Go ahead and grab a seat. What is the gospel? That is the question we have been asking for eleven years. And we've been asking that to anyone who will talk to us, and we would ask it to you here tonight. The gospel is God's power to save your soul, so you need to know what the gospel is. And we have the largest group in the history of our little church, the largest group that ever went out in the name of Jesus. Happened on Monday, labors on Labor Day? Yes, so many people showed up, so many people went out and the kids’ ministry Pastor Taylor just came and told me that there are new families here with us this very evening. So welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. We want you to know what the gospel is. We think it's good news, and we think that you can live your life based on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And in Mark 6, Jesus sent his disciples out, and they began to proclaim to people that they should repent. And this is the message of Jesus, to repent and believe in the gospel. He said that in Mark 1:15 and then he sent his disciples out in Mark 6. In fact, why doesn't everybody grab your Bible and open with me to Mark, chapter 6 because when he sends his disciples out, it really goes well, kind of how it went on Monday. It was exciting. Many conversations were had. Many people were told about Jesus. Well, that's what happens when the disciples go out. They're able to teach people that they should repent and believe in the gospel. The disciples are even doing some of the same things Jesus did. They're casting out demons in his name. They're healing people in the name of Jesus. And this guy named Herod, he hears about what's happening after the disciples go out. And that's where we want to pick it up. This is Mark 6, verse 14, and we're going to read all the way down to verse 32. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture. And this is a disturbing story of something that happens here that Mark clearly wants to get us thinking about. He makes a dramatic scene change away from Jesus and the disciples to this man, Herod. Please follow along as I read starting in Mark 6:14.
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And welcome to the Herodian dynasty. Okay, this is a very disturbing family that held a lot of power in the nation of Israel. Now this is not Herod the Great we're talking about. You might know Herod the Great from Matthew, chapter 2. He wants to kill all the young boys in Bethlehem. When the wise men show up, because he's heard that a king of the Jews has been born and so, Herod the Great, he was Herod before this. Herod, this is also not Herod Agrippa, who kills the Apostle James in Acts chapter 12, and then is killed by God. So, there are a lot of people with the same name, Herod. So, it can get very confusing. Even the ladies, apparently are getting named Herod in this family with Herodias. And so, this is Herod Antipas. He is a Tetrarch of Galilee. And when Jesus sends out the twelve, they really seem to do what Jesus tells them. And the word spreads, and Herod hears of it. So, you can imagine the scene where Jesus is, where we left off last week, if you were here, Jesus saying, hey, you're going to take nothing with you. You're going to just go out and you're going to tell these people who I am, and you're going to do this with my authority. You're going to speak in my name. You're going to cast out demons in my name. And these twelve go out two by two, and they do it. And then it's like, cut over here, you're following, too. Here, you're following two. Here you're seeing demons cast out. You're seeing healings, and then cut scene to like some Palace, maybe a palace over in Tiberius, and a part of Galilee there by the Mediterranean. And maybe you cut in there, and people are like, well, who is this guy? And we keep hearing these reports of his disciples. Is it Elijah? Is it one of the prophets of old? Is it John the Baptist raised from the dead? And you can see Herod gazing out the window, and then he turns around, and he's like, yes, it's John the Baptist risen from the dead, the man I beheaded.
And so, Mark uses this moment, this seemingly positive and happy moment that the disciples are doing what they've been sent out by Jesus to do. Well, now though, we go like to a back story here of what had happened to John the Baptist. And in fact, go back to chapter 1, verse 14, because we met John the Baptist back in chapter 1. Let's just get that fresh on our mind. John the Baptist was actually the one who kind of kicked it off, like it says here in Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 3, which is the quote here at the beginning of the gospel of Mark, that there is one “voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord.” Make his paths straight away, immediate, at once, and that's John, he appeared, and he's out there in the wilderness, baptizing people. He's proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He's saying that after him “will come one who is greater than I, who's mightier than I.” And then John even ends up baptizing Jesus. And then it says in verse 14, “Now, after John was arrested,” so we met John, who seemed like this bold, booming voice in the wilderness all Jerusalem and Judea is going way out there to the Jordan River. Remember, the Jordan River is the border between Israel and Jordan, and so to get out to the Jordan River, people are going way out of town to go hear this guy preaching in the wilderness, and many people are being baptized by him. It's a cultural phenomenon. What's going on with John the Baptist? Jesus comes he gets baptized. The Spirit comes upon Jesus. The Spirit takes Jesus off to go interact with Satan for forty days. And then it just says this one little line, “John was arrested.” Well now, when Jesus has got his disciples going and Jesus's name is maybe reaching an all-time high, his name is being known, well now it's like, well, let's go back and pick up that thread with John the Baptist. And so, if you go with me to mark 6:14, “When King Herod heard of it that Jesus' name is becoming known through the disciples.” The disciples are doing an effective job of spreading the name of Jesus here. And so, when that happens, they have a conversation that they think Jesus is John the Baptist, risen from the dead, which means John the Baptist has been dead, which means now we're going to get the brutal story of how John the Baptist died.
And so, what we have here is what we like to call a Markan sandwich. It's an intercalation where Mark clearly is starting out this positive development of the disciples being sent out in the name of Jesus being made known. But then in the middle, he wants to go back. But remember what happened to John the Baptist and how he got his head on a platter. And then all of a sudden, the disciples are coming back, and Jesus is like, wow, let's go rest for a minute, you guys. Let's go find a desolate place to rest. And so, you've got good news going out with the disciples, and you've got this beautiful picture of the disciples coming back, and Jesus is like saying, yes, let's go rest a while. But then in the middle, you have this brutal reality of the suffering and death of a man who Jesus said was the greatest man who had ever been born of a woman, John the Baptist.
And so clearly, we're supposed to see the joy of going out and lifting high the name of Jesus, and then also the suffering of what it really costs to follow Jesus. And Mark is deliberately telling us this story that has already happened about John the Baptist in the middle of the disciples going out to show us, hey, it's great to go out in the name of Jesus. There's actually nothing more exciting than going out in the name of Jesus. Oh, and by the way, it could cost you everything. It could cost you your very life. That's what happened with John the Baptist. And whoever really went out in the name of Jesus more than John the Baptist. So, where there's a point that Mark wants us to get, and the first thing that we need to see is that this really worked with these disciples. Now we've seen the disciples already have some moments where they don't seem to understand, and we're going to see more moments in the future where the disciples don't seem to really have strong faith in what Jesus is teaching them. But here in Mark 6, when Jesus tells them, here's what I want you to do, they go and they do it, and it gets all the way up to the guy who's in charge of the region of Galilee, and he's hearing. And notice, this is how you know the disciples did a really good job, because he's not hearing about the disciples. He's hearing about Jesus's name is being known. So, these people understood that when they met these disciples, they were doing what they were doing in the name of Jesus. Their teaching was in the name of Jesus. The casting out of demons was in the name of Jesus. The healing, it was all by the power and to the glory of Jesus. And so, it wasn't like the disciples went out. It was like the name of Jesus was being carried all across Galilee. And so, this is something that is so simple but very profound, if you just do what Jesus says, Jesus will do it.
Let's get that down for our Review: “If you do what Jesus says, Jesus will do it.” That's what happened when these disciples got sent out. He gave them specific instructions. He gave them specific authority. They just went and did what he said, and it's like Jesus's name increased all over Galilee. And Herod, he hears about it when the disciples are sent out, Jesus has already become very popular. The crowds have already become very great and large crowds. There's already been opposition to Jesus. So, the fame of Jesus has already been on the rise, but now when the disciples go out, they just do what Jesus tells them. And it's like Jesus uses the disciples so that his name is now made known more than ever. And it seems like at this moment, when Jesus sends out his disciples, he's ready to take things to the next level. He's not telling people, don't talk about me. He's saying, go out and talk about me.
And so, we're ready now for the next stage here in the Gospel of Mark. And as we get to the next stage, when Mark, he uses that moment to go back and say and consider what happened to John the Baptist. But before we consider John the Baptist I want us to see that even these disciples, these little faith disciples, these not fully trained yet disciples, these, we don't have the clarity of the full gospel yet. We don't have the Holy Spirit yet. Disciples, if they just do what Jesus tells them, it really works. In fact, Jesus works through the obedience of his disciples. This is a great life strategy for everybody here. If you just do what Jesus tells you, wait, do you see what Jesus will do?
That's how you should think about life throughout the Scripture, whenever somebody does what God tells them to do, it always goes well. They are always blessed. God's purpose is always accomplished. This is something we should see. This is something we should take note of. Even these disciples, as much trouble as they still might have when they did what Jesus has told them, Jesus really did something through them.
Now, we came here to Huntington Beach. We were sent here, and that's kind of the key idea of these disciples, is they're sent out. In fact, if you jump down to verse 30 here in Mark 6, it calls them apostles. Okay, so the apostles are a specific group of twelve that Jesus called. So, we got to kind of think about this two ways. One, we're talking about these specific twelve men, but the word “apostle” means “sent one.” You might want to write that down if you're taking notes. Apostle means sent one. So, in some ways, these twelve Apostles are unique, and there's not really anybody else ever like these apostles, because they're eyewitnesses of Jesus. They have a unique role in beginning the church, but they are an example to all the disciples of Jesus that Jesus wants His people to be sent out. He wants them to go and make disciples. He wants them to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, beginning in Jerusalem. This is what Jesus wants his people to do. He's sending them out with all of his authority in heaven and on earth, and he's going with us always, even to the end of the age.
Jesus wants everybody to know the gospel. Jesus wants everybody to know his name, and he sends his people out. Now the twelve though, they are unique. In fact, in Acts 1:21-22, you can put this verse next to “apostle,” Acts 1:21-22, it said so. One of the men who have accompanied us, tey're looking for now a twelfth, because Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas hung himself. Judas is no longer one of the twelve. So, it's like, oh, we need to fill in with somebody else to be number twelve. And so, it says here in Acts 1:21-22, “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So, you can see when they're looking for a twelfth to take Judas’ spot, what is the criteria? Well, he's got to be somebody who's been with us the whole time, all the way from when Jesus gets baptized by John at the beginning of His ministry, all the way till after he dies, after he rises again, and when he ascends into heaven, who's been with us that whole time. And they look at a couple of guys who it could be, and they end up choosing Matthias as the twelfth apostle.
And then listen to this. Write down 1 Corinthians 15:7-9. 1 Corinthians 15:7-9 talks about after Jesus rose and he appeared to over five hundred eye witnesses, he also appeared after he rose from the dead to James, then he appeared to all the apostles. Last of all, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:8, “As to one untimely born, he appeared also to me, for I am the least of all the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle.” And Paul continues writing there, and he says, even though I'm unworthy to be called an apostle because I was a persecutor of the church, I actually worked harder than all the other apostles, that's what Paul goes on to say. So, Paul acts like, well, I'm kind of a unique, untimely born apostle, because I got to see Jesus in a unique way. If you know the story of how Jesus appeared when he was Saul, on the road to Damascus, and sent him out to the Gentiles, and then he came, became known as Paul. Well, he's saying, wow, I've kind of ended up being an apostle, even though I wasn't there with the twelve. Jesus came and appeared to me in this unique way, and so I'm an apostle, too. But you can see that to say that you're an apostle, like one of these guys, well, you had to be an eyewitness of Jesus, and he had to be there for the whole thing, from the baptism of John till Jesus went up into heaven. And the only one who's ever not been there that whole time that ended up being apostle is Paul, who had his own experience with Jesus in the book of Acts.
So, to be an apostle, well, I don't think that's something that's getting passed on. These are unique men who were eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus, but the example of them being sent out is an example for all. And I just want to say to you, if you will, have the faith to believe that what Jesus tells you to do is the best way to live your life, and if you commit yourself to doing what Jesus tells you. Jesus will do his work through you. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? This church that you're at here tonight, the fact that we have a group of people gathering here on a Saturday night, this is living proof of this. If it's hard for me to even explain to you, hard for me to even get you to imagine if you came in here for the first time tonight, and there are trolleys bringing in people from parking lots, and there's a whole building from kids’ ministry, and there's a cafe over here, and you came in here and there was air conditioning, and maybe you thought it was too cold, or maybe you didn't think it was not cold enough. If you were there on the first day eleven years ago, there was none of that. Like what we take for granted, what looks to you like, what's this church in this industrial complex? What's going on with this corporate church here? It was just a few people who showed up in Huntington Beach, and we were just ready to do what Jesus said. We just believed that Jesus would do it if we did what he told us, which is to spread the gospel. We were literally sent out from South Orange County, from this church in Aliso Viejo, Compass Bible Church. They sent us here, and they're like, go preach the gospel there in Huntington Beach in North Orange County. And all of this has happened, everything that you walked into, none of that existed, and it was just because a few, just a few people, were ready to do what Jesus told them. In fact, let's just put it like this, if you got saved over the last eleven years here at this church, will you stand up right now so we can give the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ? This is how Jesus builds his church right here. Let's praise the Lord, everybody. This is what Jesus does. Thank you very much for standing but, but it's not even like you can't if you can try to look around, you can get a glimpse at what Jesus has done. But it's more than that. I'm very excited to tell you that while we're having this service right now in Huntington Beach, they are having a special evangelistic event. Can you really trust Jesus is going on in the city of Long Beach? And they have knocked on more doors in the last month in Long Beach than they have the entire time of their church so far. And they've been inviting people to this event where pastor Josh Petras is preaching the gospel of Jesus right now to souls in the city of Long Beach. That's happening while we're here. They're doing that there.
Okay, but it's even more than that, because some of us, we have been praying, and we have been giving to partner with this church in India. Do you guys remember this? This was the church that's on the third floor. I think we've got a picture of the stairs of death. That would be illegal in Orange County. You’ve got to go up those stairs to get to church. Who's not coming? If you’ve got to go up those stairs, there's no elevator, there's no little chair that slides up the stairs. They just carry you up the stairs. We heard about this, and we were like, we’ve got to get them from the third floor to the ground floor. And so, they got this space. After they were persecuted, they got this, what looks like to me, a sketchy parking garage. That's what it looks like to everybody else. Like this does not necessarily scream to me of church. Can I show you what this space looks like right now as we sit here tonight? That's what it looks like. Okay, that's what it looks like. And that place will be full of people at 10pm tonight, and they will be having their first service in this space tonight at 10pm, that will be Sunday morning there in Punjab, India. Then I zoomed with these guys, the five pastors of this church, and I have become really good friends. We've been zooming most Wednesday nights, Thursday morning for them, Wednesday night for me. I get to spend time with these guys. Man, if you could have seen their excitement. They were up all night working on this place, and yet they still wanted to zoom with me in the morning. Pastor Finney, he's like, we're going to start the book of Acts. Here's how I'm going to preach it. They're like, here's how we're going to set it up. Here's the lunch we're going to serve after. But before these guys, they would have just said, come to the the parking garage. And now they're like, we have to do the best possible service for Jesus Christ. These guys are very excited. If you could set an alarm at 10pm tonight to pray for them, because the gospel is ringing out in India tonight. And the reason they could go to the third floor, from the third floor to the ground floor, is Jesus is doing something right here in Huntington Beach. That's what's happening.
If you just do what Jesus tells you to do, he'll do so much more than you could ever ask or imagine. If you were there on the first day when we were wiping bird poop off of the seats in the Marina High School, and then you see where we're at today, and not just buildings or structures or things like that, but the people who have been changed by the gospel. And Jesus is ready to do maybe more than we even know. Are we ready to do what Jesus tells us? Okay.
Go back to Mark 6, or maybe you're already there. Let's get to what happens here, because this relationship that Herod has, well, Herod has a lot of disturbing relationships. He has this relationship with John the Baptist, right? Hey, look at verse 17. It was Herod who sent and seized John. So back in chapter 1, verse 14, when John gets arrested, that's Herod doing that. And here, look at how it even puts it. He sent for John and bound him in prison. Why? Because of Herodias. Now notice how the Bible puts it, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. Interesting that Herod married Herodias, but it still calls her his brother, Philip's, wife. Marrying your brother's wife is not a real thing that happens. Okay, marrying your brother's wife is some kind of twisted thing that you're doing. And John, now notice how it says it here. I want you to think about this verse 18. John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Now there are explicit Scriptures that say this, like Leviticus 18. Let's throw it up here on the screen. So, this could be one of the pieces of the law, one of the sections of Scripture that John was saying, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife. It is your brother's nakedness.” Or a few chapters later, in Leviticus 20, I think verse 21, we'll put that verse up here on the screen also. It says, “If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity he has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be childless.” So now, notice how it says it here. So John is sharing this with Herod. But notice what it says, “For John had been saying to Herod,” it almost reads like there's a conversation going on between John and Herod. I've often thought before, man, John the Baptist, maybe you should have just never said something to Herod about taking Herodias. Maybe that would have worked out a little better for you. But when you really study it here, it's like John has been saying this to Herod, and then Herod arrests him, and it sounds like they're meeting up for almost like a weekly Bible study. Did you catch that when we when we read through it, look at verse 20, “For Herod feared John.” Herod's like afraid of this guy. Herod's the person who supposedly has the power, but he's actually afraid of John the Baptist. It says in verse 20, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man, and he kept him safe.” How are you keeping somebody safe in prison? Well, you're keeping him safe from your brother's wife, Herodias, who wants to kill him because he said you shouldn't be with your brother's wife. And so, what a twisted kind of thing. This is where Herod, because he took Herodias, has to save John's life from Herodias by keeping John in prison. And it says, “When he heard him,” and it sounds like he's going and listening to John the Baptist, it sounds like maybe they're having one on one conversations, maybe even in the depths of the prison. “And when he heard him, he was greatly perplexed,” or you could translate that, he was greatly at a loss, “and yet he heard him gladly. See, there's a division here in Herod. Herod wants to do something that is wrong, and what Herod wants to do might sound to us very extreme, taking your brother's wife, but Herod, he's got something that he wants, but at the same time, Herod's like, this guy, John the Baptist, there's just something about him. He speaks like he's set apart. He speaks like he's right with God, and he knows God. And when John the Baptist speaks, Herod's just like, man, John, you're out of your mind. You're blowing my mind. But he's also like, John, I'll be back next week. This is riveting. That's how a lot of people are, how Herod is. Herod's kind of an extreme, eccentric personality in a very high position of power, but he reminds me here of a lot of people, even who come to church, because I got things in my life that I know are wrong, and I don't want to stop doing them, but listening about God is really interesting. And I'm kind of at a loss, because I don't know if I'm really willing to give up my sin, but I'll tell you what, that was fascinating. I'm going to be back next Saturday night. What's for dinner? That sounds delicious. There are a lot of people who do this. They come to church, and they're divided. They like to hear things that about God, things they don't know, things of the eternal life, but then, but I'm not really going to give it up.
And see, that's where Herod's at. And I don't know how long Herod, who would have been going back and forth like this, where it's like, I want to take my brother's wife, but I want to listen to the great preacher of our time. And he kind of has this private audience. So, that kind of put it in perspective to me. Because if John is really explaining to Herod the way of the Messiah, if John is really telling Herod what the gospel is, well, the gospel is the good news that the Messiah is coming. Or at that time, he's like, prepare the way for the Christ to come. You need to get ready. You need to make your paths immediate. And a part of the repentance of Herod would have been, you can't be in a relationship with your brother's wife if you want to be right with the Messiah. And so, it makes sense that if John the Baptist is out there proclaiming a repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and Herod's sin is publicly known that he took his brother's wife away from him in this very complicated and incestuous family that is the Herodian dynasty, well, if everybody knows that, then of course, John the Baptist, if he's going to call Herod to repentance would have to get specific about his sin. But see, Herodias, she's not interested in repentance. She's interested in murder. And so, there's this very complicated thing where Herod's over here privately, really interested in what John's saying, even afraid of John, but then he's also kind of afraid of Herodias, too, and so he's keeping John safe, trying to keep her happy. And then Herod's birthday comes. I hope you never have a birthday party like Herod does. This is very disturbing. This story to me, it almost feels uncomfortable to talk about this, at church, especially. I know we got people here for the first time. We don't usually talk about this kind of stuff, because this is like this. Usually, we're going with Jesus, and Jesus has been doing these amazing miracles. And, in fact, it was so remarkable last week that his hometown crowd wouldn't believe in him, because everywhere, Jesus has been doing these amazing things, inspiring faith from people. And so, that's what we've been doing.
But now, Mark takes us in a whole different direction. Like Jesus isn't in the scene. We're now getting into the mindset of like the opposite of Jesus, this guy Herod, who, on his birthday party, wants to have an all-male party with all of his kind of leaders in his governing authorities, and then they have a lady come and dance for them, and it's actually Herodias’ daughter. So, this is all kinds of levels of inappropriate what's taking place here. And then in this kind of braggadocio moment where everybody's kind of into the party, Herod's like, I'll give you whatever you want, ask anything, half of my kingdom. I don't even know what that means, because Herod's just like a governor, like a Tetrarch. He's in part of, a quarter of the territory. It's not like he owns stuff he can just give away. So, I don't even know what Herod means, like that. He's a governing authority. He's just representing Rome. It's not like it's his to give away, but he's talking a tough game. And then, Herodias sees this as her opportunity. And we've all heard the phrase “head on a platter,” because that's what was said in this story. Are you telling me that at some disgusting Herod's birthday party, John the Baptist’s head came in on a platter?
I want to put Matthew, chapter 11, verse 11, up on the screen. This is something Jesus said. “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” According to Jesus, the greatest man who ever was born of a woman and lived on planet Earth just had it his head separated from his body and brought in as some kind of party thing. That's a very disturbing story, and the disciples over here, giving each other high fives, and John the Baptist’s head being on a platter is supposed to make us feel uncomfortable and realize, yeah, we go out at the name of Jesus, ready to see great things, but even the greatest among us is going to suffer in the name of Jesus.
Let's get that down for number one here: “Even the greatest will suffer.” Even the greatest will suffer. In fact, John, the Baptist, who is called the greatest has such a disturbing and tragic demise, and the respect of his disciples. When his disciples hear it, they come and they take care of his body and they put it in a tomb, out of respect for a man who was a great man of God, a man who did what he was sent to do. He prepared the way of the Lord Jesus, and he called everyone to make their paths straight, even King Herod, he called him too. And so, eleven years ago, we were a little bit naive when we came up here to Huntington Beach. We knew if we did what Jesus told us to do and share the gospel, that Jesus would do it. What we didn't fully understand is how hard it was going to be. What we didn't fully understand is that when you get the gift of sharing your faith and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, you know how sometimes when you would get gifts, it would say batteries included, or batteries not included. When you get the gift of doing the ministry of Jesus, suffering is always included. And see, some of us have this very naive, very new to the team kind of mentality that I'm going to go out in Jesus and I'm going to live for Jesus and I'm not going to suffer. And that's not true, because even those who are the greatest at it, they suffer. And so, all of us are promised suffering, and the mature among us will expect suffering and prepare ourselves for it. In fact, we will embrace the suffering and continue to speak the name of Jesus through the suffering, whereas some who are unprepared for the suffering, when it comes, they will be disturbed by it and will give up the ministry of Jesus. They will leave the faith. And that has been, by far, the hardest part of being a church here in Huntington Beach for eleven years, is we have seen people fall away from the faith that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, people that we loved, people that we called our brother, our sister, people we would have given our lives for them because we cared about them. We did give our lives to them. We gave them our heart; we gave them our soul. And then you see them beginning to doubt, or you see them turn back to an old way of sin, and you plead with them, and you beg with them. There have been many people who have been loved, and they did not want to love in return. There have been many people who have been welcomed in only to then find out that they're slandering behind our back. So, if you're going to go out in the name of Jesus, if you're just going to follow Jesus, if you just want to be even associated with Jesus, you will suffer, example, John the Baptist. And really, this is where you start to realize that Mark writing this gospel, the ending may not be what we're expecting it to be. This may not be the triumphant story of The Return of the King that everyone is hoping for. This story may have a plot twist. If this could happen to John the Baptist, then this is already setting up the end game, we're moving towards what's going to happen to Jesus.
In fact, go over to Mark 8:31. We're going to get to this section here after there are a few more miracles, a few more teachings, a few more controversies with the Pharisees, and then we're going to get to this point in Mark 8:31, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be…” what does it say there, everybody? “Be killed, and after three days, rise again. And he said this plainly.” Okay, so John the Baptist is out there doing a great work. So many people are coming. They're hearing repentance. Many are getting baptized. He ends up being killed in some kind of inappropriate party game. Okay, well, now Jesus starts to prepare his disciples. I'm going to be killed. The religious leaders that are hating on me, that are starting controversy with me, I'm going to be handed over to them, and they are going to kill me. I am going to suffer. So that is a clear theme that we're going to see throughout the rest of Mark. And even look, this is the passage where Peter famously says, here in verse 32 of Mark 8, “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, but turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me…’” Who everybody? So, you can see Peter's suffering can't be the way this works out for you. We've come to see who you are. You are the Messiah. You are the Christ. You're the anointed one. It can't be that you're going to die, you're going to win. So, this is what Peter's thinking here, when he's still a naive disciple. But see, as Peter sees Jesus die, as he sees Jesus rise again, as he receives the Holy Spirit, Peter becomes much more mature in the way that he thinks about this.
Turn with me to 1 Peter, chapter 2, 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 19. And notice if you've ever gone through 1 Peter, and we have together as a church, if you've ever read it by yourself, or if you were here when we went through it, suffering is actually a major theme. In 1 Peter, he wants to prepare the people for the suffering that is going to come upon them, or already has, as they've been scattered as believers. And so, here's Peter trying to say, educate your expectations with Scripture; you should expect suffering to come. For example, in 1 Peter 2:19-21, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Wow. So, when you suffer, you're trying to do what is right. You're trying to tell people about Jesus, just what John the Baptist was doing. John the Baptist, a righteous and holy man, calling people to repent, based on the gospel of Jesus. If you're trying to do same things John the Baptist was doing, you're going to suffer, too. You may not get in a conversation with somebody like Herod, but you will end up suffering. And here's how God sees it. God sees it in this gracious way. God looks down on the people that he sees suffering, and it means something to God that his people are willing to suffer. In fact, Jesus is the ultimate example. Jesus is the one we're all following as disciples. And it's making a point here. Look at Jesus. Did Jesus suffer? That's who you're following. Expect to walk in his steps. Expect your path to be suffering. I guarantee you, everybody who came and is still here as a part of this church eleven years later, they have all suffered. If you have benefited from this church, if you're new to this church and you just got saved, let me put it to you like this, there are people you don't even know at this church who have suffered for years so that you could come here. It has been hard. They've loved and they have lost, they've given and then it did not get any return because they gave the gospel to people who then didn't really want to believe it, and sometimes those people even come back at you. And that's what was happening.
See this thing with Herod and John the Baptist, there was a real conversation going on, there was a real call, like Herod, you've got to repent. And Herod wanted to hear what John had to say. But then, in the end, Herod kills him to make everybody think he's cool at his birthday party. How terrible is that? That's the kind of suffering the Bible is warning you. You’ve got to brace yourself. You may not end up dead like John the Baptist, but you will suffer like he did, like Jesus did.
So, I wonder, what does that look like for you? Do you ever pray, Lord, prepare me for the suffering that is coming? Lord, prepare me for the persecution that I am yet to face, Lord. Prepare me when I feel like the people I'm reaching out to turn against me. Prepare me for that, Lord. I want to really be a disciple who follows Jesus all the way to the end. And if you're following Jesus, where was the end for him? It was the cross. We are following the way of the cross, and you can't go the way of the cross without getting bloody, without experiencing pain. I will easily tell anybody who would ask me that the last eleven years at this church have been the best years of my life, and the last eleven years of this church have been the hardest years of my life. Do you know how many people have already said to me, look how young you look in the bulletin? So, when we're having dinner later, I have seen the picture. And, yeah, I'll tell you some of the suffering has been hard, and I just want to encourage you that it's worth it.
Go back to Mark, chapter 6 and let us see how it ends. Now, with these apostles, the sent out ones, right? And it's interesting that it calls them apostles here in Mark 6:30, because even though we think of them in the gospels as the disciples, and then they're the apostles in the book of Acts. See, once the gospel actually happens. And the gospel, just to be very clear, the gospel is the good news that Jesus is the Christ who died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, that is the good news. And you should turn from your sin because Jesus already died for it, and you can be forgiven. And you should trust in the power of Jesus' resurrection, and you will have eternal life if you put your faith in the Gospel of Jesus. Okay, and so that's what they know in the book of Acts, when they have the spirit and they're so gung-ho for it, and they suffer in the book of Acts. James, the one of the three closest disciples, now apostles, is killed by chapter 12, and Peter and John, they're in prison, and they're before the authorities. We know that Paul, even the untimely born apostle, he gets beaten up and left for dead. In some places, he's shipwrecked. I mean, he goes through all kinds of suffering. And we think from church history, from places like Fox's Book of Martyrs, we think most of these guys were eventually killed, like John the Baptist, like Jesus. And so, we see these guys go from disciples to apostles as they receive the Spirit. There's definitely a profound change. But here it calls them apostles, because they went out just like Jesus said, and now they're coming back. And I love this. It's like they have a debrief here, right? And you can just imagine Peter's voice is getting higher as he's telling everybody what they were able to do and what they were able to teach people. And these people welcomed us in. And this lady had this kind of sickness, and this man had this kind of demon. And wow, it was so awesome. I mean, I just love the way mark does this. Like, here's a head on a platter, and here's guys being like, this was amazing. And that's what it is. It's all of that at the same time. And then I love what Jesus says here, he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” Doesn't that sound nice? Hey, let's get in the boat, guys. Let's go to the other side. Just us. Let's have a rest now. That doesn't happen. Five hundred people follow them and ask for a free meal if you come back next week. That's what's going to happen. Okay, so that's why we stopped it at verse 32 because this idea of let's go rest a while is just an idea, at least for now. But I like this idea of coming back from being sent out and sharing with Jesus all that we've done, all that we've taught, and Jesus saying, Let's rest. That sounds very nice. And everybody who serves Jesus, and they go through the suffering, and they don't quit, they don't lose heart, they don't give up, you will experience someday the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will be so worth it. Everything you've ever suffered will seem insignificant compared to the place that Christ has prepared for you.
I didn't give you the full quote from Matthew 11:11. It says, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So anybody here who believes in Jesus, anybody here who enters his kingdom someday, when you're in the Kingdom of the Lord the righteous one who reigns over the earth, it'll be great. The rest you will experience. It will be glorious.” Whatever it cost, you will seem like it was totally worth it, compared to the suffering will be worth the glory that is yet to be revealed.
Let's get this down for point number two: “Even the least will rest.” Even the least will rest. Everybody who does anything for Jesus, it's gracious in the sight of God. Jesus once said, even if you give somebody just a cup of water in my name, you will surely, by no means, lose your reward when you're doing the ministry of Jesus, when you're doing what he tells you to do, and you keep doing it, even when you're suffering. Jesus knows what you do for him. It means something to Jesus, and Jesus will give you rest. Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you” what? See, he was talking there to people who are trying so hard to do the work themselves. You can't do the work yourself. You have to trust that Jesus did the work. And if you can stop trying to get right with God based on your own works, and you can come to Jesus by faith, Jesus will give you rest for your souls, but the rest that ultimately were promised is after this life, when we do die, or when Jesus comes back to get us, there is promised a rest. For those who believe in Jesus, there is promise of a reward. And while we might have seasons or rest, of moments of rest right now here in this life, they will be interrupted with more to do in the name of Jesus, but eventually there will be a rest.
Go with me to Hebrews, chapter 4. Let me show you an example of this picture here in Hebrews, chapter 4. So, Jesus saying to his disciples, hey, let's go rest for a while. I see in that suggestion that Jesus gave, even though they can be interrupted by thousands of people, I see that the heart of Jesus there that when he knows his people have done what he sent them to do, there will be a time where Jesus will be united with his people, what has been accomplished will be celebrated. They will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.” And here, in Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 9, you can see here that it says, “So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his let us, therefore Strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” So, here in Hebrews, it's been talking about the people who went through the wilderness, and how they hardened their heart and how they didn't listen to God, because God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. God promised them that they wouldn't have to stay in the wilderness, but they could enter a promised land of rest. And did they believe that they could take the promised land of rest? No. Only Joshua and Caleb believed. Everybody else saw, all the Canaanites, all the nations that were dwelling in the land. And they became afraid, and they did not believe. And so, they drew back. And the writer of Hebrews is saying, no, there is a rest, just like God did his work in six days, and he rested on the Sabbath day. There is a rest still for the people of God, a rest that will not be interrupted. And you should want that rest. You should strive for that rest, that rest will be worth all the suffering you have to go through between now and then. Don't be like those people who saw so much suffering, so much obstacle, so much trial and challenge in front of them, that they pulled back. No, no. Don't be like that. Go all the way to the rest. Even the least in the kingdom will be greater than John the Baptist was here on Earth. Wow. Everybody in the kingdom will experience such glory. It will be so worth it. If you knew what it was going to be like, then you would be ready to keep suffering. Now, can you see that by faith? See, it's a promise here in Hebrews 4, even though it's bringing people out of the Covenant into the New Covenant, even though it's using this example of what happened in the history of Israel, it's applying it to people who believe in Jesus. Now it's saying there is a rest. Hey, and you're going to rest from your works, as God rested from his works. So, strive to enter that rest. Don't fall by the disobedience. Do you realize how many people have started out in the name of Jesus but haven't finished in the name of Jesus? Don't be one of those people. Get to the finish line. Keep looking at him. Your example, he suffered. He endured all the way to the end. Despising the shame, he went to the cross, and now he's seated at the right hand of the Father in glory and majesty. You could be there with him. Keep going. Don't give up. If you could just be the least in the kingdom of heaven. Wow. What an experience that will be to be in the kingdom of Jesus, to be in his presence. It'll make whatever you had to go through here seem insignificant compared to the weight of his glory.
Go over to Revelation 14. I love how it how it puts it here in Revelation 14, verses 12 and 13. Revelation 14:12-13. This is a Scripture I would say to encourage my brothers and sisters at Compass, HB, eleven years into whatever Jesus is going to use to build his church. Here's a call I would like to give to my brothers and sisters. Here it says in Revelation 14, verse 12, “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commands of God,” those who keep their faith in Jesus, or the faith of Jesus, you keep doing what Jesus tells you to do, because you trust him, you believe in him. Verse 13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” And then look at this. “Blessed indeed, says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors for their deeds, follow them.” What an amazing thing to think that all the suffering, all that we seek to do in the name of Jesus will actually matter in eternity. Oh, blessed are those who die in the Lord. Blessed are those who enter that rest. Says, “For they have rested now from their labors, there's no more work to do.” You finished. You did it all. And I love that their deeds follow them. May what happens here in Huntington Beach echo for all of eternity, and may you be there to celebrate when it does. One of my favorite things is in Luke 12, where Jesus talks about the servant who's waiting for his master to come home from the wedding feast and to knock on the door, and blessed is the servant that the master finds ready when he comes, because the master is actually going to serve his own servants. What will it be like for you and Jesus says, you did it. It's all done now. Come on in. Welcome. Let's go get some rest. I don't know how soon your rest will come, but I promise you, it will be worth it when you get there. Let's pray.
Father in heaven. We pray that you would put on our hearts here this evening, this juxtaposition of John the Baptist, the greatest man born of a woman with his head on a platter, suffering at the hands of Herod and Herodias and terrible sinful situation. The great suffering of a great man, and yet these disciples are high fiving and celebrating what happened when they went out into the cities and the healings and the demons being cast out and the teaching that happened. And Jesus, it's like Jesus smiling, and he's saying, Hey, let's go rest. God, I pray that we could see both of these things, that we could see the suffering and we could see the glory, that we could see a realistic perspective that this is going to be hard if I want to live for Jesus, and that we could see a perspective of faith that it's going to be so worth it to live for Jesus. God, I pray that we would be people who are willing to go through the hard things, but that we would not be discouraged because we see the example set before us. God, I pray that this would be a church that has great respect for John the Baptist, like the men who came and buried his body in the tomb that we would see telling people to repent so that they could be forgiven of their sins, even if it's Herod, and doing that all the way faithfully to the end. I want to be just like John the Baptist. And even more, I want to follow the example of Jesus. And so, Father, we pray for everyone here this evening, that they would know what the gospel is, that they would build their life on the gospel, that they would go out to share the gospel with others, and that they would say, you could take the world but give me Jesus. I want to go into his rest. I want to be with him. So, please hear us as we pray, God. I pray for everyone here now that we could commit ourselves afresh. We know there's suffering coming, but we're ready to be sent out by Jesus. We know hard times will definitely come to us, but we're going to live for the gospel here in Huntington Beach. Let us pour out our hearts now in prayer to you, in Jesus' name. Amen.