Sermon manuscript:
John the Baptist was put in prison for telling his ruler,
Herod Antipas, that it was not right for him to divorce his own wife and to
marry the divorced wife of his half-brother. John the Baptist was in jail for
telling Herod that divorce is wrong, and marrying someone who has wrongfully
divorced is adultery.
This was the same thing that Jesus taught. He was once asked
about whether it was allowable to get divorced. He responded by saying that it
betrayed a hardness of heart. That was why Moses allowed certificates of
divorce to be issued. Then he says that it was not like that from the
beginning. Adam and Eve became one flesh, so, Jesus says, “What God has
joined together let not man separate.” Except in the case of sexual
immorality divorce is not real and effective according to him. A wrongfully
divorced person is committing adultery if he or she joins with another, and the
person who marries a divorced person is committing adultery. In God’s sight the
one who has wrongfully divorced is still married to their first spouse. The
second spouse is like taking a lover while married.
Most people do not know what the Bible says about divorce
because it is not a very popular teaching. It is not a very popular teaching
because it condemns a lot of people. Nobody likes to be condemned. Most people
don’t like to tell others that they are condemned. You might make them sad or
angry. They might seek revenge. So everybody keeps their mouths shut for the
sake of numero uno.
John the Baptist, however, did not keep his mouth shut. John
was a man full of love and zeal. He loved the Lord his God. He loved the word
of the Lord his God. He believed with all his heart that the word of God was a
true and reliable guide for the way that human beings can be blessed beyond
measure. So he was not ashamed of what God said and commanded, even if it made
others sad or angry. Does not the Word of God put us on the spot all the time?
Doesn’t it always reveal the shame of our nakedness?
That is because God’s Word brings light into the darkness of
our lives. Jesus says that how we react to the light is the basis for how each
and every individual will be judged. Jesus says, “This is the basis for the
judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness
rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. In fact, everyone who
practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or
else his deeds would be exposed. But the one who does what is true comes toward
the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in
connection with God.”
The light is good. We are evil. That is why we are so prone
to shun the light and allow ourselves and all those we know and love to remain
in the darkness. While we are in the darkness our wickedness is not known. Many
hope that the darkness can go on forever, but it won’t. Everything will be
exposed, Jesus says. The light is either going to shine on us in this life or
it is going to shine on us when we die. It is much better that it should shine
on us in this life, during this time of grace, so that we may repent and shun
the darkness rather than the light. Then we can come to love the light rather
than the darkness.
This is what would be pleasing to God too. Just before the
quotation I just read to you from Jesus about the light he also rather famously
says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of
Man must be lifted up [on the cross], so that everyone who believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him. The one who believes in
him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.”
Then he says, “This is the basis for the judgment…”—the beginning of the
quotation earlier. This is the basis for the judgment: whether we have loved
the light or the darkness. So those who bring the light of God’s judgments are
good, even if that light hurts our eyes that accustomed to darkness.
But not everybody will repent when they have been shown the
light. Often people will shrug their shoulders and carry on the way that they
have been. They will probably be annoyed or hold a little grudge against the
one who called them to repentance. This reaction is the biggest reason why we Christians
lose heart about using God’s Word. We simply don’t think that it will work. Why
confront loved ones with their sins? Why go through the trouble? Why put a
damper on the relationship or do worse damage by shining the light into the
darkness? We suppose it won’t do any good anyway.
But this way of thinking is patently untrue. God’s Word is
God’s Word. It is sharper than any two edged sword. It is living and active.
The power of God is in it because the Holy Spirit always accompanies it. The
Holy Spirit will do as he wishes with that word even apart from our intentions.
Consider the example of the prophet Jonah. God sent Jonah to
the wicked city of Ninevah. God told him to preach repentance there. But Jonah
hated the people of Ninevah because they were so wicked and cruel. He didn’t
want to help them. That is why he boarded ship going the opposite direction and
ended up being swallowed by a great fish. Finally he came to Ninevah and very
half-heartedly said, “Repent. God’s judgment is about to fall on you.” Even
though he didn’t like the Ninevites, and even though he gave them his worst
sermon, God was in that word. The people repented with sackcloth and ashes.
So we shouldn’t be so clever as to think that God’s Word
won’t work. We also shouldn’t work too hard to make it sound good so that it
will be more successful. Study how John the Baptist preached. He tried to be as
plain and simple as he possibly could. He didn’t whip up emotions like some
tent preacher embarking on a revival. He spoke the truth. God’s truth brings
light. That light offers a way out for those who sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death. It gives them the possibility of a clean conscience—something
that they purposely don’t think about while shunning the light.
Bringing the light, though, can also bring about martyrdom.
The first martyr was Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, and the brother of Cain.
When Cain looked at Abel he couldn’t stand the sight of him. Abel was the voice
of his own condemnation. So he tried to put out the light by knocking the
lights out of Abel. But it didn’t work. He was haunted by his evil actions
against the godly man for the rest of his days. He is still haunted and will
remain so eternally. He loved the darkness and that is exactly what he got
whether he likes it now or not.
Today we also think of John the Baptist. He died for
teaching what was right about marriage and divorce—an area of life already at
that time which was poorly understood. Divorce, particularly among the movers
and shakers like the Herodians, was common. When Jesus told his disciples about
how stringent marriage was, and how divorce was not really an option, they were
surprised. Given how prevalent and acceptable this sin had become, it would
have been easy for John the Baptist to tell himself that he shouldn’t die on
that hill.
This is a common problem for professional preachers. We like
to tell ourselves that we should really overlook this thing or that thing,
because there are bigger fish to fry. But John was a wonderful man. He wasn’t a
liar, like so many professional preachers. He was a reliable guide because he
only wanted to preach and teach what God had said. And so it came to pass that
he ended up being put to death for standing up against what most consider to be
a petty sin. The whole thing was rather pathetic instead of grand and heroic. The
order for his execution came from a drunken vow at a birthday bash. The one
behind the plot was a scornful woman who hated John for saying what was true.
When revenge is successful against those who bring the
light, this can appear, yet again, to be a defeat. It can look as though God’s
Word didn’t do any good. But God says that his Word always accomplishes the
purpose for which he sent it. We are all familiar with God’s purpose where he will
send his Word in order to open the eyes of the blind and give hearing to the
deaf. His Word can be a shining light in a dark place, giving warmth and
healing to those who embrace it. This is when God sends his Word in order to
convert and save sinners.
But there is another reason why God can send his Word too. God
can send his Word to harden the hearts of the disobedient. He speaks of this
when he calls Isaiah to be a prophet in chapter 6 of that book. Jesus, also, speaks
extensively about this in Matthew chapter 13. When God sends his Word to harden
the hearts of the disobedient God makes it so that the Word will have no effect
on them. Hearing they do not hear. Seeing they do not see. Otherwise they would
be turned, but God, in his anger, prevents that for those whom he hardens.
So the killing of a prophet can be the way that God closes
the book on an individual, on a congregation, on a church body, or on an entire
nation. The faithful preacher is never harmed, ultimately. John the Baptist
lost nothing when he lost his head. At that point he was no longer at home in
the body; he was at home with the Lord. He did as the Lord bade him do. We
cannot ask for anything better than that—that we remain faithful unto death.
The house of Herod, however, only sank deeper and deeper, closer and closer to
hell.
We know that Herod was by no means shaken up or became sober
when he murdered John. It did not make him fear God. We can know this by the
way that he treated Jesus on Good Friday. On Good Friday, when Pontius Pilate
heard that Herod, the ruler of Galilee was in town, he sent Jesus over to him
because Jesus was a Galilean.
Herod was glad to see Jesus, because he had heard that Jesus
was able to do some pretty cool tricks. Herod tried to make Jesus put on a good
show for him, but Jesus remained silent. Herod didn’t get mad. He got even. He
put the king of the Jews in a splendid robe, mocked him, and treated him with
contempt. Then he sent him back to Pilate. Luke tells us that Herod and Pilate
became friends that day. Before that Herod and Pilate didn’t get along, but
perhaps because they both thought that Jesus was so amusing and foolish, they
became friends that day because of their shared contempt for the Lord of Glory.
Here, again, it is not as though the Word of God failed. By
these men’s evil deed the greatest good was brought about by God. Jesus was
sacrificed. Like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so he was
lifted up on the cross, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish,
but have eternal life. The book was closed for many of the Jews—especially the
high and mighty. God rejects the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The
Jews, those who were formerly the people of God, became the most zealous and
ruthless persecutors of the Christians. And so it came to pass that the Gospel came
to the Gentiles instead.
When we hear about the beheading of John the Baptist, we
should not become afraid. Nor should we think that the Word of God failed or
was of no effect. We should not become fearful of the light of God’s Word because
those who sit in darkness hate it so much. We should not put that light under a
bushel basket. There are more important things that keeping one’s head. When we
are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. If this temporary earthly
tent is destroyed, we know that we have a building, built by God, an eternal
dwelling in heaven.
You have all been given the privilege of being bearers of
the light. You have all been given the knowledge of how to get to heaven. You
well know that we do not get to heaven by sinning and more sinning, sitting in
the darkness and hoping that nobody finds out about what we have done. You know
full well where that will land anybody and everybody who lives with such an
evil conscience. And so bring the light of God’s Word to bear on those in your
life. Don’t lessen God’s Law or try to make it more palatable. Tell it straight
like John the Baptist did. It’s not all bad to follow John’s example. You don’t
always and only preach condemnation. To those who become aware of their sin and
darkness, you may also follow John’s example: point to Christ and say, “There
is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
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