Proclaim The King’s Excellencies

Oh Holy God, Heavenly Father, we come to you in reverence and trepidation at your greatness, your mightiness. You are a glorious God. And Lord, we thank you so much that you did not leave us in our sin, in our darkness, but you sent your son Jesus Christ, the light of the world, the truth, the way, the life. And Jesus, we thank you for providing a way for our salvation, for our forgiveness of sin, for our transfer from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved son. And Lord Jesus, we thank you for proclaiming the truth as boldly as you did, and that boldness took you to a cross.

And we thank you for the example of your choice servants who proclaim the truth, no matter the consequences, many of whom were martyred for the faith. And we thank you that their blood was the seed of the church. We thank you for all those that you sent while we were still in darkness to proclaim the gospel to us boldly. And we thank you, Lord, that you give us grace and that you empower us by the power of the Holy Spirit to go and proclaim the gospel to anyone who would hear.

And I pray, Lord, that you grow our fearlessness in proclamation of the word of God, the truth, the gospel no matter what the consequences, no matter the opposition. I pray that you make us so people who care more about what you think than even what earthly rulers think about us. And Lord, help us proclaim the truth and love and in kindness, but boldly. Lord, we thank you for the example of your disciples, the apostles, and we thank you for the example of John the Baptist who proclaimed the truth to a king, an earthly, wicked, degenerate king, and he was beheaded for it.

And Lord Jesus, as we look at that example, I pray, let us just marvel at the fact that a little embarrassment, a little discomfort when we proclaim the truth, how many of us are thwarted from continuing the mission because of that and how silly all of that is in comparison to those who've gone before us. And Lord, as the world turns even darker in opposition to you, more godless and persecution becomes an ever present reality. I pray that we unflinchingly continue to further your kingdom by proclaiming your truth.

Bless our time, the holy scriptures today. We pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen. On this Communion Sunday, the title of the sermon is Proclaim the King's Excellencies as we continue through our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark. When the Lord Jesus Christ saves a sinner, he doesn't just save us from something, he saves us for something. And that for something should preoccupy our hearts and minds and that for something must be the purpose and the direction of our lives.

Yes, Lord, you've saved me from hell. You've saved me from eternal punishment, from bondage to sin, from being a pawn of Satan. Now what would you have me do? And the Lord answers and says, "Become fishers of men. Continue to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ so people are freed from the nets of Satan and sin to the new exodus and following Christ." And how do we do this? We do it by proclaiming the excellencies of the king.

In 1 Peter 2:9 it says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you are not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Did you notice the purpose? He says, this is why God saved us, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Christ. This is the purpose of every elect, blood-bought, redeemed, justified child of God.

Our purpose is to be representatives of Christ and to represent Christ is to do the work that Christ did and continues to do, which is to proclaim the truth that Jesus is king and he rules the world with his law, the 10 commandments. To proclaim Christ is to tell people that they have sinned, that they have transgressed commandments. They are under God's wrath. However, whosoever repents of their sin and believes in Christ will be forgiven, will be given mercy, and will be given a mission to proclaim the excellencies of Christ.

And for Christ to procure mercy for us, what did that entail? Entailed a gruesome, gory, grim sacrifice. It demanded crucifixion. Jesus Christ was crucified for proclaiming the truth. Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised and should actually expect that when we lovingly, faithfully, kindly proclaim Christ, this will come at a cost. For some of us, it may even require death itself just like our Lord and just like John the Baptist and just like most of the apostles. Today, we are in Mark 6:7-29 as we continue our series, Kingdom Come.

Would you look at the text with me? And he, Christ, called the 12 and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." But others said, "He is Elijah." And others said, "He is a prophet like one of the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."

For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you." And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom." And she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."

And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guess, he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him 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 of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

This is the reading of God's holy, inherent, Infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. Proclaim that people should repent, proclaim the law and the gospel fearlessly, fearing God is the secret to fearlessness. First, proclaim that people should repent. In verse seven, he, Jesus, called the 12 and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Why two by two? This is probably reflecting the Jewish practice of sending official representatives in pairs.

And also in the Hebrew scriptures, there is a stipulation that two witnesses are required to establish legal testimony. So he commissions the 12 to extend the work that he was doing. He said, "I have come to teach the word of God and to proclaim the gospel for the kingdom of God is here for people to repent and believe." So here he sends out the 12 two by two. Practically why two by two, well, this provides for encouragement in particular in those moments where there is rejection.

When a whole town says, "We want nothing to do with the message of God. Get out," at those moments, we need encouragement, and also accountability to continue proclaiming the truth as it has been given and not trying to make it more palatable for people by softening it. And this here shows us that we need Christian community. We need brothers and sisters in our lives for our own souls, but then also for the effectiveness of the mission that Jesus called us to. We need Christian community.

We need the church. Hebrews 10:24 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love in good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near." So even back then in the early church, they already had the issue where people believed that all I need is Jesus. All I need is scripture. I don't need the church. I don't need spiritual authority or accountability. Even back then, people were neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some.

So friends, continue to make it a priority to come to church. I'm obviously speaking to people who are at church. Good job, keep doing what you're doing. But for those who are listening online, and I think during COVID when we were streaming our services, people just got into the pattern of like, that's okay. That's not okay. That's why we took our streaming off. And I'm even tempted at the point of take all the sermons offline. Offline is not real. It's not real. That's just enough to get you into church.

And not just church, but community. At Mosaic, we are a church that draws thousands over the course of a year. There's thousands that come and there's thousands that go. So how are we to experience community? How do we experience this two by two ministry? We do that through our community groups. So if you are not in a community group, these are small groups of brothers and sisters that meet all across the city, all across the region over the course of the week, we'd love to have you join.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe him who is alone when he falls and has not another lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." And here in our verse it says that he began to send them out.

Not only does this communicate that this is the start of their mission, but also it communicates that the mission continues, that Jesus continues to send us out as he had sent them out. And he says it began to send, this is the verb form of the word apostle, an apostle is someone who has been sent out with the authority of another. And Jesus, while still on earth, physically sends out the disciples to gain experience ministering the word of God.

He entrusts them with his authority, gives them an opportunity to use the authority to make the mistakes that they would make in using that authority so that they can come back to Jesus. He would rectify it and clarify and continue to train them up to serve him. This is just an example of the ministry that Jesus had already been doing. And Mark 6:6, that's the verse before our text. He was in Nazareth and Galilee. He marveled because of their unbelief. That's his hometown.

And he went out among the villages teaching. Despite rejection that he encountered in his hometown, he doesn't give up on his people. He continues to minister to them by sending the apostles out for another round of redemptive teaching. Now, we are not apostles, but we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We are followers of Jesus Christ, and most of us most likely aren't called to being international ministries or cross-cultural ministries, missionaries or full-time pastors and teachers. But we are called to bear witness to Jesus Christ wherever we are.

We might not be sent around the world, but we are still sent across the street. Our city is our mission field and, you and I, we're laborers that Christ sends out to gather in the harvest right here on our doorstep. I don't know if you've noticed, but traffic has been getting worse in the area. The congestion's terrible, the double parking. I've never seen so many people double parking. I think it's the Uber Eats and such, but I used to get irritated by traffic and irritated by people double parking.

I've chilled out partially because I changed my music. I started listening to monastic chants in my vehicle. It's very soothing. It helps with driving in peace. It's tremendous. And now whenever I'm in traffic, I get behind someone, I'm like, okay, you're double-parked. All right. I just pray for them, like Lord, save this person from their wicked ways of not following the law and such. But as I see people, there's people from all over the world all around us. The Lord is drawing people from all over.

They're here. This is why we exist. We are on mission to proclaim the gospel to all who would listen, to all who would hear. And we have the authority of Jesus Christ. Just as he gave to his early disciples, he has given to us as the church. He says, go and make disciples of all nations. And he says, when you do, when you make disciples of all nations, I am with you until the end of the age. We experience the fullness of Christ's presence in particular when on mission proclaiming the truth.

And his authority and the authority that he gave to the disciples is his own. He doesn't just pray to the Father. Father, I pray that you empower them. No. He gives them his own authority which reminds us of who Jesus really is. He is the Son of God. He is God. Authority resides in him and he exercises rule over the church as it goes and he does command us to go and proclaim. In Mark 6:8, he charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

The staffs were used for walking on rough terrain and for defense against wild animals and criminals, et cetera. And Jesus here says, okay, fine. Take a staff, but no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. And what he's saying is, I'm going to provide. You're on mission doing my work. It's my business that you are going about doing, and I will provide for you in the same way that I provided for the Israelites in the desert. If you remember, the Israelites were sustained by God. They didn't have food, but he sent food from heaven.

Rain manna. Their clothing by God's grace was supernaturally preserved from deterioration and Jesus instructs them to take just the basics of staff and sandals, which is an allusion to Exodus 12:11 when he was preparing them during the Passover meal before the Exodus. It says Exodus 12:11, in this manner you shall eat it with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. So the disciples' missionary journey is similar to the old exodus, but their journey is a new exodus. T.

Hey are people who are called by Jesus for freedom from sin and bondage and to go about and travel lightly so that they move quickly to call people out of bondage to sin and Satan. I do want to mention the Bible never sees renunciation of physical goods as a good in itself, but only as a necessity in some circumstances. This particular renunciation was not intended as a universal rule binding all disciples at all times. Though the simple faith that Jesus will provide when we are in the middle of his will doing his work, that is a universal rule.

Later in Gethsemane, after the disciples had thoroughly learned this lesson to rely on the Lord for his provision, to depend only on him, after they learned that lesson, Jesus said, now that he is leaving, we are to procure resources in Luke 23:35. And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said "Nothing." And he said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one."

First time he sends them out while he was still here. He says, "Don't take any money. Don't take a sword. Don't take food." The second time, he says, "When I leave, I want you prepared. I want you to have resources." After they learn to depend on the Lord, the Lord says, "We are to be prepared with resources if we can have them." Why? Because poverty is never the ideal in the Bible. Although if need be, it must be gladly embraced in God's service for Christ's sake. Verse 10.

He said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." And here the mission of the disciples according to Christ must be marked by a humble persistence. They were to be aware that not everyone's going to receive this message. Many will actually be opposed to it and reject it.

And whenever the disciples are accepted, they should remain in the place where they are and enjoy the resources that those who accepted the message would provide them with. But we are to be prepared as they were to be prepared that rejection is a reality of being a faithful proclaimer of the gospel. Mark 13:13, and you will, this is a promise, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

He says, "Shake the dust that is on your feet when you are rejected," is a sign that when you are rejected, you are to reject the place that has rejected the message. And the very difficulty of the act, dust is not so easily removed, especially from sandaled feet that have been walking on unpaved middle Eastern roads. Hence, that the depth of feeling that evokes it. Not even the tiniest reminder of the place should be left upon them. They must assiduously purge themselves of every trace of it.

And God himself will see to the latter on the day of judgment when the very dust will cry out as a witness against them. And verse 12. So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. They proclaimed that people should repent, not just sharing of the gospel. Sharing assumes that we're offering something that people want, share a recipe or share a meal or share a good laugh.

But we aren't called to just share the gospel, we're called to proclaim that people should repent and boldly declare it whether it's welcome or not. I remember when I just moved to the city and I didn't know how to start a church as a church planner... I did street evangelism. I was just walking around the streets and I did spiritual surveys and asked people if they'd have a couple minutes to answer some survey questions I had. After the 1,000th conversation and no one got saved, I'm like, Lord Jesus, does this text apply to me?

Can I dust off my boots from the dust of Boston, please? This was a message for them in this particular journey, but there were other examples where they lived in an area for years and they continue to administer. The emphasis here isn't on leaving a place. The emphasis here is on not taking a rejection personally. They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting the Lord, and that should grieve our hearts, but it can't immobilize us and we shouldn't be surprised by it. You can't take it personally because then that just keeps you from proclaiming the gospel.

They reject you, go to the next person and to the next person and to the next person. It's not we that converts people, it's God that does it. We are to sow the seed and to proclaim the truth and testify to it. What is the message? The message is that time is short. We're all mortal, and judgment is coming. Hell is real. And we are to flee the wrath that is to come. We are to hear the alarm sounding and get ourselves to safety. And the only source of safety, the only refuge, the only sanctuary is our savior Jesus Christ.

And the message is that everyone is to repent. There are no impendent people in the kingdom of heaven. All who enter the kingdom have mourned over sin, forsaken it and sought pardon for it. In this particular commissioning, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what will happen on Pentecost when they will receive a permanent commission to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. And Jesus here is preparing them for after they receive the Holy Spirit to do things greater than even he did, which is a startling statement.

But in John 14:12, he says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I'm going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." What does it mean that we're going to do greater things than Christ himself did? Well, he's not talking about individually. He's talking about as a church, as the body of Christ.

We've been given talents and opportunities, and together, he's saying, we're going to do greater things than Christ did in his incarnate state when he was on earth. The disciples went and proclaimed the gospel, cast out demons, and healed people by anointing them. And James 5:14 says, "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." Point two is proclaim the law and the gospel fearlessly.

Verse 14, King Herod heard of it for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." There's only two passages in the Gospel of Mark not about Jesus Christ, and those two are about John the Baptist in chapter one. And here John was the forerunner of Jesus' ministry and also the forerunner of Jesus' death. And in both cases, both men stood before wicked, cowardly, tyrants fully aware of the innocence of both John and Jesus.

And nevertheless, they feared the pressure of the people, and therefore they executed John and James. I do want to point out that it wasn't the disciples' names that were made known. As they did their work, as they proclaimed the gospel, as they healed people, it was the name of Jesus that had become known. The disciples preaching in wonder working are the means for Christ's name to become known. The miracles worked by the 12 disciples were really performed by Christ.

It was his authority, his power. They were wielding his power. And the work's done by the disciples didn't cause the people in Galilee or even King Herod to wonder who are these disciples. They're wondering who is this Jesus that they are proclaiming. They weren't confused whose power it was. And that brings us to King Herod. Who is this Herod? This is Herod Antipas. He is the son of King Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus when he was born. King Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, ruled in the Transjordan region from 4 BC until his exile in 39 AD.

This is the king whom Jesus called that fox in Luke 13, a reference to King Herod's malice, his cunning, his shrewdness and lack of pity and his love of degenerate decadence. In 39 AD, he was recalled to Rome and replaced by his nephew, the infamous Herod Agrippa, who later killed James and imprisoned Peter. In Mark 6:15 it says, but others said he's Elijah and others said he is a prophet like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."

Actually the dirty work wasn't done by Herod himself, it was by an executioner as we see later in the text. But here in the Greek, there's an emphatic I myself have beheaded. This is John whom I myself had beheaded, which reveals that King Herod's conscience has been disturbing him. His conscience has been terrifying him. It shows us that although he thought himself a king, he wasn't king over his conscience. The truth was the law of God was. And for Herod, the supernatural miracle, he thought Jesus was John comeback from the dead, and he believed it.

That supernatural miracle itself was not enough to bring him to repentance. That's how stubborn he was and hardened in his sin. The assumed divine miracle, John's resurrection, is a cause not for celebration but for terror. And here I also want to point out that John was so Christlike that when Herod hears about Christ, he confuses Christ with John. That's how much John had decreased so that Jesus could increase. He represented Jesus with his whole being. Who was John the Baptist?

He was a miracle child born to the aged Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. He was a Nazarite from birth, a result of explicit orders of the angel Gabriel. His hair was never cut. He never touched a dead body or drank fermented drink, according to Numbers 6. And he took up the clothing of the ancient prophets wearing a rough coat of camel's hair and leather belt and subsisting in the wilderness and the diet of locusts and wild honey. He was a man of good conscience and therefore moral courage.

When he spoke the word of God, everybody knew that it rang true because of John's integrity. And he would lose his head, but not his witness. John made way for the Lord, preparing the way for Christ by boldly denouncing sin and calling people to radical repentance, as seen in Matthew 3:7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

And do not presume to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he'll burn with unquenchable fire."

Jesus is neither John the Baptist, Herod got it wrong, nor Elijah. Jesus was John's contemporary, so he's not him. And with respect to Elijah, Mark already said he linked Elijah with John, not Jesus. And Jesus wasn't just a prophet. He did use that term to characterize himself, but it definitely wasn't sufficient to characterize him. Verse 17. For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her.

For John had been saying to Herod, "It's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." And here, what is John appealing to? It's not lawful. What law is he appealing to? Look how simple and plain and straightforward his message was. It's not lawful for you to have another man's wife. You've committed adultery, Herod. You've transgressed the Seventh Commandment. You've taken Herodias from your brother, so she is an adulterous as well, and he's calling them to repentance.

He proclaims the plain truth regardless of the consequences. And what he's telling King Herod, consider himself a king, he's saying, there's a king above you. There's a law above you. You are not above the law. It's the law of God, and the law of God is law over everyone. It's enforced over everyone. It doesn't matter if you identify as a Christian, it doesn't matter if you identify as a believer of the scripture, none of that matters. God is God over everyone. His law governs everyone. Some people erroneously think that when you preach the gospel, you never mention the law.

When you're sharing "the gospel," the law isn't necessary. The law is only for believers. First trust in Jesus, get grace, and then we can talk about the law, then we can talk about how you are to live. This is false, because you can't call people to repentance if they do not know what they are to repent of. And John as an Elijah like figure is zealous for the Lord and his law, and he's going to proclaim it to both Herod and Herodias no matter how much it antagonizes them, no matter how much they want to kill him.

And that brings us to point three, fearing God is the secret to fearlessness. John, where did you get the power to be so fearless, so courageous, so bold in proclaiming this truth to a king? He got it from fearing God more than anyone else. He didn't care what King Herod thinks about him. He cared more about what King Jesus thinks about him. In verse 19, Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe.

When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, yet he heard him gladly." John's very existence caused Herodias unease in her conscience, yet she's hardened and seared in her conscience by her wickedness and won't rest until he is dead. And Herod feared John. He wanted to protect the life of John knowing that he's righteous and holy. So he arrests John to protect John from Herodias. This is how conflicted this man was. Herod was convicted by John's words, yet he gladly listened to them.

Most likely the prison was in the same place where his palace was and he would just bring John up and say, "John, do your thing." And John with his camel hair and he's got his leather belt and he is like, "You broke commandment number seven. Repent. And Herodias too." And then Herodias gets mad and Herod's like, "Continue," and oh, just continuously gladly welcoming the message, feared the guy, knows it's true, it rings true, definitely resonates, and he's willing to listen. He's willing to observe, heard him gladly.

But there was one thing that Herod wasn't willing to do. He wasn't willing to cease from his adultery. He wouldn't give up Herodias, and so he ends up ruining his soul. Verse 21. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading man of Galilee. Those present at this party were the petty lords and the Roman battalion commanders, the tribunes. So these men gather in Herod's fortress palace where John was imprisoned.

And the text doesn't explicitly say, but a birthday in such luxurious confines of the royal palace with all the big wigs certainly implied large quantities of alcohol. And from Mark's report, there's possibility that Herod was definitely well-lubricated when Herodias finally traps him in verse 22. For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish and I'll give it to you."

Josephus, the famed Jewish historian, tells us that this young woman named Salome was in her middle teens at this time, so she dances in a very explicit way. Here we see that King Herod gets excited to the point where his braggadocio is turned on and he vows in verse 23, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half of my kingdom." And this is probably a figure of speech in any case, because the kingdom wasn't his to give. It was Rome's. And so verse 24, she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I ask?"

And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." And she came in and immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." The instantaneous reply of Herodias implies premeditation. So the cunning demonic forces that have been working for John's downfall now at last have sprung their trap. Here Herodias is presented as another Jezebel, manipulating her cowardly and indecisive husband and seeking the death of the Lord's prophet.

And one begins to wonder who initiated the adultery. Herodias didn't mention the platter. The platter was... It was a touch of the girl, the daughter's own ghastly touch. And verse 26. The king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to break his word to her. The moment of truth has come for Herod. It's a crucial test of his soul. He has to decide between saving face and saving John. He knew who John was. He's a holy and righteous man. He knew that God's hand was upon him, and to go against John is to go against God.

And he here now has to decide between the opinions of the noble guests and the truth. He's got to decide between gaining the world and gaining his soul. It says he was exceedingly sorry. He was greatly distressed. The word is only used one other time the New Testament, and that was to describe Jesus' pain in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was greatly distressed when he saw the suffering before him. And here Herod's grief was real, but he had been trapped. And this shows us that grief over sin is not repentance.

Being sorry over your sin or sorry over the situation that your sin has got you in, that's not true repentance. True repentance is turning from that sin and turning to a path of righteousness and following Christ. Herod's conscience had been awakened by John and he suppressed the truth because of what he feared others would think. I think there are many today who are in a similar predicament where you know that Christ is king, where you know that the holy scriptures are true.

What else is other than scriptures? You know that eternal life is only found in Christ, and you're not public about it or you won't follow Christ in your daily life. And how many people's consciousness have been awakened to eternal truth and they've quenched that because of their fear of, what are my friends going to think? What's my family going to think? And whenever you have conversation like this about the gospel and you get people to the point where you got to make a decision and they're like, okay, what kind of Christian are you?

I'm not a big fan of that question. A true one. There's only one type of Christian. You're saved or not. And if you are saved, you have to be public about it. You have to testify to the truth of it, to care more about what God thinks than what people think. Mark 6:27. Immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. Besides gratifying a sadistic whim, the production of the head on a platter is proof that John has been killed.

And the title king is used over and over in our text in particular here. It's technically inaccurate. He wasn't a king. He was a tetrarch. He was a puppet for Rome. But the title king is repeated ironically because Herod wasn't a king. He was outwitted and manipulated by two women and hamstrung by his own oath and his fear of losing faith before his subjects. The supposed king wasn't king even over himself. He couldn't control himself much less his subjects. He's over mastered by his sin.

He's over mastered by his desires. He's over mastered by his emotions, which swing wildly from superstitious dread, he thinks Jesus is John resurrected, to awe and fascination and confusion to arousal that seems to border on insanity and to extreme depression. In this context, his pretensions to royal authority appear almost like a farce. He appears to rule whereas actually his strings are being pulled by others. The tyrant isn't even a true king over himself. He's a slave to his own passions.

Herod lets John die, and thus shows himself to be among those in whom despite their attraction to the kingdom of God, despite the fact that the seeds seem like they have been planted in his heart, he's gladly listening to the word, he's gladly listening to the sermons, but the cares and concerns of this age end up choking the word. A lesson for each one of us here is if you fear God more than man, you might lose your head, but not your soul. And if you fear man over God, you might keep your head.

You might even become more prosperous and lose your soul in the process. And Jesus said, "What prophet is it to someone gain the whole world and yet lose their soul?" For Herod, saving faith was more important than saving his soul. Verse 29. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. We see finally in these verses how little reward one of God's greatest servants gets in this world. John's life after a life of faithful witness to Christ ends in unjust imprisonment and a violent death.

Like Steven, like James and like the other apostles of whom the world was not worthy, he was called to seal his testimony with his blood. Histories like these are meant to remind us that the true Christians' best things are yet to come. His rest, his crown, his wages, his reward are all on the other side of the grave. Here in this world we must walk by faith and not by sight. And if we look for the praise of people, we're not going to get it. And here in this life, we must sow and labor and fight and endure persecution, and we are to know that this life is not all there is.

One day retribution will come and heaven will make amends for all. Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." 1 Corinthians 2:6. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for his glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this.

For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no I has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined which God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. We see what King Herod thought of John the Baptist. King Herod's opinion doesn't really matter. John the Baptist cared more not about what King Herod thought of him, but what King Jesus thought about him.

And what did King Jesus think of John the Baptist? Well, Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:11, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist. Until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

John the Baptist, according to Christ, was the greatest of all men that was ever born. Why? Because John knew his place, he knew his job, and his job was to proclaim Christ. He knew that he was to decrease so that Christ would increase. In John's cruel death, we're also given a glimpse of Jesus' faith, that Jesus' ministry would eventually take him to Jerusalem where he would be rejected and imprisoned and ultimately mocked, scourged, and crucified. And there are numerous parallels between John and Christ.

Each was eagerly heard and become the object of curiosity of a leader. John with Herod, Jesus with Pilate, each false victim to his enemy's murderous intention, is arrested, bound, and ignominiously executed and buried. Thanks be to God, Jesus' head wasn't put on a platter. That Jesus, even though he was crucified, in his crucifixion, in his death, he conquered death and the grave and he rose on the third day. Since he's far greater than even John himself, he overcame death.

And in his death, we see the death of death itself. The last recorded mention of Herod, this Herod, presents him as a hardened blasphemer. At the end of Jesus' life, Pilate sends Jesus to Herod and Herod has another opportunity to repent of his sin. In Luke 23:6, when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he heard that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem. At that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desire to see him, because he had heard about him and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. And the chief priest and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with the soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other on that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. Herod gladly received the servants of John.

And here you see the progression into sin, where when Christ is right before, he stands face to face with the Son of God, all he can do is mock. He's absolutely dead inside, jaded. He had passed the point of no return, a point when repentance is no longer given. Friends, you just need to know this is a reality. If you keep prolonging repentance, the day of repentance, the day of turning from sin and turning to Christ, at some point there will be a day of no return, at some point the gift of repentance will not be extended to you, at some point the Holy Spirit will stop wooing.

So what do we need to do? If you hear God's voice today in your heart, repent of sin and turn to him. Acts 17. Paul before the men of Athens and the Areopagus, he says, "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given insurance to all by raising him from the dead." Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

But others said, "We will hear you again about this." So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined them and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Today, if you hear the voices of God, repent from sin and turn to Christ, recognize that Christ is the only way of salvation. His sacrifice on the cross is the only sacrifice that can atone for our sins and the wrath that they deserve.

Today, we are celebrating holy communion in which we remember the sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf when he laid down his life for his sheep, for whom is communion. It is for repentant followers of Jesus Christ. If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, if you have not repented of sin, if you have not believed in him, today is your opportunity to do that, repent of sin and turn to him. If you are a self-identified believer in Jesus Christ, but you know that there's unrepented sin in your life, sin that you have not left, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service.

So do nothing for you. Instead, take time to meditate on the gospel. If you are a repentant follower of Christ, you'd like to partake of holy communion. And if you have not received the elements, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring them to you. And as they do that, I'll read 1 Corinthians 11:23-32. For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Would you pray with me over holy communion? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your lavish love and sending your Jesus Christ for us. Jesus, we thank you that you died on the cross for our sins while we were yet sinners.

You died for us recognizing that this was the only way to save us from our sin and save us from the wrath to come. Lord Jesus, we thank you that even as you hung on that cross, you were busy forgiving people, crying out, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." We recognize from that text even ignorance of our sin is not defense against the wrath of God. So we plead the blood, we ask Jesus forgive us of our sins.

We repent of breaking commandments, transgressing commandments, and we pray by the grace of God that you give us the power of the Holy Spirit to live lives of righteousness. As we remember your suffering on the cross today, let us be sobered by the fact that that's what it took to save us from our sin. So how can we continue living in sin? Give us a hunger and thirst for righteousness and continue to satisfy us with your presence. And Lord Jesus, we thank you that you did not stay dead.

You rose on the third day, and today you are sitting at the right hand of God ruling and reigning. We pray that you continue to establish your kingdom all around the world and in particular in our region. And we pray all this in Christ's holy name, amen. There are two lids. You open the top lid to open the cup and the bottom lid to open the bread. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread. And after breaking it, he said, "This is my body broken for you. Take eat and do this in remembrance of me."

Then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of my blood, which is poured up for the sins of many. Take drink and do this and remembrance of me." Oh Lord, we thank you that you have chosen us to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for your own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of our king, a king who calls us out of darkness into your marvelous light. We thank you, Lord, that you offer us your mercy and your grace.

We thank you that you offer us your presence in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we pray, Lord, that you continue to bless this church, continue to draw your elect, and continue to sanctify every single one of us so we grow ever more beautiful in your sight. Make us a people who are more courageous than ever, more bold than ever, proclaiming the gospel at every opportunity that we have. And make us a people, Lord, that revel in the fact that we are yours and you are a great and mighty king, an excellent king. And we love you and we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.