For Whose Sake?

Good Morning Church!

Bibles out Mark 6:14-29.

We are going to dive right in today!!!!

YALL READY!?!?!

READ V14-29

KING HEROD

Who is Herod?? (Herod Antipas)

Son of Herod the great who tried to have Jesus killed as a baby...(heard that a new King was born)

Was not a true Jew ( not of Israel)

He was an Edomite (from the line of Esau)

The Herod’s had tried to rule over Israel for many years on there own but couldn't do it…(because Jacob got the birth right)

So they married themselves to Rome…

Called king Herod but was no king….

A Tetrarch -A Roman ruler of a region

He belonged to Rome...

Here in this chapter we see a few things about Herod Antipas:

-His desires are sinful and self motivated

Married his half brothers wife (Phillip II) (adulterer)

He gets pleased by the provocative dance his step daughter does for him.

-He fears man over all things

He fears his wife (Herodias (READ V17))

He fears JTB- V20

He feared Johns words…words of truth scared him

however fears John the least obviously

He fears the Jews…

Matthew 14:1-5 “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, And said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife. For John said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her.And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.”

He fears the Romans and the powerful…(READ V21-22 AGAIN!)

The text this morning about Herod reeks of FEAR OF MAN…

This is a major issue…

Fear of man blinds you from the truth…

Herod has heard John speak…He has even done things that JTB has asked him to do…

But he hasn’t seen the truth…

All he can think about is what his wife will say…what will the Jews say…what will the Romans think…

He is blinded by it…

Fear of man leads you to destruction…

Fear has led Herod down a sinful path…

Fear of man leads Herod to killing an innocent, just, holy man (he even said so himself… V20)

HEROD SERVES THE FLESH…NOT THE HOLY AND JUST!!!

This makes himself an enemy of God…

So much in fact that later on…hours before Jesus’s crucifixion he stands before Herod…and doesn’t even acknowledge him…

Luke 23:6-9 “When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean. And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him.Then he questioned with Him in many words; but He answered him nothing.”

Jesus has nothing to do with Herod…

The Lord places those who fear man over Him and His word above all at the top of the list of those who will burn in the lake of fire…

Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

WHY does the Lord say this???

BECAUSE…

You worship what you fear…

Fear of man is worship of man…

When you place mans acceptance…mans desires above the Lords…MAN I becomes lord of your life…

The bible tells us to fear the Lord above all things!!!!

CHURCH…THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD…

PEOPLE FEAR MAN OVER FEARING THE LORD…

The Gospel is being proclaimed…and when some hear it…

They say…”I cant follow Jesus…I might lose friends…what will my buddies think if I start worshipping Jesus”

“If i placed my faith solely in Jesus…and NOT in an institution, or a church, or a man who that institution tells me is “holy”….My grandmother would roll over in her grave”

“If I start following Jesus, and doing what He says…I might offend people”

“If I take a stance on what is right and wrong in scripture…I might offend people”

“If I talk about Jesus at work or school…I might be outcast…no one will like me”

WHO ARE YOU WORSHIPPING??? WHO ARE YOU SERVING??? FOR WHOSE SAKE DO YOU FEAR????

Thats what is happening to Herod…Man is his god…

Fear of man is prohibiting Herod from seeing the true identity of Jesus…AS LORD!!!

-He doesn't know the true identity of the Lord (JTB resurrected?)

Last week…”Who is Jesus?” HE IS LORD

Herod doesn't know who Jesus is either

He does however know who JTB is! (READ V20)

Knows he is a holy man…

Knows he is a just man…

Knows John speaks with some authority given to him (as a prophet)

He knows John has been doing incredible works…

He knows John…BUT HE HASN’T HEARD JOHN…

He hasn't harkened to the words of John…

If he had…he would know Christ…because it was Jesus whom John is speaking about!!!

THAT IS WHY JOHN THE BAPTIST IS WHO HE IS!!!!

JOHN THE BAPTIST

Who was JTB?

-A proclaimer

Isaiah 40:3-5 “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

John came to proclaim Jesus to the Jews!!!!

The Messiah is coming!!!! HE IS CLOSE!!!!

Mark 1:4-7 “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out to him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There comes One mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.”

John is baptizing people in the Jordan river…telling them…GET CLEAN…PREPARE YOURSELVES!!!!…THE KING IS COMING…ONE MIGHTIER IS COMING…I HAVE COME TO PREPARE YOU FOPR HIS ARRIVAL!!!!

And in John 1 Jesus comes to the river…and when John sees Him he proclaims….”BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD…WHICH TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD!!!!

He proclaimed that Jesus is the Savior…

John also stood on truth…

He called sin…SIN…

He said...you Herod…are an adulterer…you need to repent…you are sinful…you need a savior…

John looked at the Pharisees…in all there pride and sinfulness…. and told them…”you are a brood of vipers”…a family of serpents….you are evil…you serve Satan…

HE SPOKE HARD TRUTH…HE STOOD ON TRUTH…

John stood on that truth…NO MATTER WHAT THE COST…

In the end…his proclamation of Jesus as Christ…his standing on truth…his rebuking of sin…it costed him his life…

And he was willing to give it…

CHURCH…

IN A WORLD FULL OF HERODS…BE A JOHN…

Let me tell you…in this Church Age we are in…And let me tell you more…we are at the end of this church age…

We are called to be a bunch of John the Baptists…

To go out…to proclaim Jesus as Lord….

To tell people who Jesus is (God in the flesh)…

To tell people what He did (died for their sins)

To speak and stand on the truth of God’s Word...the scriptures…

And to do those things NO MATTER WHAT IT COSTS US….EVEN OUR LIVES…

CHURCH…BE A JOHN…

We are called to be proclaimers…

By the only One we are to fear…The Lord…

You want to hear something cool…

WE HAVE BEEN DOING THIS…

You want proof?

Today we are going to see the fruit of the body of Christ…working for Christ…proclaiming Christ...NO MATTER THE COST…

The Gospel has been proclaimed by Gods children…

AND today you are going to see 3 people…who heard that Gospel…understood it…and placed their faith in it…

And now they today are before you…and are proclaiming Christ as savior of the lost…just as John did…

TODAY THESE 3 PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE BAPTIZED IN OBEDIENCE TO GODS WORD AND TO PROCLAIM JESUS CHRIST AS LORD OF THEIR LIVES!!!!

BAPTISM!!!!

(NO GOLF CLAPS HERE!!!…Bible tells us Heaven erupts in celebration when one sinner comes to Christ…WE TO MUST ERUPT IN CELEBRATION!!!)