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Grace, mercy, and peace from God our
heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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We just sang the Venite, it's
from Psalm 95, O come let us
worship and bow down, let us

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kneel before the Lord our maker.

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And then, rather unexpectedly in the Psalm,
the psalmist cries out, today if you hear

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his voice, do not harden your
hearts, because sooner or later
every knee will bow and every

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tongue will confess.

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King Herod heard that voice pleading
with him to kneel before his maker.

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It was the voice of one crying in the
wilderness and then crying in his backyard.

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It's the same voice that's been
calling to humanity ever since
Eden through the patriarchs

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and the prophets until in these last
days he has spoken to us by His Son.

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Today if you hear His voice,
but so many hearts are hard and
it's not just that they ignore

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the call and then they plug their ears to
the message, it's that finally frustrated

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enough eventually they will
put that messenger to death.

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At first, it was just that John's
preaching was annoying.

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It even says that Herod found the voice perplexing, confused and bewildered him, didn't know what

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to do with it the way that voices in
dreams can seem so distant, so strange.

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It was in fact otherworldly.

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It was a message sent right
from heaven to Herod's doorstep.

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But really, what did the voice
say that was so wildly perplexing?

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It said what everybody already knew.

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It is not lawful for you to
have your brother's wife.

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But there's nothing really
spiritual about that, is there?

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Not exactly a matter of religion,
it's just good legal counsel.

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It's the kind of thing that you
might say to someone who's going
to get into a PR nightmare.

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But Herod didn't care.

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To Herod, it was all fun and
games right up until that moment
when the body parts started

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arriving on the table.

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Beloved, the martyrdom of St. John teaches
us that the fate of every preacher is bound

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up together just like every Christian with
the fate of the word of God in this world.

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It means that whoever carries God's
word into the world will suffer violence.

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First it might be that the
world is perplexed, confused by
the message of repentance and

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faith and then it hates it.

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Oh man, is Herod a
perfect image of this world.

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The world that plays with God's
word until it says something
that it doesn't really want

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to hear and then comes the violence.

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Why?

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Well, the world never intended
to be enemies with God, it's
just that God kept advancing

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you know into the private affairs of
the world, wanting more and more.

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And then comes the violence.

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The world loves lies rather
than the truth, darkness rather
than light, sensuality rather

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than holiness and Herod is
just that perfect image of it.

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I know that St. John in his
revelation he calls the world
Babylon but I suppose he could

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have called it Herod Antipas.

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We would have all gotten the same picture.

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What's amazing is that
John went and found Herod.

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He went after Herod of all people.

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I mean there were plenty of
adulterers in Israel, pick one.

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But he went to that fox
and he warned him of hell.

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He cried out and he told them the axe
is already laid at the root of the tree.

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He preached to Herod to point
out the obvious that his sin was
killing him and it was going

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to eventually sink him
into the pits of hell forever.

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And then he pointed him to
one who was greater than John
himself and my goodness greater

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than Herod's sin.

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You see John knew the truth,
certainly about Herod and about
his own unworthiness but he

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also knew about the one who
was coming after him, the one
who alone is worthy, the one

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who alone can bear the
sins of this world on His body.

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So there's John the preacher hunting down
Herod with a message of repentance and of

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Christ.

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John loved Herod because Jesus loved
John and Herod and the entire cosmos.

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You see Jesus came because he wanted
to gather them all in, no one left out.

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And just like John in prison who needed to
hear what Jesus was doing, we need to hear

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for ourselves what Jesus has done.

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He was gladly spent for us who push come
to shove are no less fickle than Herod.

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It wasn't while we were
godly that Christ died for us.

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It wasn't while we were gladly hearing his
word and keeping it when the Word Himself

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was made flesh.

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It wasn't while we were forsaking all else
when we found Him pledging Himself for us

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eternally.

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It was while we were still
being played like the devil's
puppet, still slaving away to

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impress the rest of the world
with our parties or whatever.

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Still gratifying the desires of our sinful
flesh, that's when Christ gave Himself up

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and His voice rang out from
the cross, Father forgive them.

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So now if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts.

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But come believing and adore Him,
come let us worship and bow down.

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Come believing that thing that
Herod could not believe for
himself, leave your sin, leave

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your self-interested life behind.

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You come hearing and believing His voice,
listen to it and then learn to tell others.

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That's the ministry that you're preparing
for, that others would hear that same voice

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that is echoed through all eternity to
gather in all nations, even through us.

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John prepared the way of Christ
but Christ has always been before.

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He leads the way, He seeks the
lost no matter what it costs Him.

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He said to the apostles and prophets
and now to us, come, learn from me.

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He says a servant is not above his master,
it's enough that he be like his master.

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He says let the world confuse the two of
us the way that Herod couldn't tell me from

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John.

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If they hate you, know
that they hated me first.

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But if they hear my voice through you,
I swear by myself they will live forever.

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In Jesus' name, amen.