well if you're a visitor this morning we have been working through the gospel of mark the gospel mark we return to this and this morning we come to the death of john the baptist in mark chapter six mark chapter six so i will read verses 14 through 29 14 through 29 again if you're visiting that's new testament matthew mark mark 6 is found on page 1069 in your pew bible this is the word of the lord beginning at verse 14 king herod heard of it for jesus's name had become known some said john the baptist has been raised from the dead this 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's 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's daughter came in and danced she pleased Herod and his guests and the king said to the girl ask 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 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. 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 In 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. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, in this last section that we considered of Mark, in the verses that precede what I just read, Jesus had sent out his disciples two by two and gave them a kind of trial run anticipating the day when they would be sent out and they would go out in the Great Commission to the ends of the earth with the gospel. So at this moment, they have gone out. They have gone out and they have gone out in the authority of Jesus and they are out doing miracles and they are out preaching the gospel. They're healing the sick and they are proclaiming a doctrine of repentance. You'll notice that's emphasized there at the end. Calling people in verse 12 to repentance. It's at this particular moment that Mark pauses the narrative, the story here, all having to do with Jesus and gives us the only time in Mark's gospel that we don't have a situation that directly deals with Jesus. We're now looking and we're stepping into the story of John the Baptist. Mark interjects it here. And it's a fascinating interjection because in the next scene, the apostles, by the way, notice that. Apostles in verse 30 now. They've gone out on their trial mission. Something has happened. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught, this went remarkably well. I thought to myself, why in the middle of their mission, their trial run, is Jesus' inspiration here? You'll notice by the Holy Spirit, why did this get included? The story of John the Baptist right here. I gave a lot of thought to that. It seems to be a strange break in the story, doesn't it? Suddenly they introduced what must have been a major blow to the disciples. And they introduced what must have been a seemingly great defeat to the ministry of Jesus. This was the forerunner who just got taken out. It's one of the worst stories to read in the New Testament aside from the death of Christ, right? But nothing Mark has done has been without purpose. Mark is very intentional in what he's doing. And so why did Mark put it here? Well, Jesus had just warned and Jesus had just given instructions to his own disciples that you will not always be received. Remember he said that? There are going to be times when you will not be received into homes and the message will not be received and I want you to shake the dust off of your feet. He's explaining then and here we see all of a sudden the disciples and Jesus are dealing with this major blow in the ministry of Christ. Now they're dealing with this and he's explaining to them through this, there's no doubt in my mind, that unbelief is going to show itself in a lot more ways than just not receiving you in to their homes. Unbelief is often going to lead to persecution. And the disciples needed to be trained in this. The disciples needed to understand this. We don't really understand this today. We really don't. We struggle with this. I had somebody say to me, I read that passage of John the Baptist and I get immensely disturbed. Well, who doesn't get disturbed? It's horrendous. But this must have had some kind of effect on the disciples because when they were apostles and persecuted in Acts, remember they were beaten and scourged for the name of Jesus Christ. And so when they went on their way, and I quote, from the council, the presence of the council, They went on rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. Something got to them. What a privilege to suffer for him. What a privilege. And so much so that 11 out of the 12 would also face the same path of martyrdom. 11 out of the 12. It was Jesus, of course, who said, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute. you but i believe there's more to this that's one aspect there's more to this remember what jesus said to the pharisees when they were persecuting him i read it earlier woe to you teachers of the law and pharisees you hypocrites you build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous remember we just sung out about that in that psalm and you say if we had lived in the days of our ancestors we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets so you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets go ahead then and complete what your ancestors started go ahead finish it i know you want to finish it with me do it you snakes you brood of vipers how will you escape being condemned to hell therefore i'm sending you listen to this more in the future now prophets and sages and teachers some of them you will kill and crucify others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town it's um it's hard to read all this it really is it's just this this knock down drag out fight in the new testament of just sheer ugliness and and and the problem the discouragement is who it came from who is israel god's people the most privileged people who had everything who had all the covenants paul says the sacraments this is what they did to their messiah so the passage in a sort of dual application is meant to make us all ask, are you on the right side of Jesus? It was the Pharisees who said, oh, we would never do that to God's prophets. And it challenges us this morning to ask the question, have I received him or am I rejecting him? And what would that look like? Well, the great test that the Lord gives us and something that is sort of a monument throughout history of the extreme of unbelief is Herod. The ultimate example of folly in rejecting Jesus is set before you this morning. The ultimate example of folly. And in that way, the passage has the effect of calling all of us to repentance. This is what the disciples were out doing in verse 12. Theirs was a message of repentance in the same vein of John the Baptist. They're continuing that and this has caused Herod a complete frenzy. Well, as we now then open up Mark chapter 6 and dive into this particular tragic section, we notice here it was bound to happen at some point that Jesus would clash with the political world. As we come to our particular text this morning, we read in verse 14, right at the beginning that King Herod heard of it for Jesus' name had become known. Heard, and you stop and you say, what was he hearing? What did he hear of? And Mark wants you to make the direct correlation to what just came before. The trial mission of the disciples. He heard of Jesus in their successful mission. They were just sent out in His name. They were just sent out with His authority. They just went out and they were casting out demons. They were healing the sick and they're preaching the gospel. And notice emphasis in verse 12. They're preaching the doctrine of repentance. The call to. Well, they are so excited about how this all went. They come immediately back, and you'll notice there in verse 30, and say, Jesus, it went wonderful. This is the whole thrust of it. We've got to tell you what happened. We've got to tell you what happened. Well, this was all foretaste of the future, wasn't it? That through these men, through these 12 appointed, through the ministry, The gospel would go out in Acts from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of the earth. It would go all the way out and nothing could stop it. Everyone must be talking. We know Jesus had sweeping popularity. We know on the side of Galilee, everyone wanted to see him. They were thronging up against him. They wanted to touch him. They just wanted to touch him. Well, now through the disciples' mission, it went even bigger. You'll notice it says Jesus' name had become known. Now it got to Herod. Everywhere they went, everyone's talking. Wow, you're not going to believe what's going on. We have never seen anything like this. People are being healed. This is wonderful. And so the talk in the grapevine everywhere was something really big is going on right now. Israel had their history, they knew. they start speculating going beyond that he's a mere man and we'll get there in a minute but they're they're talking big now they're talking bigger notice mark has been dealing with this about who is jesus they're talking bigger and some are saying this is elijah which is interesting i'll come back to that others were saying this has got to be the prophet that was prophesied to moses right this is the prophet he's come everyone everywhere was asking who is this jesus and they all had an opinion it's it's really interesting to stop and think that since the days of him bringing the kingdom of god here remember in in mark one he said the kingdom of god has arrived in his presence since the day it arrived on the scene of history in his presence preaching the gospel of the kingdom you notice how that question has been asked by every single generation that has ever existed i mean think about that it's a really remarkable thing do you ever hear of anyone great in our country through all of these years our country has existed where everyone keeps asking who was that man i don't hear anyone ever asking about who was abraham lincoln they write about him in history books but i don't hear anyone debating about who was napoleon this question has been asked in every culture and every tribe and everywhere the gospel has been preached. This is what circulates and is in the minds of people. This is what occupies the minds of everyone because these claims reach the ends of the earth and because he is the son of God. Hate him, love him, believe in him, reject him. At the end of the day, it's a question that everyone's asking well this has reached king herod and the link to the story i believe comes when herod heard of jesus and the message of repentance must have sounded strangely familiar to him of course he had heard it from john over and over this was herod antipas or herod the tetrarch he uh he was the son of herod the great To give you some perspective on Herod the Great, and I've spent enough time ever than I want to on Herod the Great, he was the Herod of Jesus' birth, was a descendant of Esau. A bloodthirsty man was said to, of course, murdered his wife and, oh, well, it didn't really matter. I guess he had 10 of them as it goes. Herod was everywhere in the New Testament. Herods were. you'll notice that in the New Testament, you constantly bump up against all these Herods, one of which was eaten by worms and axe, remember? Herod had begged Rome to let, after he died, his section of the empire be divided into four, and so there were now four Herods running around. Herod, here in this particular Herod, Herod Antipas, or Herod the Tetrarch, which was a ruler of a fourth here, He draws what must have been, or should have been, an absolute scary proposition about Jesus. Herod hears of the things that Jesus is doing, and Herod begins to decide in his mind, this has got to be John the Baptist revisited and raised. To which you should ask, what if this really were? Herod hears of all these powers and these things that Jesus is doing, and he's thinking, John has revisited me. John's back. Now, that's really got to be an awful moment for him, don't you think? What if you were responsible for somebody's death maliciously and you did it with the worst display of hatred and rejection? What if that person really did come back to life? I want you to think about that question. I mean, this is the stuff Hollywood makes movies out of. High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood, got killed, beat up by the townspeople. He came back and he painted that town red, remember? this is what Herod thinks has happened. What a scary thing if that were true, right? That God had raised John the Baptist and John the Baptist is back. Whom you killed. What does Herod do with this? Well, Scriptures over and over keep telling us that Herod kept wanting to see Jesus. Over and over, over and over. He wanted to see if this was John. i'm going to return to what herod did with that in a minute as soon as it's revealed that herod thought that this was john the baptist resurrected mark stops the narrative and mark breaks into the story mark is anxious to tell you the story he gives us an historical account of what herod did to john the baptist you read there in verse 17 that herod himself had sent and laid hold of john and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. You'll see that right in verse 17. Bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. For he had married her. Now, why did Herod put John in prison? It's not for what you think. It's a reason. What we find is that Herod was taken by the preaching of John. I was so puzzled by this this week. Absolutely puzzled by Herod's response to John. Look carefully this morning at verse 20. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. You get the sense that through the ministry of John the Baptist, through the preaching of John the Baptist, Herod's life was thrown into an absolute frenzy. He's absolutely perplexed. He feared John. It's absolutely remarkable. He would come up, and you wonder, when John was out preaching, Was Herod himself out there listening? Well, then we know that once he was bound, John was still preaching in prison and he must have had multitudes around him, whatever the prison system was like. Whatever the case, John's preaching from the cell or in the open airways. John's voice is not shut up. He is a voice. That's what he's called in the Scripture. As he listened to John's preaching, it had an effect on him. There was something about John. There was something about John. It says here that he was a just and holy man. And you know, people with consciences that are suppressed sometimes are most attracted to those who they view as holy and righteous and church-going people. You know this. They want to be next to them. They want to be around them. Just a wonderful testimony, by the way, of how just and holy living has an effect on people for witness. So Herod protected them. in fact we read that when he listened to his preaching he's all ripped up inside it's a strange phrase in the greek uh the translations have varied on this to try to capture this you'll notice in verse 20 it says he heard him but when it says that he was perplexed it could read he did many things some of the translations say that the old king james says that he did many things and he heard him gladly i don't believe it's hard to understand what had happened in Herod he was so moved he was so convicted by the preaching of John it had so struck his conscience uh preaching the strikes the conscience does something and he went out and he tried to reform his life I mean I draw I'll draw no other conclusion to that when it's if you take the the translation he did many things but it's not so far off from what we know in reality Man, I'm so moved by John as a preacher. You could imagine Herod telling his wife this. In our context, I'm going to start reading my Bible. I'm going to start going up to the synagogue to worship. I'm going to start praying. It's a remarkable thing. He is absolutely tormented on the inside. Probably around a year ago from this moment where we are here in Mark's gospel, Herod had bound John and put him in prison. We read that he bound him for the sake of Herodias. Fearing him, he had to protect him from his wife. Knowing that his wife wanted to kill John, he bound John and imprisoned him. Clearly it was to protect him. Why did Herod do this? We read that it was because Herod, and why was Herodias so furious? It was because Herod had married his brother Philip's wife. Herod, according to the tradition, went up one day to visit his brother, a ruler of part of the kingdom. And as he was visiting his brother, he ended up in a wild love affair with Philip's wife. So both of them decided to divorce each other and marry. Herod divorced his wife, which is ironic. that was the daughter of a king named Aretas. And by the way, that divorce set off a war in the kingdom. When that king heard that, he brought his troops up against Herod and there was major blood shed over this marriage. He had defeated Herod's army. The only reason Herod was not toppled was because Rome intervened and stopped it. Blood all over the place from this. Herodias divorces Philip. Now, to help you with the entire picture, Herodias was the daughter of a brother of Philip. This is one class act family, by the way. That means that she was his niece. Herod was her uncle. So the entire message here, the entire picture is you've got one adulterous, murderous, bloodthirsty, incestuous, disgusting, as one pastor called, pit of a marriage bed. And you don't mess with people like this. You do not mess with people like this. Let me introduce you to the greatest prophet that ever existed, Jesus said. His name, John the Baptist. We read that Herod had bound him for the sake of Herodias, fearing him. He had to protect him from his wife. And guess what happened? Look carefully at verse 18. For John had been saying, in other words, this was not a one-time statement. john had been saying didn't stop now he's in prison he's still saying it it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife not lawful it is against the marriage design as god has defined it that's what he means when he's saying not lawful it is not your wife that's philip's wife. God only recognizes that marriage. The scriptures are really saying that here. It's clearly pointing that out when it says Philip's wife. Keep in mind, he's dealing with a king, political official. You're violating the marriage bed. What a servant. Willing to speak the truth when the culture and political opportunists have changed rules and laws to fix them against God's law. And John, in the public square, had no problem pointing it out. That violates God's law. You ever heard the statement, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? John learned it. Jezebel came right at him. I mean, this really is Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel revisited. Herodias went to Herod, who her husband strangely found John's preaching powerful, convicting, winsome, and she says, you deal with him right now. You deal with him right now. He's a troublemaker. I hate him. I want him gone. You could hear the conversations in the room. He's out there in the prison telling all them. running that mouth in the kingdom i want him gone herod protected him and he did many religious things and bound him up because of her what a soap opera huh murderous incestuous adulterous moralist trying to get his life together under john's preaching with a jezebel for a wife meet john not a preacher of morals sure he's moral a preacher of repentance leading people to the one who would come after him whose strand sandal straps john was telling everyone i'm not even worthy to get down and loose i need to decrease he needs to increase it's all about him i'm preaching him and and and you stop and you say well now you realize that this is how the gospel has effect in the kingdom that that that it has to come with a doctrine and a robust strong preaching of repentance and that's just true as we sing at every christmas for every heart to prepare him room christ there has to be a path of repentance made doesn't there it has to be leveled and preached and john is the forerunner for without preaching that there's no need for the gospel of the kingdom him he couldn't understand it john had one goal as he preached the son of god as he preached the christ he would not herod would not see jesus in the preaching i want to emphasize that this morning i want to really emphasize that this morning herod would not see jesus in the preaching he would not bow the knees at knee to the jesus that john preached and now you need to sort of be clear as to what keeps people out of the kingdom it is certainly a theological issue we could say that what keeps people out of the kingdom is a theological issue of answering the question who is jesus that that's a that is certainly a theological issue that keeps people out of the kingdom but oftentimes and more often than not it's a moral one. When John exposed the sin of people's lives, things got personal. And this is what got John the Baptist's head put on a platter. Do you think we're dealing for the first time in history with marital issues with the homosexual marriage? Do you think we're dealing with that for the first time in history? It was a marriage issue that got john's head cut off he spoke the truth and that has always been the risk that servants run in doing what we do well think about it this is what happens when you run up against people who don't want to repent i could preach very generally to you this morning and you all have heard a lot in the course of your life of very good general sermons that never really penetrate, that never really strike the conscience. But let me then go a step further, and oftentimes this is a choice by ministers. Let me go a step further and apply the Word of God to something very specific in your life that you're doing or that your children are doing. Let me do that and I say, You can't do that. That's against God's law. That's a path of rebellion against Him. I guarantee you, when things turn like that, and I speak very directly into a personal situation like that, neutrality is gone. Neutrality is over. And when neutrality is over, you either receive it you repent and receive help from jesus or you reject it i remember a couple coming to me wanting me to marry them one professed to be a believer in jesus the other said i reject and i'm quoting jesus as the son of god i don't believe he is who he says he is and i kindly i did everything i could uh kindly to work with the couple i said listen i i can't marry you. I looked at the believer and I said, do you know what God's law says? You can't be unequally yoked. I looked at him and I said, my door's always open to work with you and to help you and to counsel you, but what you believe about Jesus, I have to tell you, it does matter. You can't ask for a wedding that's stamped Christian with a Christian pastor because your wife wants that to give me and let me have in good conscience to have some kind of stamp of approval on that. I said, if Jesus were standing here and heard you say, I don't believe you are Jesus who you say you are, what do you think Jesus would do then looking next to you, dear Christian? What do you think he would say? Well, they left and they thanked me for speaking the truth in love. Two weeks later, I got the most vicious letter full of vitriol and anger. It was shocking to me because it was from the Christian. It's from her. And she said, don't worry, a professor of a college is going to do our wedding, an ordained minister is going to go do it. I just was so taken that on an issue that seemed so black and white, I got that kind of vitriol. Do you know where that happened? Here. here. I've been around the ministry long enough to know that when people want to pursue sin and their heart is bent on it, nothing's going to stop them. There was no reasoning with Herodias. There was no reasoning with Herod. But the craziest thing for me to read is Herod heard him gladly. I can't get that out of my head. What soil is that in the parable of the sower? Is it not true that the reason the church has been largely ineffective in our culture is because it's forgotten the message of repentance? Is that not why we're left alone? Do you know what you're fighting for? Do you know what this is about? Eternity. Where people go. I had somebody say to me the other day and I'm so concerned for what people think Christianity is. I don't say this to prop up me or this church at all. But I had someone say that they could never attend the Escondido URC because we sing out of a blue Psalter hymnal. And I thought, are you kidding me? I said, at least call me a heretic. At least say that we in the Escondido URC have no care to discipline anyone who lives in sin. At least say that. If that's going on, I've got to deal with it. I've got to reckon with it. At least say that, you know, there are adulterous relationships with no consequence, you know. Then, that's standing for something I can respect. But to say that, I won't be a part of it because I don't like the music, tells me you have no idea what Christianity is or what you're fighting for, man. You have totally, totally missed the cost of Christianity. Now, Loads of so-called Christians would have no problem attending a church with absolutely no discipline in matters like what you're reading right now. Is that Christianity? Is it? If you stand for the Christ of the Bible and his Christianity, I got a message and I've failed on this, I admit it. You'll be hated. What you're standing for will get you hated. Woe to you, says Jesus, if all men speak well of you. That's what they did to the false prophets who came before you. And, beloved, that's what happened to John. An opportune time came. Did you notice that in verse 21? But the opportunity came. It's been noted that once desire meets opportunity, watch out. Desire has now met opportunity. Herodias' opportunity. I'm sorry, yeah, Herodias' opportunity. For what happened here is that Herod gave a great banquet on his birthday with all the high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. Finally, the opportune time had come. All the Jewish officials are in there, which is so ironic, isn't it? And Herodias' desire got the opportunity. Look at this. Now, a great feast happened for all the nobles and high officers. In 22, what goes on, and don't miss the suggestion here, that Herodias' daughter came in and danced and pleased Herod and all who sat with him. Yes, they're drunk. She is not clothed. The brevity of this is very suggestive. It's totally inappropriate. The whole thing's a mess. She is dancing in there. All the men are pleased. Mom has pushed her in there, by the way. Herod yells out, man, whatever you want, woman, I'll give it to you. Foolish. does it twice swears an oath and I'll give you whatever you want up to half the kingdom everyone's patting Herod on the back she runs to Herodias Herodias the head of John the Baptist right now go Herod made an oath didn't he stupid oath and doubly stupid to fulfill it in front of everyone to save his face, he gives the order to have Jesus' greatest prophet beheaded. They went and got his body. And a sad display here. We read that the executioner brought in, had the head chopped off, and Herodias' daughter comes back with it on a platter. What is this? I read one pastor this week and he made an interesting observation that when the head of Cicero was brought to the wife of Mark Antony, she spat on it. Drawing out the tongue that had so eloquently opposed and condemned Antony, she pierced it with her hairpin with bitter ridicule. Jerome refers to that incident and says Herodias did the same thing with the head of John. You understand why I picked number 151 this morning. You understand what in singing the Psalms and the Psalter hymnal is really helpful at times, right? Let thy foes no longer scorn thee. Now avenge thy servant slain. Loose the prisoner, save the dying. All thine enemies restrain. Then your flock, your chosen people, unto you their thanks shall raise and to every generation will sing your glorious praise. Help us from this madness. Well, what a training moment this must have been for the disciples. When Jesus heard that John the Baptist's head had been cut off, he withdrew in isolation. That must have been very hard in his humanity to take. Why? He had to go away alone. takes his disciples you'll see that in the next section and i'm sure he spent time explaining to them this is what you're gonna face in your ministries if you're fulfilling them because this is about what i'm now gonna go face and the reality of that must have just struck him because what we just studied here is the trailer to the main event dear disciples people will listen to your sermons some will hate you when they you expose their sin some might even love it and hear you gladly thinking uh because they know it's the right thing to do in place to be they may even go try to reform their lives but you know the aim godly sorrow that brings repentance leads to salvation and leaves no regret but worldly sorrow brings death quoting paul and now as i asked earlier and in closing do you do you know what happened with herod one day the pharisees came to Jesus. You better get out of here. Herod wants to kill you. And he said to him, you go tell that fox. And it's like that. You go tell that fox, I'll go do what I want now, and I'll fulfill my mission. It's really powerful. When Pilate and Herod were absolute enemies, by the way, when he learned that Jesus belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, and I'm quoting, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad for he had long desired to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some sign done by him. This is John the Baptist. I want to see this. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. Jesus gave him nothing. The chief priests and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him and Herod with his 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 that very day. For before this, they had been at enmity with each other. You see, a common enemy makes friends, they say, doesn't it? Jesus had shaken the dust off his feet with regard to Herod. He was done with Herod. I asked the question at the beginning of the sermon, what if you murdered someone and that blood was on your hands? And they came back to life and were raised from the dead. It would be a crazy thing after that if somebody still wouldn't believe, right? Well, you would be lining up with Herod. Have you put the story together yet? What we just studied is what happened to Jesus. We took him by lawless hands and crucified him. The forerunner prepared the way for the runner. And we did this not to John the Baptist. We did this to Jesus. And he's risen. He's risen. He's out of the grave. God did raise him. And now he holds out pierced hands. You would think he'd paint the world red. Pierced hands. And he says, repent. and believe and i'll forgive you all your sin even what you did to me his servants today are preaching him all over the world him him his name is being made known all over the world what you do with him does matter beloved there are many privileged people who had everything christianity could offer there are today parents christian schools training understanding who like Herod suppress what's going on in their conscience are you tormented on the inside about your life does the preaching intrigue you do you come to hear gladly do you hate it do you hate me our job is to make him known so that you receive forgiveness that's the goal That's always the goal. And this all becomes a call for people to take seriously who is being proclaimed to them. This is not just about reforming your life. This is not about hearing good sermons that you today like or dislike or can walk out and say, ah, it's pretty good today. I was like, it's all right. It's not about thinking it's good to be in church today. Just about being here to see a just and holy man. I can tell you I'm not that just and holy in myself. This is about needy sinners who are about ready to drop into eternity who need a way of escape. And Jesus is the Son of God. And He's resurrected from the dead and has accomplished it. What you're doing with Him matters. And He's calling you today, Matthew, to come to Him. Receive Him. Believing. Embrace Him. Jesus wants you to know jesus wants you to know he's going to send you out with blessing right now in a minute that believing in him he's forgiven all of your sins and cleansed you from all of your unrighteousness that's the gospel and that's the side i hope all of you are standing on today let's pray heavenly father who's sufficient for these things i will confess i'm a worm I'll confess, Lord, that in and of myself there's nothing good. Merely a servant to make known the one who should be exalted over all and in the hearts and lives of Your people. And so I pray today that as this Gospel was preached everyone here would be encouraged as they stand with Jesus to know that even though we've done such atrocities ourselves there is free forgiveness and love that is offered and given to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who's raised from the dead. Would you hear our plea this morning and would you work powerfully by your Spirit in the lives of all that have gathered here to not be superficial with our Christianity as we're seeing everywhere, but by grace and in all humility we pray to take serious what we're doing with Jesus and to not just try to reform our lives ourselves. That's just not going to cut it. But for ourselves to be killed and raised new with him, that we would have life in his name and have it abundant. Receive our thanksgiving for hearing us today. In Jesus' name, amen.