The Death of a Conscience
The passage we’ll look at this morning records the events surrounding the death of John the Baptist.
Mark 6:14–29
14 And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
15 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
17 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.
18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
• Now, John was a special man, chosen for a special mission.
• He was the “forerunner” of the Messiah. He was the fulfillment of several Old Testament prophecies.
Malachi 3:1 KJV 1900
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Isaiah 40:3 KJV 1900
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
• He was a powerful preacher.
• He was a fearless prophet.
• He was a true man of God.
• Jesus would even say:
Matthew 11:11 KJV 1900
11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
While this passage reveals the details of John’s death,
it also records the death of something else, it shows the death of a conscience.
What we see in these verses is a picture of how a person can sin against their conscience to the point that they’re capable of anything.
Herod Antipas
His father was Herod the Great
(who ordered the deaths of all the children 2yo and younger – Matt 2:16)
When Herod died, the Roman emperor divided his kingdom into four parts.
One part was given to Herod Antipas.
He wasn’t really a king; he was actually a “tetrarch,” which means “the ruler of a fourth part.”
But he demanded that his subjects call him “king.”
A Good Conscience
It’s possible to ignore the warnings of your heart, your soul and your mind until those warnings can’t be heard.
Romans 2:14–15 KJV 1900
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
It’s possible to get to the point that y our conscience no longer stands as a barrier between doing the right thing and sinning.
Paul tells us that sinning against a “good conscience” leads to spiritual “shipwreck.”
1 Timothy 1:19 KJV 1900
19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
When people know the truth and reject it in favor of their own standards of right and wrong, they sin against a “good conscience.
1 Timothy 4:2 KJV 1900
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
That’s exactly what we see in our text today.
1. Rejecting the word of God leads to a dead conscience (vs 16-18)
When Herod heard about the ministry of Jesus and about all the miracles He performed,
Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead.
Here his conscience is bothering him
What led to this idea?
Herod arrested John for preaching against Herod’s sins.
If things haven’t been confusing enough already, we’re going to spend a minute looking at
Herod’s family tree.
• · Herod Antipas is the son of Herod the Great.
• · Among his half-brothers are Aristobolus (who was killed by his father) and Herod Philip.
• · Herod the Great had at least five wives and children by them all.
• · Herod Antipas, the man in our text, married the daughter of an Arabian king.
• · Herod Philip married Herodias, the woman in our text, who was the daughter of his half-brother Aristobolus. She was his half-niece. They had a daughter named Salome, the girl who danced for Herod Antipas, her half-uncle and step-father.
• · Herod Philip was disinherited by his father Herod the Great.
• · Herod Antipas and his wife visited his brother in Rome and Herod Antipas fell in love with his half-niece and sister-in-law Herodias. They had an affair and both left their spouses and married.
• This is what John repeatedly condemned.
• And you thought soap operas were complicated!
• Every time Herod was around,
• John preached against incest and adultery and this upset Herod.
• It seems that Herodias was even more upset
• so Herod had John thrown into prison.
This isn’t the correct response to biblical preaching!
• When a preacher takes the Bible and preaches the truth from it, there’ll be times when he’ll get a little too close to where you are living.
• When that happens, you have several choices.
1. You can ignore the message
a. That’s dangerous because it can lead to a dead conscience.
2. You can attack the messenger.
a. if the preacher is preaching the truth, he’s really just delivering the mail.
b. If you have an issue, you should take it up with God.
3. You can bring the need to God.
a. You can let Him work in your life to bring you to a place of repentance and blessing.
Nothing destroys a conscience quicker than saying “no” to the Word of God.
2. Repeatedly saying no the word of God is a step towards the death of your conscience (vs 19-20)
• Herod didn’t like the fact that John exposed his sin but he still wanted John around.
• · Herod knew that John was a genuine man of God and
• · Herod knew John was a holy and a righteous man.
• · Herod kept John safe and under constant guard.
• He didn’t want John to expose his sins, but he didn’t want anything bad to happen either.
• · When Herod heard John preach, he was perplexed.
• It caused him conflict of soul. He heard the truth and recognized it as truth.
• Herod may have even done some of the things John told him to do.
• Maybe he reformed his life to a certain point, but not the point of giving up Herodias.
• The truth touched Herod’s heart and he tried to dull the pain of conviction by doing some good things.
Herod heard John gladly
• The idea is that Herod enjoyed hearing John preach.
• He didn’t plan to change his life and surrender to the Lord,
• but he liked the preacher and he loved to hear him preach.
There are many people just like Herod in our world today.
• They get caught up in the preaching or someone’s personality but they miss the point of the message.
• They like to hear their favorite preacher preach,
• but they have no intentions of doing what the Bible tells them to do.
That’s a dangerous way to live your life!
• When God speaks to your heart,
• He’s showing you that He cares about you, t
• hat He loves you and that He has a better plan for your life.
• When He points out your faults,
• He does it because He loves you and wants you to change.
Don’t be like Herod.
3. Responding to peer pressure instead of the word of God is a step towards the death of your conscience (vs 21-29)
Herodias had been biding her time, waiting for an opportunity to see John the Baptist put to death.
• She sent in her teenage daughter Salome to dance seductively for Herod and his friends.
• Her dance had the desired effect, for Herod and those with him were captivated by the beautiful young girl.
• This reveals the wickedness in the heart of Herodias.
• Imagine putting your daughter on display like that.
• Imagine sending her out to dance for a man who was both her uncle and step-father!
Peer Pressure
Herod is so impressed by the girl’s dance that he promises to give her anything she wants, up to half his kingdom!
It was a foolish boast meant to make Herod look good in front of his friends and guests.
Herod realizes immediately the mistake he made.
But because he was afraid to look bad in front of his guests
he sends the executioner to the prison and John is beheaded.
And Herod’s conscience died in that moment
• The final mention of Herod Antipas is in Luke 23.
• Jesus had been arrested and appeared before Pilate.
• Pilate then sends Jesus to Herod Antipas because Jesus was from Herod’s jurisdiction.
• When Jesus appears before Herod, all he wants is to see Jesus perform some miracle.
• He doesn’t care about the truth;
• he is just looking for spiritual entertainment.
• Jesus refuses to even speak to Herod.
• God has finished with him and there will be no more calls for him to repent.
• God has nothing more to say to King Herod!
• It’s a dangerous thing to turn God away.
• When you do, you aren’t guaranteed that He’ll ever speak to you again.
Every time you turn away, it hardens your heart more and more.
Eventually, you reach the place where your conscience dies.
When that happens, you’ll never hear His voice again.
If He’s speaking to your heart, do what He’s calling you to do.
