Verse by Verse Matt 13

[0:00] The rest of us will get into the book of Matthew yet again, and we'll finish chapter 13 this morning. Matthew chapter 13. Is it humid in here? Is that what I feel?

[0:21] Humidity? Humidity? It's become foreign to me now. I don't like humidity. So we're in Matthew 13, and we finished in verse 52 last Sunday, so we'll begin in verse 53.

[0:53] And let's just have a word of prayer together, and then we'll get into the Holy Scriptures. Lord, it's with thankful hearts that we come here and we bow before you.

[1:05] You're a holy God. These are holy words before us. And God, we seek to understand them better, and we seek to know you through them, to know your ways, to know your mind, and know how you dealt with men in the past and how we should react today to you and to your grace.

[1:22] Lord, help us to do what's right. Help us to understand this book, to rightly divide it, and just bear your spirit, bear witness to the truth. Please guard my mind and my tongue, and let me not go off into anything that would be of me.

[1:34] But Lord, may it be the Spirit of God bearing witness to the truth, as he said, in Jesus' name we ask. Amen. Amen. Verse 53. It came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, that's seven of them, some of them were public, well, they were all public, but then some privately discussed with his disciples.

[1:56] When he had finished these parables, he departed thence. Oh, no. What does that word mean? Thence. Oh, we're in trouble now.

[2:07] We need a new Bible. What does that word mean? Thence. It's an adverb of place, if you want to get a little bit down with it this morning. And there's a lot of them.

[2:18] And in your Bibles, you read that one, whether, I don't know if it ever shakes you, or if you ever stop and pause, because it's truly a word that you most likely do not use today in your everyday speech. Thence.

[2:30] Look at verse 54. When he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, inasmuch as they were astonished, and said, Whence? Whence hath this man this wisdom?

[2:40] Oh, there's another form of this adverb of place. Thence and Whence. Boy, don't they ever trip you up. Well, they haven't tripped me up ever in my life. I never, I just, I understand.

[2:53] He departed thence. What it means, or what the, if you wanted to put an actual definition to it, it means, thence, from verse 53, means from that place.

[3:04] From that place. Because the T-H on it tells you it's that place. The whence is from which place, or what place.

[3:15] These are adverbs of place. It's their English words, and they all are perfectly right in their placement, and they're all accurate. Doing a little study into the English language, you find out there's words that you don't know.

[3:37] For instance, I was reading an article recently. It just comes to mind. There was a word that the journalist wrote. I had, I've never seen it before. And he didn't stop to explain what it was.

[3:48] He just kept on writing. And he was expecting me to figure it out if I didn't know it. When I looked at that word, I thought, I've never seen this word before. I don't even know what it was.

[3:59] I couldn't even recite it to you, because I don't even, still don't know what it was. And I went back through the context of what he was writing. I understood the gist of his take on the situation. And I kind of got an idea.

[4:09] And I wanted to look it up. I just never did. Kept on moving. But you know one thing that never crossed my mind was, I need to change that word. He wrote that word.

[4:21] I don't understand it, so I need to change it into something I can't understand. You know what I automatically thought was, this journalist is smarter than me. That's how I felt. He is absolutely smarter than me, he or she, whoever it was.

[4:34] And I need to look that word up and figure out what it means and learn. I need to grow in my understanding and learning and comprehension. I do not need to bring that person who is higher than me down to my level so that I can feel better.

[4:49] And that's what's happening with the scripture, not just with them, so they or thou. That's what happens. That's the mindset, thanks to publishing houses and the devil behind all of the garbage. That's the mindset of even American and worldwide Christianity is we need to bring the Bible down to the way we talk.

[5:08] And how are you going to accomplish that? Like for the world, how are you going to accomplish that? Because you are Southern California Americans. And whether you realize it or not, just in America itself, there's a plethora of language, what's the word?

[5:26] Not dialects, but there's differences in the way people speak and perceive words. And just, you may even hear it out of my mouth, just from being from the East Coast or Northeast and in that area.

[5:41] And having parents from the Midwest have been shaped from their tongue. And when I moved down south, I noticed it very strongly. They speak with not just different accent, but just different way.

[5:54] So you can't do it. You can't even do it in America itself to put out something that just hits everybody across the board perfectly. But America is not the only country in the world.

[6:06] And I'm just going off into a rant here, so I don't want to do that. But I do want you to know that the words in your Bible are fine. If you don't understand or know them, it could be that you have the problem, not the book.

[6:18] You know, the reason I brought in this idea of the article that I read was because we've swallowed it. Christianity has swallowed this brainwashing that you have to change the words, that the words, that they're old.

[6:36] That's not the case. I didn't look at that article and say, that must be an old word because I don't know it. It must be archaic because I don't know it. You wouldn't, an honest person that just opens up this book and starts reading it would not see a word they don't understand and say, oh, it's an old book.

[6:54] It's archaic and it needs to be updated. They wouldn't think that way. They'd think just the way I thought when I read the article. There's a word I don't know. There's a word that I don't know. I need to figure out what that means.

[7:06] Now, this is all over your Bible in some ways. And I have to even say this before I can move on, is when the publishers of the other versions say that they changed the word thence and update it for your language, they didn't tell you all the other changes they made.

[7:20] They didn't just do that by any means. There's so many changes and so many alterations to the text of God that it's not even worth, it's not even funny. It's sad.

[7:30] It's sick. All right, now getting back to the verse. It came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence from that place. You know the hence, thence, and whence.

[7:42] Those are the three. The H, hence, means here or from this place. Thence, from that place. Here, there, and where. You know those three. You'll see it also in your Bible.

[7:55] Hither, thither, and whither. All three of those adverbs, they all have that same distinction. They all have the H, the TH, the WH. It's all grammatically, superiorly accurate in the English language.

[8:08] It's not an old way of talking at all. And if you're going to translate a text into another language, you've got to put it as perfect as you can so it can read perfectly and remain perfectly, regardless of how times change and people change.

[8:22] Verse 53, And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue inasmuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?

[8:37] So that's his hometown where the folks knew him, and their view of him is just a common, ordinary man that grew up as a child, a teenager, and here he is a young man maybe in their culture, and just doesn't make sense to them that he has this wisdom, so that's the things he spoke, he taught them, and then the miracles, the mighty works.

[9:00] And we've seen this already in Matthew, the things that they heard and saw. In verse 55, Is not this the carpenter's son? Speaking of Joseph being a carpenter, Is not his mother called Mary?

[9:12] And his brethren, James and Joseph, and Simon and Judas, and his sisters, Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? Something interesting to point out is worth pointing out, something you need to know, and you wouldn't have any problem with it if it wasn't for other denominations and religions across the world.

[9:34] But if you read your Bible, you'd just take for granted and assume Jesus had brothers, Jesus had sisters, according to the text. It uses the word sisters, doesn't it, in verse 56.

[9:46] It says brethren in verse 55, which is plural for brothers. Yet other denominations or other religions decide, well, Jesus, he couldn't have had brothers or sisters because his mother was a virgin for her entire life.

[10:00] And if that's true, well, then this can't be brothers and sisters. There has to be an error in the text, or maybe we could go back to the Greek language and analyze a little close, or more closely that word and find out, oh, we believe it means cousins.

[10:15] And then change the text to fit your belief so that you can exalt Mary and pray to her. No. Scripture says he had brothers and sisters. If you don't like the word brethren, look at Mark chapter 6 here quickly.

[10:31] I think it's Mark 6. Yeah. Mark 6.

[10:43] If you want to think you can play with the word brethren and make it mean something else, like Jewish brethren, like we're all Jews, well, here it doesn't use that plural word.

[10:55] It uses the singular brother. Chapter 6, verse 3, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother, the father of James and Joses. And so that's specifically a family, immediate family.

[11:10] And so, yes, he had it. You can read back in Psalm 69, the prophecy that Jesus Christ fulfilled in John 2 of him going into the temple. And they said, the zeal of thine house hath eaten.

[11:21] And they remembered that. And in that passage, it describes him with his mother and his brethren, his mother's children. And it's described, it's a prophecy of Christ and his literal family.

[11:35] So, shame on anybody who wants to exalt Mary and it doesn't wash with the scriptures. And then what do you have to do? Choose one or the other. Well, some have chosen to get rid of the scriptures and change them rather than stick with the truth and submit to it.

[11:51] So, verse 57, and they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

[12:05] Because of their unbelief. Prophets are supposed to be respected and honored. They're supposed to be treated right. They're men of God. They're called holy men of God. And in some cases they are.

[12:16] But so many times the Jews rejected them and stoned them, killed them. But Jesus Christ makes the statement, he, if you get rid of the double negative, not without, it's saying that the prophet is with honor.

[12:27] He's honored everywhere he goes except for one place. And it's in his own home, his own country. It's where they know him. It's where they take him for granted and don't see him for what he is.

[12:39] Not that he's somebody special, but rather that God has called and chosen him. And that's just, that's sad, but that's human nature. And that's the way it is. But here's something we need to pull out of here.

[12:50] He did not many mighty works there. Because of there, the word is unbelief. And unbelief is the worst thing in the world. Look at John chapter 3. Unbelief.

[13:05] I've tried to teach and preach that faith is necessary for salvation. It's necessary for understanding anything of a spiritual nature.

[13:17] And without faith, you're not going to get it. And when they didn't exercise faith, he couldn't, he was limited. He couldn't do anything for them or with them and he wouldn't.

[13:29] Unbelief is the worst thing in the world. John 3, and notice verse number 18. He that believeth not, or he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not, that's unbelief, is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

[13:49] That's, I don't have any problem quoting that verse and bringing that truth out to somebody who's not a believer in Jesus Christ and wants to have a problem with me if I want to tell them about the Lord and tell them they need to get saved.

[14:02] Don't judge me. Look, I'm not. But the Bible says, God said, if you don't believe on him, you're already condemned. It's already settled. You need to trust Christ.

[14:14] And that's the truth that men need to see is it's their unbelief. Look at chapter 16 of John. John 16. It's not their smoking and drinking.

[14:27] It's not their dancing. It's not their music. It's not what they watch on TV and the internet. It's not the words they speak with their mouth that are vile and perverse.

[14:39] It's their unbelief that will damn their souls to hell. John 16 and verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away.

[14:50] For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

[15:01] Of sin? Because they believe not on me. The Spirit of God is going to show up and reprove this world of sin. And what is that sin?

[15:13] Is he going to come after them because they're wicked? Because they're lasciviousness? He's not going to go after a lost man and try to correct his life. He's not going to try to wash him so that he can get saved.

[15:27] People have it so backwards. I even read to you the missionary letter Wednesday night about that man that said, I'm not born again. I know I need to get born again, but I'm just, I'm basically too wicked right now to get born again.

[15:43] He had it backwards. He saw he had to get those things fixed then he could trust Christ. No. The sin that the Holy Ghost will reprove a man of is not believing on Christ. Unbelief.

[15:54] You get that one squared away, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then the sins can get fixed by the power of the Holy Spirit. This teaching of you have to repent of your sins first and make sure you repent of every one and don't forget one and then you can get saved.

[16:11] It might make for good preaching for some, but it's not Bible preaching. That's the truth. It's not Bible. And the Holy Spirit is going to reprove you of your unbelief. Come back to Matthew.

[16:22] You believe on Jesus Christ and get saved and then you get illuminated to the things in your life that are wrong and you didn't even know were wrong.

[16:33] Automatically, usually it's your tongue. You start hearing the words coming out of your mouth and they don't sit with you. There's something wrong. There's the Spirit of God in there just fighting with that and then you either try to control it.

[16:46] You give it over to Him. He'll start to work in another area. He'll start to show you that those words that aren't right to come out of your mouth, they shouldn't be coming into your ears either. They'll start to tingle your ears, so to speak.

[16:59] And then you'll start to notice these people I'm hanging out with, they're just, they're lost. They talk like I did before I got saved and you start to feel uncomfortable around them and realize this is not my crowd and God will start working on you but it comes after belief.

[17:16] Matthew chapter 14 now. We'll move into the next chapter right away. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist.

[17:29] He is risen from the dead. Therefore, mighty works do show forth themselves in him. Now, it's going to explain here in the next few verses why he, or what's the deal with John the Baptist.

[17:42] He had him put to death, had him beheaded in prison. And so now it's either a guilty conscience or it's just he's a superstitious pagan with a guilty conscience over killing John.

[17:55] Or maybe it's some of these prophets. Look at Luke chapter 9. Some of these Old Testament prophecies of John the Baptist and of Elijah coming back has got him shook.

[18:06] Look at Luke 9. You'll see that Herod got this, possibly got this idea not on his own. Luke chapter 9.

[18:20] He makes the statement, This is John the Baptist when he hears about Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 9. Look at verse 7 through 9. Look back at Matthew.

[18:52] There's another spot. Matthew 16. This is a common thing going across Israel. It's not just Herod that comes up with this thought. It's common teaching about Christ.

[19:05] Confusion about him, rather. Matthew 16 and verse number 13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

[19:18] And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist. Well, he's already dead. But that's what they think. It's common teaching that John's resurrected. Some Elias, with the connection to the Old Testament prophecy of Malachi, that he's coming back.

[19:34] And indeed, he did come in the spirit and power of Elias. And others, Jeremiah, so one of the prophets. So that's not just a Herod thing by any means. Matthew chapter 14.

[19:45] This is across the land, this superstition or this confusion about who this man is. And none of them in that place to say, You're the Messiah.

[19:59] You're the Son of David. The one that should come. They're all connecting him to somebody else, some Jew that was resurrected. Matthew 14 and verse number 3.

[20:09] Here's a little more of the backdrop here. For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It's not lawful for thee to have her.

[20:22] And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. Now the situation is that Herod takes Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, takes her to be his wife and John has a problem with it.

[20:36] John's a preacher of righteousness and he's a man of God. And he sees that and he's not afraid of him. He doesn't care who he is and as he has a meeting with him, he tells him, You're living in sin.

[20:47] What you're doing is not lawful. It's against God's word. And Herod, or his wife, stirred the pot on this and said, Put him in prison.

[21:00] Put him to death. I want him dead. Now there's, we'll see that, come to Mark chapter 6, at least get your hand there. We'll get there in a moment. We learn that John preaches God's law to a Gentile king and you can make your own assumptions here why.

[21:20] Maybe it's just because John's a preacher and he sees sin and he's going to declare it and call a spade a spade. Or John wants to see Herod converted to Judaism and have a, and get underneath that righteousness of the law.

[21:35] Paul, and why not? I mean, Paul tells us to pray for those that are in authority over us. And John preached to the one that was in authority over him. But in all of this, we'll notice that there's a woman behind what's going on with getting John thrown in jail and eventually put to death.

[21:55] Mark chapter 6, notice verse 17. This is the same account here. John, 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.

[22:12] For John had said unto Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore, Herodias, the wife, had a quarrel against him, John, and would have killed him, but she could not.

[22:26] 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. So Herod's, he's, there's something inside of Herod that's bearing witness to this man and the truth of this man.

[22:43] He's a just man, and there's something, there's a connection being made there, but he's living in sin, and who cares? He's the, who's going to tell him what to do? But then when John preaches, something's pricking him inside that this man's right, I'm wrong, but this woman doesn't want to give up her place, does she?

[23:03] Consider it. She's, she's, she's wife to the brother of the most powerful man there, and it seems as though she doesn't have any trouble at all moving up the ladder and being the wife and just walking away from Philip, and she seems like a gold digger a little bit, if that's the term we want to use.

[23:23] And so she gets herself to where she wants to be, and this man's starting to turn my husband's heart away from what he did with me. He'll put me away.

[23:34] I'll lose my seat here. I'll lose my place. Philip's not going to take me. I'm gone, and you know what? You know what has to happen here? John's got to go.

[23:45] That's what has to happen. John needs to go. It's plain from the passage. It was her that had a quarrel with him. She wanted him dead, and the best she could get was him thrown in prison at the time.

[23:58] So, an opportunity arises here, Matthew chapter 14, and she's going to take advantage of it. Matthew chapter 14, and verse number 6. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

[24:20] Now, I'm not going to say too much about this, but as a man reading this passage, considering who he is and his power, it's his birthday, there's some form of a celebration going on, and to have his wife's daughter, his stepdaughter, come out and dance before him, no, I don't see any ruler offering a blank check to a discreet and elegant young woman.

[24:57] How else do I say it? I just don't think this is PG, what's going on here, and I think his lusts are aroused enough to cause him to be irrational.

[25:09] You'll see men like Solomon say something of that nature to his mother, honoring his mother, causing a seat to be brought before her in his throne room, and then saying something like to the half of the kingdom.

[25:22] But for a man to say that to his stepdaughter, come on. There's more going on there, and I don't want to get into it, but there's no doubt there's something provocative going on that provokes him to reward her in such a way.

[25:36] And there's other scriptures that I could turn you to on this, and with Gentile kings and having their banquets of wine, and it just seems like they're always calling for women to be brought before him.

[25:48] So here's what's the case. She's dancing. I doubt it's a, you know, if a little girl, and not to pick or bring out, but little princess of our church, if everybody knows who she is, if she came and did a little something, everybody's like, oh, that's so cute, or oh, she's dressed in her princess dress, but no king's going to be, I'm not going to be like, you got half the church.

[26:11] That was great. We all loved it. We all clapped. That's a total different thing and a different reaction than what's happening here with Herod, I'm sure of that. All right, so moving on.

[26:23] Verse number eight, she being before instructed of her mother, listen to that. Her mom had already told her what to do. Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

[26:34] A charger's a platter. Or some form, it could be a large bowl or a tray, but it's something that you're presenting, in this case, a man's head in. That's what she requested and he felt bound to do this and the king was sorry.

[26:50] And Mark, it says he was exceeding sorry. This woman here, she hates the preacher. She hates him so much that just having him in prison is not good enough. She's got to go all the way through it and find a way to take his head off and then she'll be satisfied.

[27:06] Then the threat will be gone and then she can go back to just whatever it is she's doing, being the first lady. But she's going after him and any chance she got. And just to chose, it shows she either chose love with her marriage that she found or really I think it's the position that the marriage gave her over what was right.

[27:28] So she instructs her daughter here and the king was sorry, verse 9, nevertheless for the oath's sake and them which sat with him at meet, he commanded it to be given her.

[27:39] Now take a look at Mark again. I should have just kept you there. Mark 6. And I read this verse here already.

[27:58] describing how the king was sorry about this. In verse 20 of Mark 6, Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man and unholy and observed him.

[28:10] And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. So this is not a guy that Herod wants to have his head going. He doesn't want to kill him. And he knows, put yourself in the position, I know that man is just and righteous and honest and he speaks the truth and if I kill him, that's on me.

[28:30] His blood's on my hand. Now as a ruler, you've got to make some decisions. And if it's take somebody's head off, it's take their head off. But you're going to want to be on the side of they committed treason.

[28:42] They've violated something, something, something. You don't want to just be cutting holy men's heads off. And I'm sure he didn't want to. It even seems he's got a connection with John. He likes to hear him.

[28:52] He's sorry that this took place and his conscience is pricked about the preaching and his guilt. And he's guilty of doing this with Philip, his brother's wife, and taking her and the adultery and all of that which takes place.

[29:08] And now he's going to have the man murdered? Sounds like David. This man, I think he doesn't want to do it at all. But in chapter 14, we read, nevertheless, for the oath's sake, the oath's sake, he promised, verse 7, with an oath to give her, this young lady, whatsoever she would ask.

[29:28] What a stupid promise. What a foolish decision. There's haste in this and we'll see it again. Actually, let's see it.

[29:39] You're in Mark still. Notice. Yeah, look at verse 25 first. She came in straightway with haste unto the king and said, and then it's in verse 27, and immediately the king sent an executioner.

[29:55] And there's haste and there's mistakes. There's regret for making decisions so quickly. A lot of bad choices are made in haste and motivated by pressure, motivated by fear.

[30:08] And it's something that I strive to be patient in my life and decision making is just to step back, step back and wait, think about it, pray about it.

[30:18] People say, I'll pray about it. If they mean it, it's a good thing. It's the right thing. It's just to seek God and to seek some peace before you make the decision to know you're doing it the right way and to know that God's in it or ask God to illuminate you or to give you that door or that opening to get out of it or to change it or to keep it from happening if it's not His will.

[30:41] But prayer is the right thing to do here instead of haste, instead of quick decision making. There's some things we can learn back in this passage in chapter...

[30:53] I think I'm done in Mark. Let me make sure. Yeah, we'll quit in Mark. And back in 14, some lessons we can learn here about political leaders is they're full of fear.

[31:07] They might look strong, but they're full of fear. In this case, this man's got a conscience that's eating at him because he says, this is John the Baptist. He's risen from the dead.

[31:19] You know what it is? That's his guilty conscience because he's the one that had him put to death. And he hears about Jesus Christ and his works and miracles and he's like, I know who that is. I know what's going on.

[31:31] He's coming for me. He's got a guilty conscience that's tearing him up. He's afraid of that man. Now, I guarantee he's afraid of Jesus Christ, whoever he is, that he knows he's on the wrong side of him.

[31:46] He's afraid of verse 3. No, it's not verse 3. It's verse 5. He feared the multitude. That's a political leader.

[31:57] He fears the multitude. He can't make decisions that are right because he's afraid of what the people are going to say, what they're going to think or how they're going to react to his decision. But it might be easier said than done, but it's always right to do right.

[32:13] And it's never right to fear the people and fear the multitude. If the decision made is the right decision, then you make it. And if you lose your seat, you lose your seat, but you do what's right. And this man was afraid to do that.

[32:25] He was afraid to break his own word. He was afraid of his reputation. He promised with an oath and then he was sorry, but for the oath's sake, he said, get it done. Just get it done and let's put this behind us and let's move on.

[32:38] And he made some big mistakes. He was also afraid of them that sat with him at meat. So he commanded it to be given. He was sorry, nevertheless, for the oath's sake and them which sat with him at meat.

[32:49] He was afraid of his reputation with all the people around him, thought it was going to make him look weak. So he just said, kill him. Kill him like I'm a tough, ruthless leader maybe.

[33:01] But inside, that man, you can count on it. He was tore up. You can count on it. He was scared. His conscience was wearing him out. And look at when Herod finally does meet Jesus Christ.

[33:13] Look at Luke chapter 23. The night of his crucifixion, he finally gets to meet him. Now this is some time has passed here.

[33:24] But I want you to see that just like a Christ rejecting sinner today, he fears all the things that he shouldn't and he doesn't fear the one that he should.

[33:39] And as he rejects light and opportunity and acts against it like he did, Herod did with John, his conscience is seared. And by the time he finally does meet the Son of God, he's not getting anything out of this.

[33:53] He just wants to be entertained by him. In chapter 23 of Luke, verse 8, when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad for he was desirous to see him of a long season because he had heard many things of him and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.

[34:08] Then he questioned him, or then he questioned with him in many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priest and scribe stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod, with his men of war, set him at naught and mocked him and arrayed him a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate.

[34:22] And the same day, Pilate and Herod were made friends together for before they were at enmity. So, this man's not convicted anymore by Jesus Christ and his presence.

[34:34] Just wants to be entertained and two of the greatest men that he'll ever meet in his lifetime, John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ. And both of them, he, whether directly or indirectly, had a hand in putting them to death.

[34:48] That's not a place I'd want to be. This leader that's afraid to do right, Herod. Let's move on back to Matthew chapter 14, see if we can finish this up here.

[35:02] Verse number 10 says, He sent and beheaded John in the prison. And we already made some comment about that. Not even making the right decision, making haste, not even searching out the motives behind those that wanted it.

[35:22] You remember Solomon when his mom did come to him and made a request to him and he saw right through it? Remember, oh, who was it?

[35:36] I can't place it right now. There's a few of them and I don't want to speak and mess it up, but it happened again and the man in authority saw right through it and called it out and would not stay with the oath but rather did the right thing.

[35:54] And so there's, I should have looked them up but there's plenty of scripture to go the right direction there and show you the right way. There's a, John, it's fitting that John gets beheaded here because John came in the spirit and power of Elijah and Elijah's coming back in the tribulation in Revelation 11 as one of the two witnesses and they're going to be killed and their bodies in the street and no doubt they're beheaded.

[36:21] Revelation 20, that's what, that's the, seems to be the preferred choice of execution in the tribulation is those you see in Revelation 20 verse 4, you can look it up and this, this just seems to match his role in the scripture.

[36:38] So, verse 11, and his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel and she brought it to her mother. So, what do you think that girl thought after this dance and all this thing, she's just a pawn, that she's carrying, it seems, carrying this man's head?

[36:56] I, I picture his eyes open looking at her. Maybe not. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe, but that's how I see it. His mouth open, pointing, but it's kind of nasty, the picture.

[37:13] His head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel and she brought it to her mother. The Bible's got some wild stuff in it. I've never carried a human man's head in a platter around. I've never seen one like that, a decapitated body but here it is, this is just ho-hum.

[37:29] This is what mom wanted and it's what she got and I'm part of it and that must have scarred that girl too and messed her up a little bit to have played a part in such a, just a filthy, wicked, devilish thing to kill a man of God.

[37:43] And his disciples came in verse 12 and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus that when he heard of it he departed thence by a ship into a desert place apart and when the people had heard thereof they followed him on foot out of their cities.

[37:56] Now Christ gets out of town after he hears about John being murdered. He takes off to a desert place. It's not a desert like Mojave Desert, it's a desert like deserted place.

[38:07] How do I know that? Well there's grass there. Look at verse number 19. He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass. So it's not a town or a city. It's a deserted, nobody's there.

[38:20] It's just a great, probably big open field and he gets by ship, crosses over into a place where he's not going to be bothered by people but wouldn't you know it, there's a great multitude and in verse 14 he's moved with compassion toward them even while he's trying to get away he can't get away from his compassion that he has for the people of God as they come to him with their problems.

[38:44] And we're going to have to quit here but the Lord Jesus Christ is happy to come or to hear your problems and he's happy to heal your sick heart and your sick mind and he's moved with compassion toward you even when he's trying to get away, even when it feels like oh God can't be bothered.

[39:02] No, he can and he will be and he's just like that. So we're going to stop there and pick it up probably wrapping that up and moving on next week. Take 10 minutes and then we'll come back at the hour.