We now come to our time in our worship service when we can submit our lives to the scrutinizing Word of God. So will you take your bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter six, where we will examine verses 14 through 29. Under the heading, the beheading of John the Baptist, let me read the passage to you. Mark chapter six, beginning with verse 14, "And King Herod heard of it, for his name and become well known; and people were saying, John the Baptist has risen from the dead and that is why these miracle miraculous powers are at work in Him. But others were saying, 'He is Elijah.' And others were saying, 'He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.' When Herod heard of it, he kept saying, 'John, who am I beheaded, has risen!' For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.' Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords, and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee; and when the daughter of her Herodias, herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. And the king said to the girl, 'Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.' And he swore to her, 'whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you up to half of my kingdom.' And she went out and said to her mother, 'what shall I ask for?' And she said, ''The head of John the Baptist. Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, 'I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.' And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oath, because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. Immediately, the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb."

Here we have another example of unrestrained depravity. Here we have another example of militant unbelief. What goes through the mind of a person that could reject the gospel in such an alarming way, and perform these hideous barbaric acts. We are all aware of the escalating wickedness in our in our country and around the world. From the gross immorality of the LGBTQ perversions to the transgender insanity, from the brutal dismemberment of unborn children, to the demonstrably false ideologies of critical race theory, every pillar of society is cracking. Even many non believers see this. So much of what's happening today has now moved into the realm of the bizarre, the insane. Our President and his administration are godless people. They are immoral, they are corrupt. Much of what we see in the Democratic Party and even in many of the Republicans and independents is nothing more than sociopaths and psychopaths, ruling our nation And I don't say that to be mean. I'm saying that because that is the reality and we must face it. These people desperately need Christ. God has allowed these rulers to be put in place as part of his judgment upon America. But as God has promised, the world is moving inexorably towards a day of divine judgment. And right now the world is being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist.

We live in a fascinating period of time, where we see these things beginning to coalesce together, we see the prophetic signs, beginning to point towards a global ruler, a global economy, a global world system. But we also know that Christ is going to someday remedy all of that right. Paul spoke of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a diluting influence, so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." The rule of the Antichrist will one day be crushed by Christ Himself. When according to Second Thessalonians, one beginning of verse seven, "the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus."

And what we see in our text here this morning, is a vivid picture of the type of person that simply refuses to obey the Lord's command to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But according to Scripture, from Herod to Hitler, from her Herodias to Hillary, God's judgment is coming upon the wicked with unimaginable majesty, and uncontested legal and regal authority. The Messiah, the warrior king, the king of kings and Lord of lords is going to return in power and great glory to exercise his judicial power to destroy the remaining Christ haters on Earth who have survived the pre kingdom judgments of the Tribulation. And that will be a time when man's long rebellion against God will be crushed and the Lord Jesus will establish his millennial kingdom, leading to the eternal and universal judgment of both the living and the dead. My friends, Jesus is coming again, we must remember that, we must rejoice in that. In his first coming, the world saw His love and His mercy and His grace. But in his second coming, they will see his justice, and his wrath, and his vengeance. And my heart breaks to know that some of my family members will experience that, some of my friends, perhaps even some of you. But one day the world will behold our holy God, the one that they mock. Holiness being the all encompassing attribute of God, portraying his utter transcendence His infinite perfections, it's the defining characteristic of his person, that holiness is the summation of all of who he is. Today the world mocks it but one day when they see him, they will not be able to escape his holiness; indeed the wages of sin is death, but there's eternal life to those who trust in Christ and eternal death to those who don't. So here we have a vivid example of rejection. Here we witness what goes on in the mind of the criminally depraved, insane person. Here we witness examples of pure evil.

Here we have a chance to get a glimpse into the mind of the ungodly, the type of people that will do everything they possibly can to silence their accusing conscience, to somehow suppress the truth of their own sin, and the glory and holiness of God. People that violently oppose the Word of God when it's proclaimed by His prophets. John 16, you will recall that Jesus promised that his father would send the helper one day referring to the Holy Spirit. Why would he do that? And well, according to John 16:8, the Helper will come to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment, the very things that the world simply does not want to hear. You must understand, because Satan is the god of this world that blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, people simply cannot rightly judge the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the Messiah. Unless God does something in his regenerating grace, their discernment is always false. It is always self serving, and they will come up with every excuse possible, to deny the truth of the gospel, and their need to respond to it in saving faith. And while the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe it is also the power of God unto damnation to all those who do not. And for this reason, the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:18, that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." That is a wrath that first results in divine abandonment in a person's lifetime. When God according to verse 28, of Romans 1 gives them over to a "depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper." But also it is the wrath of divine abandonment for eternity. For the Lord Jesus said in John 3:18, "He who does not believe has been judged already." And then in verse 36, he went on to say," He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Now with this background, we look at this text. And here we witness at least three common reactions to the convicting power of the Word of God and the depraved heart reactions that maybe some of you are having even right now. To list them is real simple, we will see first of all ,guilt, then secondly, fear, and finally the reaction of anger. Now, remember, Mark is presenting a contrast. Here in this text from chapter five, you will recall Chapter Five is all about the gift of faith, you will remember Jarius the the prominent synagogue official and his 12 year old daughter that died. And he had faith and Jesus raised her from the dead. And also you have the the illustration of the unnamed woman who was a social outcast because of her persistent menstrual disorder that she had for 12 years. So you see the power of faith and what God does has in response to that, but here in chapter six, is the contrast of the power of unbelief, the shocking reality of it all. Now, we need some context here. Let's understand who this Herod Antipas really was. He was a regional monarch that ruled as a vassal of Rome over the territory that included the realm of Galilee and Perea and to better understand him, I want to tell you a little bit about his father, and then we'll talk more about him. His father, you will recall was Herod the Great that ruled Israel under Rome for 36 years. He was an enemy and he was he was not a Jew. He was a descendant from the rejected twin Esau, and although he was responsible for rebuilding the Jewish Temple, which he basically did to maintain order amongst the Jews, he hated The Jewish people and the Jewish people hated him. Jewish people, of course descended from Jacob not from Esau. He was a grossly immoral man, a brutal man, a paranoid megalomaniac. He was the one that ordered the execution of all of the male babies of Bethlehem to eliminate Jesus who he presumed may be a potential rival King. We know from history that he had 2000 bodyguards, and he killed hundreds of innocent people that he considered to be a threat to his throne, including three of his own sons, two of his brothers in law, one of his mothers in law, and his favorite wife. He had 10 wives by the way, his favorite wife wife was Mariamne had her killed as well. And on his deathbed, because he knew that none of the Jewish people would mourn his death, but rather celebrate his demise, he commanded that all of the Jewish nobles from all over Israel come and meet in Jericho, and when they arrived, he put them in Jericho's Hippodrome, a gigantic racetrack area, and ordered all of them to be killed upon his death. However, Herod's sister, Salome, the First, prevented the massacre by countermanding or that is, reversing the order right after his death. Now, how would you like to have a guy like that for your father? That was the father of Herod Antipas.

And certainly the apple did not fall far from the tree because Herod Antipas was equally barbaric and immoral and paranoid. Now, when Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, his father died in 4 BC his territory was divided, into three areas ruled by three of his surviving sons. The southern territories of Judea and Samaria, went to Archelaus, who was so incompetent that Rome finally deposed him and replaced him with various governors, one of whom, by the way, was Pontius Pilate. The region's of Iturea and Trachonitis, in the far north, went to Philip the Tetrarch, who was eventually succeeded by his nephew, Herod Agrippa. Read about that in Acts 12. But here's where the plot thickens aright? Herod Antipas, the third son, the subject of our text, was married to a gal named Phasaellis who was the daughter of King Erastus, who ruled down in the Nabateen, Arabia area, which is southeast of the Dead Sea, in modern day Jordan, capital city of Petra. We will be doing another tour to Israel this fall, and we're going to take a trip over to Petra this time. However, Herod Antipas decided that he was attracted to his half brother, Philip's wife, his sister in law, her name was Herodias. So he had an affair with her, but what's even more complicated is she also happened to be his niece. She was the daughter of Aristobulus, the half brother of Herod Antipas. Now, I know it's beginning to sound like the Jerry Springer show, and that's what you have here, okay? And Herod, we know pressured Herodias, to divorce her husband, Philip, and marry him. So he was guilty of adultery as well as incest. And of course, the rich and the powerful can get away with these things, they can pretty well do whatever they want. We see that all the time and the corrupt perverts or murderers that we have ruling our country. And by the way, Herod's father in law was so upset that he rejected his daughter, his father in law being King Aritus. He was so offended by all of this that he raised up an army against Herod and actually defeated him, although Herod Antipas was able to escape because the Roman forces came to his rescue. Now Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias, had a palace inTiberias there, on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, a city that he built in honor of the Roman ruler under whom he he served a ruler by the name of Tiberius Caesar. And there he lived in absolute luxury isolated from the rest of the Jewish people.

And they hated him, a lot. Along with all of the Romans, on whose behalf, he ruled, and like most all politicians, especially despotic rulers like Herod, he was completely out of touch with the needs of his people, he really didn't care. He just wanted to be left alone, and enjoy his opulent and immoral lifestyle. And then God decides to send John the Baptist. And my, you talk about throwing the cat in amongst the pigeons. That's what happened when John the Baptist came on the scene. John the Baptist, was the last of the Old Testament prophets, the forerunner of the Messiah, he was calling men and women to repentance, and he proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God who takes the what? Takes away the sins of the world, you will recall in John 1:29. And evidently he used the wickedness of Herod and Herodias as examples of the type of people that need to repent. And obviously, this did not go well, when they heard of it. And also at the same time, John confronted the rest of the religious leaders of Israel for their hypocrisy.

Let me give you an example of that. And this, by the way, would have been an example of the types of things Herod and Herodias would have heard from the lips of John the Baptist. Matthew 3:7, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our Father', for I say to you that from these stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor and he will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'" So, the news of John the Baptist preaching eventually reaches the ears of Herod along with his wife Herodias, they are furious, they're accusing conscience has been inflamed, they've been trying to silence it. They're trying to avoid more public embarrassment. But dear friends, when the Word of God is preached, it will unmask everyone who hears it, whether you like it or not. And so, being absolutely apoplectic over the prophets public renunciation of their character and their conduct, Herod sends soldiers to have John arrested. I might add that this took place shortly after Jesus' baptism and his immediate temptation into the wilderness. I would also add that he was probably thrown into a dungeon, we believe, at Herod's palace and fortress that's a top a stronghold, a vantage point and Machaerus in the Northeastern edge of the Dead Sea. You can see ruins of that today, if you go into Jordan. You can even see the opening to the dungeon and where that would have been. And due to John the Baptist's popularity and his wife's desire to have him killed, he probably had him incarcerated. Pretty good distance from Tiberius in Galilee. Now imagine what it would be like to be lowered into a damp, dark dungeon. It would be a hideous and slow death. But as we're going to see, God would rescue John from that slow death through death, and take him into glory.

With that, we come to verse 17, "For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison, on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." I love this. He's a fearless prophet. He speaking the absolute truth of the Word of God. He fears God more than man. And he's just saying what is true in Leviticus 18:16, "You shall not not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife. It is your brother's nakedness." Likewise, Leviticus 20:21,"If there is a man who takes his brother's wife, it is abhorrent. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They will be childless." Back to Mark 6:19, Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so. She was a first century Jezebel, Absolutely wicked to the core. Verse 20, "for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and a holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him." This indicates that Herod was intrigued by John the Baptist's preaching, as offensive as it was to him, personally, obviously, he was a powerful communicator and powered by the Spirit of God. In fact, Jesus said of him in Matthew 11, verse 11, "Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist."

And so Herod would have John taken up out of the dungeon, brought before him and listened to him again. And then would send him back. And I'm sure there were times where he would say, "Listen, if you'll just tone it down, knock off all this stuff, we'll let this go, you can go back into the wilderness and eat your locusts and honey, just no more talk about God's judgment on us. I don't want to hear it." No, he wouldn't do it. And so he would go back into the dungeon.

Now notice the Lord's rescue of John the Baptist is quite an interesting tale. It begins in verse 21. "A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee." Now, we know from history that Roman birthday parties were like a bunch of drunken soldiers or frat boys getting together on spring break, going to a strip joint, getting involved in gluttony and drunkenness, and are watching the erotic dancing and all of the immoral debauchery that goes on in those places. Verse 22, "and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in, and danced," let me pause there for a moment. According to Josephus, this was Salome, the third, she would have been about anywhere from the age of 14 to 16 years old, so a young girl, and she was also the daughter of Herod Phillip the first, which was also known as Herod the second, and he was the son of Herod the Great, and she was the daughter of Herodias, Princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, and step daughter of Herod Antipas. The text goes on to say "she pleased Herod and his dinner guests." The term "pleased" is a euphemism for sexually arousing someone. "And the king said to the girl, 'Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.'" So she did some kind of lewd, sexually titillating dance that appeal to the lusts of those ungodly men. And he says, "just ask me whatever you want, I'll give it to you." Verse 23, "And he swore to her whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you up to half my kingdom." Well, of course, this is pure bluster. This is just a drunken man showing off in front of, of all of his sycophants, by the way, he had no kingdom to give, right? I mean, he was just a vassal of Rome. So this is just unrestricted bravado and braggadocio. Verse 24, "And she went out and said to her mother, 'what shall I ask for?' She said, 'The head of John the Baptist.' Immediately she came in a hurry to the king." I would imagine she came in hurry because she didn't want him to sober up and say, you know, timeout, we need to talk for a second. So she comes back in very quickly, and says, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

Now, this was fairly common in those days, and frankly, it's not at all uncommon in these days in the Near East. This would demonstrate the total annihilation of an enemy and also prove that execution had been fulfilled. And what's interesting, the fifth century church, Father Jerome suggested that Herodias took the head of John the Baptist and mutilated it in a fit of rage. She may well have done this because this was not without precedents. She may have followed the lead of Marc Anthony's wife Fulvia when she was presented the head of Cicero in 43 BC. According to the ancient Roman historian Cassius deo, we read, quote, "Fulvia took the head into her hands before it was removed, and after abusing it spitefully and spitting upon it, set it on her knees open to the mouth, and pulled out the tongue, which she pierced with the pins that she used for her hair, at the same time, uttering many brutal jests." We don't know for sure if this happened, but perhaps did. There's a famous 17th century painting by Peter Franz de Greber, depicting this macabre scene of Herodias pulling out John's tongue and stabbing it with a hairpin. So we don't know again if this happened, but it was certainly consistent with the barbarism of Roman nobility. Verse 26, "And although the king was very sorry, yet, because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her." You see Ancient Near East oaths were absolutely inviolable. They could not be broken. And Herod was between a rock and a hard place. Now, pride comes before a fall, and his wife had outsmarted him. So verse 27, "Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went in and had him beheaded in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother." And then we read this, this footnote here, "When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body, and laid it in a tomb." What a sad thing and yet, what a time of rejoicing knowing that now, their beloved brother in Christ was in glory. Now, with this historical background, I want us to examine just for a few minutes, the three common reactions to the convicting power of the Word of God that we find in depraved hearts, the first one is that of guilt. Again, notice verse 14. "And King Herod heard of it." What is it? Well, he hears of Jesus, he hears of all these miracles, that he claims to be the Messiah of Israel. Plus, he hears of how he has sent out his disciples, and He has empowered them to heal the sick, raise the dead and so forth. They're all preaching the same messages as John the Baptist. A message of repentance, turn from your sin, turn unto God, place your faith in Christ and so forth. So again, the text says, "And King Herod heard of it, for his name, referring to Jesus had become well known."

Now again Satan causes people to be blind to the truth. And because of man's depraved heart, we all hate what the Holy Spirit brings to bear upon our soul. When we hear the Gospel, his role is to convict us of sin, and righteousness and judgment of our sin and what it deserves; of the righteousness that we do not have and we cannot attain on our own, and the judgment that is inevitable, lest we place our faith in Christ. Sinners hate that. So they suppress that truth. I like to think of it as trying to keep a lid on a box that's trying to explode. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to experience these things. I don't want to deal with my conscience. By the way, in Romans 1:18, it speaks of this suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. You know, you cannot suppress the truth, if it is not already within you. Then every man, woman and child that rejects the gospel knows that down deep there is a God and they are responsible to him. And when they hear the truth of the gospel, they know it is true, no matter what they might do, to try to justify their unbelief. God makes it clear that he has placed a witness of himself in every one of us, for indeed, every man bears the very image of his Creator. In Romans 1:19 We read it's "Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." Now please understand, a man's sin and his condemnation before God is universal. It's made of all men. We see this for example, in Romans 3:9, the apostle Paul says, "What then are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks," catch this, "are all under sin.' Bear in mind, he's not saying that they've all sinned. He's not even saying that they are all sinners, though that is true. He's saying they are all under sin. "Under" in the original language "hupo" was a Greek term used to describe something more than just than just being beneath or lower than something. Rather, it's speaking of being subservient to something, to be under the rule, or under the power or under the jurisdiction of someone or some thing. And what he's saying is that all man, all men are sinners, all are under the jurisdiction of the master of sin. We are slaves to it. We live in sin's dominion, we cannot escape it apart from the power of God. Thus the whole world is under the sentence of divine condemnation. Man is guilty before a holy God. But he resents it. He fights it, he suppresses it and comes up with all kinds of excuses to say that that's just silly. Yet in his heart, his conscience continues to accuse him. Why do you think drug and alcohol addiction is so high? In our world, people are trying to suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They're trying to silence their accusing conscience. The conscience that causes them to experience guilt, and shame. With fear of God's judgment this is what sin produces. You will recall that after Adam and Eve sinned, they were ashamed. And they made themselves garments to somehow cover their shame and eliminate their guilt. "And when they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden," the text says that" they hid themselves." Why? Well Adam answered and said I "was afraid because I was naked. So I hid myself". And that's what sinners have been doing down through redemptive history.

You see, dear friends, the fruit of sin is shame and guilt. This is what Herod and Herodias was feeling. You will recall David after his sin, with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband, we read in Psalm 32:3, "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer."" Then he says this, I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity, I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin." Oh, dear friends, there is the glory of the gospel. There is the power of the gospel.

Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with a number of homosexuals. And I've seen a number of them come to saving faith in Christ. And inevitably, when I talk with them, you hear that they are anything but gay, they are filled with guilt, they are filled with shame. That's why they are more apt to commit suicide than other people. That's why all of the data points to the fact that their behavior is associated with the shortening of their life by as much as two decades. And yet so many tried to silence their accusing conscience by demanding everyone to accept their immoral lifestyle. Not even get accepted, you have to absolutely celebrate it. And whenever you see these gay pride parades, you must understand that this is nothing more than a sinners, feeble attempt to somehow eradicate the terror of sin that is haunting their soul, oh how they need the gospel. Proverbs 13:15 says the way of transgressors is hard. Oh it is. Ask those that are addicted to drugs and pornography. Ask the habitual fornicator, an adulterer, an abusive husband or wife. Just ask the liar and the thief in prison. Ask the deadbeat dad, whose family has been destroyed because of his wickedness, a man trying to drown his sorrows in a bottle of booze. You ask the woman with multiple abortions. I was thinking of a woman that I worked with who came to faith in Christ. One of those great stories, always does not happen. But this was a very immoral, middle aged woman. I remember she had had four abortions, several failed marriages. She had some kids, they were all disasters. The beautiful flower of her youth was fading very quickly. When she was brokenhearted, her beauty had wilted. And that was the only way she found life, through her sexuality. And now that's gone. And she came and she and her broken heartedness was crying out for help. And by God's grace, I was able to point her to Christ and I remember reminding her of Psalm 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Isn't that a wonderful truth? Haven't we all been there? Maybe our situation looked different than hers. But we were all there. We were all guilty. Isaiah 42:3, "A bruised reed, he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish."

Oh what hope, what power there is in the gospel. But Jesus took our guilt, took our shame upon himself. There is forgiveness, there is cleansing in the gospel of Christ. Whenever I think of this, my mind goes to I Corinthians 6:9, "Do you not know," Paul says, "that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." And then he has that magnificent statement. "Such were some of you." Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. In other words, by the blood of Christ, your sins were washed away. There was forgiveness, there was cleansing. Moreover, you're not just washed, your sanctified. Meaning you're set apart from sin unto God. Positionally, you are now justified, you are declared righteous, not because you are, but because Christ is. And you are forever hidden in him, clothed in his righteousness. Such were some of you. And I remember as a little boy, singing "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Well, this is what Herod is hearing. This is what Herodias was hearing. And their conscience was inflamed by John's preaching, but they are at war with the guilt that they are trying to suppress, the shame they're trying to suppress. They simply would not forsake the fleeting pleasures of sin.

William Grinnell great 17th century English Puritan wrote this, "The pleasures of sin must needs be short, because life cannot be long. And they both end together indeed many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man dies. Sinners live to bury their joy in this world. The worm breeds in their conscience before it breeds in their flesh by death. But be sure the pleasure of sin never survives this world. The word has gone out of God's mouth, every sinner shall lie down in sorrow and wake in sorrow."

So we'll go back to verse 14 of this text King Herod heard of Jesus, "His name had become well known people were saying, 'John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.' But others are saying 'He is Elijah'". Now this is an interesting, why would they say he is Elijah? Because the Jews understood at the end of the Old Testament and Malachi 4:5, there is a prophecy," Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." So they're thinking, Well, this must be, this must be Elijah. But Jesus tells us that John is Elijah, Matthew 11:14, "John himself is Elijah, who was to come." So they were confused with all of that, others, the text goes on to say, we're saying, "he is a prophet like one of the prophets of old". And then verse 16. "But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, 'John, whom I beheaded has risen!'" It's John, the one that I beheaded, he has risen. Talk about a guilty conscience screaming at you. Well guilt also produces fear. Second, in our little point, Mark 16:16. "But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying", you see, he's haunted by what he has done. He knew that John was a righteous man, a terrifying thought. And what's interesting, you will find that the fear that is produced by guilt has a tendency to make people vulnerable to superstition, to irrational thinking, to feelings of confusion, to a sense of I just don't have resources to cope, what am I going to do? How can I fix this thing? That's when people typically turn to the anesthetizers of life. They fill stadiums every week, to somehow escape the reality of life. They put things in their blood in order to escape the guilt and the fear that sin produces a guilty conscience. And knowing that you've made many enemies will cause people to live in a perpetual state of anxiety and paranoia. That's what was going on. Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." Right? Again, verse 20, under this heading of fear, "Herod was afraid of John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was he was very perplexed." The terms means he was at a loss. It's like he didn't know what to say. He was overwhelmed with what he heard. But he used to enjoy listening to him. So it was kind of a form of entertainment for him. But he remained confused and undecided. Matthew gives further light on this in Matthew 14:5, "Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd because they regarded John as a prophet." And of course, Herodias was feeling guilt and fear as well that was ruling her heart. Verse 19, "Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so." You see, people without Christ are haunted by their sin, and the reality that a Day of Judgment is coming, that they stand condemned before a holy God, but they do not want to think about it.

And of course, this is the power of the Word of God that is preached. That's why so few people want to come to a place like this and hear the truth. They're spending their whole life trying to avoid what I am saying today. We are told in Hebrews 4 verse 12, what the Word of God can do. "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Then he says this, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him, with whom we have to do." You see there is no hiding from the truth, there is no escaping the truth.

So the convicting power of the Word of God produced in these people, guilt and fear And then that depraved heart moves to the final reaction and that is one of anger. Again, verse 19, "Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so." Luke helps us understand more of this. Luke 9 beginning in verse 7, "Now Herod the Tetrarch, heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead and by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. Herod said, 'I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man,' referring to Jesus, "about whom I hear such things?'" And then it says, "And he kept trying to see him?" Now why did he want to see him? Because he wanted to kill him. Luke 13:31 tells us that, "Just at that time, some Pharisees approached, saying to Jesus, 'Go away, leave here for Herod wants to kill you.'" Well, eventually, Herod got his audience with Jesus face to face. You remember the story, Jesus had gone to Pilate, Pilate couldn't find any guilt in him. So he sent him to Herod. Luke 23, we read about this beginning in verse eight. "Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had been hearing about him as was hoping to see some sign performed by Him." Again, so many of these people wanted to see him do something, do a miracle, entertain me. "And he questioned him at some length, but Jesus answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing Him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate."

Oh dear friend, the contempt of the wicked and the tragedy of unbelief, of rejecting the saving truths of the gospel. The unbelieving, depraved heart is filled with guilt, that just exacerbates fears, which inflames anger and resentment. And unless they repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will take that resentment into hell where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and they will blaspheme the one true and living God for eternity. May I challenge you? If any of this describes you, once you come to Christ today, he will provide forgiveness and cleansing. He will change everything about you. And for those of us who know and love Christ, may we be like John the Baptist, right? May we never be ashamed of the gospel. May we never capitulate to the culture. Maybe we never try to redefine the gospel, to try to make it more palatable to people that might reject it. Because as soon as you do that, you eviscerate the power of the gospel that the Spirit uses to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgment. Don't do that. Preach the gospel, live the gospel, and watch what God will do in your life, and in the lives of those that he will save by His grace. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word. Thank you for this amazing story. One through which we gain much insight into the heart of the depraved, who reject the gospel. And I pray that if there be one within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of what it means to be in fellowship with you through faith in Christ, that you will bring overwhelming conviction to them. Open their eyes, open their ears, that they might see and that they might believe that they might come to faith in the living Christ. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, and for his sake. Amen.