Please do turn to our second scripture reading, Matthew chapter 14. I want to read a text at the end of the reading which we will work to verse 13. When Jesus heard of it, he departed by ship into a desert place apart. I shan't explain the significance of that now, but hopefully if we have time we will come to that At the end, this is a graphic account, one which we don't find it difficult to remember, the beheading of John the Baptist. And I want to use this tonight as a rich illustration of what can happen, what may happen, to those who get taken up by a worldview where there is no God. We call it atheism, sometimes agnosticism. But maybe tonight atheism is the better word. Atheism's irrationality, it does not make sense. When you look at the consequences of those who say there is no God, or maybe they say there is a God, but they live as though there is no God. I think with Herod in this chapter, we have good reason to use him as an illustration of the downfall, the gravity that can take somebody down into a spiral. The consequences, the results, can be devastating. Some would argue that atheism is not a religion. If you go to the American Association of Atheists, Yes, such a society does exist. They argue very firmly that atheism means that they believe in nothing. But I put it to you tonight that the energy, the vigour in which many promote atheism, the militant way in which it shoved down the throats of little children in our education system, And even from our government, in this country and in others, then to my way of thinking at least, this form of atheism has such a passion, the belief that there is no God is really a faith. And therefore we can say that tonight, this is the biggest religion in this country. There are more atheists. than any other religion that's practiced in this country. If you look at those who speak, they argue, they discriminate against those that believe in the God of the Bible. Well, we have to conclude that it is a religion and it's the largest religion in this country and many others. You see, rejecting God The God of the Bible, it not only distorts our understanding of right and wrong, but very often it will lead to irrational decisions, a complete disconnect between our life and the truth. Because after all, in an atheistic world, there is no truth. And if there's no truth, there's no reason. Because the Bible is truth. Thy word is truth. That's what Christ told us in John 17. And he is the truth. And so if you take away God, you take away the Bible, you take away Christ, you have no truth, you have no reason. What a sad jumbled mess you end up with. Well, let's look, just as an introduction tonight, We perhaps just go through the verses in a very straightforward way explaining how Herod mirrors the atheist. And I think we can see a number of lessons from this, this sad and sorry account. And we can learn many lessons from it. King Herod here is called the Tetrarch. He was the son of Herod the Great. This is Herod Antipas. There were many Herods and it was his father Herod the Great's will that he should succeed him and he should rule over the quarter part of the Roman province of Syria. Syria, we've seen it on the news recently. His first wife was a daughter of Aretas. She was an Arabian king and she's named in 2 Corinthians 11, 32 as king, or rather he was king of Damascus and she was married to him. But the important point here is that this second marriage was one that was clearly forbidden. In the law of Moses, incest, for the children that means marrying somebody who is far too close, a relative, for it to be safe genetically and to be unhealthy in society. And if you do so, the consequences are very significant and it happens still today. But he knew, John the Baptist knew, that this was not right. So here we read, verse 2. He's heard of the fame of Jesus and he says to his servants that he must Believe that this is not Jesus. This is a reincarnation of John the Baptist. Well, his assumption was completely wrong because John the Baptist was still in prison. He came to an assumption. And how often atheists, they jump to the most wild assumption. John the Baptist and Christ were two different people. The historical accounts show that so clearly. But King Herod, he hears of the fame of Jesus. And you can read into the narrative that he feels vulnerable and he feels threatened. And he jumps to this wild speculation that John the Baptist has come out of prison and it's really him. He forms a hypothesis that's completely wrong. And so Herod had decided to arrest John the Baptist He didn't like the prick to his conscience that this man, John the Baptist, had given him. It says here, verse 4, for John said to him, it is not lawful for thee to have her, Herodias. He can't marry her, but he did. And he didn't like it. And how often it is when somebody pricks the conscience, God's law says. Your conscience says, we don't like it. We feel uncomfortable. But I don't like it that way. And I'm going to ignore it. I don't care what you tell me. I'm gonna do what suits me. I'm gonna do what pleases me. And I will deal with the consequences my way. Verse five. And when he would have put him to death, he decides not to. Is it conscience speaking again? No, it's not. He's worried about the opinion poll. He's worried about his popularity. He feared the multitude because they knew that John the Baptist was the final prophet before the Lord Jesus would come. And so he was worried what people will say. Keeping up appearances. Do you know, we can fall into that trap too. Is there a young person here tonight? And the reason you've not come to Christ is because you're worried what your friends will say at school. You're worried about the multitude. You're worried about what they will say about you. He feared popular opinion. Well, we move on in the narrative. Verse 6. It's Herod's birthday. I read into the text here that he has a grand party. He puts on a feast. He arranges entertainment. And, of course, Herodias who's got a scheme. She wants to get the attention. She wants to have John the Baptist put to death. She's failed the first time, he's been put in prison. But the second time, she's going to fulfill her desire to get rid of the conscience that has spoken to her and to Herod. And so there she is. She organizes for her daughter. Yes, the text doesn't say much. There's an economy of words. It just says that the daughter danced before them. I think we can be justified in suggesting this was sensual. It was designed to appeal to the corrupt, worst instincts of Herod and it did the job. It just says in our grand authorised version, it pleased Herod. He liked what he saw. How sick to leer And to look at somebody that wasn't his, she may well have even been underage. It pleased Herod. Her name is popularly known as Salome. And now he makes another tragic mistake. Verse seven, whereupon having pleased him, he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. What a foolish thing. Never ever say that. The only person who can ever say that is our God. He said it to Solomon. You ask whatsoever You desire and I will give it to you. Of course, the Lord knew what he would ask for because the Lord knows all things. But this man, he asks this question. And the mother's pulling the strings and says, get me John the Baptist. Dress him up like a trout on a plate with decorations around the head. How obscene. to take the life of one who went about preaching repentance and doing good, and to treat him as entertainment. She danced, she entranced, she allured, and then John the Baptist, his life is ended. Give her whatsoever she please, he pleases. Verse nine, the king was sorry. What sort of sorry was this? People sometimes are sorry. They fake crocodile tears. Was he really sorry? No. He was sorry because he knew it would displease the people. But in order to save his own face for his oath's sake, In front of those that sat round the table, maybe reclining, eating at the feast, he said, you can have him. Go and chop his head off. Verse 10, he sent and beheaded John in prison. And the head is brought in. You see the scheme because the daughter, Salome, if that's her name, takes it to her mother. She's got what she wanted. What a tragic tale. How confusing. One minute he wants to please the people, the next minute, oh we forget them, I please myself. The one minute he keeps his life, the next minute his life is gone. What contradictions. What a weird morality. He ended up trying to promote. He was sorry, but he wanted to keep an oath. And oath, what inconsistencies you end up with in an atheistic world. Let's just think of some of them. You end up with no right and no wrong. Where are you gonna get it from? If there's no God, there's no Bible, there's no truth, you end up with the law of the jungle, where the strongest man wins for a time. No right, no wrong. Do as you please. Do as it pleases you. They did what was right in their own eyes, it says in the book of Judges many times. That's the first, inconsistency. Secondly, you have no right to authority, because there's no structure. You abandon marriage, the family, the church, The government gets undermined because it's the church and the Bible that says there should be government and we should respect those who have the unenviable task of ruling us. But no, all authority is gone. And people say, no, I don't want to do that. I'll do as I please. No right, no wrong, no authority, no moral power, only physical power and psychological power. And that leads to abuse and oppression. What about this? There's no explanation for the problem of evil. How do you explain what goes wrong in our lives and in the world? If you don't have the Bible, Tell us about corruption, depravity, sin, a disease that affects all of us. You do not have the faintest clue how to explain wars, conflict, arguments, breakdowns, man's inhumanity to man, as it's been called. What about this? How do you explain the life of the Lord Jesus Christ? the character in the whole of history that has more written material about him than any other. How can you explain his life, his death, his resurrection? You are clueless upon the most important figure of history. You have no explanation because he's just a man. How can a man do those things? You have no consistency in your life because you're making it up as you go along. You're driven by desires and lusts. In emotions, you're just in a moral mess. There's no thought for the consequences of anything you do. There's no thought for the fact that one day you will stand before God and give an account. You see, technically, Herod was a Sadducee. He did believe there was a God. He believed in the first five books of the Bible. He knew what it said in Leviticus 18, 16 about incest. But the Sadducees didn't believe in an afterlife. They didn't believe in a resurrection. Do you know that's what the atheist believes in? Death is the end. Death, there is no more. It's annihilation because there's no soul. how parallel this man's thinking and his practice is. And what you end up with is the only value in life is the currency of momentary pleasure. You just keep living for the next kick, the next party, the next drink, the next dancing, to please, to be popular. This worldview, it leads to oppression and we see so much of that. Hurt, unfairness, injustice, inconsistency. It puts no value on life. You can put a man's head on a plate as entertainment. What can you do to people in their old age? What can you do to the unborn? And it results in humanity. having no purpose except to please self and to please others and to keep up appearances. What a tragic consequence of a life lived. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. The Hebrew in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 is even punchier. It says this, the fool says, no God. It's militant, shaking a fist, no God. Do you know if we live life without listening to Christ and his word, we are no different. We're behaving as though there is no God. Just for a minute, look at the contrast between Herod And between Christ that we're going to come to in these final two verses, verses 13 and 14, there's some remarkable comparisons. The first is compassion. The Lord Jesus, verse 14, he was moved with compassion. We read that often about the Lord Jesus. What about Herod? Compassion? He couldn't care less. He's driven by kicks, by pleasure lust. He wants to please a woman because he gave a foolish oath to her daughter. Compassion and compassion less. The contrast couldn't be bigger. What about this? The crowd. There's a mention of the crowd, isn't there? didn't kill John the Baptist because of the multitude, verse five. And then you come down to verse 14. The Lord Jesus, he sees a great multitude. How does it affect Herod? Well, he's just delaying the death of John the Baptist. How does it affect Christ? He goes and heals them. He looks for the sick and the needy. And his heart goes to them. Heartless, heartful. Thirdly, Herod's willing to kill no matter what. To kill to please. What does the Lord Jesus do? He extends life. He gives somebody who was sick, who would have died. And he says, be healed. The Lord Jesus was wonderfully consistent through all his life. What about Herod? Spectacularly inconsistent. Well, I want to come to verse 13. We must finish in this much more positive way. And the most important word for me here in verse 13 is that word apart. When Jesus heard of it, the disciples in dignity, they went to get John the Baptist's body. They gave him a dignified burial. They went and told the Lord Jesus because he would want to know And the Lord Jesus hears of it. I have to read into the text. I think this is justified. When Jesus heard of it, you can feel his heart sink. Oh no. Oh no, a new low. How could he do such a thing? He departs by ship and he needs to be alone. What does the Lord Jesus think about? Well, I'm just speculating. But I think he's thinking about the grief of humanity. He's thinking through what he's heard. He knew, of course, it would happen. He knew all things. But he thinks about the cruelty of atheism. He thinks about all the people that lived then and would live in the future, who would reject him, despise him, hate him, neglect him, not believe in him, and his heart sinks. In the next verse it says he was moved. But I think we could be justified in saying that in that desert place, when he prayed, when he spoke to his Father in heaven, his heart was churned up. The weight of the sin of humanity bore down upon his soul, reminiscent of the time in Gethsemane when he would sweat great drops of blood. He pondered, why? Why? Why does it have to be like this? Why is the world this messed up place where the Romans are so cruel? and Herod, a man who knew the scriptures, could live like this. And my own dear friend, John the Baptist, his life cut short, and yet it was all planned so that we could have this account and read it tonight so that we get a glimpse into what happens in a world without God and a life without God, without God, and without hope. Maybe he pondered the triviality of a little girl dancing to please a mother, to get her wicked way, to kill a man who went about doing good. But maybe there was something else. Maybe he pondered now, 12 months into his three years of ministry, there or thereabouts, He started to turn his gaze towards Calvary. He started to think, yes, that's why I'm here. That's why I must needs go to Jerusalem. That's what my ministry is about. Repentance, faith in myself. That's why I must die upon the cross. It's why I must take the foulest sinner, and take his or her sin, and I must bear the punishment myself. He was in a desert place, apart. It didn't last long. The people heard. And so often was the case. The moments of quietness apart, had to be at night or at the beginning or the end of the day. And soon the people heard and they followed him. And what a contrast, verse 14, Jesus went forth. You see a new vigor. You see him going about healing and teaching and preaching and being moved with compassion towards them. His ministry is vital. He must go. He must heal the sick. He must show them who he really is. He is the son of God. He has authority. Forget kings, forget rulers. He's the one that we need to bow down before. What a tragic tale. But then we get this insight into the heart of Christ as he's moved with compassion, having been alone, pondering the irrationality of the human life. Do you know my friends tonight, this nation, we are upside down. Good is called evil and evil is called good. but it was ever the same. Can a leopard change its spots? We're told in the Bible we can't. This is the great need of the human heart, to turn to God, to turn to Christ, to come to the one who is pure and perfect, and the one that would go to Calvary. As a nation, we've turned away from God, but forget the nation. The nation just consists of individuals. Start with your own heart tonight. Where are you? Are there inconsistencies in your life? Do you say one thing and do another? That was Herod. Are you a men pleaser? Do you seek to please the crowd? Do you have a heart full of lust? and sinful pleasures, or what give you a kick? Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only answer. Jesus went forth. He continued his ministry. He was undeterred. In fact, he goes forth with more vigor. See yourself tonight. You could go down, and down, and down, as Herod did. or you could come to Jesus Christ, and he will straighten your life out, and he will give you a knowledge of what's right and wrong. And for the rest of your life, if you come in repentance and faith, you will live for the one who had compassion, the one who values life, the one who loves all that is good, and the one that transforms enlightens our life. Come to him tonight. He is the only Saviour. He was moved with compassion, and he looks at you tonight. And if you don't know him, he has compassion for you, sufficient to save. Come to the Lord Jesus, and he will heal your sin-sick soul. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Gracious God, we live at a time where we seem to be taken up with so much which is anti-God. So many people who seek to stamp out the Bible and its truth and even the name of Jesus Christ. What grief this must bring upon the Saviour. We pray tonight we would not add to his grief. and that we would not be unbelieving any longer, but instead come to Christ, bow before him, have him to be our Lord and Saviour. Lord, hear us then, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.