As you're taking your seat, if you could turn in your copy of the scriptures to Mark chapter 6. So Jesus went to his hometown. He was rejected. Now he sent them out, his disciples, two by two, and they're going out through all the villages. And it's reached the words of Herod. So when you think Herod, I don't want you to think about Matthew 2. That's Herod the Great. This is his son. They call him Herod Antipas. Now Herod, we're gonna see, has got himself, he's got a number of problems, and the biggest one he has really is lust. Seems to control his actions. In this case, not to get ahead of myself too much, but John the Baptist will accuse him for taking his brother's wife. So not only was it his brother's wife, but it was also his niece at the same time. And then on top of that, he divorced his wife to have her It's just ugly. It's ugly, ugly, ugly. But I'm willing to put my foot out there and say that's not actually his biggest problem. See if you can think about what his biggest problem is or remember what I told the kids as we read. This is the word of the Lord from Mark chapter six, starting in verse 14. King Herod heard of it, the disciples going out, for Jesus' name had become known. And 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 kept him safe. And 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 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 guests, 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 out and beheaded him in the prison. and he 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. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless the reading and especially the preaching of your word. that we would hear the voice of Christ, that he would be the one who would speak, and because Christ speaks, that we would believe and that we would be changed. So I pray that you would meet us where we are, the issues that we have, what is going on in our hearts and in our lives, and that in all things, we would learn to trust you more and more. Lord, let the words of my heart and the meditations, let the words of my mouth, excuse me, the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. The Roman poet Horace said, he who lives in fear will never be a free man. He who lives in fear will never be a free man. And indeed Solomon agrees. He says, the fear of man lays a snare. but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. More than being lustful, and certainly he was, Herod was a man who lived in fear. What God is showing us through Mark is that by not fearing God, you'll fear everyone else. By not fearing God, you will fear everyone else. Think about the kings and the presidents, whoever that make it to the top of the ladder, maybe a CEO at the top of his game, even up there at such great heights, they fear those under them. There's no escape by fearing, not fearing God, you'll fear everyone else. We see Herod himself in this story, he fears for people, groups, roughly people or thing, the last thing we'll see, but you'll fear your family, You'll fear your preacher. You can laugh at that. You'll fear your rivals. And four, you'll fear your own conscience. I say someone because that's the little man or the voice in our head or woman in your head that speaks to you about God's rules, right and wrong. You'll fear those four groups if you don't fear God. So first, you'll fear your family. By not fearing God, you'll fear your family. Skipping to verse 17, we'll come back to 14 through 16. We see that for the sake of Herodias, for the sake of this woman who he had taken and made his own wife, Herod imprisons John. Now, it sounds like he would not have done anything had Herodias not put him up to it. But you can imagine her. It sounds like from verse 19 that she was so committed to the sin that she wanted to kill him. She pestered and bugged Herod probably to death. Take him in. You are the king. You can do away with him. This is ridiculous. Herod does take him in, but he is not willing to touch him. We'll see why later. But we see there's an element of control that Herodias has over Herod. And she uses her lust, his lust rather, no doubt. But he certainly fears her enough to heed her in doing something that he probably knows he should not do in imprisoning her. We're going to see also from him fearing the preacher, John the Baptist, that he knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew what he was doing, yet he feared his wife enough to throw John in prison. I think Herodias knew that she had Herod wrapped around her finger, that she could eventually convince him with enough time and effort to do as she pleased. She was exercising authority over him in using his fear, maybe his desire for her to do it. If you have seen the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, It's a pretty funny one from 25 years ago or so. But the main girl, the protagonist, her mother is trying to give her advice and says, yes, men are the head, but women are the neck, and they can turn the man any way that she wants. You know, we kind of giggle at that because there's an element of truth to it, perhaps, or reality to it. Most certainly Herodias knew that she was Herod's neck. And she was going to give him a crick in the neck until she got what she wanted. Now, ladies, I'm going to get you guys know this perhaps, but those of you who are married, you have a lot of power in your marriage as the woman and being it's even more so being in the South. You guys may know this, but the South is in some ways a very matriarchal society. You can know this from phrases like, if mama ain't happy, nobody's happy. Right? And how men, unfortunately men, how many of you, when your mama, or when your wife is angry, you're just like, I'm going to get out of the house for the Saturday. I'm going to go fishing, hunting. I'm just going to get away. I'm going to work in the yard. Anything to stay clear. That's a little bit of living in fear. So ladies, why do you use your power that way, if you do? Is there an element of fear in your own heart? or if I don't exercise some power, I'm gonna get run over. We have to think through these things. Perhaps in this case, fearing God instead of fearing what your husband might be left at his own devices means a posture of loving respect. It doesn't mean letting him off the hook and doing whatever he wants, but perhaps it means being his helpmate, staying by his side, encouraging him, but giving him the space to be the leader he should be. Now, men, You cannot fearfully abdicate your place in the home just because your wife may exercise a lot of power. You, as men, have been called to be the spiritual heads of your family. I'm not saying that you need to make your wife wear dresses down her ankles, make her stay at home, do all those things. That's just an aesthetic. I'm talking about spiritual headship. being the leader in your home in the sense where you're constantly drawing your family to Christ. Now, if you are one that tends to abdicate your responsibilities, if you are one that likes to goof off, let your wife run things while you have fun. I don't know who that applies to. I'm not looking at anybody or any of that. But it may feel embarrassing to try to take on that God-given role again. You need to fear God more than your wife or fear God more than yourself and do it. I think Herod and Herodias gives us a really extreme example of someone who lives in fear, but I'm telling you that the gospel gives us the courage as men to spiritually lead our homes. And for the ladies, the gospel gives you the courage to follow the husband that God has given you. It's kind of a scary, sobering thing. And now you may not have lives that look like Herod and Herodias, but nevertheless, see in our text, a man controlled by his fear and a woman controlled by her fear as well. In this case, her fear of the preacher. Because by not fearing God, you'll fear everyone else. You'll fear your family. And secondly, you'll fear your preacher. In this case, their preacher was John the Baptist. It's not that John or me or any other preacher, Richard, you name it, is worth fearing in and of ourselves. We are but men, as Peter would say. And we are but men beset with weaknesses, let me tell you. But God, by his mercy, does speak through the preacher to the people of God. And that's exactly what John does. Verse 18 says that John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. It made Herodias have a grudge against him. She wanted to put him to death, but she could not. Or it says, Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, yet he heard him gladly. It says this is the only person that says he explicitly feared. but it is keyless into what's going on in his heart. Thicke fears John for three reasons. First is his reputation. He says he's a righteous and he's a holy man. And I think with John's sterling reputation by grace, Herod knew he had a slimy reputation. His dad had a slimy reputation, a murderous reputation, and he had not done much better. He was known to be a man driven by his lusts. And so it made him respect John, even fear him. And even though he knew he was condemned by his preaching, it says that he heard him gladly. He was perplexed by him. He was keeping him at arm's length, but he liked to hear the man who was clearly empowered by the Spirit of God to preach. You know, this is why in times past with the greatest preachers on the planet, you think, you know, Charles Spurgeon, Billy Graham, you name it, someone who is a gospel preacher able to draw large crowds. You know, people would just, it's not that they necessarily wanted to hear the gospel, but they wanted to hear the man preach. He was that good. They were that good. He heard him gladly. He had no intention of repenting. We'll see. But who wants to hear the best preachers out there? Even unbelievers do. So he feared him for his reputation and for his preaching and also his courage. We see that in verse 18. It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Now it is not lawful to do X and Y and Z. That was a favorite phrase of the Pharisees. You see it throughout the gospels. It's not lawful you to pick up your mat. Not lawful to do such and such on the Sabbath. That was their favorite formula. But as Jesus tells us, they were so obsessed about tithing, the mint, the dill, and the cumin, that they ignored the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy. And so you don't see a Pharisee getting up there and telling Herod, it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. John proves himself far better by putting his life and his livelihood on the line. John spoke up where it counted Most. He had courage, great courage, to speak against Herod and against his, really, his bad behavior. So he fears John the Baptist. He probably respects him a good bit, but he definitely fears him. But that is a fear that's competing with the fear of his wife. In this case, I think the fear of John and the fear of his wife held him in suspension where he could not do one or the other. He was simply kind of stuck. One-on-one, in this case, his fears competing. And so things just went on like this for some time where even the wife that he feared could not get an edge on John because he feared them both. So things were held in a bit of a stasis, if you will. But I'll tell you what, fear of the preacher, even if you don't have a wife that you're afraid of, men, or a husband that you're afraid of, ladies, the fear of the preacher is not enough to bring repentance. It's not enough. You may think the world of me or of Richard or anyone else. You may love to hear the preacher, your favorite preacher that you listen to during the week. It's not enough to bring you to repentance in and of itself. I mean, think about it. What if Richard caught you doing something in town that you knew you weren't supposed to do and he does too? What if I caught you? What if I caught you red handed doing something horrible? Would that be enough to bring repentance? Sure, you would feel shame. You would feel awful. You would be embarrassed. Your face would turn red. But when that dust has settled, is it the embarrassment that's driving new behavior? Or is it a new heart? I think time and experience will tell us that is ultimately, embarrassment will go away. We'll get used to the new state of things. And we may in our heart, maybe we just cherish the sin in our heart, but it doesn't go away, it may come back. On the other hand, John is a contrasting model with Herod of godly fearlessness. We saw that he had the courage to tell King Herod, you cannot do that. That is against God's law. You are a Jew, you live like a Gentile, and you cannot do that. Thus saith the Lord, essentially. John was a, you know, he was a wild man. He wore camel skins. He had, you know, honey and eating locusts out in the wilderness. He had nothing to take away, sure, except his life and his freedom. Yet he put it all on the line because he feared God more than man. Sure, John wanted to continue his ministry. He had these disciples he was taking care of, but he ultimately feared God and rose to the occasion to call out sin where it was sin, especially scandalous sin, public sin in the eyes of all the people. I think the comfort in this case, the comfort of the gospel will make us bold. John did not believe in himself. He believed in the one whom he was introducing to Israel, Jesus Christ. He knew the God who loved him, who had brought him forward for this purpose. And so he believed, and it made him bold to call out sin where it was sin needed to be called out. Proverbs 28.1 says, The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. As well, John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence, the kind of the arch-Presbyterian, back during the war and Constitution timeframe. He said, it is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man. Herod is trapped by his fears, competing fears in this case, but John is not. John is free. John risks everything to tell Herod what is and what is not, but he is free. The Lord keeps him safe, even though it doesn't look like it at the end. But by not fearing God, you'll fear everyone else. First, you'll fear your family, you'll fear your preacher, and third, you'll fear your rivals. Or you can say your friends, but I'm gonna say rivals in this case. So an opportunity comes, verse 21, for Herod on his birthday. He invites all these nobles, commanders, leading men of Galilee, men of rank, men of stature, the movers and the shakers. of the whole area, he invites them for his birthday party, and he brings out maybe Herodias. It was a plot by Herodias, because she knew Herod, knew how to, you know, trick him into doing what she wanted. Maybe she puts out her daughter. In any case, Herodias' daughter comes out and dances, and kind of the connotation is dances in a particular way. Enough said. And sure enough, Herod takes the bait. Look at what it says. Says, ask for me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you. And he vowed to her, verse 23, whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half my kingdom. That's a foolish oath. It's really, that's dumb. St. John Chrysostom, fourth century preacher, said this, said, thus, this is a paraphrase, thus made him so stupid as to willingly give up his kingdom for a dance. The man was so captured by lust, he's gonna give up his kingdom for a sensual dance. And so the plot thickens. Verse 24, she goes to her mother. What should I ask? 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. No waiting, no stalling. Give me that head post haste. Herod is trapped. He's trapped. I'm going to guess he feared his rivals. Actually, I know he did. Leading men, his military commanders, the nobles of the region. You know, Rome did not care who was in charge of their provinces. Now, unless it was a family member or a close friend, and Herod was neither. He was a Jew, elevated among Jews to rule Jews. They didn't care who was in charge as long as they got their taxes and as long as the region did not descend into chaos and the leader was going to play ball, the new leader, they didn't care who was in charge. Herod the Great, Herod's dad in this case, killed his own sons. He would kill rivals. It was a bloodbath. Easily one of these nobles, spotting a little bit of weakness, sniffing it out, could have seen a man at his weak point not give according to his vows and just spread, you know, just whisper, oh, Herod's weak. You know, his stepdaughter danced for him and he promised her and he said, no, man, we could foment some rebellion. We can kill him. You can just see it, you kind of feel like the, you know, some of those conniving political TV shows that are out there of, you know, the underhand deals, the quiet conflict. underhanded tactics, undoing each other. You could see this kind of playing out in that scenario. And Herod knew he was stuck. In this case, the calculus changed. Herod loved his lust and his power. He feared his wife. He feared his friends or his, in this case, his rivals. And he feared John. But now the scales tipped and he was going to sacrifice John to them. in order to keep on what he had. This is what Satan will do to us. He will make us compromise with idols and sins that we know we love. You know, you think about, the easiest place to think about this for a young person is at school. You know, we desire to have the love of the popular kids. Maybe the popular people at work, even if you're older, and we, you know, start doing things, you know, small things to show that we want to be in and want to be accepted. And then Satan uses those things. He kind of lures you in with those things. And then, oh, to keep those things, you have to start doing worse and worse things. Maybe it's in the school case, it's, you know, betraying one of your friends. For a politician controlled by his lusts, it was an ultimately murder. The one smaller sin gave way to a bigger one. If Satan can make us compromise in small ways, he has us by the throat, and he's gonna continue that game until we're stuck. There's a reason why we pray, lead us not into temptation, after we pray, forgive us of our debts. There's a reason for this. Because if we have been forgiven our debts, if our sins have been forgiven, if we have confessed them, If we are cultivating a clean conscience, it's harder for Satan to lead us into temptation. Have you thought about that? Where Satan can use guilt. He can put guilt into a compost churner and churn out a smellier and smellier sin in us as time goes. He's crafty like that. He leads us into sin. He leads us into temptation with small things. Those small things always lead to a bigger thing. Herod was trapped. He had no choice. It says he was exceedingly sorry because of his oaths and his guests, his powerful guests. He did not want to break his word to her. And sure enough, the executioner blobs off John's head, delivers it on a platter. Disciples come and bury him. and John's glorious career as prophet is over just like that, at the whim of a man controlled by his fears. It's a hard thing. Satan will make us compromise, and there's no way out once we've taken the bait without confessing our sins. By not fearing God, you'll fear everyone else, fear your family, your preacher, your rivals, and we shortly finish with fearing our own conscience. All the way back to verse 14, When Jesus appears on the scene, some said, or Herod even says, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That's why these miraculous powers are at work in him. Others say he's Elijah, or he's a prophet, like the prophets of old when Herod heard it. He said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised. He hears about the power of Jesus Christ, the same message John preached about repentance. Jesus and his disciples are preaching, repent, turn from your sins, hate your sin, grieve over your sin. and return to God. And a man that was paralyzed by sin is paralyzed by the news of repentance. He becomes unreasonable. He jumps to, through his guilt, jumps to the craziest possible conclusion. The only way this makes sense, says his guilt and his conscience, is if John's been raised from the dead. One commentator says it's almost as if he's been haunted by a headless prophet. So struck was he in his conscience for what he had done that affects everything that he thinks about Jesus going forward. George Sewell says, fear is the tax conscience pays to guilt. Fear is the tax conscience pays to guilt. In his guilt, the conscience terrifying Herod, screaming at him, he cannot think clearly about Jesus. when Jesus comes. The one who is greater than John excites even greater fear in Herod than he ever had before. Our guilty conscience will not let us hear the gospel clearly. It can prevent it. Now it's my job, Holy Spirit's work, to reach past our consciences that condemn us and to offer hope. But who is offering Herod hope here? Not really anybody. Not that they know how. or not that they could have, but that's what we need. When we are the people that are struck by fear, that live by fear of everyone else or everything out there, we need the hope and the comfort of the gospel the most. Whether you're, no matter where you live, you live in the North, live in the deep South, West Coast, East Coast, Africa, Europe, Asia, everyone is afraid of something or somebody, but only those who fear God the reverent fear of the Father, who know Jesus, who have been redeemed by his blood, who see the power of Christ in his ministry and in his word with a full force brought upon them. Only then will we learn to reach out to Christ in fear of God and hold on to him for dear life. That is the only way we will fear God more than men, is by hearing the gospel the content of the gospel, applying it to ourselves, to every situation we find ourselves, and determine from that point forward to live under the cross, to daily confess our sins, or maybe multiple times a day, at least weekly if you're here, confess your sins and have a clean conscience. Christ will make us clean, and as he gives us cleanliness of soul, he purifies us, he redeems us. Over time, sanctification's happening, he's making us holy, he's purifying our conscience from dead works, as the apostle says, so that we may serve the living God. That's the beauty of the gospel, not just the content, but play it out every single day, that every time I sin, I repent, I hate my sin, I grieve over it, and I am determined to walk in newness of life. I think fear, most of all, is driven by pride. We love ourselves so much that we are unwilling to see anything bad happen to ourselves, so fear is like a protective wall and shield to prevent that from happening. But a humility, a humility driven by the cross and by the pure milk of the gospel humbles us, lets us fear God more than man. It's humbling to put your destiny, your person in the hands of the living God, but he will keep you safe. Again, Proverbs 29, 25, the fear of man lays a snare. It will always ensnare you like a rabbit in the field. But whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. He will keep you safe. Your fears will not keep you safe. Only the Lord can do that. And by the power of his son, he will keep you safe until you no longer need to be kept safe because you are safely in him forever. This is the promise of the gospel, the power of it lived out in our lives. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would make us fearless, not because we are strong in ourselves, but because you are. And if we fear you, we don't need to fear anyone else. So let us not live in fear, but cling to the son, and knowing that he redeems us from all sin and our fears, that he will bring us to you in the heavenly kingdom. Let us live with that as our main hope and eschew our own pride and cling to him alone. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.