We'll turn to Mark's Gospel, chapter 6, today. Mark's Gospel, chapter 6, and we'll read from the verse 12 of the chapter. Mark's Gospel, chapter 6, and I'll commence as you turn there, the reading of the Word of God. And they went out and preached that men should repent, and they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. And King Herod heard of him, for his name was spread abroad, and he said that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. Others saith that it is Elias, and others said that it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded, he is risen from the dead. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him, but she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and unholy, and observed him. And when he had heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. When a convenient day was come that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains and chief estates of Galilee. And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod, and then that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he swore unto her, whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth and said unto her mother, what shall I ask? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. And he came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry, yet for his own sake, and for the sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb. Amen, and we'll end our reading there together, praying that God will bless the reading of his word. Let's pray and seek the Lord together. Our loving Father, we come before thee. The word of God is open now before us. We desire to be instructed from the things of God, We desire, O God, to hear a word from thee today. Pray, O God, that thou will bless us and help us and give us clarity of mind, even as we come now to the preaching of the word of God. Send thy spirit. We cry, O God, that the Holy Ghost will be pleased, O God, to apply the word effectually to the soul and heart and consciences of all in this meeting place. Let us not just go through the form of a meeting, but grant, O God, that hungering and thirsting after righteousness For those that do so, those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, shall be filled. Come and fill us, O God. Fill our emptiness, we pray. And grant, O God, our souls to be satisfied with the finest of the wheat. For we pray this in and through Jesus' precious and worthy and wonderful name. Amen. Dertullian was a prolific Christian author from the city of Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was an early Christian apologist called the father of Latin Christianity and was widely accredited with being the founder of Western theology. It was Tertullian who said in 197 AD, he wrote a challenge to those who were severely persecuting the Christians within the Roman Empire. This is what he said, do your worst and rack your inventions for tortures for Christians. It is all to no purpose. You doubt attract the world and make it fall the more in love with our religion. The more you mow us down, the thicker we rise. The Christian blood you spill is like the seed you sow. It springs from the earth again and fructifies the more. From that statement of Tertullian, the following familiar statement was later coined, the blood of the martyrs. is the seed of the church. That statement brings to our attention the thought that when the church goes through its most severest of trials, when the blood of good and godly men is spilled for the cause of Jesus Christ, that often becomes the stimulus for expansion within the church of Christ. Well, John the Baptist's blood is about to be shed. in an act of judicial injustice, second only to the injustice that was served out to the Son of God by Pontius Pilate. His horrific beheading by the order of Herod is certainly not a story for weak stomachs or for weak saints. It is an event within church history that shows the depravity and the depths of depravity to which the human race has gone to because of the fall. Butler said that John's martyrdom reminds us that the more one is fevered of God, the more unlikely or unkindly he is likely to be treated by the world. The more holy a person is, the more hated he will be by the world. Having considered the molding and the mandate, the ministry, the message, the motto, and the melancholy of John the Baptist, today I want us to think about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. It's very interesting to notice how the details of this sad event within John's life are introduced into the narrative of Mark's gospel. Because by the time we reach the sixth chapter of Mark's gospel, the callous and cowardly murder of John the Baptist has already taken place. The Son of God has commenced his public ministry and is enjoying his own year of popularity. Miracles and signs and wonders were attending the preaching ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, confirming the truth of what Christ was preaching and teaching, and it was those supernatural happenings that reached the ears of Herod Antipas. On hearing those reports, it's as if Herod has a memory flashback, because on hearing of the Savior's theme and works, Herod's conscience is awakened, it's triggered, and he starts to believe the rumors that are circulating within the local community that John the Baptist has risen from the dead. This troubling of Herod sometime after the brutal killing of John gives then Mark the opportunity to inform the Bible reader of all that led up to the untimely death of John the Baptist by the executioner's sword. One is to think about those events and details today as we consider together the martyrdom of John the Baptist. There are three things that I want you to notice with me as we consider the passage before us. The first of these is John's boldness. John's boldness. Now I may cover old ground here, but let me, for emphasis sake, let me again address you again on the reason why John found himself under lock and key and at the good pleasure and expense of Herod Antipas. John's fame had reached the ears of Herod for months, and Herod had watched this flourishing career of the desert preacher intently. So eager was he to hear what this fiery preacher had to say, that John is brought before Herod. Now the interpretation of Mark chapter 6 in the verse 20, especially those words, and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly, is that John preached many a sermon before Herod Antipas. F.B. Meyer suggests that the Baptists dealt initially with general subjects, urged on the King's attention some minor reforms which were not too personal or too drastic and won his general regard. Meyer makes such a suggestion because we read that Herod heard John gladly and that he did many things. John's preaching provoked certain reforms within the life of Herod Antipas. wrongs were put right, differences with others were most likely settled, benevolent acts of kindness most likely performed. However, there came a day, there came a day when the message John came to preach did not go well, did not go down well in that congregation. The message probably began like any other of John's messages with John's public denunciation of sin that so marked the society of his day. I can see Herod, the king, settled back into his throne, content to hear the Baptist robustly denounce the sins of his fellow countrymen. However, the atmosphere changed in that audience chamber when John the Baptist looked into the face of Herod Antipas and boldly declared, it is not lawful for thee have thy brother's wife." You see, Herod Antipas had married Herodias. She was the wife of Herod's half-brother, Philip. History records that Herod's adulterous association with Herodias began when he took a trip to Rome. And on the way there, he decided just to stop off with his step-brother, Philip. But whilst he was visiting in Philip's home, Herod became infatuated with Philip's wife, and Herodias became infatuated with him. Now the fact that both of them were already married did not come into the equation with respect to their budding romance. Sure, what would it matter about the vows that they made, the marriage covenant into which they had entered into with another? A quick divorce, a hastily arranged marriage would make it all legal anyway within the eyes of the law. And so driven by the lusts of the flesh and by the lusts of the eyes and by the pride of life, Herod and Herodias cared little about the havoc and the carnage that their adulterous relationship created in the lives of their marriage partners. It was then this sordid and this sinful deed that John the Baptist publicly denounced in the court that day. And that took great courage, and that took great boldness on the part of John, to be so bold and to be so outspoken on where he stood in regard to Herod's immoral marriage. You know, John the Baptist wasn't naive. He could not help but know that his outspoken condemnation of Herod would greatly imperil himself, but he did not let that peril pollute his message. And so he boldly preached against the sin of a man who was in public office. There are a number of points of application that I want to make just at this juncture of time with respect to what I have said. Application number one, harmless encounter can lead to a disastrous outcome. A harmless encounter can lead to a disastrous outcome. He only called in to see his brother. It was just a harmless visit to a near relative. And yet whilst he was there, a simple glance at another man's wife started a chain of events that led to two marriages lying in ruin. A similar event happened in the life of King David. He was just taking a short break from his duties as king. But as he walked upon the roof terrace of his palace, he spotted out of the corner of his eye the form of a woman bathing. That glance became a gaze which led to a night of immorality and unplanned pregnancy and the premeditated murder of David's army general in attempt to cover the king's tracks. Because a harmless encounter can lead to a disastrous outcome. How these sad episodes in both the lives of Herod and David reminds us that we are to be always. We are always to be on our guard. Satan is crafty and subtle enough to ensnare us when our guard is down and trip us up when we least expect him to strike a simple look, a flattering comment, a harmless gesture to start a chain of events that could lead to the ruination of your marriage. And so may God, those of us who are married, God help us to abstain from all appearance of evil, to flee that which is evil, to cleave to that which is good, and to make a covenant with our eyes to set no wicked thing before our eyes, because a simple and a harmless encounter with someone of the opposite sex could lead to a disastrous outcome. He was only visiting his brother. Application number two, when we allow lust to dwell in our hearts unchecked, it will lead to sin. When we allow lust to dwell in our hearts unchecked, it will lead to sin. It is obvious that both Herod and Herodias allowed the scene of lust to find a resting place in their hearts. That seed of lust was then allowed to germinate, which led to that sinful act of adultery. If only they had fled the place of temptation. If only they had have refused to yield to those unrestrained lusts and passions within, if only they had have recalled to their mind the marriage covenant into which they had entered, if only they had have recalled to their mind the commandment of God that thou shalt not commit adultery, then their guilt before God would not have increased because of the sin of commission. We need to learn from others in this area, learn from their mistakes. The first risings of loss in our lives must be checked. Those little foxes that would spoil the vine must be put out. Those first risings of lust within our lives, we must ask the Spirit of God to drive them out, seeking in prayer the help and the grace of God to be an overcomer, instead of being overcome by our sinful lusts and by our sinful passions. Allow lust to stay unchecked in your heart. It will lead to sin, because lust, when it has conceived, bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Application number three, be sure your sin will find you out. Be sure your sin will find you out. Herod and Herodias' private sin eventually became public scandal. Their private sin eventually became public scandal. Though they tried to conceal it for a time, I'm sure, hiding it from their spouses by lies, they soon came to realize that they could not cover up their sin anymore, because sin always has a way of making itself public. Don't miss that. Sin, private sin, always has a way of making itself public. Now society at that time may have turned a blind eye to Herod's sin. Sure what would it be in their society? Just another adulterous relationship. So they would have probably turned a blind eye, thought very little of such a sin. But can I say the God of heaven didn't turn a blind eye. God of heaven, the God of heaven didn't find the sin of adultery as a sinful thing or he saw it as a sinful thing. He did not see it as a little insignificant thing. And so therefore God sends John the Baptist to reveal to Herod his abhorrence for such a sin. And so be aware if you're still an unconverted individual in this place or you're involved in such a sin. You may be trying to conceal that sin from your spouse, from your husband, from your wife, from your family, your sons and your daughters, but let me say to you that God has a way of making that private sin public. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and He'll make manifest the counsel of all hearts. We heard an apt illustration of that just last Lord's Day evening in the testimony of the Reverend William McDermott. Do you remember? Do you remember his smoking escapades there in Wallace Park in Lisbon? When he found that box of cigarettes? His mother a few days later was able to confront him about his sin. You see, he thought that he had covered his sin, but private sin always finds its way to make itself public. cannot conceal our sin, be sure your sin will find you out, if not in this life, certainly in the life that is to come. And so better, sinner, for you to have the Spirit of God bring your sin out into the open, dragging it out into the open through the preaching of God's Word now than to stand in the judgment and have that unconfessed sin damn you to hell. Better have it exposed now and better have that sin covered in the blood of Jesus Christ than to go to the judgment in your sin and allow that sin to damn your soul to hell. Your sin will find you out. Application number four. Preachers need God-given boldness to speak the truth in love regardless of public opinion. Preachers need God-given boldness to speak the truth in love regardless of public opinion. You know, John the Baptist could have very easily avoided the elephant in the room, to coin a phrase, not literally, you know. He could have avoided very easily the elephant in the room when he came to preach before Herod. He could have cut the cloth to soothe the crowd and made no mention of Herod's sin of adultery. Surely it would have extended his life on earth. However, John the Baptist boldly confronted the king with his sin to provoke repentance on the part of Herod. Boldness. How I and how every faithful preacher of God's word needs such God-given boldness in these days. When it comes to our preaching, boldness to call sin for what it is, even whenever there are individuals within the congregation that are guilty concerning the sins that we preach against. We need such God-given, Holy Ghost boldness to speak out against sin. And those calls that come to our ears at times from others to be less direct and personal in their preaching in order that we might gather a greater number to ourselves, that call needs to fall on deaf ears. I heard last week about a person who was in one of our churches, they weren't Free Presbyterian, they came from a neighboring church, and they remarked to the minister on the way out, I believe it was a gospel service, and this is their remark, he says, I forgot how much in your face you Free Presbyterian ministers are. I forgot how much in your face you free Presbyterian ministers are. Whenever I heard that I said, hallelujah! I said to myself, there's a minister that is doing his job. because he's bringing to the consciences of men and women their need, their personal need of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, for such boldness in these days, may God help me to preach against sin, regardless of where public opinion is on the matter. In light of Herod and Herodias' sin, It was in light of Herod and Herodias' sin that John boldly confronted Herod with then the words, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Not lawful? Oh, but John, it's lawful in the land. Yes, it is, Herod, but it's not lawful in the courts of heaven. It's not lawful there. It's not lawful in the sight of the higher court. the court of God. And can I say, brethren and sisters, that's where the line is always to be drawn. Today we have the unrelenting push by government and by some so-called, so-called I hasten to so-called church leaders to redefine marriage. Can I say no matter how the world comes to define marriage God's Word stipulates that marriage is between one man and one woman and that is where we stand on the side of God and on the side of the law of God. More and more we're going to come up against this as we see the moral declension in our nation continuing and the coming of the Lord drawing ever nearer. And so we must be found boldly standing on the side of God's truth. Herod in God's sight, it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. It's not lawful. What a boldness. But having considered John's boldness, I want you to look at John's beheading. John's beheading. It was Herodias. It was Herodias whose nose was most put out of joint when John the Baptist preached. I know that because Mark tells us in the verse number 19 that it was Herodias who had the quarrel with John the Baptist, and she would have killed him, but could not because Herod, her husband, feared John, and he also feared the public fallout of such an act. However, a convenient day was about to come around for the wife of Herod to do what she longed for so often, or for many a time, or for some time, that desire to put to death God's servant. It was Herod's birthday. And Herod had invited many of his friends to that birthday banquet in order to celebrate with him. Food would have been in abundance. Wine would have flown freely. And Herodias, she recognized her opportunity in all of this. As with any gathering such as this, there would have been entertainment. And that entertainment came in the form of the lewd and sensual dancing of Salome. The daughter of Herodias, and a dancer, pleased his audience in those days, which Salome did, she was entitled to a reward, and Herod was only too glad to give her such. With impaired judgment, probably due to his intoxication, Herod said, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. Whatsoever thou shalt ask me, I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom, verse 22 and 23. Unable to decide what to ask for, Salome scurries off to ask her mother, who's waiting in the wings, ask for the head of John the Baptist, was Herodias' reply. And so Salome returns to her stepfather with this demand for her reward. I will that thou will give me by and by. That little statement, by and by, doesn't mean sometime in the future, it literally means immediately, instantly, this moment. in a charger that thou give me by and by in a charger, the head of John the Baptist." That request led to Herod ordering the beheading of Christ's forerunner. Some points of application again. Number one, days of celebration and festivity can be fraught with dangers. Days of celebration and festivity can be fraught with dangers. It was Herod's birthday. He was among his friends, his peers. The pressure of the day-to-day running of his kingdom had been set aside just for a little season of pleasure. It all led to Herod dropping his guard, and it resulted in the beheading of John the Baptist. Now in this point of application, I'm not saying there that we should never celebrate birthdays. I'm not saying that we should never celebrate anniversaries or any other special events throughout the year, but what I am saying that is in our festivities we must be on our guard, that we do not sin and grieve the Holy Spirit. What did Job do? at the end and at the conclusion of his family's festivities in Job chapter 1. Let me read it to you from the verse number 5. And it was so when the days of their feasting was gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Whenever I read that verse, it always reminds me and always brings to my mind C. H. Spurgeon's devotional, Morning and Evening, in which he uses this verse, Job 1, verse 5, and he uses that verse to make comment upon on the evening of what day? Christmas Day, the 25th of December, Christmas Day. Let me give you a flavor of that devotional. Spurgeon said, what the patriarch did early in the morning after the family festivities, It will be well for the believer to do himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings, it is easy to slide into sinful levities and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. Days of celebration and days of festivity are fraught with dangers. We must be on our guard. May God ever preserve our testimonies in days of celebration and in times of festivities. Secondly, the second point of application, decisions must never be made when passions are running high. Decisions must never be made when passions are running high. You see, Herod's base passions and lusts were aroused with the dancing, that sensual dancing of his stepdaughter, Salome. Those passions were fueled by the intoxicating influence of wine, all of which led to the impaired judgment of this otherwise shrewd politician. It was in that state, when passions were aroused, that Herod now makes a promise that he's going to have to follow on and follow through on, even if that meant the death of John the Baptist. Too often, brethren and sisters, we make life-changing decisions when our passions are at their highest. How much better it would be for us to take a step back, to allow those passions to cool off and in the clear light of day, make a well-informed decision about the matter in hand as we come prayerfully to God's Word and get God's mind on the matter. So serious was Herod's decision that day, made when his passions were at their height. But whenever the Son of God came to stand before Herod Antipas, he had nothing to say to him. because of a decision he made to kill the Baptist. He made a wrong decision when his passions were at their highest. And that happens in churches circles. Someone is offended by something that happens within a congregation or something that doesn't happen within a congregation and in the height of their passions they decide to leave that congregation and they go to a church where the gospel isn't preached. And when the truth of God isn't upheld, and the standards of God are not adhered to, because in the height of passions they make a silly decision. Never do that. Step back. And in the clear light of day, when passions have cooled off, get before God and seek His mind on the matter. Seek His will on the matter. If Herod had have only done that, If only he had left his decision to the next morning, whenever he had been submerged by a night's sleep, and his mind was much clearer, maybe, just maybe, Herod would not have killed the Baptist. But to see a face among his peers, he has to follow through. The third point of application is this, our silence makes us complicit with the sins of others. Our silence makes us complicit with the sins of others. Did you ever ask yourself the question when you read through the Gospels and you came to this portion of God's Word, why did the lords and why did the high captains and why did the chief estates, literally the great men of Galilee, why Oh, why did such individuals not remonstrate at Herod at the blatant miscarriage of justice that was about to unfold before their very eyes? Why did they not speak up for John the Baptist? Maybe they were afraid of what Herod would do to them. Maybe they were worried about being ousted out of their position of power. Maybe they were concerned that siding with John the Baptist was not good for their advancement and their future careers. And thus, maybe these reasons, along with others, these maybe were the reasons why these men remained silent. But whatever the reason was for their silence, that silence made them complicit in Herod's wicked deeds. Oh that God would help you and I, you and me, to stand up and to speak up lest our silence is construed by the sinner as some kind of approval on our part to their sinful way of living when they speak to us. Do you ever get that at work? Sinner tells you all about their sin. They're wanting you to put as it were your blessing upon it, and you do that by being silent. And I do it by being silent. We don't want to offend them. These men did not speak up for John the Baptist. They should have. And it made them just as guilty as Herod was. Whenever Herod lost his life, John's boldness, John's beheading, John's burial. Willing to break his promise to Herodias and wishing to see a face among his friends and peers, Herod Antipas sends the executioner to John's prison cell where he beheads God's servant. Ahead of that, God's servant is brought to the charger, dripping with blood. It's given to Salome, who then in turn gives it to her mother, The news now of John's death gets into the public domain. Eventually it reaches the ears of some of his disciples and Mark 6 verse 29 tells us that they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb. Those disciples were as fearless as the man himself. For they too could have been imprisoned and beheaded because of their association with John the Baptist. I wonder where I have went. I wonder where you have went to get the body of John the Baptist. John's headless body, for that's what a corpse is, a body without a head, was delivered onto them. Those disciples, they carried that body lovingly away from the scene of the crime. I'm sure they embalmed it and then they laid it in a tomb. And then Matthew tells us a detail. In Matthew 14 verse 12, it says that after they put him in that tomb and after they buried him, they went and told Jesus. They went and told Jesus. I believe that we have a good pattern for us to follow here whenever death comes to our nearest and to our dearest. We are to treat their earthly remains with respect. We are to give them a Christian burial. We're to leave their remains in the care of God until the day of general resurrection. And then we are to leave that place where they're buried and we're to go and tell our sorrows our sympathizing great high priest that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. One Christian author wrote, we need to take our troubles to the Lord and tell him all about them. We need to heed the exhortation of the hymn, tell it to Jesus. The hymn tells the weary, the heavy hearted, the troubled, the fearful and the anxious to tell it to Jesus. They went and told Jesus about John's death. By telling it to Jesus, these disciples of John did the right thing. They told it to one who cared and who understood. When death comes for us or for our loved ones, here is a pattern for us to follow. We are to treat their bodies with respect, yes, Give them a Christian burial, yes. Place them into a tomb or into a grave, yes. But then we are to leave that place. To tell it to Christ. Tell our sorrows to Christ. Because he healeth the broken in heart. And he bindeth up the wounds. Oh, may we do so in our days When we're faced with troubles and when we're faced with our sorrows, let's tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. The Baptist is buried in hope of the resurrection. In hope of the resurrection. And thank God those who die in Christ will be raised with Christ. and they shall be with Christ, body and soul, their souls already there, their body reunited at the day of general resurrection, body and soul in a glorified form, with Christ forever with the Lord. Where is the Baptist today? He's under the altar. under the altar in the book of the Revelation. That's where the martyr's souls are. That's where the martyr's souls are. He was a martyr for Christ. And this blood of the martyr was going to become the seat of the church as God advanced his church through the ministry of Christ, his apostles, the early church fathers, the Reformers, the Covenanters, and now it's our responsibility to see his work go forward. May God help us to learn even from the life and from the death of John the Baptist. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our loving Father, we bow before thee. We thank thee, dear Father, for the life of this dear man. what warnings there are for us here, especially those within the marriage, within the marriage bond, the marriage covenant. O God, preserve our marriages. We cry, O God, that we'll not allow sin thus the risings of lusts, even to dwell for a moment within our hearts, but that we might go and confess, and God, that we might ask grace to overcome those lusts. Oh God, and if they have mutated into sin, if they have conceived and become sin, oh, may we ask for cleansing in the blood of Christ. Help us in our days when the guard is down, when our friends are near, how quickly we can drop into levity. And we can lose our testimonies in but a moment of time by something we say, by something we do. Help us, O God. And help us, Father, when life's little day comes to an end, to treat those ones who have gone on before with the respect that they're due. But help us then, Father, to go on living our lives yet still pouring out our hearts to God because of the sorrow and the tragedy that we've gone through when such death has come to our families and to our homes. Help us to tell it to Jesus. Help us to tell all our troubles to Jesus. Answer prayer. May thy blessing attend the preaching of thy word. May the blessing of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Rest and abide upon thy believing people into the day that Christ comes or calls and then forever we will be with the Lord. Speak to the sinner and bring them to Christ and remind them that their private sin has always a way of making itself public and that their sin will find them out. We pray these are petitions in and through Jesus precious name. Amen. Thank you. Thank you.