It is impossible, I believe,
for one man to more fully display his utter contempt for another
than by simply treating him as if he did not exist, as if he
were nothing, as if he were completely meaningless. I can't think of
a more contemptible way to treat a human being. And I have a question
for you. It's a question I've been asking
my own heart for weeks as I've looked at Luke chapter 23. Listen carefully. Do you treat the Lord of Glory
with contempt? Now I'm not talking to your neighbor,
and I'm not talking to the folks who are here. I'm talking to
you. Do you treat the Lord of Glory
with contempt as if he did not exist? As if he were utterly meaningless
and insignificant? As we open our Bibles again to
Luke 23, I want us to look back at verses 8 through 11. And I
pray that God the Holy Spirit will speak through His Word by
the lips of this man to your heart about setting Christ at
naught. Luke 23 verse 8. When Herod saw Jesus, he was
exceedingly glad. He was so happy that the Lord
Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, now stood before him. For he
was desirous to see him of a long season. He had wanted to see
him for a long time. Why? Because He had heard many
things of or many things about him. Rumor mill was then like
it is now. It reached even to the governor's
and the prince's palace. He heard many things of him.
And having heard so many things, how he raised the dead, healed
the sick, multiplied the loaves and fishes, turned water into
wine, Caused blind men to see, lame men to walk, and deaf men
to hear. Caused the dumb to speak. He had heard many, many things
of him. He hoped to have seen some miracle
done by him. Verse 9. Then he questioned with
him in many words. Ask him a bunch of questions.
You can imagine. This mighty, powerful, wealthy
man heard so much Folks were so impressed with this man Jesus
of Nazareth, and he's full of questions. He's full of questions. He asked him many questions with
many words. But the Lord Jesus answered him
nothing. That'll get you in trouble. And the chief priest and scribe
stood and vehemently accused him. and Herod with his men of
war set him at naught. Set him aside as something beneath the dust
on which they stood. As a contemptible useless, insignificant,
meaningless, nothing. The Lord of Glory stood before
Herod and his men of war. He who is worshipped of angels,
the brightness of his father's glory and the express image of
his person. He who is the creator and sustainer
of all things, the savior of the world, the king of kings
and the lord of lords, the incarnate son of God, inherit with his
men of war, set him at naught. Imagine that. What a sight of
horror and shame. These insignificant little creatures
made nothing of Him who is all in all. They trampled beneath
their feet the Holy One of God, flouting Him as something beneath
their contempt. Horrible and contemptible as
that is, it is something that is repeated over and over and
over again every day. And I suspect, I fear, will be
repeated here tonight. Let me begin by calling you to
my Savior. Ralph Barnard used to say we
ought to always preach for a verdict. I want so much for God to stick his finger in
your heart every time I preach to you. and if you have a refuge
of lies for him to strip it away and give you faith in Christ.
May God the Spirit come to you now and come upon me as we look
at his word. Come to him who was set it not
by Herod and his men of war. Salvation is not to be had except
by coming to Christ. You must be brought to Him, and
being brought you must come. Our Savior said, come unto me. He is able to save to the uttermost
all them that come to God by Him. Peter describes salvation
this way, to whom coming. Salvation begins by coming to
Christ. It is continued coming to Christ. And it's consummated in coming
to Christ. Come to Him. Not to a decision,
not to a position, not to a religion, not to a church, not to a preacher,
not to a priest. Come to Him. Come to Christ. Our Savior says
plainly, come unto me. Another word for come is believe. You don't come to Christ by moving
your feet. Now, I realize this takes some
folks, shocking, makes them, they're just shocked by it. If
you try to come to Christ by relocating your body, you can't
come to Christ. Did you hear me? If you try to
come to Christ by coming to an altar, you can't come to Christ. If you try coming to Christ by
coming to the front of the church, by coming to the baptismal pool,
by coming to a priest, by coming to a confessional booth, it's
all the same thing. So when I say, I'll say, no,
that's how you got religion. You weren't saved that way, I
promise you. A preacher, how do you come to Christ? Right
where you sit, without moving a muscle. by faith. You come to Christ in here. In
here. That's it. And you can't come
to Him as long as you try to come to Him some other way. Look
to the Son of God alone for life. That's what it is to come to
Him. The Apostle Paul spoke to the Philippian jailer. He said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Rely
on Christ alone for righteousness and redemption. Trust the crucified
Christ, the risen Lord. Commit yourself to Him. That
is, commit the care of your immortal soul to Him. Look to Him alone
for peace, and pardon, and righteousness, and forgiveness, and life, and
acceptance with God, only to Him. And thou shalt be saved. What a word! Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Many women, when they begin to
have some sense of judgment to come, some sense of terror before
the law, some sense of guilt, some sense of immortality and
eternity, are willing to do anything to escape the wrath of God. Anything. Go down to the Mayan ruins in
Mexico, and you can see those huge temples built by people,
been there for thousands of years. You see, inscriptions, drawings,
all along walls. And they would take their own
flesh and blood, climb those high pyramids, and offer their
own flesh and blood as a sacrifice to what they thought was God,
to appease His wrath. Well, how can a man do that?
You will do anything to satisfy God's wrath that you think will
satisfy. I promise you, you will. So religion
capitalizes and they say, come do penance, come give some money,
come to the church, come be baptized, come say this prayer, come do
this, come do that. And men are willing to do anything.
to soothe their conscience and silence their accusations of
conscience. And nothing will do it except believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe Him and thou shalt be
saved. Saved from the wrath of God. Saved from the guilt of sin. Saved from all the consequences
of sin for time and eternity. Saved with an everlasting salvation. Oh, what a word. Saved. Folks say, I got saved. I don't
like to hear the term. I know what folks mean by it.
I did something and as a result I got what I was looking for.
I've been saved. by God's almighty grace I've
been turned to Him and given faith in Him and either this is the truth
or Bobby Estes I'm a liar and I'm lying to you I have peace
with God I have peace with God believing
on the Son of God Now if you can get that in a confessional
booth, you're welcome to it. If you can get that talking to
a preacher at an altar somewhere, you're welcome to it. If you
can get that with some kind of a decision you made for Jesus,
you're welcome to it. But I know you can't. And I'm
telling you right now, if you are leaning on something other
than Jesus Christ alone, for acceptance with God and eternal
salvation. Something other than believing
on the Son of God. You don't have peace with God. I'm dead sure certain you don't. Let's look at this text here
tonight. In Luke 23. Here is a man who set at naught the Son of
God. Who was this man? Who is it that
sets at naught the Lord Jesus? This embarrassment to humanity. This man's name is Herod. We
see him throughout the gospel narratives. He was desirous to
see the Lord Jesus. He had long wanted to hear something
from him. He had long wanted to see him
perform one of his miracles. He was anxious to ask him a number
of questions. So when the Lord Jesus came before
him, he was exceeding glad. Herod was a man, distinctly two
things stand out about him in his attitude toward the Lord
Jesus. He had once heard the word of
God with gladness. Turn to Mark chapter 6. Let me
show you something. He not only heard John the Baptist preaching
before him. He heard John the Baptist with
a measure of attention. He was interested in what this
man had to say. And he apparently had some benefit, some effect
on his life as a result of hearing the Baptist preach. Now when
we read about the narrative about John the Baptist speaking to
Herod, all we hear is what John the Baptist said concerning his
incestuous adulterous relationship with his brother's wife. But
John the Baptist obviously had preached to Herod just as he
had others demanding repentance, calling on men to behold the
Lamb of God. And Herod heard him with some
measure of delight. Look in verse 20 of Mark chapter
6. Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man, and holy,
and observed him. Have you ever caught a marginal
reference in your Bible? That word observed, you see how it's
translated? He saved him. He kept him. He protected him. What? This man who had the Baptist
beheaded? Kept him? Protected him? Oh yeah. He heard John and observed
him. He kept him. Protected him. And when he heard him, he did
many things and heard him gladly. At one time, Herod protected
John the Baptist from those who would otherwise have abused him,
treated him with violence, or killed him. The fact is, it often
happens that those who once heard and even defended the gospel
of God's grace, having turned from it, become the most violent
opposers of it. Look at Herod again. After hearing
the word faithfully preached, this man who heard John the Baptist
gladly, and because he feared John knowing him to be a holy
and a just man, knowing him to be a prophet of God, Herod deliberately
violated his own conscience. What a word. He heard John the
Baptist gladly until John the Baptist stood in a public place
before this mighty man and publicly exposed his sin and his rebellion
to himself. Now this is what I keep trying
to do. I keep trying to open up your heart. I keep trying
to pry it open. I keep trying my best to break
it open through the preaching of the gospel in this public
place so that your sin is exposed to you. And when it's exposed
to you, I promise you, you're going to feel like it's exposed
to everybody. And if that ever happens, one
of two things will happen. Either you'll be broken in repentance
by it, or you will become more vehemently rebellious than ever
before. John stuck his finger right in
Herod's heart, publicly. And he said, it's not lawful
for you to have your brother Philip's wife. You're a rebel
against God Almighty. You're a rebel against God Almighty. That's your problem. And when
he publicly denounced this man's vileness, telling him his incestuous
adultery with his brother's wife was rebellion against God, Herodias
would have killed him on the spot. I mean she wanted that
man dead. But Herod was afraid to do that.
He knew John was a holy man and just. But to please his in-house
prostitute. How can you say that? I'm being
unkind to the prostitutes. That's what you call a woman
who lives with a man, sleeps in his bed, and he's not married
to her. You young ladies, listen to me.
I don't care how this society looks at it. Fornication is nothing
but the prostitution of yourself at a cheap rate. That's all it
is. Herod said, you've got your in-house
prostitute, and God's going to send you to hell as a rebel.
You're going to do it. And she wanted him dead, but
Herod feared putting John to death. Instead, put him into
prison. and he in doing so violated his
conscience. The scripture speaks of men searing
their consciences. What a dangerous thing it is
to violate your conscience. What do you mean violate your
conscience? To know what is right and walk against it. To know
that your behavior, if you choose this path, is in direct rebellion
to that which your conscience declares is right, is to violate
your conscience. And once the die is cast and
your mind is determined, you begin to sear your conscience,
as with a hot iron. And when you violate your conscience,
you start on a downward spiral from which you will never recover.
unless you are recovered by omnipotent grace. There are multitudes like
Herod. There are many who are very happy
to hear a man preach about Christ. They want to hear all about his
doctrine, and his miracles, and his mysteries, and his wonders,
and his kingdom, and his sovereignty, and his attributes. They want
to hear about the various things relating to the incarnation,
and to the substitutionary death of Christ, and to his righteous
obedience, and to his resurrection, and even to his session at the
Father's right hand. They're very interested in hearing
me and talk about Christ, but have no interest at all in bowing
to Christ. They're very interested in religion,
but not in the Savior. They're very interested in spiritual
things, but not spiritual life. Multitudes go to Sunday, go to
church Sunday after Sunday, hoping to see someone perform some miracle. We live in this day of charismatic
Chaos. Charismatic madness. This business
speaking in tongues and performing miracles. I don't care how many
times Larry King has Joel Osteen on and they talk and he's so
happy and smiling and just so fake. So utterly fake. And I don't care how much is
promoted. This era of pretended miracles and speaking in tongues
and apostolic signs is nothing on this earth but satanic delusion
and satanic deception. The folks go to church, they
want to see a miracle. God's got a miracle for you today. Well, who wouldn't want that? Expect a miracle! Who wouldn't
want that? But they have no interest at
all. in the miracle of God's saving grace, because they don't
need that. They don't need that. Many will
gladly join in what folks call revival, because they love something
sensational. When I was a boy, once in a while
I'd go to church, family. Usually it was whenever I got
in enough trouble, mother wanted to scare me, make me know I was
going to hell if I didn't straighten up, so we'd go to church. And
especially when they had revival meetings. And you, even as a
boy, I observed something. I observed that the same folks
went to revival meetings all over town. And they'd go to every
one of them. And they'd all get revived. And
then they'd all backslide and wait for another revival. Because
they wanted something sensational. Men love sensational things,
but have no desire to worship the Son of God. have no thought
of cutting off the right hand of rebellion and pointing out
the right eye of ambition. Multitudes are anxious to hear
preachers talk about novel doctrines, prophetic notions, religious
theories, intellectual questions about religion, who absolutely
despise the preaching of the gospel. It is as natural for
such people to set at naught the Son of God, as it is for
a dog to bark. Well, why? Upon what ground did
Herod and his men of war set at naught the Lord of Glory?
Men must have some reason even for their most unreasonable actions.
Well, as a boy, some of you can relate to this, I suspect. You
do something and you get caught red-handed And your mama standing
over you, you know you're fixing to get the tar beat out of you. Why did you do that? I don't
know. Or cause. How come? Because you knew that
if you told why you did it, the punishment was going to be even
worse. It wasn't because you didn't know why you did it, it's
because you knew. If you acknowledged why you did
it, the reason was even worse than the crime. Why did Herod
set the Son of God at naught? Why did he make nothing of Him?
Looking upon the God-man as a man of no account, treating Him as
some silly, contemptible thing, an utter fool, an absolute idiot. There are some things that seem
apparent to me. It seems to me that certainly Herod and his
men of war must have looked upon our Lord's gentleness and patience
as an indication of cowardice in a man who was supposed to
be a great leader. Our Savior was not of their temper. He carried no sword. He had no
weapons, he made no effort whatever to protect or in any way defend
himself. His visage was marred with grief,
but not with anger. It was worn with sorrow, but
not with battle. He stood before these men not
as the lion who conquers, but as the Lamb of God Almighty. He stands before them not as
the great mighty eagle, but as a helpless dove. Our Lord Jesus,
the Son of God, when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered,
He threatened not, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth
righteously. What an example for us. How do
you defend yourself? Don't. How do you protect yourself? Don't. Don't. How do you believers
manage to fight off men who oppose you? Don't. Don't. When you do, you make a mistake. When you do, you lower yourself
to their ground. The gospel of the grace of God
teaches believers to be meek and gentle. To forgive injuries,
even to give up their own rights, rather than inflict a wrong.
Such precepts. Such an attitude. the whole world
looks at as weakness and cowardice. But here our Lord stands here
in the strength of gentle forbearance. That's the Spirit of Christ.
Again, our Lord was ridiculed by Herod and his men because
he refused to gratify their curiosity. He refused to amuse their love
of sensation. Herod virtually says to him, almost hear this in what we've
read in Luke 23. He looks upon the Lord Jesus
and says, Come, I've been looking forward to meeting you. I hear
that you can raise the dead. I hear that you have the ability
to multiply loaves and fishes and feed thousands with just
a few. I hear that you are a man who can simply touch a man's
ear and cause a deaf man to hear. Touch his eyes and cause a blind
man to see. Touch his mouth and cause a man
who's never spoken a word to speak. I hear you can cast out
devils. Perform a miracle for me. I've
been waiting for this. Make us a banquet right here,
right now. Moses, after all, performed a
miracle for Pharaoh, didn't he? You perform one for me. And the
Lord Jesus Christ stood before him with all power in his hands
and refused to lift a finger either to defend and deliver
himself or to amuse this little insignificant piece of flesh.
And because he is the same today, his servants also refused to
dazzle and amuse people. And men prefer any charlatan
who will dazzle and amuse them. And then Herod began to question
the Savior. He began to ask him questions. I can imagine some of the questions
he asked him. Was John the Baptist really Elijah? I can imagine some of the questions
he asked him. Are you really the Messiah that the Jews have
been looking for all these years tell me tell me about your lineage
how can you be the Messiah and these things be so how can you
be that one of whom all the prophets spoke and here stand before me
as a common criminal he began to ask him question after question
many questions were told and our Lord Jesus who gladly answered the questions
of blind beggars in need of mercy, and gladly answered the questions
of vile lepers who needed grace, and gladly answered the questions
of poor harlots who needed forgiveness, stand before this self-righteous
pygmy and refuses to speak a word. Why? Because he refused to gratify
this man's irreverent, fleshly curiosity even about religious
things. Oh, God teach me that. Teach
you that. Well, I want to let folks know
I'm a Christian. Well, live like you ought to.
Quit arguing and fussing with people over things about which
they have no interest except to gratify their curiosity. Just leave them alone. How often
people look upon gospel preaching with contempt because a gospel
preacher refuses to gratify men's curiosity. People come here And
they don't see anything marvelous going on. I know what people say to you,
if they say anything at all. You know, he doesn't say anything
about current events. Your pastor doesn't. He just
talks about blood atonement and grace, substitution and forgiveness. And really, I know all about
those things. And folks do. They think they
know all about those things about which they know nothing. And
so they hold the preaching of the gospel in utter contempt. They prefer that the preacher,
rather than plainly preaching the gospel, give it some adornment. Make it, make it appealing. Do you know a basic part of teaching
fellows how to preach? That's what Bible colleges and
seminaries do, you know. They teach fellas how to preach. I didn't say they gifted them
for it. They teach them how to preach. Let me put that another
way. They teach them how to stand
in front of people and manipulate them. That's not preaching. Manipulate them in the name of
God. Manipulate them with the Word of God. Manipulate them
by working on their consciences and minds. And one of the ways
you do that is you teach the fellow, now you've got to make
the message appealing. It's got to appeal to what men
want. It's got to appeal to what men
desire. It's got to appeal to their intellect.
And it's got to appeal to their emotions. And it's got to appeal
to their desires. And so whatever it takes make
it appealing, not God servants. And therefore, men who desire
something mysterious or speculative or new or debatable would rather
go and watch some old doddering fool stand up with a stick with
a crucifix on it Looks like he's in a Masonic Order uniform, and
wave incense, and they call it a gorgeous ceremony, and we worship
God. Or, come Christmas Eve, go down
to First Baptist Church and watch full grown-up men and women hold
their little lights and make a living Christmas tree. Oh,
it's so impressive. Isn't that impressive? It sure is. It sure is. Or, folks
who wouldn't dare be interested in any of those things, rather
go somewhere where they can hear someone mutter some kind of unknown
gibberish, not speaking in tongue, some unknown gibberish, in the
cloud and mist of ignorance and darkness and superstition, and
despise the preaching of the gospel. Such simplicity as simply
proclaiming Jesus Christ crucified in the glory of His saving work
and in the glory of His matchless person, they consider suitable
for you poor and ignorant and unlearned people who are somewhat
beneath them. But this is not good enough for
us. It's very likely that our Lord's claims as the king stirred
Herod's scorn. You say you're a king. Now, buddy,
I understand what a king is. Where is your kingdom? Which
people obey your commands? Where are your laws for your
kingdom? Where are the men who execute
your commands? He's a king. Here, put a gorgeous
robe on him. Let's make him look like a monarch
anyhow. And they began to mock him. You see, men easily understand all things
carnal. One of the things that makes
this prophecy foolishness so popular among men Jesus is going
to be king in Israel. They're going to come back. He's
going to establish his kingdom there. And he's going to have
rule over in David's house, in David's throne, and set up the
worship of God again in Jerusalem. Well, these are God's people.
This is his kingdom. And folks can understand that.
They can understand that. They can understand physical
things, carnal things. But our Lord is not a carnal
king. And while he rules in absolute authority over all things, what
he demands of his servants is heart and life. Come back to Luke 14, let me
show you. Luke chapter 14. Our Savior's claim as a king is a claim that no other king
can ever demand and get. Luke 14 verse 25, There went
great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them,
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea, and his old
life also, he cannot be my disciple. Do you mean that faith in Christ
involves the surrender of my whole life to this game? My wife, my children, my house,
my property, my money, me? And I promise you, You will more
willingly surrender your wife and children and property and
money than you will you. You mean that's what faith in
Christ involves? Would you please tell me if you
can make anything else out of that statement? Can you make
anything else out of that? Come to me in hate not father,
mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, yea, in your own life
also, you cannot follow me." That's what the word disciple
means. You cannot follow me. For which of you, intending to
build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost,
whether he hath sufficient to finish it? Look at verse 33. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you, that forsaketh not All that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple. Cliches, especially religious
cliches, are usually taboo in my thinking. This one's pretty
good. Faith means forsaking all, I take him. Forsaking all, I take him. Herod and his men of war no doubt
said it, nor our Master's prophetic office did. He asked the Lord
Jesus many questions, but the Master refused to answer even
one. He stood in majesty, the majesty
of quiet omnipotence. Omnipotence restraining his lips
of omniscience to the end. And Herod looked upon his holiness
with absolute contempt. As our Lord Jesus proved himself
to be the prophet of God, of whom all the prophets spoke,
when he stood as a lamb before her shearers as dove, and opened
not his mouth. Our Lord Jesus tells us in his
word, of other ways men set him in aught. Let me show you two
or three things. Turn to Proverbs chapter one.
We looked at it this morning. Every time you hear the gospel,
are you listening to me? Listen to me now. Every time
you hear the gospel, And say, no, I will not believe on the
Son of God. Excuse it any way you want to.
This is what you do. That's worthless. Let's see. Proverbs chapter 1, verse 25. Ye have set at nought. all my counsel." That puts some belief in a little
different light, doesn't it? Our Lord Jesus said that men
said it not, the Word of God, by all their religion, by their
traditions, making the Word of God of none effect. The same word means the same
thing. Said it not. Make it nothing
through your traditions. The Holy Spirit tells us that
all who seek righteousness by the law, any righteousness by
the law, set it not the whole gospel, making the death of Christ,
the grace of God, and the promises of the gospel, all of none effect. Look in Galatians chapter 2,
verse 21. Paul says, I do not frustrate.
I do not set it nought, the grace of God. For if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Chapter 5 of
Galatians, in verse 2. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, that is, if you do anything to make
yourself accepted with God, Christ shall profit you nothing. Christ
shall be nothing to you. Turn to Romans chapter 4, verse
14. Romans 4, verse 14. So how serious is this business
of mixing law and grace? Verse 14, If they which are of
the law be heirs, if a man can get to God by something he does,
faith is set at naught, faith is made void. and the promise
of God made of none effect. Paul tells us plainly that every
attempt of men to adorn the gospel by preaching it in words of man's
wisdom is to make the faith of Christ of no effect. Let me show
you one more. Turn to Romans 14. Every failure to esteem our brother or sister
in Christ as Christ himself, every abuse, every neglect of one of God's
dear children is to set at naught the Son of God. Look at verse
9. To this end Christ both died
and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead
and the living. But why dost thou judge, condemn
thy brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. Verse 13. Let us not therefore
judge one another any more, but judge this rather. that no man
put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. Now, what do you say to that? My God forgive me. I mourn and lament the fact that
I once set him annaught in my willful rebellion and unbelief,
and I mourn and lament the fact that I so often set him annaught, failing to esteem my brother, or neglecting my brother, or having abusive thought toward
my brother or sister who is one with him. But brother Don, what do you
make of Christ? Christ is all. So far from being nothing, Christ
is all. There is none other name given
under heaven whereby we must be saved except this one who
was said it not by Herod and his men of war. The name of Jesus
Christ and he that believeth on him hath everlasting life. Amen.