Mark 6:14-29 "Silencing the Word of God"

An elderly couple go to church one Sunday. Halfway through the service, the wife leans over and whispers in her husbands ear, "I've just let out a silent fart. What do you think I should do?" The husband replies, "Put a new battery in your hearing aid."

Its a horrible thing not to hear but what worse is not being able to hear God speak to us through auditory system that he implants inside each of us, our conscience. In our text today a man refuses to heed God’s word thus silences God’s word from working in his life.

??Throughout the Gospel of Mark we see Jesus displaying His power over demons, diseases, death, and nature, these validated his message and were prompted by His compassion towards people. In Contrast, Herod Antipas the Roman appointed ruler of Galilee and Perea is moved to use his governing power out of lust and pride. This lead ultimately to a seared conscience and silenced the word of God in his life. He was left to perish in his sin??

I. Herod’s Conscience was guilty (14-20)

Mark 6:16 “But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!””

Ex: At the ploy of his wife, Herod has John imprisoned and beheaded. He believed John to be a righteous and holy man, after hearing of Jesus’ work and wonders Herod becomes paranoid has conscience condemns him for his wicked acts.

ILL: When we think of Conscience we think of Jiminy Cricket assigned by the blue fairy to Pinocchio leading him to do right.

Conscience - syneidēsis (31X NT) = the psychological faculty that distinguishes between right and wrong, i.e., moral sensitivity.

I believe that when God created us he implanted within us a conscience that defends or accuses us of morality.

Romans 2:15 “in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”

Herod’s Conscience Accuses Him

John’s Message (Repentance)

Mark 6:18 “For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Lev. 18:16 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.”

Lev. 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.”

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Troubled Conscience

A man consulted a doctor, “I’ve been misbehaving, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me,” he complained.

“And you want something that will strengthen your willpower?” asked the doctor.

“Well, no,” said the fellow. “I was thinking of something that would weaken my conscience.”

Herod’s conscience accused him of his sin and he had many opportunities to repent but his did not!

II. Herod’s Compromise was Costly (21-29)

EX: Herod was not a man of great moral integrity, he was half jew, His mother was Jewish his father was Indumeian (Edomite) but out of political needs he associated with Judaism. Unlike John He was a man of the world who lacked integrity and made compromises. He was outwitted by his wife, seduced by his step daughter, and worried more about what others thought of him than doing what was just. A person who lacks moral integrity and who easily compromises often finds himself trapped by his sin.

A. He was trapped by cunning (Herodias)

B. He was trapped by lust (Salome)(Herodias prostituted her 14 year old daughter)

C. He was trapped by pride (his officials)

He was sorry but not willing to lose face!

Half of my kingdom was Hyperbole, he was merely Tetrarch (1/4 part) it was not his to give. It was meant to show his greatness as he impressed those who attended his party. He had taken a rash oath and felt trapped but he could have said “I promised you a gift, not a crime.”

He should have repented as John urged him to do, instead he sinned against God and his better judgment and in doing so It cost him his conscience and silenced the word of God in his life leaving him to perish in his sin.

1 Tim. 4:2 “by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,”

Con: His conscience was guilty and he refused to repent, God’s patience had been exhausted on Herod and when the day finally came that he met Jesus face to face (Luke 23:9) Jesus “answered him nothing.”

Our conscience accuses us of sin, and God demands repentance of Sin in order to be His child. Don’t live with a guilty conscience repent while you still can, repent before the Word of God is silenced in your life!