Matthew 14:12
So, Matthew chapter 14. I want
to begin at verse 1. We’ll read down through verse
12. And I’ll read from the King James
Version. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch
heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, This
is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead and
therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. 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 is
not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him
to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a
prophet. 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. And she being before
instructed of her mother said, give me here John Baptist Head
in a charger.” Or a great dish you might have when you have
Christmas dinner, you know, the big plate that goes under your
regular plate, same idea, charger. And the king was sorry. Nevertheless,
for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meet, he
commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John
in the prison. And his head was brought in a
charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.
And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and
went and told Jesus. Amen. We do trust God’s blessing
upon the public reading of His Word for His name’s sake. And
with that Word opened and read, let us seek His face briefly
for His help as we look in this portion tonight. Our Father,
we draw near to that great and mighty throne as we have been
doing here a few minutes before. Upon the precious blood of Christ,
the One who was slain before the foundation of the world in
Thy plan and Thy decree and was manifested in these last times
for us. And so, Lord, we come and we
ask Thy blessing and grace upon us. We look into this portion
of Thy Word. Christ Jesus would again be pleased
to send forth His Spirit and His power and His work among
us to turn our hearts to Thee. to open our hearts, Father, to
receive the Word. Lord, Father, to believe it and
to act upon it. So now, Lord, bless us. We think
of the pastor, Brother Brian. We pray for him that Thou would
undertake, give him refreshment in his soul and body. Bring him
back, Lord, in Thy Spirit to minister to this congregation,
to bless them with Thy Word as He would preach it faithfully
week by week. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen. Though we have this really horrid
recounting of the death of John the Baptist, and it is very much
full of instruction, we’re not going to take time this evening
to look at any of that together, except to say that This was the
occasion for our verse in verse 12 that we want to focus on,
that last one we read, “…and His disciples came, after they
heard of these things, and took up His body and buried it, and
went and told Jesus.” These men, these disciples of John, you
know, they knew their position now that their master, their
teacher, their leader was gone. They knew that they were at a
loss in many ways. They had leaned heavily upon
John for the time that they were with him. He led them, he taught
them in all of their own consecrated lives. But now, not only was
he before shut up in prison, but now beheaded by that wicked
king Herod. And so, when they heard John’s
beheading, they went and took up that body, and they gave it
a proper burial. They gave credit to their attachment
to John. They continued to honor him,
they continued to follow him, even after his body was so cruelly
and dishonorably used, and buried it, and then went. as we said
and told Jesus. And so, we want to especially
focus then upon this last portion of verse 12, and went and told
Jesus. They had to find out where He
was. They went. And as we may surmise, it wouldn’t
be too hard if you remember from verse 1, Herod had heard of the
fame of Jesus. Jesus was not one that was hidden
in a corner. As you know, He moved about the
whole land of Judea, more or less, preaching and teaching
and healing, and showing us the things of the Kingdom of God.
And so they found Him, and they unburdened their souls to Him.
So I want to just look at this verse in Two respects. First of all, what the disciples
of John did, and secondly, what Jesus did. So again, we read
just that very small phrase, “…and went and told Jesus.”
They told Him. They declared this to Him. They
showed Him what had happened. Their great loss. They brought
Word to them. These are some of the ways that
this Word is translated in the Bible. John Knox said, not in this context,
but just in his work on prayer, they notified Jesus of their
great and distressing situation. They probably would have had
in mind Psalm 62 verse 8, which is one of my wife’s favorite
verses, and well, it is. It says, “…Trust in Him at
all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us.” They came and they poured out
their heart to Jesus. You might remember In the history
of Israel, in 1 Samuel 7, when Samuel had gathered the people
together there, they were under judgment, and they drew out water,
and then it says, and they poured it out before the Lord. That
is the same word that David uses here, to pour out your heart
before God. You can imagine that bucket,
I suppose, that they drew that water out with in Samuel, they
just dumped it out. in His presence, the Lord’s presence.
That’s what these men were doing, these disciples of John. They
were coming and they were explaining, pouring out, telling, reporting,
or as Knox said, giving notice of all the things that befell
them in relation to losing John, their
master, their teacher. The disciples of John do seem
to be fairly loyal, and it’s a good idea, it’s a good thing
for them to be loyal to their teacher, but maybe a little too
much in relation to Jesus. They still seem to hold that
attachment to John over Jesus. You might remember in John chapter
1, Jesus had been baptized, And John had said and pointed to
him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world. And the same chapter recounts
that a couple of men left John, some of his disciples, one of
them was Andrew, and followed Jesus. And so he, in that way,
started a movement toward Jesus, but not all of his disciples
did that. These disciples of John also
gave some indication of their loyalty to John. At one point
in John chapter 3, and again a little bit in chapter 4, of
bringing up the point to John that many people went to Jesus
for baptism instead of John. And again, they seem to continue
holding on to John when they teamed up with the Pharisees
in Matthew chapter 9, and they said, you know, how come we fast,
the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples don’t? They put that difference, that
little bit of distance between them and Jesus and His disciples. And then again, you might remember
in Matthew 11, a few chapters before ours here, John himself
in prison, he sends two of his disciples to Jesus to ask Him,
are you the one that is to come or should we look for another?
And in doing that, you know, there’s different interpretations
of why John did that. Some think John was faltering
some. They think that perhaps he was in great distress and
wondering if Jesus truly was the Lamb of God. One other interpretation,
at least, is that he was trying to wean his disciples off of
himself as merely the friend of the bridegroom, as the one
who was the voice crying in the wilderness to point others in
the way of the Lord. And so, again, he may have been,
it seems likely, that he was there seeking to point them,
you know, I’m just the forerunner. I am not the Christ, as he said
many times. Look, to the Lamb of God. But yet they still seem to be
tightly knit to John. Again, we can understand that
naturally. They’ve done so much for him, he’s such a mighty prophet.
Such a mighty preacher, a consistent man, powerful in many ways. But as we see in this verse today,
it took this distressing circumstance, this great loss for John’s disciples to be brought
closer to Jesus. They had to lose that great rock,
if you will, upon which they leaned to come to the true and
the only foundation, the Rock, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit then, we can
see, worked by this wicked Herod. Not to condone, not to excuse
Herod’s vile life. Many things Luke points out,
he’s an evil man and he added this upon all of his evils, that
he put John in prison and of course even after that, he put
John to death. Doesn’t excuse any of that. For
Herod is still responsible for his sin. And the Holy Spirit
used that man’s wickedness and brought good out of it. He brought
these disciples directly to Jesus. Again, not in any superstitious
way, not through a great cumbrance of rituals and such things, but
directly. They went, it says, and told
Jesus. They went and told Jesus. They poured out their hearts
to Him of this great loss, this distressing situation, this calamity,
really, for them. Samuel Rutherford, you know,
was also one that suffered for the gospel, being exiled to Aberdeen, was forbidden to preach
for a number of years. And if you have opportunity,
you can find his letters that he wrote from that town, which
is still printed today and very useful. In one of those letters,
he says that Christ seeketh our love in more ways than one or
two. And he sought these men’s love
by taking John from them. John could not deliver to them,
John could not fulfill all that they needed. He was a man, a
great man. Christ said there’s none greater
among women, born of women. But he still was nevertheless
a man. And they had to have their vision,
their horizons higher than John. But where John pointed, the Lamb
of God, the everlasting Christ. And so He, by this act, wicked
in itself, yet as we read in Psalm 76, He causes the wrath
of man to praise Him. To praise Him. And the remainder
He restrains. That’s what these men did. They
poured out their hearts. They found Christ and by His
providence they were directed Actually, yeah, if you will,
they had those gates or those bumpers you think of in a bowling
alley, if you had them up, so they’ll have to go down the center.
That’s what Christ did to them through His providence to get
them to come directly to Him. I was asked a question, what
did Jesus do for them? They came and told them. They
came and gave them the report. They poured out their sorrowful
hearts. Well, again, the verse ends right there after they told
Jesus. So we’re not expressly told directly
what Jesus did for them in this verse. But, if we consider the
Scriptures, they lead us to understand what Jesus would have done for
them and what we are assured He did for them. What should we expect, too, then,
from Jesus in our distresses? When we go in prayer to pour
out our hearts to Him, when our life in one aspect or one area
or another may be devastated, may be greatly afflicted or persecuted,
what should we expect Jesus to do when we tell Him, when we
pour it out before Him? We should expect His help. We
should expect His sympathy. We should expect grace to come.
And for that, I do want to turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Of course, this is a position that Christ maintains
after the disciples would have told Him, but yet, as we see
from Revelation, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. still apply even before they’re actually done. So these
men still had this high priest to speak to. But Hebrews chapter
2 verse 16, we read, For verily He took not on Him the nature
of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. In other
words, He was made of men. pure spiritual being. He was
God and man, both fully God and fully man. One person, two natures,
and forever. Notice why though. Wherefore
in all things, verse 17, it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted.” Or to strengthen them that are
tempted. Before we go on to Hebrews 4,
just notice that these disciples of John when they came to Jesus,
they not only had a great distressing situation, but because they’re
men, but because they’re not in heaven yet, they would have
had many temptations. They could have been tempted
to bitterness, tempted to despair, that God had forgotten them,
that He was doing them wrong by taking John at this time.
Why didn’t He vindicate John’s ministry? John was a righteous
preacher, a righteous man, a holy man, a just man as Herod himself
knew. And yet he was cut down in such
a horrible, despicable manner. And yet Jesus, when we come to
Him and pour out our hearts, let us not forget to ask Him
to preserve us from sin in our distresses, in our afflictions.
He is able. to keep us from that temptation,
because He was tempted, yet without sin. He was able to succor us,
to strengthen us, to give us the help to overcome the sin
that we are tempted to in our afflictions. If you turn over then as well
to Hebrews 4, just a couple of chapters, again the last portion
of that chapter, verse 14, He says, seeing then that we
have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in the time of need.” Again, it’s drawing upon
Christ’s person as God and man. It’s also His office as the High
Priest. As you know, the priest went
between God and the people. And here He is a High Priest.
Yes, He is great. He’s passed into the heavens.
He’s on the right hand of the Father. But He’s not one that’s
untouchable. He’s not one that is unapproachable. He’s not one that cannot feel
for you and I as His people. In fact, it says, of course,
in the opposite way, he says, we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched the feeling of our infirmities. In other
words, we have a high priest that can be and is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. In all points. He was touched with the report
that these men gave him. Notice something that he didn’t
do. He didn’t raise John from the dead. Could he have? He could have. He raised Lazarus.
He raised others. Numbers of others. But he didn’t
raise John. He didn’t bring back the old
situation. He didn’t bring back the old
comforts, the old standbys, if you will. But he did hear them. He did sympathize with them,
as his text says, Because the Apostle says, let
us therefore come boldly into the throne, or unto the throne
of grace. Not the throne of condemnation that has been taken care of by
the same High Priest. The throne of grace. The throne
of unmerited favor for His people. Because of the earnings of the
High Priest. Because of His bloodshed. Because
of the everlasting justice that was consumed in that sacrifice. You know, and the damned that
will be in hell forever, they are continually paying forever. Their debt is never paid. But
to think of the believer, his debt was paid immediately. God
the Son took it and satisfied it. What a glorious justice of
God to be satisfied immediately in Christ for all the believers,
for all the elect. But come boldly. Jesus says here
through the Apostle, I sympathize, I feel. He’s not stoic. He’s not like a rock in the sense
He is a rock of our foundation, yes. But He is not an unfeeling
High Priest. Yes, He is God, which does not
have passions and body parts like we do. The Spirit does not.
The Deity does not. But the manhood does. Manhood
does. He was tempted in all points.
He felt the pressure. He felt the sorrows. Again, at
Lazarus’ grave, He wept. We see him being tired, we see
him being hungry. He suffered with the miseries of sin in this life,
as we do. Not only do we have his sympathy,
which is very important, but we have his help. Because he
says, not only does he feel with us, but He also wants us to come
to obtain something, to get something, to bring something back from
that throne of grace. And it is mercy and grace to
help in our time of need. So we have no doubt that these
men obtained grace and mercy to help in their time of loss,
their time of affliction, their time of great personal distress. Matthew Henry said, it will be
a relief to burden spirits, to unbosom ourselves to a friend
we may be free with. Go and tell Jesus, who knows
already. You know, as He is God, He already
knows what happened. But, He will know from us the
trouble of our souls in adversity. In other words, yes, He knows.
He’s not ignorant of what happened to John’s disciples, of their
distress, of their questions, of their afflictions, of their
temptations, but He would have us bring ourselves the complaint,
the news, the trouble, so that He might be a help to us in our
adversity. Remember what Psalm 62 says,
at all times. A believer, I think one of Have
you all prayed that sometimes we’re a little bit hesitant always,
or maybe just backward to bring our requests to God? But let
us remember, at all times we are to bring them. There’s never
a bad time. The devil, of course, will lie
to you about the Savior. He’s too busy. He’s not as gracious as you might
think he is. But let us remember that he’s
the father of lies. And let us take the word that
says, trust in him at all times, ye people, and pour out your
hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. Come
boldly, therefore, unto the throne of grace. Because we have a high
priest in the heavens that is touched with you and I’s infirmities. What does Peter say? To cast
all your care upon Him. Because it’s a good thing to
do. Because a good Christian might should do that. No, because
He careth for you. He careth for you. Jesus cared
for these disciples in their great distress. In their sad
story. And He cares for you and He cares
for me. The great question I suppose
we have is have you brought your cares to Him? Or have you stayed
back? Have you thought, well, I need
to compose myself better. I need to maybe work up my faith
better. Maybe my consistency better.
Perhaps I need to read some more of the Scriptures more. Brethren,
just come. Find Jesus and come. Tell Him. your troubles. Obtain mercy and
grace from Him. It’s not going to help for you
to try to work yourself into a better position. The disciples
came as they were. They did what they should for
John’s body, but then they went immediately to Jesus. Yes, we
may have to take care of things in our afflictions, our losses,
our adversities, Whatever they might be, but go to Jesus as
soon as you can find Him. As soon as you find time, as
soon as you have opportunity, go and tell Him. And find the
sympathizing ear, the heart that is full of compassion and love
for you. And the grace and mercy that
He will give as you apply for it. It rebukes us, doesn’t it? So
often we either want to be self-sufficient ourselves or we do believe those
slanders of the devil about our Christ. That he doesn’t really
want to talk to us again. We have so many problems, so
many things wrong. Oh, he does. We read in the Gospels. Who’s the ones that he rebuffed
many times? It wasn’t the poor and the needy.
The weak, the sorrowing. Those without strength that needed
to be healed in the soul or in the body. It was the Pharisees.
Those who were righteous of themselves. Those who were self-sufficient.
But we never see Jesus turning away those who come to Him sincerely. As we come to Jesus, we think
about that truth and that duty. Have you
come to Him for your salvation, first of all? Have you seen Him to be the Lamb
of God slain for your sins? Her brother was confessing or
being part of confession in our prayer time. You know, we do
think we hide them well, don’t we? We think if we don’t think
of them or we’ve gotten out of our own mind, God doesn’t think
of it either. But He does. He knows all things. As David said, our sins are ever
before Him. So is His love and grace, if
we confess them. It’s faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So come to Him first if we haven’t,
for salvation, and then never stop coming for every day after,
for whatever it may be that we need. Well, let us do pray. Our
Father in Heaven, we pray in the name of that High Priest
that has ascended up on high to sit at Thy right hand, not
as one to condemn His people, but Lord, as one to defend His
people. We thank You that His blood atones
for us, that He there bears the marks of His ultimate compassion
and love for His people, that He there, O God, intercedes for
us so that there’s nothing that can separate us from the love
of God and Christ. Lord, in every one of our hearts,
work that grace of coming and telling Jesus. May we not hold
back, Father. May we not think there’s a better
year, there’s a better time. May we find Him and come to Him.
Thank Thee for the promise that we shall find mercy and grace
to help us in the time of need. We rejoice, O Lord, that even
these losses and crosses, they are not random. They’re used
of Christ to have our love more firmly cemented to Him. And so, Lord, use these things
in our behalf to draw us closer to the Savior. and farther from
those things that would draw us away from Him and be idolatrous
in our trust or our love. Lord, bless us, we pray, this
night, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.