for the love that you showed on Calvary. Mark chapter 6 this morning is where we'll be. And as you're finding your spot, I felt this morning and all week just a real sense of busyness among a lot of people. I mean, I know with the fair last week and with school starting, it's just been a busy time. And I've just sensed talking to a lot of people that that you've come in this morning and you've been racing all week. I mean, I've just felt that burden as I talk to people. So before we get started, just close your eyes for a minute. Take a deep breath. Father, we thank you for the time to gather here today, and I pray that as we prepare our hearts for worship, God, that you would remove the distractions, God, the busyness. Our thoughts are pulled in so many directions and our minds race sometimes in a heart struggle to try to fit so many things in in a day. And yet, God, you've given us a day of rest. You've given us an eternal rest for those that are in Christ, but as we gather here, just clear our minds and our thoughts. Let us lay down all the distractions, all the cares, the concerns that we've carried in here, and let us just focus our hearts and our minds on You and Your Word, that the Holy Spirit might have His way here this morning, that He would speak to hearts, convict where it's needed, exhort where it's needed, and just draw, most of all, where it's needed for those that are lost. And so, God, we just pray that You would Prepare us for worship now, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Mark chapter 6, as most of you know, if you've been here with us regular, if not, we are in a series through the gospel of Mark, and we've been moving along fairly well. We're beginning our second message this week in the sixth chapter of Mark today, in a message titled, conscience, a calloused conscience. And as you think about the word conscience, what comes to your mind? What is a conscience to you? Depending on who you ask, you'll get a lot of different answers concerning what people feel a conscience is. The dictionary defines a conscience as this, an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. Kent Hughes, who is a pastor and theologian, he had this to say. He said, the conscience is a warning light that goes off in your soul. The great writer Mark Twain said, an uneasy conscience is like a hair in your mouth. And one teenage boy said, a conscience is something that makes you tell your mom before your sister does. So, depending on who you ask, you'll get a variety of answers concerning the conscience. But I want to look today at Mark chapter 6, verses 14 to 29, at a fellow by the name of Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas was the seventh son of Herod the Great, who was the king during Jesus' birth. And Herod the Great was kind of a strange character if you study his life. He was a very good diplomat, but he was very eccentric and very cruel. And he was very, very concerned about his kingdom to the point where he killed a lot of his family members just to make sure that no one would overthrow the throne and take it over. He had 10 marriages and 15 children. And so a lot of things going on during this time with the Herod dynasty. But we want to look today, as we get into this story, I want to mention three of his sons to you, Herod, Antipas, Philip, and Aristobulus. And the reason I mention those names is we're going to talk today a lot about King Herod, who is Herod Antipas. Herod the Great had already passed away by now. But he was what was known as the Tetrarch of an area known as Galilee and Perea. And that word just simply means ruler of a fourth part. So the kingdom was divided into sections and Herod at this time was ruling a fourth part of this kingdom. And what happens in this story that we'll look at is that Herod had a brother named Philip. And Philip was married to a lady named Herodias, okay? And Herod also had his own wife. But Herod goes to visit Philip, and as he's there, he... is attracted to Philip's wife Herodias, so much to the point that he brings her back to Galilee, divorces his own wife, and marries Herodias. So, you know, before Maury and Jerry Springer, you had the Herodian dynasty. I mean, you know, this is nothing new in the hearts of mankind. There has always been a propensity for evil, and so we shouldn't be shocked at what we see today because It's always been. There's nothing new under the sun, as Solomon would say. And so he marries her and we pick up the account here and we'll see more of what happened. But this kind of plays. It's going to kind of jump into where we're at and then kind of go back and relive the story. So look at me with John or I'm sorry, Mark, chapter six, verses 14 and 15, says King Herod heard of it for Jesus name had become known. And he said, It is John the Baptist who 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 the one of the prophets of old. I want you to think about this morning your conscience and look at Herod with me. We see in those verses that Herod had a troubled conscience. He had had John the Baptist put to death for preaching out against his adulterous relationship with Herodias. And now as Jesus... comes on the scene, we see him performing these miracles, doing great and mighty acts, preaching the gospel with power and authority. Herod's heard of this and he says, this is John the Baptist reincarnated. It's a ghost, it's John, he's back. William Shakespeare said that the conscience makes cowards of us all. And as Herod began to think about what he had done, his conscience was troubled. the past and his sinful acts continued to come up in his mind. And he was convinced that Jesus was this John that he had beheaded. Charles Finney, who was a great evangelist in the 1800s, said this about the conscience. He said, conscience may be regarded either as a power or as an act of the mind. In the former case, it is the power of the mind that affirms and enforces moral obligation. He says, conscience is not a legislator that makes law, but it's a judge that convicts of guilt. Listen to what he says here. It passes sentence in respect to the past and decrees and enforces moral obligation to obey the law in regard to the future. Conscience as a judge smiles on obedience and frowns on disobedience. And that is certainly where Herod was at during this time of his life. His conscience was troubled due to the things he had done in the past. And also as he thought ahead to maybe some moral obligations that he may have to keep in the future, the conscience began to keep him up at night. It began to trouble him. The Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 2, Verses 14 and 15, for when the Gentiles, that word in the Greek just simply means ethnic, so if you're not a pure born from birth Jew, you are a Gentile. He says, when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, listen, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts either accuse or excuse them. So you see, Paul says even though that the law was given to the Israelites, the Gentiles have the law written on their heart, they have this moral code that God has instilled in every human being to have a sense of what's right and what's wrong. And this conscience is a moral guide. Now certainly it's not a safe moral guide, because it's fallen just like everything else in this sinful world. And so it can be seared, it can be hardened, it's not always a safe judge. And some people we see seem to have no conscience at all in the things that they can do. But yet God has instilled in every human being this warning light, so to speak, to throw up a signal when things in your life aren't right. And the conscience will either cause you to be sleepless at night, or to lay your head down in peace, knowing that everything's good. It can keep you up, or it can be clean, and you can rest. And Herod was troubled with his conscience. And we look, as we go on in verse 16, it says, whom I have beheaded is raised from the dead." Something that we don't see in the English language that you do in the original is that little letter I. It is John whom I have beheaded." In the Greek, that I is emphatic, which means it has all of the force on that one letter in that sentence, meaning that it was a great weight, a great emphasis put on that. Herod recognized that he alone was responsible for what had happened to John. All of the guilt, all of the shame, and all of the weight of that sin rested squarely on the shoulders of Herod. And he knew it. And he felt it. And the conscience weighed heavy on his heart. But, notice what you don't see in verse 16. You don't see any repentance. You don't see any confession to God concerning the sin. Some of you that have played sports, especially, I remember when I grew up playing basketball, you know, if you'd make a mistake or do something wrong, you might say, my bad, my bad, it was my fault. You outwardly acknowledged that you made a mistake. But in the same sense, this is what Herod did. He was trying to quench these troubled thoughts, but he made no confession to God. It was basically this. I need to get this off my chest so I can feel better. Because there's no more unpleasant feeling in life than when you are under conviction by the Holy Spirit and your conscience is pressing on you that things in your life aren't right. If you've been in that place, it's not a good feeling. But I would say this, it's a blessed place to be. Because when God is still able to speak to your heart, and you're still tender enough to hear His voice, and He's still calling you to repentance, and He's still calling you to come to Him, That is a blessing, even though the feelings that we have during that time aren't pleasant. But what's really scary is when you can dive into your sin, when you can go off into your sin, and you're no longer touched. You're no longer moved. As you harden your heart and your conscience becomes seared. And we see Herod in a place where ultimately he's going to not feel It's not going to feel anymore. That's a dangerous place to be. His focus at the time was just about feeling better, to remove those guilty feelings that he was having, but not really to get right with God. And as we go on, we'll see that. Look at verses 17 and 19 with me. Now you're going to see a little bit of the background about why his conscience was so troubled. 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 could not." You see, John was outspoken. He was outspoken concerning what was happening with this adulterous relationship. And you know, if John would have come on the scene today, he would have had a church full of people come up to him and say, don't judge. Don't judge, John. Just keep quiet. That's their business. It's wrong, but don't say anything. And I'm glad for men of God and women of God today that are still willing to speak out the truth in love. You know, there comes a point. where that don't judge card gets overplayed a little bit too much. And we don't come in a self-righteous attitude saying, you need to be more like me, you need to do these things and your life will be good. That is a self-righteous, judgeful attitude that the Pharisees had that Jesus condemned. Judge not, lest you be judged. But, the Bible never tells us to stand down on proclaiming the fact that sinners need to repent and be saved. And no one will ever know they need a Savior if they don't recognize that they are lost and sinful. And so there comes a point where we don't trumpet the sin in their life continually, but you do need to point it out in the Word of God where they've strayed, and then give them the good news that there is hope and salvation in Christ alone. And we have become so afraid to stand up and boldly proclaim the truth of God, that the message today is, God loves you, God loves you, God loves you. And so there's no real heartfelt desire to turn from anything. They think they can have God in the world too. They think they can worship God and stay in their sin. Because in their minds, God is love and He accepts everything and anything and you can stay just how you are and walk hand in hand with the world and with Him and go to heaven and that is unbiblical and heretical. You have got to understand that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And we don't stand in judgment over somebody saying, we are better than you in any way, shape or form. But we call them to the same Christ that we had to receive. And we call them to turn from their sins as we turn from ours. And John proclaimed that boldly. And I hope and pray that we haven't lost our boldness in proclaiming the good news, along with the need to turn as well. And got John thrown in jail. It may get you ridiculed and mocked, and maybe someday even imprisoned and martyred, the way the world's turning, I don't know. But you better make up your mind now that if you are willing to live a righteous life, you better be willing to suffer. and be persecuted, because it will happen. But John stood boldly and proclaimed to Herodias that things were wrong, that this relationship was wrong. And in verse 20 it says, For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and a holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. You see, now Herod moves into a place of, he had a double-minded conscience. He feared John, and yet he heard him greatly at the same time. He rejected John's message, But he respected John as a person. He loved the idea of a holy life, but he loved his sin, too. And he was caught in this struggle between his conscience and between living a righteous life. Or living his unrighteous life, I should say. And the thing that scares me, as I talk to a lot of people, is I think sometimes we come to church, and it's not just here, it's everywhere, but some people, maybe here, maybe you love me as a pastor, and you love my preaching, but you don't know the one I'm preaching about. You're here because you love the service, but you don't love the master in your heart. I think some of you love the church and all that we do here as a body, but you don't know the head of the church, Jesus Christ. You've never entered into a relationship with Him. I think that a lot of you love the Bible and study it and read it, but you don't know the author. And that's where Herod was. He loved John, he loved the message, but he rejected who it was about. And I want to say this, and I hope if you don't hear anything else, you hear me say this this morning. If you're in that place where you love the things of God but not God Himself, you're just like Herod. And you will die in your sins unless you push past this earthly thing that you can see with your eyes and enter into a spiritual relationship with Christ. Because you could spend hours and hours and hours in this building. You could listen to hundreds of sermons and sing countless songs. Without Christ, it's worthless. It means nothing. And your sins will condemn you eternally to hell without him. without him. And I think that many of your conscience troubles you, and yet you haven't surrendered your life to him. You continue to hang on to the external things that you can see and not receive the internal, which is Christ. He was trapped in this cycle. Look at verse 21 to 25. It says, But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. And when Herodias his 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 give her whatever you ask me. I will give it up to half of my kingdom. And she went out and she 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. He was trapped. He swayed back and forth between loving John and loving his lifestyle. And here he has a party, he goes out on a drunken binge, he makes a rash decision, and it cost John his life. And that's what sin will do with you. If you choose to continue to ignore your conscience, ignore the Word of God, ignore the Holy Spirit, and continue to dabble with sin, it's going to drag you to a place where ultimately it will destroy you. You can continue to choose wrong, but there's a payday coming for it. There's a consequence involved with rejecting Christ and rejecting His message. And that's what happened to Herod. And after continually rejecting that message over and over and over again, his conscience became seared. Look at verse 26. It says, The king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his gifts, he did not want to break his word to her. There was a deep sorrow about what had happened, but that's not repentance. That's not desiring to change and turn from your sin. And I know, again, that many of you are in that place where you feel bad about things in your life. You feel bad about the circumstances that the sin has gotten you into, the feelings that come when you live a life apart from God. All of those things weigh heavy on a person. But that sorrow and that remorse is not repenting of your sins. You've got to see that. You've got to see that in Herod's life. You've got to see that in Judas Iscariot's life. These people were sorry about what they did, but they weren't broken over their sin. They didn't recognize the weight and the seriousness that's involved when you sin and you are separated from God and you continually Reject that message time and time again. You're building a bridge farther and farther away from God and your conscience is becoming harder and harder. And you'll get to a place where things no longer bother you, where conviction no longer comes, where it's easier to stay away from God and from his church and from his word. And it's easier to reject that message. And it's easier to live in sin. And it doesn't bother you anymore. And you excuse it and you justify it and you make ways around it. And all the time you think, well, this isn't so bad. I don't feel that bad anymore. And since I don't feel bad, it must not be bad. And you don't recognize that this sin is leading you on a broad road to destruction. It's taking you down a path that is going to cost you your soul. And Herod didn't see it. He didn't see it. And my question to you this morning is this. If you feel that conviction and you know that there's things that are wrong in your life, and you're under that weight and that pressure, and God is working in your heart, What's holding you back from coming to Him? This is life or death. This is heaven or hell. This is eternity that's on the line. What is keeping you from surrendering your life to Christ? What excuse do you have that is so strong that you're willing to cast your soul away for it? What could it possibly be that's holding you back? And if you're a child of God, and you're struggling with some kind of sin, what are you doing to overcome this thing? What are you doing to defeat it? You know, we often fall into these sins and then we feel sorry after the fact and we say, God, I don't like how I feel. I'm sorry, I won't do that again. We make promises to God and we fail over and over again. My question to you is, what are you really doing? If you see your sin as so evil and so heinous and so destructive that it sent Christ to the cross, and you really desire to be rid of those things in your life, what are you doing to remove that from your life? What are you really doing? Because just standing around and doing nothing will never ever get you past the place and into a place of victory over those sins. You've got to be proactive in how you handle those things. Who are you accountable to? Do you have people in place that will keep you accountable? Do you spend regular time in the Word and in prayer? What are you doing? What are you filling your life up with? If you fill your life up with Christ, you won't have room to fill it up with garbage. But if you leave yourself wide open and never surround yourself with anything godly, don't be surprised when the world comes in. It will come in. You're not strong enough to resist all the temptations that are around you. None of us are. Fill your life up with godly things. Surround yourself with godly people. Be accountable to one another. That's why the church is so important. That's why we need one another. We've come to this place where we think, I don't want to be in anybody's business. I want somebody in my business. I hope you're in my business. Because when I joined this church, I joined the body of Christ, and we are to exhort one another, rebuke one another, correct one another, do it in a spirit of love, but we need one another. You need one another. I hope and pray that when somebody's in your business, you say, thank you. Thank you for possibly steering me back from a place that could have destroyed me. Thank you. That should be your attitude, not get out of my business. Look with me as this goes on as we close. His conscience was seared. It says in verse 27, immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. John the Baptist died that day, but so did Herod. Herod died that day too. His conscience went to a place where he no longer could feel and hear the Word of God. Look as we close with me. You don't have to turn there. Dallas will have it up on the screen. Luke 23, verse 8 to 12. It says, When Herod saw Jesus, this is the night before Jesus was crucified, they brought him before Herod. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see Him, because he had heard about Him. And he was hoping to see some sign or some miracles done by Him. Jesus was a sideshow to him. He was some entertainment. Bring Him in so He can do some miracles in front of me. Let Him perform for me. He wanted to put Jesus on the stage as an entertainer. He brought Him in and questioned Him at some length, but He made no answer. But He made no answer. Don't miss those words. Herod called for Christ. Christ didn't answer. That's a place that you can get to. By all means, don't think that you can continually reject Christ and then He'll always be there at the end to receive you. When you harden that heart to the point where you're really beyond feeling... Herod had no desire for Christ to come in so that he could repent, so that he could turn to Him and really give his life to Him. He wanted to be entertained by Jesus. Many people come to church today to be entertained. They love the things of God because it's entertaining. It's tradition. It's something that they've always done, but they don't really want Christ. And in the midst of a religious assembly just like this, you've missed Jesus and you've hardened your heart against him. He doesn't even speak to you anymore. You come in here and you leave, and you're not convicted, you're not challenged, you're not motivated to any step of service or any act of repentance, and nothing's there. You just come and you show up and you leave, week after week after week. And you don't even realize that your conscience is so seared that you don't feel anything anymore. And then you start to make excuses and say, well, it must be the preacher, it must be the teaching, it must be the worship music. Maybe you just don't feel anything anymore. And maybe you're going to bounce around from church to church and you're never going to feel anything. Because it's not the church, and it's not the pastor, and it's not the worship leader, and it's not the Sunday school teacher, it's you. And you've got to see that. And you've got to fall down on your face before God and ask him to soften your heart. and you've got to ask Him to speak to you again like He used to, and pray that He'll give you another opportunity to repent. Hebrews 9.14 says, And so the good news this morning is this, if your conscience isn't that hard, And it's not seared. And God is speaking to you this morning that you need to turn to Him. That you need to surrender to Him. That you need to live for Him. That you need to serve Him. That you need to follow Him. Then the opportunity to do that is now. As Jeff comes and we give an invitation. God speaks. And when He speaks and you hear, you should reply in faith. Because there may come a day where He doesn't speak anymore, and it'll be too late. If you hear His voice today, harden not your heart, the Bible says. So as we stand and as we sing, do you need to come this morning? Change my heart, O God. Do you want Him to change you? He will. He'll make you a new creature in Christ Jesus. Change my heart, oh God. Let me be like you. May I be like you. Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever true. Change my heart, O God. May I be like You. You are the potter. I am the clay. mold me and make me. This is what I pray. Change my heart, O God. Make it ever true. Change my heart, O God. Change my heart, O God. Do you want Him to change you? Do you feel Him calling you to change? ♪ May I be like you ♪ Let's do 493. ♪ Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Calling for you and for me ♪ See on the portals he's waiting and watching Watching for you and for me earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home. Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not His mercies? Mercies for you and for me. Come home. earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home. Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me. Shadows are gathering. Death's night is coming. Coming for you and for me. Come home. Isn't it time? Come home. Ye who are weary, come home. earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home. Oh, for the wonderful love he has promised, promised for you and for me, He's moved like this. If He's moving in your heart, you better answer. He has mercy and pardon. Come home. Maybe He's calling you here to work, to labor and serve. Maybe this is a church body you want to join. Whatever your need, will you come? Is He calling you? As Jeff plays, do you need to come? Is your conscience still speaking? Is the Holy Spirit still drawing? What are you going to do? There's only two choices. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling. You can be seated for just a moment. I'm going to invite the Thomas family to come forward. Most of you know Shane and Angie and their children. It's been a joy to see God work in a relatively short time. They haven't been with us for a whole lot of years. I don't think, what's it been, maybe two? And God has just really blessed the family and worked, and I got a call last week about Another amazing thing that happened, Brendan here, Brendan Thomas, had been under conviction, had been asking a lot of questions, and they talked at length, and Brendan had asked Christ to come into his life and save him. And so I came over and met with him for probably an hour or better, and we talked a little bit and went over some things, and he comes this morning on his profession of faith, asking to be received into this body of fellowship, and I think next Sunday morning to be baptized here into the church. I wanted to present him this morning and give you a chance to rejoice with him. All those in favor, let it be known by saying amen. Amen. There you go. We receive you gladly. So, as we dismiss, if you want to come around and give them a handshake or a hug, let them know how thankful you are for their family and what God's doing there. We certainly rejoice with you guys and we look forward to seeing what God's going to do in your life, Brendan. It's going to be a wonderful journey for you. Thank you all for being here today, for our guests. I hope you felt welcome. We have service again tonight at 6. You're welcome to come back Wednesday nights at 7. And you can see me anytime if you've got any questions. I'm always available. So thank you for being here. I'm going to ask you, if you would, to stand to your feet. And I'm going to ask our good friend Delaney, do you mind to close us out this morning, brother? Thank you.