FBC Morning Light – February 16, 2023

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Today we're reading in Leviticus chapters three and four, Mark chapter six, and then the 34th Psalm. By the way, Psalm 34 is one of my favorite psalms. It is a favorite of my wife and me.

We've looked back on that psalm many, many times through the years. The Lord used that very early in our dating relationship to just encourage us to keep moving forward in that relationship. That's not what the passage I wanted to focus on today.

Herod’s Guilty Conscience and John the Baptist’s Death

I want to zero in on Mark chapter six, and particularly this section about Herod being guilt-ridden over what he had done with John the Baptist. We could label this little section the plague of a guilty conscience, because Herod is troubled by what he's hearing about Jesus and the things that Jesus is accomplishing, and he's wanting to know who this is.

Herod concludes, this is John the Baptist that he's raised from the dead. I killed him, I executed him, and now he's raised from the dead. That guilty conscience leads him to such a profound, radical conclusion.

The passage goes on to tell us the background to that beheading. What a dilemma. Herod represents the dilemma that a sinner has who is under conviction for his sin. Verse 17 tells us that Herod had laid hold of John and bound him in prison.

He did so for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had taken her to himself. So Herod had this affair relationship with Herodias, convinced her to leave Philip and come to him and marry him, and it was just a mess.

John the Baptist confronted Herod with that and told him, it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. This is a violation of God's law. Herodias, the woman involved, resented that. She held it against John and wanted to kill him, but she could not.

Why? Because Herod feared John. Herod knew that John was right. Herod knew that what he was doing was wrong. This is the conflict of a sinner under conviction. He knows that his sin is wrong, and his conscience is pricked, and yet he loves this woman.

He wants this woman, and he doesn't want to give her up. He doesn't want to forsake the sin that he loves. It's all the more tricky, this dilemma of the sinner who's under conviction. It's would involve some kind of a disruption of that relationship.

What indeed would John be calling upon Herod to do? Nothing short of ending this illegitimate marriage and sending Herodias back to her husband where she belongs, her husband Philip. This is a radical call on the part of John, and yet this is what Herod must do.

If he's going to submit to the conviction that he feels, if he's going to do the right thing, he's going to have to do the hard thing. This is a tremendous dilemma for him. It's a dilemma that he finds a solution in what comes next.

The daughter of Herodias dances at this birthday party, and Herod and all of his cronies are so besought by her. He says, ask me anything, and I'll give it to you. She says, all right, give me John the Baptist's head.

Oh boy, that's not what he was looking for. That wasn't what he expected. John the Baptist's head. Now he's bothered by this, but then it's like an aha. Okay, I can get rid of my dilemma. I can solve my dilemma.

He goes ahead and has John the Baptist executed. He thinks he's solved the dilemma. The plague of a guilty conscience. Quite some time later, he hears about these miraculous things that Jesus is doing, and the things that Jesus is teaching, and they line right up with what his nemesis John the Baptist was saying.

He has to conclude, the one that I've executed has been raised from the dead. Listen, if the Holy Spirit, through God's Word, is convicting of sin, don't let it be a dilemma. Just deal with it. Do the hard thing, and just deal with it.

Repentance When the Holy Spirit Convicts

Father, I pray this morning that we would be diligent to repent when your Spirit convicts, when your Word confronts us. I pray that we wouldn't hymn and haw, we wouldn't debate back and forth. We would just do what we need to do to turn from that sin, to forsake it, and to turn to you.

We pray in Jesus' name, and for his sake, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Thursday, and I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.