Series B – Seventh Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, July 12, 2015 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough
| Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough: |
| Time Stamp | Transcript |
| 0:24 | The holy Gospel According to Saint Mark |
| 0:31 | chapter 6 verses 14-29 King Herod heard about this for Jesus |
| 0:37 | name had become well known some were saying John the Baptist has been raised |
| 0:42 | from the dead and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him others said he’s Elijah and so others claimed he’s a |
| 0:49 | prophet like one of the prophets of long ago but when Herod heard this he said John the man I beheaded has been raised |
| 0:57 | from the dead for Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and |
| 1:02 | he had him bound and put in prison he did this because of herodias his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married for |
| 1:10 | John had been saying to Herod it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife so herodias and nurse to grudge |
| 1:17 | against John and wanted to kill him but she was not able to because Herod feared John and protected him knowing him to be |
| 1:24 | a righteous and holy man when Herod heard John he was greatly puzzled yet he |
| 1:30 | liked to listen to him finally the opportune time came on his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high |
| 1:37 | officials and Military commanders and the Leading Men of Galloway when the daughter of paradise came in and danced |
| 1:44 | she pleased Herod and his dinner guests the king said to the girl ask me for |
| 1:50 | anything you want but I will give it to you and he promised her with an oath whatever you ask I will give you up to |
| 1:55 | half of my kingdom she went out and said to her mother what shall I ask for the |
| 2:01 | head of John the Baptist she answered and at once the girl buried in to the king with the bet with the request I |
| 2:09 | want you to give me right now |
| 2:17 | and his dinner guests he did not want to refuse her so he immediately sent an |
| 2:23 | executioner with orders to bring John’s head when the man went beheaded John from the |
| 2:28 | prison and brought back his head on a platter he presented it to the girl and |
| 2:33 | she gave it to her mother on hearing of this John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb |
| 2:41 | in the name of Jesus so when you travel around on the roads |
| 2:47 | out here every now and then you see a barn or an old building or at least what looked like it might have been a barn or |
| 2:54 | an old building it’s gone derelict you ever see these things and you just think man that must have been beautiful to |
| 3:00 | look at when it was new but now there’s boards missing it’s leaning to one side |
| 3:05 | it looks like it’s about to fall over right I want you to keep that in mind as we |
| 3:11 | work through our our text this morning this is what sin does to us and it blows |
| 3:19 | us out destroys Us From the Inside Out today’s Gospel text if you think about |
| 3:24 | it reads like one of today’s Supermarket tabloids with a parade of adultery |
| 3:29 | raunchy lewd Dirty Dancing yes they even had twerking in the ancient world bone-headed rashness a murderous Grudge |
| 3:37 | and the blood of a man of God who preached against those who would sin against the Lord God Almighty by |
| 3:42 | destroying the sanctity of marriage and he called people to repent of their sins be baptized believe in the Messiah for |
| 3:48 | the Forgiveness of their sins has anything really changed if you think about it right |
| 3:55 | so this is the cataclysmic destruction of sin now you who would think that you |
| 4:00 | can flirt with sin and you know indulge a little evil in your life excuse it by saying ah to air is human I need to warn |
| 4:07 | you that you are literally playing with fire and not just any fire but you’re playing with fires of Hell sin is not to |
| 4:13 | be trifled with and the devil devil he never offers sin without invisible |
| 4:19 | chains attached to them and those chains are designed to lock |
| 4:24 | you up and drag you into hell remember that it was the mere eating of a forbidden fruit you know just eating |
| 4:31 | right the mere eating of a forbidden fruit that plunged all of us into this curse that we are now in we’re all now |
| 4:39 | made to suffer greatly in this life because of that curse through the toil of our work to the unpleasantness of |
| 4:45 | dealing with each other’s sins and baggage to the wake of Destruction that we’ve all left behind us even in our own |
| 4:51 | lives to the diseases wasting illnesses and eventually the death that we all face all of this is because of just |
| 4:58 | eating a fruit so sin is not to be trifled with and |
| 5:03 | Paul himself in several passages but Romans 6 in particular makes it clear |
| 5:09 | that sin is slavery sin is not Freedom it is slavery |
| 5:16 | Romans 6 12 let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body this is Paul writing |
| 5:22 | to Christians to make you obey its passions do not present your members to |
| 5:28 | sin as instruments for unrighteousness instead present yourselves to God as |
| 5:33 | those who have been brought from Death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness sake for |
| 5:39 | sin will not have dominion over you you Christians this is what Paul says since |
| 5:46 | you are not under the law that you are under grace and see many people they get that wrong they think that because we’re |
| 5:51 | under grace well that means we can just go out and sin all we want you know um the text says |
| 5:57 | you sin will not have dominion over you since you are not under the law but under grace in other words if you’re |
| 6:03 | really under grace you’re no longer under the Dominion of sin and then Paul says this what then are we to sin what |
| 6:09 | are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace by no means do you not know that if you present |
| 6:15 | yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves you are slaves to the one whom you obey |
| 6:20 | either of sin which leads to death of obedience which leads to righteousness so be warned sin is not a |
| 6:29 | small matter there’s no such thing as a small sin at all so let’s return now to our text |
| 6:37 | and we will begin reading at the beginning King Herod heard of it is where our text begins and that’s kind of |
| 6:44 | an odd place to start because I think he heard of what right well the answer to that question is actually found in last |
| 6:51 | week’s pericope if you remember last week we were looking at Jesus sending out his 12 disciples he had given them |
| 6:57 | authority over unclean spirits charged them to take nothing for their Journey except for a staff they went out and |
| 7:03 | proclaimed that people should repent and they cast out many demons Anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them |
| 7:10 | this is what Herod had heard about he was getting reports about Jesus |
| 7:16 | which should have been good news for him because the one thing that Herod needed was the Forgiveness of his sins |
| 7:24 | but keep in mind sin has utterly decimated him so the text says King Herod heard of it for the |
| 7:31 | report of Jesus for Jesus name had become known some said John the Baptist |
| 7:37 | has been raised from the dead that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him but others said he’s Elijah |
| 7:42 | others said he’s a prophet like one of the prophets of old but when Herod heard of it he said John whom I beheaded has |
| 7:49 | been raised and believe me when I tell you he said this in fear |
| 7:56 | he was terrified of that thought so rather than hearing the report of |
| 8:02 | demons being cast out of sins being forgiven of Jesus and his disciples performing Miracles and seeing that is |
| 8:09 | good news the only thing Herod can think about is oh no it’s John the Baptist |
| 8:15 | he’s come back to get me and this is all the result of his sin |
| 8:20 | it’s very much akin to Shakespeare’s play a Macbeth if you remember from Act |
| 8:28 | five scene one after the murder of banquil Lady Macbeth begins taking to |
| 8:34 | walking in her sleep and she begins doing strange things and in that scene you have a doctor you have |
| 8:41 | a gentle woman who’s a lady in waiting and then you also have Lady Macbeth and |
| 8:46 | I’ll pick up a part of it from Shakespeare’s play the doctor says lo here she comes this |
| 8:53 | is her very guys and upon my life fast asleep observe her stand close and then the doctor asks how can she buy that |
| 9:00 | light so Lady Macbeth is walking in the middle of the night and she’s got a light and the woman says why it stood by |
| 9:07 | her she has light by her continually tis her command see she’s so guilt-ridden |
| 9:12 | and destroyed by the murder of banquil that now she can’t even sleep with the |
| 9:17 | lights off she’s got to have a light on all the time the doctor asks do you see her eyes are open and the woman says I |
| 9:24 | but their sense is shut and then the doctor says what is it she now does look how she rubs her hands |
| 9:31 | and then and then here we hear this from Lady Macbeth yet here’s a spot |
| 9:38 | and then she says out damn spot out I say one two wide his time to do it hell |
| 9:45 | is murky fine my Lord Phi a soldier in a feared what need we fear who knows it |
| 9:51 | when none can call our power to account yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him |
| 10:00 | what a dark scene this is a dark play and it deals with really dark matters |
| 10:07 | but each and every one of us if we’ve lived long enough in this life have experienced that time in our lives |
| 10:13 | when we have woken up one morning and said I can’t believe that I’m guilty of doing that |
| 10:21 | we’ve all fallen short of God’s perfect law and each one of us is guilty of |
| 10:27 | things that we are all deathly ashamed of so keep in mind |
| 10:34 | sin wrecks us it wrecks Us in much the same way that it wrecked Judas Matthew |
| 10:39 | chapter 27 tells us this when Judas Jesus’s betrayer saw that Jesus was |
| 10:45 | condemned he changed his mind literally it says he repented |
| 10:51 | he changed his mind brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests |
| 10:56 | and the Elder saying I have sinned by betraying innocent blood |
| 11:02 | and truly he had he was seeking an Absolution though from |
| 11:08 | his co-conspirators and they’re not about to pronounce God’s Absolution they said to him what is that |
| 11:15 | to us see to it yourself and throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple he departed and he went |
| 11:21 | and he hanged himself the chief priest taking the pieces of silver said it is not lawful to put them |
| 11:27 | into the treasury since its blood money to which I say and yeah you’re the ones who gave it to him |
| 11:34 | so they took counsel and bought with them with them The Potter’s field as a |
| 11:39 | burial place for strangers and that field has been called the field of blood to this day |
| 11:45 | now keep this in mind when we talk about saving faith and we talk about biblical repentance |
| 11:51 | merely feeling sorry for your sins is not saving faith it isn’t |
| 11:57 | Herod felt sorry he felt guilt repentance true biblical repentance is |
| 12:05 | contrition for your sins and trusting in Christ for mercy and forgiveness it’s |
| 12:12 | two things this is this explains why King David is Forgiven and continues in the faith |
| 12:19 | while Saul doesn’t this explains why Peter is restored and Judas is not |
| 12:27 | it’s sorrow for sin and faith that Christ has bled and died for that sin |
| 12:33 | trust that Christ can even forgive that that’s not where Herod is at |
| 12:39 | the text continues for it was Herod who had sent and seized John |
| 12:45 | bound him in prison for the sake of herodias his brother Philip’s wife |
| 12:52 | because he had married her now keep this in mind |
| 12:57 | it’s the sanctity of marriage is kind of a Hot Topic right now people are talking about it in light of the Supreme Court |
| 13:03 | ruling but don’t think for a second that those who are attracted to people of the |
| 13:09 | same sex are the only people defiling marriage marriage is defiled When anybody defiles |
| 13:16 | the marriage bed heterosexual or homosexual and here |
| 13:21 | Herod well he had the hots for his brother’s wife and she had the |
| 13:27 | hots back for him I mean after all Herod has power and Philip yeah not so much she’s got to be upwardly mobile right |
| 13:34 | and so it probably began with a look across the table maybe playing footsie and things like that secretly meeting |
| 13:40 | and making out and then ultimately to full-blown adultery and then divorce of course what this text doesn’t tell you |
| 13:46 | is that while Herod he was also married and we’ll get to that at the end of our story today |
| 13:52 | so what happened Herod took his brother’s wife bedded her |
| 13:58 | and married her and John the Baptist the fiery grasshopper breath |
| 14:05 | preacher of repentance what did he say to Herod it is not lawful for you to have your |
| 14:12 | brother’s wife you’re defiling God’s institution of |
| 14:18 | marriage and they’re heterosexual keep that in mind and it says this in herodias harbored a grudge against him |
| 14:25 | and wanted to put him to death yeah that’s right you preach repentance to somebody who’s dead and trespasses and |
| 14:32 | sins and they’re likely to want to kill you and yet that’s well it all goes with the |
| 14:39 | job description if you’re a prophet a preacher somebody sent by God to Proclaim repentance and |
| 14:45 | the Forgiveness of sins death is a real possibility but it never kept John from doing what he needed to do and he was |
| 14:52 | ultimately arrested and something similar happened in our Old Testament text if you remember |
| 14:57 | Amos Amos was not a prophet or the son of a prophet he was a keeper of sheep |
| 15:03 | and yet the word of the Lord came to him and he went and he preached he preached |
| 15:09 | and proclaimed that well Judah is going to go into Exile God’s going to punish |
| 15:16 | them for their sins and listen to what again from Amos chapter 7 amaziah the |
| 15:21 | priest of zebra sent us to Gerald king of Israel saying same as aspired |
| 15:28 | House of Israel that’s right telling telling the truth and then the |
| 15:36 | briefest man the man of God right |
| 15:44 | the land is not able to bear his words for thus Amos said jeroboam shall die by |
| 15:50 | The Sword and Israel must go into Exile away away from his land |
| 15:55 | that’s not a conspiracy that’s not sedition that’s the word of the lord it’s the |
| 16:01 | truth and here you have a man of God comforting the king and saying oh Amos he’s conspired against you he’s speaking |
| 16:07 | against you that’s how it goes is it not same thing happened to John the Baptist |
| 16:14 | again it’s all part of the job of being a prophet or a preacher or even a Christian |
| 16:20 | so we then continue with our text but Paradise could not kill John the Baptist |
| 16:25 | for Herod feared John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept |
| 16:31 | him safe so notice that John’s integrity John’s message and his life |
| 16:38 | proved to Herod that Wicked Man well that John was a man of God and it says |
| 16:45 | this when he heard him he was greatly perplexed yet he heard him gladly and so |
| 16:50 | here’s the weird thing there’s John in prison at the Citadel of mahera by the way we |
| 16:58 | learned this from history he’s in prison and John what’s he doing he’s preaching |
| 17:03 | to Herod and herod’s perplexed what is these strange words that I’m hearing from this man repent and it’s weird he |
| 17:10 | smells like grasshoppers but you know and he’s perplexed and he can’t put it all together and yet he enjoyed hearing |
| 17:17 | him boy he’s fire he’s got a lot of passion that guy really gets worked up I didn’t I enjoy hearing him and yet the |
| 17:25 | word of the Lord it’s like shooting BBs into a brick wall it’s just it’s not good it’s going |
| 17:31 | nowhere the man has been blown out by his sin and so then this is what happens next |
| 17:39 | perfect setup for getting rid of John the Baptist an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for |
| 17:45 | his Nobles and Military commanders and the Leading Men of Galilee notice Herod is putting on his own birthday party |
| 17:52 | that should tell you something about his character and as if the adultery doesn’t already and |
| 17:59 | when herodias’s daughter the daughter of an adulteress and believe me when I tell |
| 18:04 | you your sin impacts your children and I want you to think about that when herodias’s daughter came in and danced |
| 18:12 | she pleased Herod and his guests and yes this is seductive Dirty Dancing that’s |
| 18:19 | going on here and everybody thought it was quite the thing to see and the King said to the |
| 18:26 | girl ask me for whatever you wish and I will give it to you and he vowed to her whatever you ask me I will give you up |
| 18:32 | to half of my kingdom rash words stupid oath |
| 18:39 | there is many instances even in the Old Testament of men who made dumb Oaths you |
| 18:45 | think of King Saul who basically said any man today in battle who eats before we’ve won that he will be put to death |
| 18:53 | and of course his son Jonathan ate had some honey and well he had to be put to death right |
| 18:59 | and his men prevailed against Saul to keep him from doing that even King David made a rash vow one time if you’re |
| 19:06 | familiar with the story of nabal nabal means fool which is a fitting name for this man the ball was a man whom David’s |
| 19:13 | men were actually guarding and protecting from the Philistines and the ball being as dumb and foolish as he is |
| 19:19 | said harsh words and basically insulted King David and King David basically said |
| 19:25 | that’s it I vow that I’m going to have his head I’m gonna kill him and you know |
| 19:31 | who saved nabal nabal’s wife Abigail she came and she spoke words of sense to |
| 19:37 | King David and David relented of his oath and no one thought the lesser of him for not killing the ball and |
| 19:43 | eventually the Lord did Kill the ball had a big old heart attack and then the |
| 19:48 | Widow Abigail married King David it’s an interesting story you should look it up yeah God has a way of working things out |
| 19:55 | right so here he’s made this foolish rash stupid oath |
| 20:04 | just a perfect setup so she immediately went with haste |
| 20:10 | and said well she went and said to her mother what should I ask for and she said well |
| 20:17 | the head of John the Baptist and she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked saying I want you to give |
| 20:22 | me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter to which he should have said no |
| 20:29 | no you don’t get to ask for someone to murder |
| 20:34 | but Herod being who Herod is remember his sin is completely decimated this man |
| 20:40 | totally morally derelict the King was exceedingly sorry |
| 20:47 | but because of his Oaths and his gas he didn’t want to break his word to her and |
| 20:52 | immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head and he went and beheaded him in prison |
| 20:57 | and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother what a lovely gift |
| 21:07 | when the disciples heard it they came and took his body laid it in a tomb |
| 21:13 | now that’s where our text ends but I want to tell you a little bit more of the consequences of herod’s sin and we |
| 21:20 | get this from the church historian eusebius from his work called ecclesiastical history written in the |
| 21:26 | 4th century and he quotes Josephus the Jewish historian who is the author of Jewish Antiquities and here’s what |
| 21:33 | eusebius says about John the bat not John the Baptist but Herod he says not long after this John the Baptist was |
| 21:38 | beheaded by the younger Herod as is stated in the gospels Josephus also |
| 21:44 | records the same fact making mention of Paradise by name and stating that |
| 21:49 | although she was the wife of his brother Herod made her his own wife after |
| 21:54 | divorcing his former lawful wife get this who was the daughter of eratos the |
| 22:01 | king of Petra and separating herodias from her husband while he was still alive in other words Herod not only did |
| 22:09 | Philip his brother have a wife herodias Herod had a wife and it was the daughter |
| 22:15 | of a king king eretos of Petra now I don’t know if you know where Petra is but if you remember the third movie in |
| 22:23 | the Indiana Jones Trilogy I refuse to accept the fourth movie as part of that |
| 22:29 | series that’s another story altogether but in the third movie um you know the talking about the Holy |
| 22:36 | Grail that there’s a scene where that takes place where there’s a city kind of |
| 22:42 | built into the Rocks you go through a canyon and you get there and you can see this elaborate City kind of built into |
| 22:48 | the Rocks that’s the City of Petra it’s in Jordan today and so Herod was married |
| 22:54 | to the daughter of the king of Petra and and his name was eretos so it says this |
| 23:00 | on her account on the account of the daughter of the king eretos also that he |
| 23:07 | slew John wage war with eritos because of the disgrace inflicted on the daughter of the latter in other words |
| 23:13 | toss ended up declaring war against Herod for insulting and basically |
| 23:19 | disgracing his daughter like this and Josephus relates that in this war |
| 23:26 | when they came to battle herod’s entire Army was destroyed |
| 23:32 | and he suffered This calamity on account of his crime against John |
| 23:38 | so what starts off as you know those googly eyes across |
| 23:45 | this table you know and oh she looked at me too now we’re playing footsie to now we’re committing adultery to now we’re |
| 23:52 | divorcing our spouses and shacking up together you know all of this right to now John the Baptist is beheaded because |
| 23:58 | how dare he tell us what we’re doing is wrong this ultimately resulted in a war and in |
| 24:05 | that war it was a war for the honor of a woman who had been disgraced by Herod |
| 24:12 | his own wife his lawful wife and it resulted in herod’s entire Army |
| 24:18 | being destroyed here’s what Josephus says says Josephus confesses in this account that John the |
| 24:25 | Baptist was an exceedingly righteous man and thus agrees with the things written of him in the gospels he records also |
| 24:30 | that Herod lost his kingdom on account of the same herodias and that he was driven into banishment with her and |
| 24:36 | condemned to live in Vienna now Vienna wasn’t quite the neighborhood that it is today |
| 24:42 | okay so these are the wages of sin these are the wages |
| 24:47 | and so the idea here is that when we trifle with sin |
| 24:57 | when we say oh to air is human oh it’s just a little sin |
| 25:02 | you have no idea what you may be opening up in your life sin does not desire to be your pet |
| 25:10 | sin is like a pet it’s like the foolish guy who goes to Florida and finds himself a baby alligator and thinks it’s |
| 25:17 | so cute why people think this way I do not know but there are some who do and so they |
| 25:24 | end up smuggling that little baby alligator back to North Dakota and having to keep it in their bathtub |
| 25:29 | and eventually you know what little baby alligators grow into full-blown alligators |
| 25:35 | and they’re not happy to eat small rodents and things like that and the guy ends up going to feed his |
| 25:42 | alligator and he becomes the alligator’s meal that’s what sin is like and we see this playing out in the life of Herod |
| 25:48 | and keep this in mind he truly felt bad he felt guilt |
| 25:54 | for what he had done wrong but his sin had him so turned around |
| 26:00 | that when he heard the report of Jesus the one who can truly save him |
| 26:06 | he couldn’t understand the words or the message all he could think is that ah the man I |
| 26:13 | murdered he’s come back from the grave I’m doomed when in reality Jesus was there to bleed |
| 26:19 | and die for him and die for his sins so understand this |
| 26:24 | sin is not a small thing and sin utterly consumes and destroys and takes control |
| 26:32 | over a person there are chains and slavery that go along with sin and you |
| 26:38 | are incapable of breaking those chains you cannot I cannot try as you like you |
| 26:45 | will not have the power to break the chains of sin and so there is one who |
| 26:50 | has broken the chains for you and that’s our Lord Jesus Christ and we read again from our epistle text in Jesus we have |
| 26:59 | Redemption and that’s an important word Redemption do you know what Redemption |
| 27:04 | means Redemption well Redemption is a slave term |
| 27:10 | Redemption is the price that you pay to purchase a slave to set that slave free |
| 27:19 | in Jesus we have Redemption each and every one of us were born enslaved to |
| 27:27 | sin we were just like those poor souls in the 1900s those poor Africans down in |
| 27:33 | the South enslaved incapable of setting themselves free |
| 27:39 | that’s all of us buffeted by beatings not having any freedom to do anything |
| 27:46 | only being able to obey our master’s sin and the devil |
| 27:51 | who is over it but in Jesus our text says from the epistle we have Redemption |
| 27:58 | we’ve been purchased off the slave block we have Redemption through his blood and |
| 28:03 | the Forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of God’s grace which he lavished Upon Us in all wisdom |
| 28:12 | and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as |
| 28:20 | a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth |
| 28:27 | so the idea is this born in sin in Chains |
| 28:33 | under the power and Dominion of darkness in the devil derelict just like Herod and the |
| 28:40 | difference between you and Herod the difference between me and Herod is not |
| 28:46 | that we are Holier or good or better people all of us are derelict in sin |
| 28:52 | it’s that we know that we are guilty and we trust and the good news that |
| 29:00 | Christ has redeemed us and purchased us off the slave block set us free that’s the difference |
| 29:06 | Herod was never set free he remained in the chains of his sin and went to his |
| 29:12 | grave in bondage to Darkness we on the other hand by the grace of God have been |
| 29:18 | set free redeemed purchased off the slave blocked and now we |
| 29:24 | do not have to present ourselves to sin anymore we can say no |
| 29:30 | Herod could not we can because we are free in Christ in the |
| 29:37 | name of Jesus Amen [Music] |
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