John the Baptist

it's a privilege to come and share withyou here today uh thank you for comingout last night those of you who did anduh I bring greetings for my wife she'sback in beran Springs Michigan and uhfor my family and uh today uh I waschatting with Pastor Dana on Thursdayafternoon when we arrived myself mycolleagues uh some missionaries and umhe just mentioned in passing that you'vegot the 8:30 service and the 11:00service I thought oh there are twoservices oh I maybe thought there wasone service here today so I thought whatam I going to talk about then and hesaid well aren't you going to preach thesame service for both service the samesermon I thought I never do that so Ithought maybe I'll preach something elsefor the first service different to thesecond service so um I've chosen topreach about um one of the the greatestof the prophets actually John theBaptist uh for our first service and oursecond service we're going to look atthe Centurion at the foot of the crossand his confession that Jesus is the sonof God and the significance of that forus today so today for our first servicewe're going to be looking at the storyof John the Baptist and nothing's goingto be on the screen so if you have yourBibles with you you want to open to Mark6 and we're going to start with ourscripture reading from verse 7 onwardsum but it's the story of John theBaptist and it's the story of thesending out of disciples as missionariesthis is a mission emphasis weekend andJesus sent out the 12 as missionaries hesent out the 70 as missionaries he sentout the the demoniac in Matthew and inMark the demoniacs in Matthew asmissionaries and so Jesus has thistendency to send people out on a missionand on a purpose and as a guy I findthat really good news because um in thewest we talk about uh the most importantthing is to have a relationship withJesus Christ well that's true but as aguy guys find significance in work andJesus says to guys follow me and I'llmake you fishes of men that I'm going topaint your life your work is going tohave a global significance now and eachof us has a mountain to climb uh thatthere Mount Everest has been scaled butthe spiritual Everest of our time arethe 40% of the world who have yet tohear the name of Jesus Christ thatEverest has yet to be climbed and so umas we open the word of God today I'dinvite you to Bow your heads with me andwill invite once again the presence ofthe Holy Spirit heavenlyfather as We Gather here today in yourhouse as yourpeople father we pray that the sameSpirit who gave this story this text uhto mark20 2,000 years ago I pray father thatyour same spirit will be present heretoday Lord some of us need your spiritas the comforter for we're dealing withpain in ourlives I pray Lord that your spirit willdescend upon us and bring will indeedbind up theBrokenhearted Lord some of us aresitting heretoday in willful and stubborn sin andI'm asking Lord that you send your HolySpirit as the convictor of sin and theconverter ofhearts and father some of us are sittinghere today wanting to follow Jesus moreclosely more Faithfully Lord I pray thatyou'll speak to us through your spiritas the teacher of righteousness thismorning so Lord however we are sittinghere this morning we're in your housewe're listening for your voice Lordspeak through me today May my words betaken from your throne of grace in thename of Jesus I pray amen amen so um Iwant to tell you a story this is a truestory some of you will know exactly whoI'm talking about within a few sentencesbut there was a man who was born inFebruary 1906 and as a young boy he wasbaptized into the Lutheran Church hebegan his theological studies in hislate teens he was a brilliant scholarand in 1927 yes at the age of 21 hegraduated with a degree a doctorate intheology from the University of Berlinat the age of 21 I can tell you thatalmost never happens in those Germanuniversities as he was too young to beordained he had his Doctorate intheology but he was too young to beordainedum he served here in Barcelona Spainwith a German speaking congregation hethen spent time in New York doing hispostgrad theological studies and duringthis time he attended what we call ablack congregation and in that blackcongregation he heard sermons aboutsocial justice and how Christians are torespond to injustices perpetrated bywider society and he began to appreciatejust how much the gospel means to thosewho face social marginalization andethnic hatred he returned to Germany atthe end of his studies in his time inNew York where from 1931 to 33 he taughtsystematic theology at a seminary Iguess some of you are already guessingwho I'm talking about here this morningdietr Bon Hofer in 1933 two days afterAdolf Hitler was elected he attackedAdolf Hitler on National German radioand was cut off in mids sentence whenthe Nazi policies towards the Jewsbecame obvious by the late 1930s manyGerman Christians went along with AdolfHitler but dietr Bon Hofer argued thatthe church cannot simply and I quotebandage the victims under the wheel butmust Jam the spoke in the wheel itselfend quote he was instrumental inestablishing what was called theconfessing church that was an oppositionto the formal German church thatoperated With the blessings of the Naziregime Christians in Germany split intotwo groups there was the fur the furuschurch where Christians from alldenominations accepted fur Hitler asfura and then there was the confessingChurch Christians of all denominationswho said no we do not accept Hitler asfura we Proclaim Jesus asLord he then spent some years teachingin underground seminaries um keepinghidden from the Gestapo the Germansecret police during World War II heserved in German military intelligencebut he was kind of a double agent to usehis trips across occupied Europe and toSweden as a cover to meet with Christiangroups churches and leaders who wereworking to undermine the rule of adultHitler after a plot to overthrow AdolfHitler in in April 1943 dietr Bon Hofferwas arrested and after over a year in aGerman um kapo prison he was sent to aconcentrationcamp two weeks before the end of WorldWar II on the personal order of the headof the SS um himler he was hanged theAmericans were about 100 miles away fromliberating that camp his most famousbook which I think everybody here shouldbe reading is called the ofdiscipleship it is a study of the needfor disciples to be willing to sacrificeeverything for Jesus most of the book isa reflection on The Sermon on the Mountand we have thoughts from the Mount ofblessing from Sister White and the bookum uh thoughts the cost of discipleshipis a superb reflection on what it meansto follow Jesus and to implement theteachings of Jesus in your daily life hewas perhaps the most famous martyr forthe Christian faith in the 20th centuryDietrich Bon Hoferheunderstood as did John the Baptist thatto be a missionary of Jesus a pastor forthe flock a follower of Jesus does notalways lead to popularapproval and this is what we find in thelife of the Disciples of Jesus so if youturn your Bibles to Mark chapter 6 wefind here that um this is and I spokeabout these the last time I was I washere about four years ago and Imentioned the fact that Mark often usesa sandwich construction you're familiarwith the sandwich Construction in theGospels so Mark will start a story andthen he will end a story down here andin the middle of that story he'll Placeanother story so if you have a slice ifyou have a sandwich you have two slicesof bread and if I were to say to you atpot Lux say would you like a sandwichyou know there's bread on the outsidebut the question is what's on the insideyes what defines the sandwich is whetherit's cheese and tomato or whether it'speanut butter and jelly or whether it'syou know I don't know marmit and onionwhatever you like in your sandwiches Ido not know but what defines thesandwich is not the bread on the outsidebut the meat in the middlemetaphorically speaking here of coursewhat defines the sandwich is what's inthe middle not what's on the outside andthe last time I was here I preached onthe story of gyus in Mark 5 where gyusthe ruler of the synagogue asked Jesusto come to heal his daughter and at theend of the story Jesus comes to hisdaughter and she's dead she's 12y oldand he raises her from the dead and inthe middle of the story on the way toJar's daughter there's a story of thewoman with the issue of blood for 12years and she comes up behind Jes Jusand touches the Hem of His robe and thepoint about that story is that not allwho walk by Jesus are touched by hishand and touched with his faith and thateven though the crowd was jostling in onJesus only one person was healed in thatstory and that was the woman herself andso this story of John the Baptist thedeath of John the Baptist is anothersandwich construction we start out ifyou look in your Bibles Mark 6 and verse7-13 as was read for us in our scripturereading that's one slice of bread that'swhere Jesus sends out the 12 we're goingto reflect on those verses for a minutethen if you look down at verse um 30 and32 you come to the other part of thesandwich and it's this is where thedisciples come back from their firstmissionary journey and it says thereMark 6 uh verse 30 the apostles gatheredaround Jesus and told him all that theyhad done and taught he said to them comeaway to a deserted place all byyourselves and rest a while for manywere coming and going and they had noleisure even to eat and they went awayin the boat to a deserted place bythemselves so the first half of thesandwiches Jesus sends out the 12 andthe end of the sandwich the other s hereis that disciples return they tell Jesusall that they've done and the sandwichin the middle of this Mission storythere's the story of John the Baptistand it's not the story of the ministryof John the Baptist it's the story ofthe death of John the Baptist and that'sreally the focus of what we're talkingabout this morning so if you come backto Mark um chapter 6 there we're goingto pick it up in verse um 7 and it saysthere he that is Jesus called the 12 andbegan to send them out two by two andgave them authority over the uncleanspirits now I take great comfort fromthis verse because those 12 disciples atthis stage of the story are basically abunch offailures these disciples have beencomplaining they've been criticizingthey've been griping they've beenbickering among themselves as to who isthe greatest in the kingdom of Godthey've exasperated Jesus they've evenopposed him Mark 3:21 they'vemisunderstood Jesus they've impededJesus they've imp impeded his impededhis missions yet Jesus so far has notfired a singledisciple Jesus doesn't make it a habitto fire his disciples he knows that weare imperfect and he knows that thelonger we follow him and the closer wefollow him the more perfectly we willrepresent his character but each one ofus has a long way to go in that processand so Jesus Takes these 12 disciplesthese these Disciples of misunderstandhim and he sends them out in pairs hesends them out 2 by two because of theMosaic law states in Deuteronomy 19 thata matter must be established by thetestimony of two or three Witnesses andso Jesus doesn't send them out one byone he sends them out two by two andthere is much wisdom in going out inMission work 2 by two if you go knockingon doors in Mentone go out 2 by twothese days you go out with with someonewho's going to protect your reputationwhen I was pastoring in London do a lotof home visit ations and I would alwaysgo with um I always tend to go with oneof the deaconesses and I would ask fortheoldest most discrep it looking DeaconessI couldfind I absolutely just the oldest abecause they tend to be the most Godlybut also because it protects everybody'sreputation and so in Ministry it is goodto work side by side with somebody who'snot going to compromise your reputationand Jesus sends out the 12 here to bytwo the Fulfillment of the word of GodIn this passage does not depend on thePerfection or merits of disciples ormissionaries today but it depends on theauthority that Jesus gives his disciplesto do his Heavenly task and TheDisciples of Jesus were to follow in thethe continue in the ministry of Jesusthey were given three tasks to do theywere to heal they were to teach and theywere to cast out demons Jesus did notsend say to those 12 I want you FOC Iwant you to focus on the latest glitzyInnovation I want you to focus on thelatest big thing in evangelism I wantyou to be a full and faithfulrepresentation of the one who sent youand that is Jesus Christ and if Jesuscame to this earth teaching the goodnews Healing The Sick and casting outdemons that is what he sends hisdisciples out then to do and is what hesends us out to do today and we we havea Teaching Ministry in our church that'swhy we have preaching we have a HealingMinistry in our church that's why wehave lominda for instance and our localchurch health ministries we're also tohave a Deliverance Ministry in ourchurches that Jesus calls his people toFaithfully represent his ministry sothat when people see his church they seea representation of Jesus himself and soin verse 8 and N we have some of thedetailed instructions follow me in yourBibles it says he ordered them to takenothing for their Journey except a staffno bread no bag no money in their beltsbut to wear sandals and not to put ontwo tunics and there's no overnight kitthere's no 50 suitcase for these 12disciples as they go out now where isJesus taking this from well keep yourfingers in mark Mark 6 and go all theway back to the Book of Exodus Exodus 12is the story of well The Exodus and thisis where the Israelites have giveninstructions on the the um for whenthey're going to leave Israel how theyto be ready to leave the land of slaveryEgypt and March to the promised land theland of Canaan and in Exodus 12 andverse 11 this is how they were tocelebrate the first Passover this wasthe the the dawn of their Liberationfrom slavery in Egypt and Moses uh Godsays to Moses this is what you're goingto say to the Israelites and and he saysin Exodus 12:1 this is how you shall eatit that is the Passover meal your loinsGED your sandals on your feet your staffin your hand and you shall eat ithorridly for it is the Passover of theLord now when I was growing up my momused to rebuke me for how fast I ate myfood and today my wife does the samething to me and I always go back to thispassage it says that God's people are toeat hurriedly because we're on a Targetwe have a purpose here but you noticethere they ate with their sandals ontheir feet their loins girded now yourloin girded in those days they wouldwear long robes and to g your loin meantto tie your robes up around your waistso you could move fast and so when Jesusgives these instructions in Mark 6 youturn back there for his first 12disciples the first 12 missionaries thathe's sending out he's essentially sayingto them there should be nothing aboutyour life or your being that's going tohinder that the gospel work that I'mgoing to go I'm going to do through youthat nothing in your life is to hold youback and some people today say Lord Iwill serve you but only if X Y and Z istaken care of and what we say to peoplewho apply to AFM is people apply andthey say I'd like to be a missionary butI can't serve until God takes care ofthis mountain in my life and thatmountain in my life and our response isthis there will always be mountains inyourlife there will always be a reason notto do what God is calling you to dothere will always be a rationale and areason reasoned reason not to sacrificeand step out infaith the better way to do it is to sayLord I'm going to be obedient to yourcommands to be a Frontline missionaryI'm going to be obedient to to yourcommands to share you up my faith Menonand these are the mountains in front ofme and you're just going to have to takecare of them as and when I step out infaith and God always does he takes careto those mountains in ways we cannotbegin to imagine the the story of Exodusis of god creating a new people forhimself a faithful people a covenantpeople a holy nation and a royalpriesthood those that those are thewords that are applied to the body ofChrist today by the Apostle Peter in hisepistle disciples today are settingabout to to partner with God to create aholy priesthood a royal Nation peoplewho are awaiting the coming of theMessiah and as Adventists our number onepriority is to prepare people to meetJesus Christ that's it nothing elsematters well a lot of things do matterbut in the big scheme of things ournumber one priority is to prepare asmany people so when Jesus comes againpeople are standing and lifting theirheads high and saying this is our Godwhom we've waited for that is ourpriority and everything else that we dois is is is designed to support thatpurpose but when Jesus comes again myhome my home Church Village thisbuilding here is going to burn babyburn no matter how much money we putinto the carpets or the AV system or thepaints or the paints uh the paints orthe W stained glass windows is all goingto burn one day the only thing that'sgoing to last aresouls and so we are called to labor forsouls and we are not to allow anythingto stand in that path and so you knowsome people say I'd like to be amissionary and say well you know whatwhat's stopping you they say wellactually I've got um I've got a sportscar collection who's going to look afterit I'd like to be a missionary but youknow I've got um I've got so many toysin my garage at home I have to spend 6months a year just maintaining them Iused to live in Minnesota where comeSeptember Octobera lot of guys are spending every Sundayfor about two months winterizing alltheir summertoys so a lot of time and effort goesinto maintaining stuff that that that wehardly get any pleasure from anywaypeople have these beautiful boats andthey they spend their time maintainingtheir boats not actually on them in thewater there a truism about gettingboats the disciples do not have anelaborate support structurehere because they go infaith they go in faith trusting that Godindeed is going to provide for themverses 10 and 11 says he said to themwherever you enter our house stay thereuntil you leave the place if any placewill not welcome you and they refuse tohear you as you leave shake off the dustthat is on your feet as a testimonyagainst them so the second are to begrateful guests wherever they arereceived they are not to go and stay ina village and then somebody say oh Ihave a nicer house come and stay with mewherever they go and they are firstwelcomed that is who God has preparedfor them that is where God has preparedfor them to stay you know I I sleep inabout two or three beds every singleweek and I always stay where wherever Iever I go to a church I say I'd like tostay with an elderly retired couple okaybecause that's the safest place for meto stay to avoid false accusations and Istay in the basement and I'm alwaysgrateful wherever I stay and I'velearned over the last few years thatwherever I stay always take thermalunderwear other than coming to MentoneCalifornia but always take thermalunderwear cuz I've discovered that manyAdventists like to open the windows anddrop the temperature like to like 50Fahrenheits at night and they said butyou don't mind Pastor do you say wellnot really I I have my thermal underwearwith me in my in my suitcase here butI've learned that wherever you staythere is always a blessing and whereveryou stay it doesn't matter how fancy thefront door there is always a storybehind that front door there's always astory of a child gone the wrong way adaughter who's been caught up in a morallifestyle a family dealing with divorceor depression or disease or drugs and nomatter how fancy the front door nomatter how fancy the cars when God leadsyou to a house to stay there be gratefulthat you are called by God to be thepresence of Jesus Christ to that familyand so serving in missions like you'regoing to do mission trips to Cuba nextyear you've got a bunch of mission tripsgoing there don't ask is the place I'msaying going to be nice ask the Lord toput you somewhere where you can be ablessing and it doesn't matter how richor or or how impoverished at home is Godis putting you there for a Heavenlypurpose they are not to move around touh to create social friction andcompetition among their hosts and ifthey are rebuffed they are instructed toshake the dust off their shoes now thiswas a searing indictments of Israelbecause in Nehemiah chapter 5 and inActs chapter 18 we read that um it was acommon practice when when a Jewishperson wanted to show disgust atsomething they were to shake the dustoff their shoes and when a Jew came fromoutside of Israel or Palestine whateveryou call it and they came back intolet's say the promised land or the holyland they were to Shake the Dust oftheir shoes they were not to pollute theholy land with the dust from the Gentileterritory and so Jesus here he's sayingto them that even as you go through theV the towns and Villages of Israel ifthey don't receive you you are to shakethe dust off your shoes this was ashocking thing because Jews never shookthe dust off their shoes within Israelitself they shook they shook the dustoff their shoes when they ented Israelfrom from around the outside of Israelbut never within Israelitself Jesus is teaching his discipleshere he's teach teaching us today thatnobody is holy or special to God simplythroughbirth that no Nation no ethnic group nocongregation has a prior claim on Godover and above the rest ofhumanity not all as the Apostle Paulsays in Romans 9:6 not all from Israelare not all not all who are descendedfrom Israel areIsrael if you turn your Bibles keep yourfingers in Mark 6 turn to Luke 3and this is some of the teachings ofJohn the Baptist here whose death we'regoing to come to Luke chapter3 verse[Music]7 this is John preaching just before hebaptizesJesus and John 3:7 says John said to thecrowds that came out to be baptized withhim verse 7 you brood of vipers whowarned you to flee from the Wrath tocome verse 8 bear fruits worthy ofrepentance do not begin to say toyourselves we have Adventists as ourancestors is that what it says no do notpresume to say we have Abraham as ourancestor for I tell you God is able fromthese stones to raise up children toAbraham so nobody should be sitting in achurch today and saying I am savedbecause my mom and my dad areGod-fearing s theAdventists each one of us is to bearfruit worthy of repentance we are toshow a changed life we are to ask theHoly Spirit to take take away the worksof the Flesh and to replace them withthe fruit of the spirit and we cannotrely on our parents' Faith to get USpassport to heaven now I understand thatwhen we're small children we do kind ofrely on our parents' Faith but when youachieve the age of they say MoralMajority and moral awareness and you canmake a choice for Jesus Christ then youare called to make that choice for JesusChrist do not presume to say toyourselves as L as uh John the Baptistsaid to the Jewish leaders we haveAbraham as our ancestor that does notmatter to God and so when Jesus sendsout the 12 he sends them out to Jewishcommunities in Jewish territory and he'she's teaching them that just becausethey're Jewish Jewish communities inJewish territory and they go to thetemple two or three times a year for thepilgrimage festivals that does not meanthey're automatically saved and justbecause we're sitting here today doesnot mean we're automaticallysaved Jews and Gentiles male and femaleslave and free all are equal before Godin the eyes of God no individual familyClan tribe or nation has a prior claimon God or his salvation that is why thegospel is to go to Every Nation everyTri tribe every language and everypeople and that means that we asdisciples are to go to Every Nationevery tribe every language and everypeople and I'd encourage you as I saidlast night uh Mentone Church um you'regrowing in your in your mission Focustake part in the mission trips that arebeing planned if you can't overseas joinin the mission work that's taking placehere in Menton uh support your localchurch school here and help thePathfinders help part of the VBSwhatever is going in use your gifts forthe glory of God do not sit on on onyour hind sides here in the church andask other people to do the work of Godbecause it is in serving others andbringing the gospel to others that Godcleans us out ourselves and he preparesus for our Heavenlyhomes and come back to mark 6:12-13 it says so they went out thesemissionaries and they proclaimed thatall should what repent it's interestingis these days if you call if you talkabout repentance that's viewed as amicroaggression these days you're notallowed to say that anything's wrong inanybody'slife because if you do you're upsettingtheir safe space and a safe space isdefined by universities as as a placewhere nothing can be allowed to tooffend or upset somebody's self-understanding of who they areand so if if you are going to a collegecampus and it proclaims itself to be asafe space you are shutting down thegospel witness on that campus Because apart of the Gospel the heart of theGospel is the call to repentance thefirst words of Jesus were repent for thekingdom of God is at hand John theBaptist said repent for the kingdom ofGod is at hand and when these first 12goes go out the first thing they do isthey proclaimed that all shouldrepent and if the holy spirit isconvicting you of something in your lifeover this last week don't don't Hardenyour heart but turn away from that thingbe grateful that God is concerned foryour salvation enough to warn you thatsomething's wrong in your life do notpresume to think you remember hereyou're automatically saved turn awayfrom this sin and receive the gift ofSalvation don't Harden your heartagainst the voice of the holy spiritit's why as Adventists we are to bechampions of the liberty of consciencewe are to have sensitive consciences andthat's not just you know matters ofpublic policy it's a matters of how youtreat your spouse how you treat yourchildren how you relate to your fellowbrothers and sisters whether you'rehonest with your taxes or not all theall little things of life we are to besensitive to the leading of the holyspirit in our lives and so we are torepent it says all should repent notjust the wicked but all should repent CUstarting with myself this morning I am asinner in need of the Salvation of JesusChrist and so are you and so the messagefor those 12 is everybody should repentand then as a subset of that in verse 13it says they cast out many demons theyAnointed with many with oil many whowere sick and cured them as then so nowin every age the lord of the Harvestsends out G often ill equipped disciplesto labor for him no matter how much westudy at Seminary or in Bible class nomatter how many Sabbath School classeswe may go through a genuine call toMinistry always calls us to that forwhich we are really not adequatelyprepared so the disciple is sent outdependent upon the accompanying presenceof Jesus to guide them and to speakthrough them and to blessthem it's why Jesus says later in thisgospel you know when you hauled beforesynagogues and the councils of men donot worry beforehand what you are to sayfor Words will be given you from onhigh what Jesus wants is a willing bodya willing person and he can work throughthat person and do incredible thingsthere was that little uh Little Child inin 19 uh I think early 1960s Russia andYuri gagag Yuri gagaran just flownthrough space the first man in space andumuh the the Soviet Union um put urugGagarin the first cosmonaut in in outerspace on a tour throughout the SovietUnion and they were celebrating the factthat there was no God because yurgagaran didn't see God when he went upthere and The Story Goes that thiskindergarten teacher in in Moscow wassaying to the children there is no Godbecause yorri gagaran didn't see a Godhe was in outer space and this littleteen little in toddler raises her handand she goes please ma'am she says butmy God Lives higherup okay and we all laugh at this butthat story went across the Soviet Unionand people listened to that story andthe Soviet Union was saying there is noGod CU Yuri gagaran didn't see him andthe testimony of that little infant whocame from God-fearing parents who taughther that there is a God who created thisuniverse who is outside of this universehe's not trapped within this universethey passed on the message of theCreator God to that little girl and shespoke to that teacher and what she saidwent across the the Soviet Union thatgirl never went to Seminary she neversat in a in a Bible study Club class oranything but she knew enough about theLord and when the chance came she spokeup and she had no idea what she said itwas going to have a ripple effectthroughout the Soviet Union so in Markchapter 6 and verse 30 and 31 we alreadyread this a few minutes ago I just readverse 30 again it says the apostlesgathered around Jesus and told him allthat they had done and taught I want youto imagine for a minute what would it belike to be one of those 12 Apostlescoming back to Jesus at this moment inthe story they say Jesus wherever wewent large crowds meet us and we walkthrough lominda hospital and as we walkby every bed we said be healed be healedbe healed everybody was raised fromthose sickbeds and everywhere we went and and wesort found people who were possessed bydemons we cast the demons out in thename of Jesus Christ and every time wewent to a town people are queuing up tooffer us their homes for us to stay inthem being a follower of Jesus if youlisten to these 12 disciples they toldJesus all that they had done it reallyGod had done through them but they nowso Focus on all that they had done thatthey thought what being a disciple ofJesus is a one-way trip to popularAcclaim to approval to Applause and tobecome a minor celebrity in Israel inthose days who wouldn't want to be adisciple of Jesus if everywhere you goyou heal the sick and large crowds turnout to hear you and hang on your everyword who wouldn't want to be a discipleof Jesus with such great resultseverybody would logically be disciple ofJesus it's the only career choice intown but things were not always are notnot always as they seem and afterlistening to their excited umreports Jesus says let's go way to adeserted place cuz there's something Ineed to tellyou Something'sHappened and you need to knowthis they're about to learn the truenature of the cost ofdiscipleship see those 12 they come backand they tell Jesus all that they havedone and taught it's a glowing missionsreport and Jesus I need you to come to aquiet place I need you to sit down andthere's something you need to know thatbeing a follower of Jesus is not aguarantee to popular claim or Applauseor approval being a follower of Jesusmeans you follow Jesus wherever he leadsand if the path of Jesus took him toCalvary then his disciples must likewisebe willing to walk that Bloody Road andso we comes the story of John theBaptist the meat in the sandwich betweenJesus sending out the disciples andthose discip Les coming back you havethe meat in the sandwich which is thedeath of John the Baptist which markssandwiches into the middle of thismissionary story John the Baptist was amissionary just like the 12 he was alsosent out by God just like the 12 but hisfate was not at this stage of the storywas infinitely worse than that of the 12there so we're going to pick it up inverse 14 it says King Herod heard of itthat is the preaching of the 12 forJesus name had become known some weresaying John the baptizer has been raisedfrom the dead and for this reason thesepowers at work in him but others said itis Elijah and others said it is aprophet like one of the prophets of oldbut when John when Herod heard of it hesaid John who might be headed has beenraised and so what you notice about thisthis passage here in verse 14 it saidjesus' name had become known how manydisciples did Jesus send out 12 whosename percolated up through Society tothe years of Herod the name of Jesus wedon't hear In this passage that Peter'sname percolated up to the ears of Herodwe don't hear that Thomas's name waspassed on through Society up to the earsof Herod those disciples were kind ofanonymous it was the name of Jesus andhis gospel that percolated up throughSociety to the ears of Herod it's a cluefor our ministrytoday when we preach when we teach whenwe go on mission trips the emphasisneeds to be on the glory and the powerand the goodness of Jesus Christ andwhen people think of us and our ministrythey need to think of JesusChrist and so the name of Jesus has cometo the ears of Herod not the name ofthose 12 disdeciples now many believe that Jesus wasElijah or the prophet like a prophetlike the prophets of old Herod howeverbelieved that Jesus was John the Baptistcoming back from the dead in theestimation of many in the time of Jesusin that in the time of those 12disciples Jesus ranked as one of thegreatest figures in Israelite historybut noticethis considering that Jesus is Elijah orJohn the Baptist returned from the deador a prophet or one of the prophets orthe greatest Prophet that's ever livedor the wise sister or the greatestteacher that's ever lived the most moralperson who ever lived does notconstitute a savingFaith does not constitute a saving faithit is easy to have an exalted opinion ofJesus like there's a whole faith todaythat says that Jesus is a prophet butnot the Son ofGod it is easy to have an exaltedopinion of Jesus even secular atheistswill say that Jesus was one of thewisest men that ever lived it's easy tohave an exalted opinion of Jesus Christbut an exalted in opinion is not asaving relationship Herod himself had anexalted opinion of Jesus he thought thathe was one of the um John the Baptistwhom he beheaded but at the trial ofJesus he did nothing to release Jesusand was content to let Jesus becrucified what actually had happened toJohn the Baptist we read about it inverses 17- 20 it says for Herod himselfhad sent men who arrested John bound himand put him in prison on account ofherodias his brother Philip's wifebecause Herod had married her for Johnhad been telling Herod it is not lawfulfor you to have your brother'swife and herodias had a grudge againsthim and wanted to kill him but she couldnot for Herod feared John knowing thathe was a righteous and a holy man and heprotected him when he heard him he wasgreatly perplexed and yet he liked tolisten to him so what happened to Johnthe Baptist he had been publiclycondemning Herod for taking his halfbrother's wife herodias for himself anddivorcing his own wife in the process tomarry his half brother'swife was what Herod done was what he haddone was it done in secret or was itdone in public what do you think it wasin public it was a public thing Herodhad divorced his wife and he'd taken hishalf brother's wife for himself this wasexplicitly condemned in the leviticallaws Leviticus 18:16 and Leviticus2021 and so Herod was breaking theMosaic law did everybody in politeSociety know what Herod had done yes orno yes yes they did did did all thecommon people know what Herod had doneyes or no yes was anybody speaking aboutit and rebuking the leader of the peopleno so everybody knew what was happeningeverybody saw what was happeningeverybody knew what was happening waswrong but nobody had the courage tostand up and say this is wrong inpublic everybody knew it but nobodyspoke up for fear of cancelculture to condemn Herod for divorcinghis first wife was dangerousthat's why in Mark chapter 10 in verse 2just turn your Bibles there thedisciples asked Jesus a loaded questionbecause they're trying to get Jesus intotrouble Mark 10 and verse 2 we readthere this is jesus' discussion onmarriage in in Mark's gospel Mark 10:2says some Pharisees came and to test himthey asked is it lawful for a man todivorce hiswife now this is a loaded questionbecause John the Baptist has has hishead chopped off for criticizing KingHerod for taking his brother's wife anddivorcing his own wife and so thePharisees know this is what Herod doesto people that criticize his marriage sothey come to Jesus and they ask him thequestion tell us Jesus is it lawful forman to divorce his wife knowing thatHerod has his spies in the crowd and ifJesus says it is not lawful for man todivorce his wife In this passage herethen Herod has reason to execute him aswell so the the Pharisees are askingJesus a question calculated to have hishead chopped off if he gives thebiblicalanswer now we live in a similar worldtoday where if you if you give aBiblical answer to something your careercan be hurt and if you don't believe meif you work for the state of Californiago home this afternoon and post Ibelieve marriages between a biologicalmale and a biological female and see howlong you keep your job job in the publicsector as then sotoday it is a career-ending move tospeak biblicaltruth not just for the State ofCaliforniabut sometimes in the body of Christ markthis is what Jesus was finding out hereand his disciples In thispassage Herod ha herodias hated John theBaptist and sought his death Herodthough had a grudge against John theBaptist but he was drawn in Fascinationto listening to John the Baptist andwhat he had to say he could not let Johnremain free but nor could he bringhimself to execute John so he simplyimprisoned him Hing hoping thereby tokeep him quiet you might say he wasbanned from thepulpit that's what he was doing here isthat right or is it wrong he right hewas banned from the pulpit we're goingto take you out of the pulpit and you'renot allowed to preach because you'rerebuking publicsin so The Story Goes On verse25 well let's pick it up at verse 21 butan opportunity came when Herod on hisbirthday gave a banquet for hiscourtiers and officers and for theleaders of Galilee when his daughterherodias came in and Dan she pleasedHerod and his guests and the King saidto the girl ask me for whatever you wishand I'll give you and he solemnly sworeto her whatever you ask of me I'll giveyou even half of my kingdom she went outand said to her mother what should I askfor and she replied the head of John theBaptist the King was deeply grieved yetout of regard for his Oaths and for theguests he did not want to refuse herimmediately the king sent a soldier ofthe guard with orders to bring John'shead he went and beheaded him in theprisonbrought his head on a platter and gaveit to the girl then the girl gave it toher mother when his disciples heardabout it they came and took his body andlaid it in atomb just as the Disciples of Jesuslater took his body and laid it in atomb so the events come to a climax theycome to a head at herod's birthday partyhe invited the leading citizens of hiskingdom the cours the civil and militaryofficials the wealthy and Powerful TheIn Crowd of Galilee and the wine wasflowing freely and her rus' Daughter byPhillip her name is salomi and shedances so this it might say it's hisstepdaughter and Herod is so pleasedwith her dancing that he impetuouslypromises to give her everything sheasked for up to half of his kingdompeople do silly things when they'reunder the influence of drugs oralcohol they do life-changing things wedon't just kill people on the roads butwhen people under the influence ofalcohol or drugs they can doprofoundly well Terrible Things theleads of the the death of innocentpeople and John herodias asks hermother and she wants to take cancelculture to its logical conclusion TheLogical conclusion of cancel culture isnot just stopping somebody from speakingbut it's killingthem that's the logical conclusion ofcancel culture we're going to cancel youonce and for all and she sees herchance and she asks for the head of Johnthe Baptist and what was Herod to do hewas Kingbut he was no longer in control ofevents he was afraid of John himself andwhat he preached but he was afraid ofhis guests and what they might say if hedidn't honor his oath he was afraid ofturning down herodias and salomi HerodWas A House Divided and so to Plate hisbloodthirsty daughter-in-law and hisbloodthirsty wife to fulfill his promiseto salomi and to maintain his honorbefore his guests he takes the easy wayout and he orders the execution of Johnthe Baptist the only person who' everspoken the truth to hisface it's not easy to tell the truththen astoday John is executed this passage is abitter commentary on the inability oftyrants to tolerate righteousindividuals a fact no less true todaythan it was in the time of John the onewho Jesus called the greatest man bornof woman in Matthew 11:11 was sacrificedto a cocktail wager John was beheaded ina dark cell with neither friends norfamily present seemingly abandoned byJesus Christ he lost his head and whyhad John chosen to speak about herod'simmoralmarriage because he was a prophetwithout price whose calls to repentanceexpose sin in any and every quarter whywould you expose sin unless you areconcerned for that person'ssalvation you know if Somebody Loves Youby how willing they're will how muchthey're willing to speak truth to youif I have sin in my life when you cometo me and you say brother V I want totalk about peace peace you really don'tlove me but if I have a sin in my life Iwant you to tell me that something iswrong so I can turn away from it I mayhave a blind spot I may have done it sooften that my conscience is seared I nolonger even see it asSin if you love somebody you tell themthe truth and you're willing to riskyour friendship in order that they mightbe saved as a consequence of what yousay to them and if I'm willing to to ifI'm willing to speak the truth to youand I'm willing to lose this friendshipbut I'm in order that you might be savedthat is a show of true friendship andlove it is not true love and it is nottrue friendship when you say to yourbrother or sister in Christ everything'sfine in your life brother and sister goon your way in peace when you know thatsomething's coming between them andGod now this doesn't mean that we standup and we point the finger at everybodybut it does mean that you pray and youfast and you ask God for an opportunityto share in love what the Holy Spirithas impressed upon you about thatperson's life and if You' to come tosomebody you say brother and I have thisburden for you and I want to see yousaved and God has been impressing uponthis this upon me and I want to affirmmy love for you and I'm going to saythis in private to you this is a problemthat needs to resolving between you andthe Lord many people will take that ingood faith and they'll hear the voice ofthe Holy Spirit John spoke the truthabout Herod because God loved Herod andGod wanted Herod to turn away from thisobvious known sin in his life there wereno sacred cows in John the Baptist heardhe did not read the opinion polls for hestood in the pulpit he protected nospecial interests and he did not seekpopular Applause or thumbs up on socialmedia he spoke Heavenly truth to Earthlypower he was true to his calling as amessenger of God and he left theconsequences in God's hands and later onJesus calls him the greatest man born ofwomen which tells me that John theBaptist has the Assurance of eternallife he was faithful to his calling andwhat God called him to do and he leftthe consequences in God's hands eventoday in our modern society nobody'swilling to acceptcorrection we live in a world where ifyou preach about anything or you saysomething to a friend or you postsomething on social media the mob willcome after you if you rebuke someobvious and known sin everybody sees nota lot has changed in ourworld but if God calls you to speak tosomebody else don't sit on it pray aboutit find a place to speak that message inlove and discharge the responsibilitythat God has laid upon your heart youmay be the agent of that person'ssalvation they may not thank you in thatmoment but when they get to heaventhey'll be grateful that you took yourisk that friendship to speak Heavenlytruth to them so don't just walk by onthe other side of the road don't justpretend that don't just know that thingshappening but pretend they're nothappening speak Heavenly truth when youcan and so we turn we turn back toDietrich bonhoflike the 12 disciples as with diet BonHofer true disciples today do not askthemselves is what I'm doing wellreceived or popular but true disciplesask themselves this am I being true tothe one who sent me am I someone whowill not be bought or sold am I someonewho in my innermost soul is true andhonest am I someone who will not beafraid to call Sin By Its Right name amI a man or woman whose conscience is astrue to duty as the needle is to thepole am I somebody willing to stand forthe right through the heavens fallDietrich bonhof was such a disciple ofJesus Christ now he wrote a poem some ofyou may know this poem he wrote it in1944 from a Gusto prison he knew he wasgoing to beexecuted dri bonhof knew that in in theeyes of wider The Wider ChristianCommunity he was a hero of faith thatwas what the public perception of BonHofer was in the Christian Community butin his own heart and mind sitting inthat dank dark cell in the Gusto prisondiet bonhof had doubts and he he knewthat outside he was viewed as a hero buton the inside he thought maybe I've madesome mistakes here I'm not so sure of mywalk with the Lord and so diet bonhofstruggled between the public bonhof andthe private Bon Hofer and each one of ushas that kind of struggle there is whatpart Society thinks of us and there iswhat we know aboutourselves and so Bon Hofer wrote a poemit's called who am I we're going toconclude this sermon with this poem hereand it describes well the struggle thatBon Hofer went through between whatpeople say about him and what he knowsabout himself and the poem goes likethis he says who amI they often tell me I steep from mycell's confin confinement calmlycheerfully firmly like a squire from hiscountry house who am I they often tellme I used to speak to my warders freelyand friendly and clearly as though itwere mine to command who am I they alsotell me I bore the days of misfortuneequally smiling proudly like oneaccustomed towin am I then really all that whichother men tell of or am I only What IKnow Myself of myself restless andlonging and sick like a bird in a cagestruggling for breath as though handswere compressing my throat yearning forcolors for flowers for the voices ofbirds thirsting for words of kindnessfor nabess tossing in expectation ofgreat events powerlessly trembling forfriends at infinite distance weary andempty at praying at thinking at makingfaint and ready to say farewell to itall who am I this or the other am I oneperson today and tomorrow another or amI both at once a hypocrite before othersand before myself a contemptibly wobegone weakling or is something withinme still like a beaten Army fleeing indisorder from Victory alreadyachieved who am I they mock me theselonely questions ofmine whoever I am thou knowest oh God Iamthine whoever I am thou knowest oh God Iamthine God is calling us as the MentonChurch to be his missionaries in Mentonand in California and the ends of theEarth and God knows what people say ofyou and he knows you're inner walkbut despite what people say about youpositive or negative and despite whatyou know about yourself positive ornegative I encourage you to do what driBon Hofer did and say at the end of theday I give into the hands of a lovingheavenly father he will search me and hewill see if there be any wicked way inme and he will create in me a new and aright spirit and he will bring me toeternal life so brothers and sisters ina world that hatestruth in a world world that hates thePrince ofPeace in a world that would cancel youfor speaking up be a faithful Ambassadorand missionary of Jesus in whicheverportion of the vineyard he's called youto serve amen