Sermon Tone Analysis

I. How Herod Handled Popularity (1-12)

A. He Feared His Own Actions (1-2)

Matthew

Herod the Great had many sons.

When he died, he divided his territory into three, and, with the consent of the Romans, willed it to three of them.

To Archelaus he left Judaea and Samaria; to Philip he left the northern territory of Trachonitis and Ituraea; to Herod Antipas—the Herod of this story—he left Galilee and Peraea.

Trying to sooth his own conscience?

B. He Feared People’s Opinions (3-5)

On a visit to Rome, Herod Antipas seduced his brother’s wife and persuaded her to leave his brother and to marry him.

In order to do so, he had to put away his own wife

C.

He Trapped Himself by His Lust (6-9)

The dances which these girls danced were suggestive and immoral.

D. He Was Willing to Commit a Crime (10-12)

S. Lewis Johnson — “It is not evil to break and evil oath.

It is repentance to break an evil oath.”

John MacArthur - for fear of a woman, for fear of a reputation, for fear of his peers, and for fear of his throne, he [Herod] damned his soul forever.

John the Baptist lost his head but lives forever in the presence of God.

Christ wants to reveal Himself to you, but if you are proudly holding onto your reputation, for fear of what others may think, for fear of the attitude and actions of those who may reject you, for fear of the loss of face or reputation, for intimidation by evil people, you have forfeited Christ and damn your soul.

The day will come when you ask the questions and get no answers.

John MacArthur - for fear of a woman, for fear of a reputation, for fear of his peers, and for fear of his throne, he [Herod] damned his soul forever.

John the Baptist lost his head but lives forever in the presence of God.

Christ wants to reveal Himself to you, but if you are proudly holding onto your reputation, for fear of what others may think, for fear of the attitude and actions of those who may reject you, for fear of the loss of face or reputation, for intimidation by evil people, you have forfeited Christ and damn your soul.

The day will come when you ask the questions and get no answers.

II.

How Jesus Handled Popularity (13-21)

A. He Sought Seclusion (13)

On a visit to Rome, Herod Antipas seduced his brother’s wife and persuaded her to leave his brother and to marry him.

In order to do so, he had to put away his own wife

Matthew 14

He taught them to withdraw from needless danger.

There is no virtue in a martyr complex.

Sensibility says that you withdraw from needless danger.

The dances which these girls danced were suggestive and immoral.

it is important to seek rest and solitude for refreshment and the restoration of strength for the task.

The Lord needed that, and He knew they needed that, and He knows you need that, that place of solitude, quiet, solace, refreshment.

He demonstrated to them how important it is to spend time with those who labor with you.

He took the Twelve; they needed time together, and there was a mutual stimulation there, a mutual strength.

That was all part of discipling, to share His life with them, and they with each other.

B. He Was Lead by Compassion (14)

Herod the Great had many sons.

When he died, he divided his territory into three, and, with the consent of the Romans, willed it to three of them.

To Archelaus he left Judaea and Samaria; to Philip he left the northern territory of Trachonitis and Ituraea; to Herod Antipas—the Herod of this story—he left Galilee and Peraea.

He taught them the lesson about compassion for those in need, and showed them the heart of God, which was a heart broken over the needs of men.

Not just spiritual needs, but even physical needs reached the heart of God.

He then taught them that sacrificing rest and leisure to meet the needs of others demonstrates the caring heart of God.

It was a great lesson, because it is easy to get to the place where you feel your priority right is the right to leisure.

Our Lord demonstrates that the priority is to meet needs, and you sacrifice leisure for that.

C.

He Used it to Teach (15-17)

He taught them very clearly in this incident that while you're meeting physical needs, you're also teaching the truth of the Kingdom.

You can't just have a 'social gospel.'

It is not enough just to do that which men need physically, but while He was healing, He was teaching them the things of the Kingdom of God.

He would take them at face value in terms of their physical need, but not without trying to turn them to an understanding of their spiritual need.

When you reach out to meet someone's physical need, it is with a view to turning them to the spiritual dimension.

we should learn to trust the power of God to provide what seems impossible.

I mean, they were saying, "We don't have it, and we can't get it," and He says, "That's right where I want you.

Now you can learn that when you come to the point where you don't have it and you can't get it, trust Me to supply it."

It's the responsibility to feed you spiritually, to represent Christ week in and week out, to stand between Him and the world, as it were, and Him and the church, and to feed the church.

I know two things: I don't have it and I can't get it, and that is why I depend on Him to provide it.

People ask me all the time what the key to preaching is.

The key to preaching is studying the Word of God with diligence and waiting on the Lord to put the meal together.

You give Him all you've got.

"Lord, I've exegeted the passage, read all the theology on it, figured out a few good illustrations; now will You do something with all this?"

And you give Him your five little bread cakes and two fish and say, "Will you take this and feed the multitude?"

begin with your own, available resources.

Even though it is little, trust God to make it much.

As the song says, little becomes much when it is placed in the Master's hand.

It's amazing when you think you have nothing and you wind up feeding thousands.

God can use small things; He used the tear of a baby to move the heart of Pharaoh's daughter.

He used a shepherd's stick to work mighty miracles in Egypt.

He used a sling and a stone to conquer a nation.

He used the little girl to lead Naaman to Elisha.

He used a widow with a little meal to sustain a prophet.

He used a little child to teach His disciples the meaning of humility and salvation.

He used Balaam's donkey to preach His truth, and the jawbone of another donkey to slay 1,000 men.

He can use a small thing for a great end.

Jesus likes to have the weak; that way, when things happen, we know it's His power.

God wants to provide for people through you.

When He took the little that He had and broke it, He gave it to the disciples.

They stood between Him and the multitude.

We stand between Him and the multitude, and God wants to feed the multitude through us.

It is our availability, our heart of service.

We stand between Christ and a needy world.

This is a spiritual lesson for every generation; the hungry multitude is always present, and there is always a little band of disciples who haven't got it and can't get it.

But there is always the compassionate Savior who wants to multiply it through us if we're available.

This was a time to train the Twelve.

D. He Depended Upon His Father (18-19)

D. He Depended Upon His Father (18-19)

15,000 people / 50 people per group = 300 groups.

12 disciples distributed to 25 groups per disciple.

He taught the disciples to learn to obey even if they didn't understand why.

Can you imagine this group of guys organizing all these people into units of 50 and 100 to serve them food they know they don't have and can't buy?

But they did it, and I imagine that when it was all done, they said, "Boy, we want to be sure that when the Lord tells us to do things that we don't understand to go ahead and do them anyway, because something wonderful might happen."

there is a great lesson here about doing things in an orderly fashion.

God is a God of order; Paul tells that to the Corinthians when he encourages them to do things decently and in order.

God is a God of great order, and He doesn't want any stampede for food.

It is marvelous how the Lord Jesus sets everyone in garden bed by garden bed and has all the disciples moving among them.

He is the God of order, with a place for order.

E.