of God. Now I want to remind you that there are actually three things that are going on here as Jesus is being condemned to die. There's the love of the world that's in both Pilate and Herod. There's the condemnation of Jesus by the crowds who really don't condemn Jesus at all. They only condemn themselves. And then there's the sovereignty of God who orchestrated everything centuries before it ever happened. And several years after the resurrection, the same Dr. Luke quoted the apostles as they were praying about these issues, all working simultaneously together. In the book of Acts, chapter 4, verses 27 and 28, it says, For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate." Now it's interesting that the apostles included Herod in this, in Acts 4. I'm going to show you why this morning. Along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. And the Gentiles, no doubt, are the Romans that are involved in this. And the peoples of Israel are the Jews, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, and the Essenes, and the Zealots. And look at Job 28. To do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. That's the sovereignty of God. So the men who led the church during its first years believed and taught that the evil actions of unsaved and wicked men, including the murder of Jesus Christ, were carried out under the predestined purpose of God who works all things after the counsel of Him. And I'm not telling you this is easy to comprehend. I'm just telling you that's what the Bible says. So in reality, evil is not a force that roams freely throughout the earth, but it is merely a tool that God uses to further His own good will in both saving all of His elect and damning the non-elect. And so that is a very deep and profound and high and celestial and glorious truth that has very practical, down-to-earth applications. So when that bad thing comes to you, when that evil thing comes to your door, when that unfair treatment comes to you, it is not accidental. God is at work to allow the evil to touch your body or to touch your life. Over the last several weeks, we've been going over the amazing interchange between this vicious, unmerciful tyrant and the Lord of Glory. And now we come to the point where Pilate sends Jesus over to Herod. So look again at verses 4-7 with me. Then Pilate said to the chief priests in the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. Three times Pilate will say this. But they kept on insisting, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place, this place being Jerusalem. When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time. Interesting. Now verse 4 tells us that even though Pontius Pilate was a barbaric and cruel man, God had moved him to actually begin to defend Jesus. And so here in verse 4, Pilate says, I find no guilt in this man. And this is the first time that this evil man would say this. In fact, before he sends him to die, Pontius Pilate will declare the innocence of Jesus three separate times. And in response to Pilate's declaration of Jesus' innocence, the self-righteous religious hypocrites that instigated this entire show trial, said he stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place. Now the only reason these men said this was to goad Pilate to go ahead and condemn Jesus, this place being Pilate's jurisdiction in Jerusalem. But as soon as Pilate heard that Jesus was from Galilee, look what Luke says. When he, which is Pilate, learned that he, which is Jesus, belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time. Now, I could have gone into about four or five pages to tell you why it just so happened that Herod was in Jerusalem on this day. But I'm going to preach a while today anyway, so I just said, well, let me just tell them. What a sovereign God that God moved circumstances and providentially pulled and pushed and caused and allowed things so that Herod would be in Jerusalem while Jesus was arrested. Because he didn't normally dwell in Jerusalem. So the only reason that Pilate sends Jesus over to Herod is because he's already convinced that Jesus is innocent. of what he's being accused of, and he doesn't want to be the one who condemns Jesus to die. And I'm not speaking to any integrity on Pilate's part. I think I realize that Pilate just didn't want to be used by the Jews here. So now as we continue to move through Dr. Luke's narrative, as soon as Pilate heard that Jesus was originally from the region of Galilee, he sends Him over to Herod, because that was Herod's jurisdiction. So, that makes us ask the question, who in the world is Herod? Well, actually, this Herod is not the man that was called Herod the Great. How many of y'all know the term the Great was not his last name? Yeah. Alexander the Great, Herod the Great, they were great in their own imagination because they conquered people and they decimated civilizations and they imposed their will on other people. We have other words beside great for that, but that's this title. Now Herod the Great ruled over the land of Israel for about 37 years, and he is the man who built the temple in Jerusalem that the Jews used for their sacrifices until 70 A.D. Interesting that Herod, this pagan Roman Gentile polytheistic barbarian, built the Jews their worship center. They didn't have a problem with that. Okay, Herod also built the famous port at Caesarea and the fortress at Masada where over a million Jews died in the Roman War. They jumped off the cliffs with their babies in their arms rather than submit to defeat at the hands of the Romans. The Apostle Levi tells us that Herod the Great was also the ruler in Judea who ordered the massacre of the innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus. Now Herod died a very horrible and painful death. in about 4 BC, about the time that Jesus was born. The calendar was changed at least once. There's indication that the calendar could have been changed twice. There's also indication to say that during the first century when Jesus was in his ministry, there were actually two different calendars that were being used by various people in Jerusalem at the time that Jesus was in his ministry. And I could talk to you about that. So, Jesus was not born in the year zero, as you would normally think. He was born somewhere between 6 B.C. up to 4 B.C. And at His death, the kingdom of Israel was divided among His sons and Herod's sister. So Herod the Great had three sons, all of them named Herod. How do you like that? Herod Archelaus, Herod Antipater, and Herod Philip I, who also became known as Herod II. And Herod's sister was named Salome. And so it was Herod Antipater who was nicknamed Antipas who was given authority over the region of Galilee. So when Pilate heard that Jesus came from Galilee, he sent him to Herod Antipas. Now Antipas ruled over Galilee from the death of his father in 4 B.C. until about 39 A.D. But he had to go to Rome to get the appointment that his father gave him formally and officially approved. And because Antipas had been formally educated in Rome and was politically connected, the appointment over Galilee was confirmed. And it was at this time that Herod Antipas became the Herod that we read so much about in the New Testament. Now remember that for many years prior to this, Galilee was the place that terrorists and anarchists ran into to hide from the authorities. They would do their dirty work in Jerusalem. The Saqqari, as I've told you early on in our journey through Luke, these were guys that had long sleeves and their robes that hung down, and they would walk around with their hand in their in their sleeves like this and they had little curved daggers in their sleeves. And they would walk up behind a Roman dignitary and cut his neck open and then blend back into the crowd. And they were the original terrorists of the land of Israel during that time. A terrorist is somebody who has no compulsion about killing somebody in the name of a righteous cause. And so now they blow things up and kill and kidnap and behead and all that in the name of some holy or righteous cause. Jesus did not promote terrorism. Jesus condemned it. And so we should condemn it as well. And so there's a difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist. You've been fed the indoctrination that one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. That's not always true. There's some honorable and godly men who fight legally and rightly for freedom. In fact, even to the point of their own harm. and others who just preach the gospel to call men and authority to accountability and that's how they win their freedom. The power of their argument is more powerful than a sword or a gun. And so when they killed these people, they would run off into Galilee and hide. And so when people came from Galilee, people looked at them suspiciously, especially when they would come into Jerusalem, because this region is where many of the false messiahs that Jesus prophesied about came from. Now, as I told you before, your Bible in English says Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 and different other passages that there will be many who will come in My name who say, I am Christ, and will deceive many. Jesus never used the word Christ. That's a terrible translation in your Bible. He used the word Misha, which is Messiah. which is the Anointed One. Now, Christ means the Anointed One, but only to Greeks. Only to Gentiles, not to Jews. Jews use the word Messiah. Gentiles use the word Christ. And as I've told you, Paul the Apostle was used by the Lord to stop using the term Messiah and almost exclusively use the word Christ, or he would say Christ Jesus. Instead of Jesus Christ, he would almost exclusively say Christ Jesus. And that's because Christ is not Jesus' last name. Christ is the title of Jesus. So the Anointed One Jesus is what Paul was meaning to say. And what happened as a result of Paul using the term Christ rather than Messiah, the Gospel could go to the Gentile nations of the world. Because Messiah means nothing to a Gentile. That only means something a Jew and so in fact it was the fact that Jesus came from this region as to why so many Jews as well as Romans thought Jesus was just another one of these false messiahs. But just before Antipas assumes power a massive rebellion broke out in Galilee during the Feast of the Passover. and the Roman army almost completely annihilated the entire area. And this takes us back to the context behind what Jesus was talking about in Luke 21 when He spoke about the many wars and skirmishes and political instability that would bring about a shortage of food and result in many deaths during the 40 years after His resurrection. These false messiahs were common. And as their appearance accelerated, the Roman authorities eventually saw the need to put them down once for all by sending Titus Vespasian to destroy them in 70 A.D., which resulted in the cataclysmic destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and the Levitical priesthood, along with animal sacrifices and the entire Jewish way of life, including bringing a decisive end to the reign of the first covenant. Listen to me, the first covenant will never be resurrected again. Anyone who attempts for any reason to resurrect the first covenant is a blasphemer. You are rejecting the Lord Christ and His sacrifice when you're trying to go back underneath the first covenant. You're not honoring God. God does not receive praise that way. If you want to know God, you must know Jesus Christ. If you want to worship God, you must come to Jesus Christ. At the moment of the resurrection, it's no longer enough for you to believe in God. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you must confess that He is God, and you must believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, or you will not be saved. Hallelujah. So when Antipas came back from Rome, he had to actually rebuild the entire region of Galilee, which had been destroyed. So he developed a reputation as a great builder. He and his two brothers built 12 different cities throughout the land of Israel. Herod started with a city called Sepphoris, which is about 4 miles northeast from Nazareth. And Sepphoris became the largest city in Galilee. It took over 15 years to build and it was finished in about 10 AD. Now that ought to ring a bell to you. Now the reason this is important is that building this great city was a massive undertaking. And during that time, the Romans used Jewish craftsmen to build it. And many times they conscripted their laborers. That's just a fancy word of ordering you to leave your home and go work for me for about 10 years, 15 years, and you had to go or they would kill you. So they forced the Jewish laborers to go and build this city in Galilee. And some were paid and others were not, depending on who you knew. But no Jew could resist the iron fist of the Romans, and so all Jews in that region, from about 4 B.C. to 10 A.D., were forced to work on building that city. Now Nazareth was only four miles away and we know from Scripture that Jesus and His family lived in Nazareth from the time He was two until He began His ministry. So it is very possible that Jesus' foster father Joseph had been conscripted to work on that city by the Romans. Later on, Herod built another city called Tiberias. And that is the city that still sits on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee to this day. Antipas named it Tiberius in honor of Tiberius Caesar who had replaced Augustus in 14 AD. Eventually Tiberius gave its name to the lake and it became known as the Lake of Tiberius where it had been formerly known as the Sea of Galilee. But as Herod Antipas started to build his city, this is Tiberias, he realized it soon became obvious that in digging out the dirt to put the foundations of this great city, which was to be his own city, his palace city, and the capital city of Galilee, they found they were building on a very large Jewish cemetery. Now this was no problem for Herod in his pragmatism. He just kept building. Why let a cemetery of bones get in the way of glorifying myself? So just dig out the dirt, get rid of the bones and keep on building. However, the Jews were horrified because of the prohibition of the Old Testament against touching a dead body. So they saw the whole thing as being sinful and unclean and they refused to live there. Now keep in mind that even though the Roman Empire brought many advancements in medicine, and technology, and culture, and literature, and the building trades, and even government, for the most part, the rulers were pagan to the core. And the Roman rulers were not only pagan and barbaric because they worshipped many man-made deities, but they were pagan and barbaric in that they lived morally disgusting lives. Okay, here we go. And that is what it really means to be barbaric. The dictionary defines a barbarian this way, quote, a person in a crude, savage, or primitive state, an uncivilized person, a person without culture, refinement, or education, a Philistine. I didn't write that. A person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization is also called a barbarian. So under the First or the Old Covenant, God established boundaries and parameters and limitations on the behavior of His people so they would not be like the pagans and the barbarians of that region. God said that His people were to be holy or set apart and different or distinct. from the barbaric pagans of that era. So being holy does not mean you're better than other people, but only that you have been called and chosen to live in such a way that glorifies and honors God. We were going over Esau in the Bible study this morning. How Esau sought repentance carefully with tears and yet was not given repentance. You don't get forgiven simply because you ask for it. Repentance is a gift from God. And it's given by way of God's mercy. You can't earn it. You don't deserve it. You don't automatically get it when you even ask for it. So you cannot presume upon the mercy of God. You must look at it as being a gift of mercy every time you get it. Because God doesn't have to issue it. But Esau was not happy about being in the family. He wanted out of the family. And so he took the first opportunity he could find, which was a bowl of soup. He said, I'm going to die. Moses fasted 40 days and Esau missed a meal. So it wasn't that he was so hungry he was about to die. He was looking for any excuse at all to get out of the family. He wasn't happy being a part of God's people who were called to be holy. And I'm telling you, this is common today. You see it in people's face. And this is why they start hanging out at a prayer meeting. And this is why they start hanging out at a Bible study. Because they can't just say, I'm not going to go to church. So they show up on Sunday morning because they can put a checkmark on their name and they don't get a frown face. They get a smiley face next to their name. And if they come 25 years, they get a pin in their lapel and they get their name on the board. So they want to show up on the Lord's Day, but as far as being involved in the people of God, the way is far too narrow for most people. And so they're looking for ways to get out of the family. They're looking for a way to escape this straight and this narrow path. Anybody ever walk on a straight and narrow path in the Lord because you're saved? Anybody know what I'm talking about? And you notice the further you go with Jesus, the more narrow it gets. Because see, at first we think we're going on vacation. Yet we bring our luggage and we've got our visor, our sun visor. We're going to serve the Lord. We're going to walk with Jesus. Yes sirree, Bob. And all of a sudden the road gets narrower and narrower and we've got to drop some of the luggage. And pretty soon, only those who delight themselves in the Lord. and stay on the straight and narrow path. So this is one way God has of culling out the tares. Huh? Yeah. That's why He does that. Yeah, because 10,000 men are not going to deliver you out of the hand of the enemy because then you would take glory. So God said let the ones that lap the water like a dog be in the battle and send the 9,700 back home. And I'll defeat the enemy with 300 men. Amen. And that's what God's looking for. Three hundred people that are willing to lap the water like a dog and go God's way. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. That's the call of God on your life. And then the straight and narrow path is the pathway to joy. It's not a burden. Amen to that. So, anytime you're talking about holiness, you're talking about a narrowing of behavior. Anybody that's talking about a widening of behavior, a more inclusive, they want to include more kinds of behavior, that is the opposite of holiness. That's barbaric. So, living according to the dictates of your own heart, without any restraint or limitations on your fallen urges, is what it means to be barbaric or pagan. So anyone in any culture that seeks to behave without restraint or limitations on his urges, especially when it comes to both money and sex, is pagan and barbaric by definition. And also by definition, to be holy means to live underneath the divine limitations on both sexual and financial behavior that have been imposed on mankind by God in Scripture. That's what holy means, is a limitation of your behavior. You ever notice that? Yeah. So a person cannot be holy without being restrained and limited in his behavior. And the absence of that behavioral restraint and limitations qualifies a person as being a pagan. and a barbarian. So the more narrow a person's sexual behavior is defined moves him closer to biblical holiness, while the widening and the broadening of human sexuality brings him closer to paganism. That's where we are in our country right now. They're trying to broaden the definition of marriage, broaden the sexual behavior that is accepted and even preferred in our culture. See, that's the opposite of holiness, isn't it? That's paganism. And also please notice that being holy or pagan has nothing to do with the person's educational level. It has nothing to do with their financial status or their political connections. Medicinal advancements or technological savvy or the advancement of government has nothing to do with either being pagan or holy. Being holy or being barbaric has only to do with behavior. And the Roman authorities, especially those of Herod the Great's house, were pagan and barbaric to the core. So, on that note, since I've offended most everybody, I'm going to offend the rest of you now by saying this. It depends on what you look at. Right? You can't feed on barbaric and pagan programs that promote barbarism and paganism and be immune from its effects on your life. You've got to be careful that you don't celebrate sin, not just that you don't do sin. You've got to be careful you don't laugh at wicked things. Because wickedness isn't funny. Amen. And the Roman authorities, especially those of Herod the Great's house, were pagan and barbaric to the core. And to illustrate this, at some point around 29 AD, Herod Antipas made a trip to Rome because he wanted to visit his half-brother, Herod Philip I, who was also called Herod II. And during his visit, Antipas became very interested in Philip's wife, Herodias. Now Herodias was not only Philip's wife, she was also Philip's niece. And since Antipas was the half-brother of Herod Philip, Herodias was Antipas' niece as well. So Philip was in an incestuous relationship with his own niece. And so Antipas betrayed his half-brother, didn't have a problem with that, and had an adulterous and incestuous affair with his half-brother's wife, who was also his niece. I'm telling you, as pagan and barbaric behavior abounds, people's lives get more and more complicated. Have you ever tried to do marriage counseling? When they say, well, his child is her daughter's father's brother's cousin's And you're going, you need a spreadsheet. I'm not kidding. You've got to have a spreadsheet to figure this out. I can't figure it out. I can understand sovereign election, but family connections bewilder me. This is why God said don't do this. Now isn't it wonderful that if we have committed sin in our relationship lives in the past that we can be forgiven? I always want to tell you that, that God's mercy will forgive you for your sins. But I'm emphasizing this for the young people. Don't do this. You will grieve your life. You will rue the day that you ever went into these bad relationships. Better to be single your whole life than to marry the wrong person. Now, none of these people could have cared less about being pagan or Barbek, but simply because they decided it would be more politically acceptable for Antipas and the niece to get married rather than just shack up, both Antipas and Herodias decided to divorce their spouses and marry each other. So, as soon as Antipas came back from his trip, he walks in the house, looks at his wife and says to his daughter and his wife, you and you, you're out, she's in. See y'all later. And the wife and the daughter are gone. That's how women were treated before Christianity became dominant in the world. Did you know that? That's how women are treated this afternoon in pagan countries right now. Christianity gave women dignity. Guess which religion of all the religions in the world? Guess Christianity is the only religion that dignifies females. Dignifies marriage. Guess which religion the National Organization for Women is against? Christianity. Amen. It's amazing. They're cutting their own throats. These people that are so busy defending Islam right now would be the first people who would die under an Islamic caliphate. So he tells his wife and his daughter they had to leave because he had married his half-brother's wife who was also his niece. So this is the kind of man who now sits in judgment over the Son of God. Now it wasn't long before Antipas had a very important dinner for his military commanders and other high-profile dignitaries, and he just captured an itinerant preacher who was wild and uncontrollable. And so let's pick up on this important dinner from John Mark's Gospel records. So go with me to Mark 6. Verses 21-29, Mark chapter 6. This is the Gospel record that the Apostle Peter commissioned John Mark to write down. The Gospel according to Mark 6, verse 21-29. It says, A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. And the king said to the girl, Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you. And he swore to her, Whatever you ask me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom. What a nut! And she went out and said to her mother, what shall I ask for? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And although the king was very sorry, look at this, although the king, Herod, was very sorry, Yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guest, he was unwilling to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner, commanded him to bring back his head, and he went and had him beheaded 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 the disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb. So this is the Herod that had John the Baptist martyred. John was killed because of the gospel, but Very specifically, John was murdered because he cried out against the immorality of the leader of the secular government. Herod Antipas was not saved. He made no pretense of being a believer and yet he was not part of John's group. He was simply the secular ruler of the country and yet John cried out against Herod's own personal immorality. And this is instructed to give us insight as to how we as believers are to view secular government and what our role is to its leaders. We are to be unattached to government so that we may cry out against any immorality in our leaders. Make sure that you are doing this. We are to hold our leaders accountable so that they will render justice to the weak and the poor. But to get an even deeper insight, I want you to look at the verses that came just before this. Look at Mark 6, verses 12-29. They went out and preached that men should repent. These are the disciples. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. And King Herod heard of it, for his name had become well known. And people were saying, John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others were saying he is Elijah. I'm at Jesus now. And others were saying he is a prophet like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, John, whom I beheaded, has risen. There's an attachment here with Herod and John. For Herod himself, look at this, Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. So the reason John was in prison was because of Herodias. This is why Herodias had something in it for John, right? And look at this, for John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. According to what law? God's law, not Roman law. Not Roman law. So what is John doing? John is holding the secular Gentile ruler accountable to the law of God. Right? And we are too. We should do that as well. The government is not the church. The government is distinct from the church. The government should never be run like the church. They are two separate entities. But the government is of God and is under God and needs to be run according to the law of God. Okay, verse 18, For John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Herodias had a grudge against him, look at this, and wanted to put him to death and could not do so. Why? For Herod was what? Afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, He was very perplexed. But he used to enjoy listening to him. Now look again at verses 17 through 20. Herod himself had sinned and had John arrested, bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Had been saying. That is the tense of the verb means it was an ongoing conversation. Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so because Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. He had him arrested, but he kept him safe. John Mark tells us that Herod Antipas was afraid of John Baptist because he knew that John was a righteous man. And so Herod worked to keep John safe. Then Mark says that when Herod heard John speak, he was very perplexed. But he used to enjoy listening to him. and this tells us this has happened a lot. Now it is possible that Herod had heard John speak outside the prison in the community and had worked to keep him safe to continue his ministry but the more likely scenario was that Herod worked to keep John safe while John was in prison. Now that's kind of odd but Herod's logic no doubt was I know where he is and I can order the guards and keep him safe. And the only reason he killed John is because he made that stupid oath because he was half drunk and full of lust. And the last part of this verse tells us that Herod enjoyed listening to John even though what John taught perplexed him. And this tells us that part of the reason why John was in jail and part of the reason why Jesus never even visited him was so that John could preach the gospel to Herod. And this is very common. Many times God allows His own people to be persecuted and even imprisoned. so that we may preach the gospel to other prisoners and to the jailers and even the authorities that put us in prison. And that means that Herod had heard as much of the gospel as John knew, and even though he was confused by it, and that means that John had told Herod to repent and be baptized, because that's what John did. So just like Pilate, Herod's position in his power and the prestige that came with that position and his love of the world illustrated his lost condition and the fact that God the Father had not set His love on Herod. So in his emasculated cowardice and his own unbridled lust, Herod kills the greatest prophet born of woman. And this is the man who now stands in judgment of Jesus. And notice what Dr. Luke tells us about this moment. When he, Pilate, learned that he, Jesus, belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time. Now, Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see Him for a long time. Why? Because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see, what? Some sign performed by Him. And he questioned Him at some length, but He answered him, nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing him vehemently. Now notice that unlike his time with Pilate, Jesus never utters a single word to Herod. There is no attempt by Jesus at all to reason with this man, no attempt at reaching his heart to convince him to repent. And even though the chief priests were there screaming at him, Jesus never opens his mouth. Now we would view this as strange. And we would not, we would not, follow Jesus' example here. Jesus himself commanded you and me to preach the gospel to every creature. And so our example here is John, not Jesus. We have no idea who is chosen for salvation and who isn't, so we must work with everybody in the hope that they will repent and believe. But Jesus does not work with everybody, because very narrowly Jesus was there to die for our sins. And so we must understand that Jesus was not wrong to never attempt to reach Herod, because Jesus knew every man and what was in them. We don't have that power and so we have to work with everybody. And Dr. Luke gives us a hint in verse 8 that Herod's curiosity about Jesus had nothing to do with him being under conviction to repent of his wickedness and be saved when he wrote, Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. So all Herod was interested in was to see some miracle or sign or wonder performed by Jesus. And this too is a characteristic of being pagan. Pagans have no desire to love and worship the miracle maker. They simply want to see something new. And so Luke tells us, he, Herod, questioned Him, Jesus, at some length, but He answered him nothing. So, because Herod was irritated with Jesus, Luke tells us in 23.11b, after treating Him with contempt, and mocking him, dressed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. One thing you learn about first century life in the Roman Empire, if you were innocent, they still beat you. They killed you if you were guilty, but if you were innocent, they beat you before they let you go. So you're going to get beat. That's guaranteed. And they beat the stew out of these people. And they were unmerciful in their beatings. Many people died as a result of these beatings. It took an act of God to keep Jesus alive. So Herod mocked Jesus and had Him beaten again and dressed the Lord of glory in a gorgeous robe to insult the fact that Jesus was a king. But look at the very next verse. And Jesus could have blinked His eyes and melted Him. See, it's one thing for you to turn the other cheek, Especially when you're in jail or in prison. You can't fight back. Jesus could have destroyed the world. And He didn't. And look at the next verse. Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day. Now Luke wants you to know this. For before they had been enemies with each other. And I've read several different accounts as to why they were enemies. I think it was a political issue. I think Pilate was enforcing something on Herod that Herod didn't appreciate because Herod was trying to be politically correct with the Jews. I think that's probably it. But we don't know for sure. All that's guesswork. So the catalyst for the friendship between Pilate and Herod Antipas was their rejection of Jesus. How'd you like that to be what you had in common with somebody? And that common trait that these men shared actually forged their unity that had been broken years ago due to politics. So now Jesus is being sent back again to Pilate for the final condemnation. Now, part of the reason that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod was because Pilate despised the Sanhedrin and didn't want to be used by them to get what they want. But part is because, as we've already discovered during his interrogation of Jesus, Pilate has already begun to be very intrigued with Jesus and is genuinely impressed with Him. And the fact that Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate signifies that Herod also thought Jesus was innocent, or he would have condemned Jesus to die right then and there. And Pilate knew this. And so Pilate says in Luke 23, verse 15, No, nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us, and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him. And yet Jesus is not intimidated by either Pilate or Herod. So what we have to try to grasp is that both Pilate and Herod's authority to crucify Jesus did not intimidate the Lord. And my question is, why not? And I think the answer to that question is very important for us today as we face an ever-growing hostility to the Gospel even from our own nation. Over in John 19, verse 10, Pilate told Jesus, You do not speak to me Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you? In other words, he's saying, you're not going to talk to me? You better talk to me, boy. You ain't going to talk to me? I've got the power to kill you. And Jesus answered, you would have no authority over me, look, unless it had been given you from above. Look at this. For this reason, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin. So my question is, why was Jesus not intimidated as He stood before Pilate and Herod? Some would say that Jesus was brave or courageous. And I notice the same people, by the way this is in commentaries, Jesus was brave, He was courageous. The same people that say Jesus was brave and courageous here said He was scared when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. They're wrong on both counts. This is far more than human bravery or courage. But what I want you to see is that it also was not because Pilate and Herod were lying about their authority. Because both Pilate and Herod absolutely had the authority to crucify Jesus. The authority that these wicked men had to torture Jesus unmercifully and kill Him did not intimidate Jesus because Jesus knew that their authority was derivative. Jesus said, your authority was given to you from above. which means that the authority that both Pilate and Herod had to torture and kill Jesus came from God the Father, not from Rome. But wait a minute. That means that these men actually had more power, not less. God had given them their authority to torture and kill Jesus. Right? So what we have to understand is that the authority that these wicked men had to act brutally toward Jesus had the stamp of divine approval on it. It's going to be hard for some of y'all to get. Five hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah said this, The Lord was pleased to crush him. It does not say the Lord had him crushed. It does not say it was God's will to have him crushed. It does not say God decreed that Jesus would be crushed, even though all of that is true. It said it pleased the Lord. That word pleased, I had a whole series on this about three years ago, back in January. The word pleased is the very same word, we get the word delight. The same word we get the word joy. The same word we get satisfaction from. It satisfied the Lord to crush Him. It delighted the Lord to crush Him. It joyed God to crush Him. So if we are to be biblical folks, We must come to the conclusion that Jesus being tortured and dying by the single most painful way imaginable was not only God's will, it was not only God's decree, it was God's desire. It was God's delight. The Holy Bible teaches that God was pleased for Jesus to be crushed. And this gets into why God created salvation to begin with. Salvation is the way that God shows the glory of His grace. And if that's the reason, this makes sense. If the reason you're saved is because you are important, this makes no sense. But this is in the Bible. And so it was the Father who gave Pilate the authority to torture and kill Jesus. But if that is true, then how is this not even more intimidating? Both Pilate and Herod not only had the authority to kill Jesus, they have God the Father's approval to kill Him. They don't just have His permission, they have His approval. And yet this does not intimidate Jesus. And there can be only one reason. This does not intimidate Jesus because their authority over Jesus is subordinate to God's authority over both Herod and Pilate. And Jesus knew that. And this is proven in the fact that God sovereignly prevented Herod from exercising His authority to kill Jesus. And at the same time, God eventually allowed Pilate to do so. He made Herod mad. And yet Herod did not pronounce condemnation on Jesus. In fact, he pronounced him innocent by sending him back to Pilate, even though Jesus irritated him. Jesus was not irritating Pilate, and Pilate's the one that condemned him. It's amazing. I thought I was going to get through with this two weeks ago. This is too good. I'm about to get saved in this series. I'm telling you, this is amazing. So Jesus gets His comfort at this moment, not because either Herod or Pilate's will is powerless, but because their will is not autonomous. Neither Herod nor Pilate were acting alone. The will of both of these evil and cruel men is guided and it is shaped. And the will of one is sovereignly prevented, while the will of the other is sovereignly allowed. So Jesus is not intimidated here because Jesus is not simply in the hands of either one of them, but because He knew and He trusted that both Pilate and Herod are in the hands of His Father. And so as Herod is sovereignly prevented, and as Pilate is allowed to carry out his own desire to condemn the only sinless man who ever lived, God's perfect will to provide a sinless lamb for the slaughter was accomplished. Hallelujah. And this is why Dr. Luke meant when he quoted the apostles in Acts 4, 27 and 28, For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate. Why did he include Herod in that? Herod didn't do nothing to him. He beat him, but he didn't do nothing to him. He didn't condemn him to die. Along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. The apostles understood that God had sovereignly reached down and stopped Herod from doing what Herod wanted to do. And that God released Pilate to do what he did. It's amazing. So even though Herod lets Jesus go, he was only doing what the Father's hand and purpose predestined to occur. And that fact has enormous benefits for you and me today. Very down-to-earth practical benefits. Because that means that our comfort on this earth at this moment in history comes not from the fact that our enemies are powerless against us, because they're not powerless. Our enemies absolutely do have power. They have authority to hurt us and to hinder our work and to act against us unless God chooses to stop them. And God may choose to sovereignly prevent them. But God may also choose to sovereignly allow them to carry out the evil that is in their hearts against us. But in either case, we are not intimidated by our enemies and whatever authority they may have, because whatever authority our enemies may have to hurt us or hinder us or even kill us, that authority is derivative. Whatever power our enemies may exercise over us is derived. It flows out from our Father's sovereign rule over them. And so whether we are sovereignly delivered or whether it is God's will for us to perish at the hands of our enemies, two things are guaranteed for you and me. Our greater good will be manifested and God will get Himself glory. Hallelujah! And that means the goal of persecution is not merely that you are delivered from it. The goal of your trouble is not simply that you get out of it. but that your good is manifested and God's glory is obtained. Hallelujah. And this is precisely the point that the Apostle Paul was making in Romans 8. You've got to read this with me. Romans 8, 25-39. You've got to go there. Romans 8, 25-39. You've got to read this. For if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Why do you hope for what you see? You only hope for what you do not see. And then you wait with perseverance for it. Huh? Amen. This perseverance is what I was preaching about at the beginning of this year. This sanctification. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. What weakness? Because we don't see this stuff. We want to be delivered from our trial. We don't want to go through these trials. We don't want to go to jail. We don't want to get persecuted. We want God to rescue us. For we do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. That's not speaking in tongues. Because this intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Huh? So the Spirit knows the will of God and the Spirit has a mind. Huh? And we know that God causes, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. He causes! Huh? For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to do what? To be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called. And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, this great God who created the universe, who called us before we were born, if He is for us, who can be against us? And look what he says, He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? We give away our junk and we feel good about it. We give away our excess finances, the chair that only has three legs, the shirt that don't have no buttons on it, the dress that's too small. We give that stuff away. We can't use it anyway. And here's what we tell people. Well, I wasn't using it anyway. So we're telling them, this is my junk. And we feel like we've done something. God gave the best of heaven. He gave what He wanted. He gave what He valued. He gave what He treasured above everything else. And He gave it for wicked rebels. If God did that, how will He not with Him freely give you all things? And so what is the conclusion to the matter? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? You don't have the right to say, well, I don't like that brother. You don't get to pick your brothers and sisters. Amen. You know what God's going to do for you? Because you're going to leave town because you want to get away from that guy sitting next to you in church? You're going to go to Toledo, Ohio, and you're going to sit right next to a guy that acts just like you. Amen. Because that's your brother. And you have no right to say who you want to be your brother. You've got to fellowship with all of them. Amen. No cliques in the house of God. None. Huh? I'm into that. That's evil. Look what it says. God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yea, rather that is raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us. I'm not going to get into that. Now, here we go. Verse 35. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Because you and I both know people all day long who tell you something did separate them from the love of Christ. That's why they're not here. That's why they don't serve God. That's why they walked away. Because they say, well, you don't know what happened to me. You don't know what I've been through. Well, it separated them from the love of God, right? Paul asked the question, how about some tribulation? How about a little distress or persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sore? You take your pick. Is that what's going to separate you from the love of Christ? Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long. We were considered a sheep to be slaughtered. Look what he says in verse 37. But in all these things we what? Overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. So here's the statement from that. You do not stay faithful to God in spite of your hardships. You stay faithful to God because of your hardships. Your hardships that God has allowed to come your way were sent to you on purpose by your Father who loves you so that you would be so changed that you would be kept by the power of God through faith. That is what that means. Look what he said. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, wisdom, and Christ Jesus our Lord. I don't blame the man. The man has been writing for eight chapters about grace of God and salvation. And he just explodes at the end of chapter 8 and just praises God. Hallelujah! And he gets back into theology in chapter 9, but right now he's just glorying in God. The truth is that tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sorts separates people from Jesus all the time. These are the very things that have come upon people all over the world for 2,000 years that have successfully triumphed over their faith. And the reason that these evil things triumphed over people's faith is because they do not understand the dynamic that is going on here with both Pilate and Herod and Jesus. People of the modern church are being fed a false narrative that says if you come to Jesus and trust in Him, then your life down here on earth will get measurably better. You'll make more money. You'll have more stuff and get healed every time you get sick. Who wouldn't want a Jesus like that? Come to Jesus, you get a Cadillac. Come to Jesus, you don't have to shop at Kmart anymore. That's preached right here in Gulfport, Mississippi. I'm not making this stuff up. God only wants me to shop at Dillard's, and I'm saying, what's wrong with Neiman Marcus? I drive a Cadillac, what's wrong with a Lamborghini? Why are you low-grading God? I mean, there's always something better than what you got. You go down that road and somebody can outdo you. You got four homes, I can show you some people got 15 homes. They take a bath in money. They light their cigars with money. I was raised in that. I was raised in people who had servants that ironed and folded their underwear. This is before you had polyester. This is all cotton. You had to iron stuff. And this lady ironed and folded my underwear. I never turned the water on to take a bath. I didn't know how to turn the water on. People said, where did chickens come from? I said, A&P. I didn't have a clue people raised chickens. I never saw one. All I saw was A&P had chickens. I didn't know. It wasn't my fault this house raised. And this is what people think coming to Jesus is all about. Right? You hear this all the time. The glorious gospel that says that Jesus went through all that He suffered so that wicked rebels may be rescued from eternal damnation has been watered down to being nothing more than a temporal panacea, and that is blasphemy. I hate the prosperity gospel. I despise it. I attack it every chance I get. The reason that the biblical gospel is called good news is because there is some very bad news. And the bad news is that every human on earth is a sinner who deserves the wrath of God. And the bad news goes on to say that not only do we deserve eternal damnation, we are guaranteed to receive it and there's nothing you can do about it in and of yourself. The image I want you to see is you've got a freight train that is the wrath of God bearing down on you at 300 miles an hour with a full head of steam and you're chained to the railroad tracks. And there is no stopping that train. It's coming. It is guaranteed to hit you. That's your plight with God. And Jesus rescues you from that plight. And if all you get the rest of your life is a beating every day, saints for thousands of years have praised God for that. Because they once were lost, and now they're found. They were blind, but now they see. Hallelujah. And it's enough! That's enough. To be able to go to heaven, that's enough. To be forgiven is enough. And it is this horrific bad news that makes the good news of salvation in Jesus to be very good indeed. And the good news of having all of our sins forgiven and being imputed to the very righteousness of Jesus makes anything that we have to go through here on this earth pale in comparison. And so the truth is that your life may get measurably worse down here when you are saved. And your enemies may be granted the authority to do terrible things to you. But these things are written in the Bible so that we will know that their authority is not decisive. It is derivative. And so whatever authority your enemies may have to inflict on you tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword, that authority has been granted to them by your heavenly Father. who cannot lie, and who has promised to work all things for your good and His glory. And that makes what Paul said in verses 31 and 32 to begin to make sense. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? So facing our enemies without being intimidated is not about us exercising human bravery or courage. It isn't in the fact that our enemies don't have the authority to hurt us because they do. No, we are not intimidated by the authority of our enemies any more than Jesus was not intimidated over either Herod or Pilate's authority because we believe what Paul said here in verse 37, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. So the only reason we are not intimidated by the authority that our enemies may have over us to bring forth tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, is because we believe that their authority is completely subordinate to the Father's will. So both Pilate, Herod, the Sanhedrin, and all of Jesus' adversaries 2,000 years ago, as well as all of our enemies today, mean what they bring on us for Jesus and for our destruction. They are exercising their derivative authority to hurt, hinder, or even kill us. But the Bible says their authority is not decisive. Their authority is not sovereign. Their authority is derivative and is completely and totally subservient to God's authority and what they mean for our harm, God means for our good and for His glory. And this is where knowing and understanding who God is, is invaluable. Because those of us who have submitted ourselves to what the Bible actually says about God, we know that God is not merely omnipotent, but we know that God is good. And to say that God is good means you believe that whatever God does for you on that day is not just what He did, but it was the best thing He could have done for you on that day. That's what it means when you say God is good. We also know that whether we are delivered or whether we perish, what God has either caused or allowed is designed on purpose to do nothing but mold and shape and form us so that we may be changed in that fire, so that we may share in His holiness. And that is why we are no more intimidated than Jesus was. Because we know, we trust, and we believe. We confess and we proclaim to our enemies. You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. And that is why Jesus was not intimidated by these evil rulers. Dr. Luke tells us that all of Jesus' enemies were gathered together with their God-given authority and all their wicked fury to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. Now make no mistake about it, every single one of these evil men sinned and those who sinned were damned by God. But as you get that, please get this, that through their willful sinning, God saved. And that is why it is so important that we are not intimidated by our adversaries, who at best, can only kill our bodies one time. Not only because this is all they can do, but also because it is done under the watchful hand of your Father. Jesus said in Luke 12, 6 and 7, Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, you are more valuable than many pharaohs. Yes, Pilate had authority. Yes, Herod had authority. Yes, the soldiers had authority. Yes, Satan has authority. But none of their authority is independent. None of their authority is final. None of their authority is decisive. None of their authority is sovereign. All their authority is derivative. All of it, every bit of their authority and power is completely subordinate to God's will. And that is why we do not fear. Jesus said we are precious to our sovereign Father. And we are far more precious than the unforgotten birds. So when trouble comes your way, do not be brave. Be trusting. And believe. Let's pray.