Two Great Men

I read a lot from a lot of different genres. But there is one thing I don’t ever read, I don’t ever read celebrity gossip magazines.

Oh, but I see them. You can’t go to the grocery store without seeing them, right there as you are waiting to check out. “Angelina’s Revenge”, “Look who’s having twins.” “Blake finally proposes.” And so on and so forth, every week it’s something new.

There are three topics that fill up those celebrity magazines all the time: One is royalty. Any time the royal family does anything it gets put in People or Star or whatever magazine you read. Prince William wipes his knows. Kate Middleton takes her kids to the zoo. People will buy it and read it. The second topic that will always sell magazines is any kind of sex scandal. Someone cheats. Someone gets a divorce. Someone gets caught doing something they shouldn’t do. The third topic that move gossip rags off of the shelf is celebrity deaths. Kate Spade, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Anthony Bourdain - people want to read about it, so they get a special issue.

But imagine for a second that there was one story that was a convergence. There is a story that involves all three. The gossip mag sweet spot. The Holy Grail. A royal who has a scandal that involves a celebrity death. That’s what we are going to read about here in Mark 6.

Our text this morning is going to be Mark 6 verses 14 - 29. Let’s open the Bible there and read it…

”14 And king Herod heard [of him]; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. 15 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. 16 But when Herod heard [thereof], he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead. 17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her. 18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. 19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: 20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief [estates] of Galilee; 22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give [it] thee. 23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give [it] thee, unto the half of my kingdom. 24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was exceeding sorry; [yet] for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. 29 And when his disciples heard [of it], they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.”

I actually skipped this story last Sunday, not because it’s hard. It’s pretty straightforward. But because I was having a hard time coming up with the best way to preach it.

It’s really kind of a parenthesis in this passage. Right before this Jesus sends out his disciples to preach. Right after this the story goes right back to that. In the middle we have this little bit about Herod and John the Baptist.

So let’s talk about Herod a little bit here. Mark calls him King Herod. He was called King Herod by the locals, but he wasn’t actually a king. It was a term of derision. His father had been a king who worked under the Roman Government, and when his father had died he divvied up his kingdom into three and gave a part to each of his three sons. Herod got the part with Galilee in it. The part where Jesus would do most of his ministry.

Herod really wanted to be a king but he couldn’t have that title without the Roman Emperors permission. He begged and begged for it and annoyed the fire out of the emperor, but he never got the title. So a lot of people think that Mark is using the title “King Herod” here ironically and a little mockingly.

Herod had it all though. He really did. He had wealth that most people could only dream of. He had power. He was the leader of a country. He was following in his father’s footsteps and building these awesome building projects around Palestine.

Early on he married a princess from a neighboring country. After awhile he took his princess to visit Rome and while in Rome he met his brother’s wife, a girl named Herodius. He actually fell for his own brother’s wife and they made secret plans. When he got back to Palestine, he divorced his princess wife and he married his brother’s wife. This actually started a war. His ex-father in law wasn’t happy about this. So they went to war and Herod’s army actually lost.

So Herod has it all. He has armies. He has cities. He has wealth. He has power. He’s in the upper echelons of society. He does what he wants, when he wants, even if it means starting a war.

But when Herod hears about Jesus, He’s scared. Listen to that. He’s scared.

This man has his own country. This man has his own army. This man has his own impregnable fortress with a dungeon underneath on a mountain in the desert like some kind of James Bond villain. And yet this man, this great Herod, is scared when he hears about Jesus.

Why? What could make this man afraid? I mean, he wasn’t afraid to pester the most powerful person in the whole world for a meaningless title. He wasn’t afraid to steal his brother’s wife. He wasn’t afraid to go to war with his ex-father in law.

So what is He scared of?

Look at verse 16:

” But when Herod heard [thereof], he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.”

This great man, as far as the world was concerned, was terrified of another great man - John the baptist. Even though Herod had been the one who killed John the baptist.

Now, there are a bunch of lessons that I think we can learn from this story of Herod and John the Baptist, but I’m going to keep it to three this morning.

Let’s pray and we’ll jump into that.

The three lessons of this passage are kind of scattershot. There is no theme. I’m just going to look at this story that involves two very different kinds of great men: John the Baptist and Herod and preaching on some of the things that jumped out at me.

The first lesson I want to preach on is this…

1. Be careful about following your heart, especially when your heart leads you into sin.

One of the great lies society tells us all the time is “follow your heart.” “If it feels right, do it.”

Now, most of the time, I think they are talking about having dreams and goals. That’s a good thing. But sometimes they are saying that the only thing that matters is our happiness and we should do whatever makes us happy.

God’s word says the heart is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” but the world says “follow your heart.”

That’s what Herod did. Herod was definitely what the ancients called an Epicurean. He was someone who believed that happiness came through satisfying yourself.

He saw something he wanted - he saw Herodius - his brother’s wife and he went for it. Even though he was married. Even though she was married. Even though it would cause lots and lots of problems. He couldn’t say no to himself.

The book of Proverbs has several warnings about this. Let me read you just one of them. Proverbs 5:3-6:

”[Pro 5:3-6 KJV] 3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, [that] thou canst not know [them].”

Solomon was warning his son about dead end streets and right at the beginning the one dead end street he mentions over and over again is adultery.

He says he eyes may be pretty, her mouth may be smooth, but her end is bitter as wormwood. She’s going to pull you down into hell.

Men, every one of us know people who have fallen into the adultery trap, and every one of us know there is temptation there. Our culture winks at it, the movies glorify it. They never show the pain. They rarely show the heartache.

Our Lord Jesus is pictured as the great bridegroom and we as husbands are supposed to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. If we give into that temptation, if we flirt with the girl at work, no matter how much we rationalize it, we are acting exactly opposite of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Herod wanted Herodius. Herod got Herodius. He stole a woman from another man - his own brother. He cast aside the wife of his youth. Do you know what? She was nothing but problems. She literally caused a war. In this story she exploited her daughter in front of a bunch of drunken men so that she could get rid of John the Baptist, which no doubt caused Herod all kinds of political problems. She was a pain in his side.

I just want to warn you men, warn you ladies. It’s not worth it. It may look sweet, but it’s end is bitter as wormwood. It’s the road to hell. Run, don’t walk, away from that temptation.

That’s the first lesson I see in this story. But let’s look deeper.

---

Verse 18 tells us how John the Baptist got involved with a guy like Herod. Remember, John the Baptist was a preacher. He was specially sent by God to prepare people’s hearts for Jesus. He lived in the wilderness. He wore the clothes of an old timey prophet. He didn’t talk like everyone else, didn’t dress like everyone else, and didn’t eat what everyone else ate.

And John the Baptist wasn’t afraid to preach about Herod and Herod’s adultery and point out the obvious - that it was wrong. It was sinful.

So Herodius, Herod’s squeeze, heard about John’s preaching and she wanted it over. She wanted him shut up. I think what these verses are saying is that she was going to put a hit job on John the Baptist. She was going to have him quietly killed and when Herod heard about what his new wife was going to do he said “No, no, that will cause all kinds of problems with the people. The people love John the Baptist.” So instead Herod locked John up in his special prison.

You should read about this prison. It was called Macherus. Herod had built this palace on a little Mountian right next to the Dead Sea. It was absolutely desolate, but it was also the perfect natural fortification. In the basement there was a dungeon and that’s where they put John the baptist.

It had to be terrible. But at least he was safe there from Herodius who wanted to kill him.

But look at verse 20. This has to be one of the most interesting verses in this whole story:

”For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”

Did you catch what that said? Herod was afraid of John The Baptist. Even though John The Baptist was in his dungeon, He was afraid of him.

O.k. But what’s really interesting is what what the second half of that verse says, it says that Herod heard him gladly. Herod, for whatever reason, enjoyed listening to John The Baptist.

Now think about this - Herod was at the top echelon’s of society - John The Baptist was completely outside of society. Herod lived in palaces. John lived in the desert. Herod ate the best meals prepared by the best chefs. John ate locusts and wild honey. Herod wore beautiful, custom tailored clothing of only the finest cloths and colors. John wore a coat of camel hair and a big leather belt.

But Herod respected John. Herod had to listen to John. Even though John was preaching against Herod’s lifestyle, there was something about John the Baptist that drew Herod in and he recognized that John had power.

Which brings me to my second point…

2. A person who has genuine conviction and speaks the truth is a powerful force in the world.

John’s power was the same power that you and I can have. He was filled with the Spirit. He was filled with the word of God. He was a person of conviction. He was a person who spoke the truth, even when it wasn’t popular. He didn’t care what people thought of him or what was fashionable in the world - He was different.

If you want to make a difference in this world - you have to be different. Nothing is made better by adding more of the same.

I think a lot of people have this idea that the way we are going to win the world to Christ is to be just like them. Dress just like them. Adapt music that is just like theres. Make our church like a night club. Bring Starbucks in the lobby. Bring beer into the fellowship.

And make no mistake about it, that kind of church is popular, just like Herod was popular. But it doesn’t make much of a difference. To make a difference you have to stand for something. To make a difference you have to speak the truth. To make a difference you have to march by the beat of a different drummer.

How about you? Do the people you work with see you as different? Not weird, but a person of conviction, a person that has the Holy Ghost inside you, a person who is led by different forces than the world around us? Or are you a chameleon? A Christian secret agent.

Listen, do you know what people respect? They respect people who are real. They respect people who have some truth to them. Who have some conviction. They might not like you - but they can’t ignore you.

Bloody Mary said the thing she feared most in all of Scotland was John Knox on his knees. Benjamin Franklin was not a believer, but he really had to wrestle with George Whitfield. Thomas Jefferson was an out skeptic who read his bible with a pen knife cutting out all the parts he didn’t like - but Thomas Jefferson had to listen to the Baptist John Leland, and even invited him to preach to a joint session of congress.

The point is this, if you have genuine conviction, if you are full of the Holy Ghost, if you speak the truth - that’s a power that even the most powerful in the world find fascinating.

And that brings me to my last point. You see, Herod in this story found John fascinating. He heard him gladly. But that’s where it ended.

3. You can enjoy listening to hard preaching, and yet still be lost.

Herod heard a lot of John The Baptist’s preaching. He liked it. He might have felt convicted. He might have gone home and played with his kids a bit more. He might have made some minor moral changes in his life. He liked the hard preaching.

But Herod wasn’t a believer. Herod still ushered the order to have John The Baptist killed. He still was influential in putting Jesus on the cross.

You might be here because you like Bible preaching. You might like it when the preacher preaches it straight. You might even enjoy it when the preacher preaches against sin. But you can still be lost.

The truth is, there is a danger in hard preaching. There is a danger in preaching against sin. It can give you the false impression that the way to salvation is reforming yourself. Just getting rid of the sin.

But the truth is there are stains in your life and in mine that no amount of reformation is going to wipe clean. The Bible says

”For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

It says

”There is none righteous, no, not one.”

The truth is it doesn’t matter if you are a wicked lout like Herod or the purist of John The Baptist’s disciples. You are a sinner.

And the penalty for sin is death and hell. Everyone of us is going to stand before a holy God some day and be judged for our sins.

But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. He sent Jesus to live the life we can’t live and then to die on the cross in our place.

”And whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Don’t be like Herod. Don’t just listen over and over. I’m glad you hear preaching gladly, but that isn’t enough to get to heaven. To get to heaven we have to put our faith and trust in what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross.

Are you saved?