Sin Is Not On Our Side
Sin will always ask for your head
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“At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.”
Matthew 14:1-12
Man, if we still had the boldness like we see in John The Baptist. Saying, “This shouldn’t be!” And being willing to go to prison if needed. He was faithful in his confession of God. And what a complete picture of the wickedness of men revealed in Herod.
We know when we have done wrong, too. It haunts us. Herod has paranoia of immense measures. He hears about Christ and what’s his first thought? “Uh,oh. John is back to get me.”
We read, “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
He took John’s words and ignored them. He was led by his perversion of a fourteen year old girl. And spoke foolishly to appease her and the crowd.
And yet we can all make claim to what happens when we do something we know is wrong. How it holds us with invisible chains. The law yells boldly in our heart. It is condemning us without any other persons help. We may claim our innocence on the outside, but every man knows what a monster he is on the inside.
We as sinful man, are like what Jesus called the Pharisees, “White washed tombs.” Pretty on the outside and death on the inside.
We must not read this story and excuse ourselves from being a Herod. We must see how evil our heart is and without the gospel and the grace of God, there would be no John the Baptist. No one who stands for righteousness.
Men and Lust As Masters
We then have the story laid out before us.
It says, “For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.”
This is a danger of catastrophic proportions. To live by our desires. To be lead with whatever passion comes our direction. To be people pleasers and ignore the word of God. We will end up becoming the most miserable of men if we ride this train.
We see here, that Herod feared men more than God. This is a sure way for us to fall into the worst kinds of sin. Find a man who is swayed by everyone’s opinion and find a man who has no foundation. If anything he rest on pleasure because of the constant pressure to please others.
The danger of lust is that it can take a man down a deadly path. Lust is a creature of promise. It will tell you all sweat things. It will draw you in and then lead you to death. Lead you to destruction. Lead you to make the worst choices.
We must see first, that Herod had lust for another mans wife. Oh, if we can learn how one look and one conversation can destroy a whole life. And more than that. How it can destroy family upon family.
Then, we must see that he has lust for the young lady dancing. Lust never stops. A man feeding on glances will soon find himself feeding on pornography. After this he will become discontent and find another woman and give lust free rein, he will find himself seeking even the daughter. This man was lead by others and pleasure.
Let us learn from this. We live in a culture wrapped up in self-promotion and pleasure. We are wrapped up in having things go “viral” we love peoples approval. We are enticed to the “beautiful” and to be “desirable” we love lust.
Let us turn from this attitude and focus. This wont end with wisdom. It will end with us paranoid and slaves to others and our lust. It has already lead this culture there, hasn’t it? Man, what a warning we have in this text. What a large siren going off in our ears right now. Trying to lead us to life. Let us listen.
A Tragic Ending
We read,
“Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.”
A tragedy, indeed. Let us be plain here about sin. It’s not going to lead to good. Do we get this? It hates good. It will leave to the death of the innocent. It always has and always will.
Look at America. We are killing our babies. We are killing people who are of another color. We are killing our spouses so we can have another. We are killing our siblings. We are killing for money. We are killing for sex. We are allowing little children to be abused.
Do we see this? Listen, sin is very convincing in its promises, but be sure, it is leading every man away from life and Christ. It was with Herod and it is with us. It has caused all the wreckage around us.
It is man and woman living like they can determine what is good and evil for themselves apart from God. It is pride. It is autonomy. Oh, if we can see sin for what it is and not just focus on how it makes us feel. And isn’t that the song of our culture? “Do what makes you feel good!”
It’s sin’s anthem. We read this story and think, “wow, what a pig. This Herod guy.”
This is not what you and I should walk away thinking. We should be thinking, “Uh oh. I think like Herod. Would I really kill an innocent man? For my lust?”
Or. “Oh wow, look how sin is so deceptive. How can I be freed from this? Who can free us from this kind of evil controlling our lives?”
It’s Jesus. We need Jesus. We must see this! We must cling to Christ. He’s all we need! Do we see it?