide by God's
law. No one is exempt from God's law. And what you're doing is
dead wrong. Did it break his heart? Made
him mad. made him mad. Look over in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, look in verse 36. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." He's not dead. He's Lord and He's Christ. He's
the anointed Savior. Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart. They were cut to the heart and
said to Peter, And to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren,
what shall we do? We are in trouble, in trouble
with God. When they heard that God made
that same Jesus whom they crucified, both Lord and Christ, they were
cut to the heart. And they said, what are we going
to do? We're in trouble. Here's what
true repentance is. I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. And Peter said to them, Repent,
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,
the one you crucified, for the remission of sins, and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, turn over to Acts
chapter 5, verse 29. And the other apostles answered
and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and
a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. We are his witnesses of these
things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to
them that obey him. When they heard that, They heard
the same message, didn't they? They heard the same, but Christ
crucified them. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart
and took counsel to slay them. You see the effect truth has? On one, it brings to repentance. On another, it makes them mad.
Makes them mad. Herod, when he heard of Jesus,
if you go back to Mark, chapter 6, verse 14, and King Herod heard
of Him, he heard of the Lord Jesus, where His name was spread
abroad, and he said, I know who that is. His conscience bothered
him. His conscience started bothering
him. Because he knew, you see, John told him the truth about
his sins and about his life. Made him mad and he put him in
prison and cut his head off as we read. And he said, I know
who that is, John the Baptist. His conscience bothered him.
Conscience ever bother you? Conscience bothered him, troubled
him, screaming out at him. You see, he heard John, it says
in verse 20, Herod feared John. He knew he was a just man. He
knew he put a just man to death. He knew that. He knew what he
did was wrong. He said, that's John the Baptist,
risen from the dead, and that's why mighty works do show forth
themselves in him. Herod's conscience troubled him.
It troubled him. He knew what he did was wrong.
God has given every one of us, every human being, everyone that
comes into this world is given a conscience. We know right from wrong, don't
we? You can go to the darkest part
of this world, they know it's wrong to kill, steal. They know that. How do they know
that? Because the law is written on
the heart. God's given us a conscience, and we know it. Look over in
Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2, verse 14. For when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves. They have the law written in
their hearts. which show the work of the law written in their
hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts,
the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another. But their
conscience bears witness. And when John told the truth
to Herod, his conscience bothered him. It really started bothering
him. Of course, what did he do about
it? He put John in prison. He said, I'm the king, you don't
tell me that. But it troubled him. Because when he heard of
Christ, he said, that's John the Baptist. I shouldn't have
done that. That's John the Baptist. That's
why mighty works do show forth themselves in him. But God's
given us all a conscience. We know right and wrong. But by sin, our conscience can
be so seared You young people listen to this. You old people
listen to this. It's not young and old, it's
just all of us listen to this. By sin, our conscience can be
so seared that we're past feeling. Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter
4. This is how deceptive sin is. How damning it is, how destructive
it is. Over in 1 Timothy chapter 4, look in verse 1. Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith. They're going to leave the gospel. You look around here and you think nobody here would
leave the gospel. I hope not. I pray not. But some have, haven't they?
Over the years, some have. Giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils. God loves everybody. You don't
think of that as a doctrine of a devil, do you? When we think
of doctrines of devils, we think of some cult, Jim Jones. Doctrines of devils. is anything
other than the gospel. Christ loves everybody. Christ
died to save everybody. That is a doctrine of devils,
isn't it? It is. And he says, some is going
to give heed to that of seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. Calloused over. You've seen something that's
been just calloused over. Crusted over. Hardened. Can't even penetrate it no more.
Given over to a reprobate mind. Can't even, void of judgment. And it's so subtle. It's so subtle
how it happens. It's never just this explosion
or, you know, it's just so subtle. And it happens over time. Look what sin led to. In verse 21, back in Mark 6. It troubled him. His conscience
bothered him. But it didn't bother him enough
to do the right thing, did it? In verse 21, And when a convenient day was
come, Herod on his birthday, he made a supper to his lords,
high captains, and chief estates of Galilee. And when the daughter
of the said Herodias came in, and she danced in front of him,
and it pleased Herod, and then there sat with him a bunch of
wretched people. The king said unto the damsel,
Ask me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. You
think God doesn't know what's going on? He's ordained all this. It's
time, listen, I'm going to get to this. It's time for John to
go home. His ministry's been fulfilled.
He pointed out to Israel, the Messiah, the king has come. Behold
the Lamb of God. His ministry now has been fulfilled.
His purpose has been fulfilled. And it's time to take him home,
and this is the way he's going to go. And he's swearing to her,
whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I'll give it thee and to
the half of my kingdom. And she went and asked her mother.
Of course, that old devious woman, she's still mad at John the Baptist
for pointing that thing out. Man, that just bothered them.
That just troubled them. And he just had to bring that
up. He just had to tell that. Couldn't
leave it alone. You know, he could have just,
he could have just, he could have said a lot of things and
not got himself in trouble. Of course, he did say a lot of
things. Herod heard him gladly, he said. I mean, Herod heard
him gladly. And John said a lot of things
to Herod. John preached the gospel to Herod. It's hard to tell how
many times John spoke to Herod and what Herod heard. The gospel is the savor of life,
and the life to some, and the savor of death, and the death
to some. And that's what it proved to be to Herod. She came in and
asked her mother what she should ask for. And she said, you ask
for John the Baptist's head on a charger. That'd just make my
day. And she did. She did. And the king was sorry for it,
but his reputation was on the line, his pride. You know, it
would have been better to me. I mean, my way of thinking, I'd
say, are you crazy? I'll cut your head off. How about let's
do that? But he couldn't do it. He had so much pride in him.
There was so much pride in him. And before those men, he just,
he bowed down to it. He bowed down to doing the wrong
thing because to save face. That's what he did. He loved himself and sin more
than he loved John, God's messenger. The message John brought from
the messenger, Herod loved himself and sin more. Let's get back
to John here. John's end, and this is my closing,
his end. False religion would have us
believe that so-called getting saved Is this happy, healthy,
wealthy life God has a plan for your life? It wasn't that way
for John, was it? Now, most everybody here do have
a very stable, you have a pretty stable life and you know, the
Lord's blessed us and he's given us material things, but we're
going to be brought into situations where we're going to be in conflict.
And here's John. sitting in prison over the message,
over the message he preached. Doesn't look like a healthy,
wealthy life, does it? Not at all. In this world, he said,
you shall have tribulations. You're going to have trouble.
A faithful witness of Christ will have trouble. You'll have
conflict. Our Lord said the world will
hate you. It will hate you. I'd say outside of this congregation, Henry was probably the most disliked
man in this community. I'd say outside of those who
sat under his ministry and believed the gospel, I'd say he was the
most disliked man in this community for the message he preached.
Are you going to hear that in Mayhem? You don't want to go
there. How many times has that been
said? You don't want to go there. But John's life ended up in glory. And John is happy now. Remember
once he sent his disciples to the Lord and they said, Are you
the one that should come or should we look for another? That was
a low day, wasn't it? That was a low day. Sitting in that dungeon
in shackles. And he's just sitting there Here's
what I see. John's a man just like me. You
ever have those low days? You ever have a low day when
you're just going to quit, stop, can't go no further? You ever
have those? If not, you will. Sooner or later, if you live
long enough. And John had one. He sent his disciples out to
the Lord and said, ask him if he's the one. Ask him. Or should we look for another? But I tell you what, this day
wasn't low. I bet when they came to execute him, take his head
off, he was looking forward. He was looking forward to going
to be with his father. Was John's death untimely? Would you call it an untimely
death? Would you call it an unfortunate death? Was it unfortunate? John was right for the picky.
He served his time, and then it was time to go home when the
Lord took him. He took him. I want to show you something,
and I close. In verse 27, And immediately
the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be
brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison. and brought
his head in a charger and gave it to the damsel. And the damsel
gave it to her mother. And she thought she got the victory,
didn't she? And when his disciples heard
of it, now I want you to notice the wording of this real close.
They came and took up his corpse. John was gone. John was gone. They took up the body, his corpse,
that's what they call it, a corpse, and they laid it in a tomb. John
has vacated the building. John was out of prison. John
was seated. He's up there with the Father.
He's up there with a whole host of heaven. When they came, they
came and took up his house. That's what they took up, his
corpse. And that's what they buried.
We don't bury believers, we bury bodies. We bury clay houses. That's what we bury. Because that person is gone.
And that person is with the Lord. That one verse just blessed me.
That one verse of this whole thing. As I was reading this.
They took up his corpse. John is gone. He's gone. He's not going to have another
down day. He's not going to have another day worth a day of doubt. Do you ever have
days of doubt? Are you the one? Are you the
one or should we look for another? Oh, he's the one. And don't look
for another. He's the one.