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The Strangest of All Gifts A Beheading Msg 121 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Some passages of Scripture are very encouraging. Others are shocking.
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  Speaker 1: This is one of those. In fact, the scene becomes
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  Speaker 1: so evil you'll almost feel like you need a shower
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  Speaker 1: after you've risen to a message. This is one, while inspired,
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  Speaker 1: but tragic story. And at the conclusion of it, there
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  Speaker 1: are four lessons that I hope you will never forget
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  Speaker 1: because they tie in perfectly with our lives this day
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  Speaker 1: and at this time. So while difficult to hear, it's
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  Speaker 1: necessary that we hear it, come to terms with it,
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  Speaker 1: and realize what it means to us. Matthew Chapter fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: the first thirteen verses. I'll be reading from the New
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  Speaker 1: Living Translation. Once you find the passage of Matthew fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: Please stand and remain standing for prayer. When Herod Antipus,
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  Speaker 1: the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, he said to
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  Speaker 1: his advisers, this must be John, the Baptist raised from
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  Speaker 1: the dead. That is why he can do such miracles.
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  Speaker 1: For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor
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  Speaker 1: to his wife, Herodius, the former wife of Herod's brother Philip.
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  Speaker 1: John had been telling Herod it is against God's law
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  Speaker 1: for you to marry her. Herod wanted to kill John,
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  Speaker 1: but he was afraid of a riot because all the
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  Speaker 1: people believed John was a prophet. But at a birthday
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  Speaker 1: party for Herod, Herodius's daughter performed a dance that greatly
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  Speaker 1: pleased him, so he promised with a vow to give
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  Speaker 1: her anything she wanted. At her mother's urging, the girl said,
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  Speaker 1: I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray.
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  Speaker 1: Then the king regretted what he had said, but because
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  Speaker 1: of the vow he had made in front of his guests,
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  Speaker 1: he issued the necessary orders. So John was he headed
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  Speaker 1: in the prison, and his head was brought on a
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  Speaker 1: tray and given to the girl, who took it to
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  Speaker 1: her mother. Later, John's disciples came for his body and
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  Speaker 1: buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in
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  Speaker 1: a boat to a remote area to be alone our father.
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  Speaker 1: On this tragic day of remembrance, it's appropriate that we
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  Speaker 1: witness in the scriptures another tragedy, a death that need
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  Speaker 1: not have been had there only been restraint. But ah
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  Speaker 1: the power of a grudge. Today, on this anniversary, as
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  Speaker 1: a nation, we pause and remember the great men and
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  Speaker 1: women who did their best to save as many lives
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  Speaker 1: as possible, some in collapsing buildings, some in burning buildings,
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  Speaker 1: and some in an airplane on a downward spiral. We
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  Speaker 1: remember the families of those who grieve as this cyclical
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  Speaker 1: journey return, and they recall how much their mother or dad,
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  Speaker 1: son or daughter, brother or sister, relative or friend meant
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  Speaker 1: to them, and how much they are missed. We still
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  Speaker 1: live in this nation, our Father, and we still are
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  Speaker 1: not learning the lessons, and we therefore plead for your
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  Speaker 1: grace to be applied to us, protecting us, taking care
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  Speaker 1: of us the undeserving, and by your grace, giving us
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  Speaker 1: leadership that will give attention to truth and lead accordingly.
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  Speaker 1: On this day as we mourn and remember, remind us
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  Speaker 1: that you are sovereign, God, or in charge of it all,
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  Speaker 1: and it all does, in fact work together for good
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  Speaker 1: to those who love you. Now, Minister Lord, to others
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  Speaker 1: through our gifts, as we give them those we will
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  Speaker 1: never meet, who live in places we will never visit,
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  Speaker 1: and because of our gifts, they'll be able to continue
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  Speaker 1: and some even survive. Thank you for the privilege of
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  Speaker 1: hard work and our occupations, being able to make a
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  Speaker 1: living from that. We give our gifts full of gratitude,
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  Speaker 1: in the name of the God of all grace. Even
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ are matchless savior. And everyone said, amen,
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  Speaker 1: please be seated. Talk about a piece of work, Make
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  Speaker 1: that two pieces of work. Herod Antipas and his wicked wife, Herodius.
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  Speaker 1: There are hardly any words to describe them. I think
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  Speaker 1: my favorite would be there, the Bonnie and Clyde of
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament. They are no good and why would
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  Speaker 1: that surprise us? The depravity of their lives can be
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  Speaker 1: traced back to their roots. Just take herod Antipus, who
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  Speaker 1: became the leader, or what we would call the governor
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  Speaker 1: of the country and province of Galilee. One expositor describes
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  Speaker 1: the scene. The true account is actually more incredible than
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  Speaker 1: a bizarre soap opera. It is the story of infidelity, incest,
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  Speaker 1: political intrigue, jealousy, spite, revenge, lewdness, lust, cold heartedness, cruelty, brutality, violence,
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  Speaker 1: ungodly remorse. Above all, it is the story of godless fear,
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  Speaker 1: and the power of such fear to confuse, deceive, corrupt, destroy,
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  Speaker 1: and damn. Nowhere in scripture is the truth. The fear
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  Speaker 1: of man brings a snare more vividly illustrated than here.
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  Speaker 1: That's what we have in front of us. The setting
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  Speaker 1: of Matthew fourteen takes us back to the mafia family
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  Speaker 1: of the first century. In that day, it was known
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  Speaker 1: as the Herod the Herod family. The roots of that
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  Speaker 1: family tree were nurtured by the bones and the blood
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  Speaker 1: of those the godfather of the family had killed. Known
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  Speaker 1: as Herod the Great, he gave new meaning to human depravity.
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  Speaker 1: Married no less than ten times. Each one of them
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  Speaker 1: only added to his life of deception, cruelty, and crime.
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  Speaker 1: He murdered several of those wives, as well as several
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  Speaker 1: of his own sons, which led to the popular saying
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  Speaker 1: it is better to be Herod's soul than Herod's son.
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  Speaker 1: His pig had a better chance to live a long life.
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  Speaker 1: David McKenna adds this, slaughtering men and flaunting god, Herod
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  Speaker 1: the Great deserves a niche in the pantheon of history's villains,
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  Speaker 1: along with Caligula, Nero, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, and Ediamine.
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  Speaker 1: They hold in common the arrogance that led them to
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  Speaker 1: commit the most heinous crime. That's the background. The story
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  Speaker 1: begins in the biblical account at Matthew fourteen with a
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  Speaker 1: rather well, shall we say, lucky son, He survived his father,
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  Speaker 1: he lived on and ultimately became the ruler as we
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  Speaker 1: read here of the region of Galilee. His name is
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  Speaker 1: Antipas Herod Antipus. He's haunted by guilt. His hands are
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  Speaker 1: stained by the blood of the baptizer, whom he had
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  Speaker 1: murdered in the dungeon of the Palace of Herod. When
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  Speaker 1: he hears the man Jesus named as the one working miracles,
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  Speaker 1: Herod Antipas is haunted, haunted by the thought that John
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  Speaker 1: the Baptizer must have risen from the dead, since such
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  Speaker 1: miracles were being performed, he must have come back. And
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse two, we have a flashback as we
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  Speaker 1: return to the account that occurred sometime earlier. If you
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  Speaker 1: really want to see it in full clarity, you need
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  Speaker 1: to read it alongside mark chapter six. I'll have you
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  Speaker 1: turned there in a few moments. But understand that what
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  Speaker 1: we're reading has already occurred, but the lessons to be
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  Speaker 1: learned from it are are yet to be learned. The
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  Speaker 1: account Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor
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  Speaker 1: to his wife, Herodius, the former wife of Herod's brother Philip.
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  Speaker 1: It's a good time to turn quickly and look at
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  Speaker 1: Mark chapter six, and you'll see the account that Matthew
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  Speaker 1: does not include. Verse seventeen of Mark six. Herod had
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  Speaker 1: sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor
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  Speaker 1: to Herodius. She had his brother, Philip's wife, but Herod
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  Speaker 1: had married her. You see, when Antipus went to visit Philip,
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  Speaker 1: he fell in lust with Herodius and they escaped. She
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  Speaker 1: left her husband and family. He left his wife and
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  Speaker 1: their families, and they eloped and they lived in open sin,
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  Speaker 1: which in that day was known as adultery. And in
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  Speaker 1: that day it was a shameful act among the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: It was scandalous. John the Baptizer decided not to keep
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  Speaker 1: his mouth shut. He was never known as one to
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  Speaker 1: keep his mouth shut, and this was no time to start.
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  Speaker 1: So we read in verse eighteen. He had been telling
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  Speaker 1: Herod it is against God's law for you to marry
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  Speaker 1: your brother's wife. So Herodius, look at this, remember it, Herodius.
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  Speaker 1: That's The wife bore a grudge against John and wanted
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  Speaker 1: to kill him, but without Herod's approval, she was powerless.
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  Speaker 1: For Herod respected John, and knowing that he was a
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  Speaker 1: good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly
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  Speaker 1: disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so he
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  Speaker 1: liked to listen to him. There's a lot of intrigue
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  Speaker 1: in that your curiosity runs away with you. I imagine he
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  Speaker 1: would go to the cell or he would bring John
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  Speaker 1: to his chamber, and they would talk privately, secretly. Certainly
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  Speaker 1: Herodius did not know of it, and he found him
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  Speaker 1: curiously fascinating, and he would spend time dialoguing with the
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  Speaker 1: baptizer while keeping him in prison inappropriately. We read in
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  Speaker 1: Mark six twenty one. We'll go back to Matthew in
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  Speaker 1: a moment. Herods' chance finally came on Herod's birthday. Back
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  Speaker 1: to Matthew fourteen, verse six. Here is where the plot
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  Speaker 1: thickens and gets really ugly. At a birthday party for Herod.
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  Speaker 1: Before you think of your son or daughter's birthday party,
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  Speaker 1: I need to stop you and have you think of
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  Speaker 1: a stag party. This is no little party with funny
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  Speaker 1: hats and whistles and Confettian balloons. This is a group
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  Speaker 1: of guys cronies that get together for all the things
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  Speaker 1: it would include. One man writes Roman nobles frequently held
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  Speaker 1: stag parties in which gluttony, excessive drinking, erotic dancing, and
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  Speaker 1: sexual indulgence were common. Verse six tells us about it,
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  Speaker 1: and we read at that party for Herod, Herodius's daughter
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  Speaker 1: performed a dance. Let me stop there, lest you think
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  Speaker 1: they all joined in a square dance, enjoying the party together.
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  Speaker 1: On the contrary, she's a stripper. She's a pole dancer.
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  Speaker 1: We would call her today. But what makes it even
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  Speaker 1: more intriguing, she's Herod's stepdaughter. The old man begins to
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  Speaker 1: lust after his own stepdaughter as she performs an erotic,
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  Speaker 1: sexually arousing dance. We read it here she performed a
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  Speaker 1: dance that greatly pleased him. The Greek term is the
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  Speaker 1: word for sexually aroused. Him lost in his lust, his
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  Speaker 1: brain full of alcohol, his heart empty of morals. He suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: in his lustful moment, blurts out a stupid statement. He
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  Speaker 1: says to her, a vow to give you whatever you want.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me what you want. Mark adds up to half
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  Speaker 1: my kingdom. She didn't know what to say. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: Josephus tells us her name is Salomi. We don't read
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  Speaker 1: her name in the scriptures, but from his words the
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  Speaker 1: historian's words will call her by that name. Salomi, who
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  Speaker 1: had greatly pleased him, heard this request and his vow
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  Speaker 1: to give her whatever she wanted. And notice verse eight.
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  Speaker 1: At her mother's urging. If you go to mark six,
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  Speaker 1: you'll read that she went back to her mother to
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  Speaker 1: find out what she should ask for. I believe it
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  Speaker 1: was at that moment Salomi pieced it all together. Surely,
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  Speaker 1: in her growing up years, she had heard her mother
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  Speaker 1: as she spoke with this enormous grudge against the baptizer,
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  Speaker 1: and she hears her mother make this request, I want
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  Speaker 1: the head of John, the baptizer. By the way, check
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  Speaker 1: the record for yourself. The mother never says do it immediately,
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  Speaker 1: nor does she say bring it on a platter. That
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  Speaker 1: was Salome's part. She gets caught up in the plot
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  Speaker 1: when she understands what her mother wants, and she thinks,
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  Speaker 1: if I have the power to arouse my stepfather, I've
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  Speaker 1: got the ability to ask the ultimate immediately, bring on
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  Speaker 1: a platter the head of John the baptizer, please observe
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  Speaker 1: in verse nine a little late, but at least the
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  Speaker 1: moment is there. He regretted what he had said. Well,
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  Speaker 1: then why didn't he take it back? When you say
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  Speaker 1: something stupid, the best thing you can do following it
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  Speaker 1: is that was a stupid statement, and in front of
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  Speaker 1: those around, unless, of course, you're caught in the peer
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  Speaker 1: pressure of what others may think. He would lose face,
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  Speaker 1: for after all, it's his party, he's the king. How
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  Speaker 1: could he do that? And so herod because of the
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  Speaker 1: vow he had made, notice how it reads in front
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  Speaker 1: of his guests, he issued the necessary order. At this point,
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  Speaker 1: you have to take a deep breath, because here the
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  Speaker 1: scene is brutal. The baptizer is down in his cell.
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  Speaker 1: He knows nothing of a dance, or nothing of an oath.
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  Speaker 1: He knows nothing of what's transpiring above. There's no warning,
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  Speaker 1: there's no note, there's no tap of the shoulder telling
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  Speaker 1: him what's coming. Suddenly his door is open, and in
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  Speaker 1: walks a man with a blade, and off comes the
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  Speaker 1: head with a switch. It hits the stone floor. Blood
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  Speaker 1: splatters everywhere as the man is beheaded and his head
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  Speaker 1: is brought on a tray. Please observe not given to
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  Speaker 1: herod Antipus, who made the request, but given to the
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  Speaker 1: one who was the reason for the request. She took
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  Speaker 1: the head on the tray to her mother. Your silence
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  Speaker 1: is appropriate. It's almost impossible to believe a man as
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  Speaker 1: good and godly as John would meet that kind of fate.
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  Speaker 1: But we are living in a day of beheadings, with
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  Speaker 1: the innocent experienced that. But we'll never get used to
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  Speaker 1: that kind of thing. The body lay limp on the
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  Speaker 1: floor and would have remained there until the stench filled
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  Speaker 1: the palace, which would have pleased Herodius all the more.
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  Speaker 1: But the disciples heard of the beheading, and we read
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  Speaker 1: at the end of verse twelve. They came for the
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  Speaker 1: body and buried it. And then they went and told
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  Speaker 1: Jesus what had happened. What a terrible moment for our Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Out of the blue, the disciples come and described to
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  Speaker 1: him the scene. They had taken that body of the
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  Speaker 1: dear man buried it. And now they tell the Savior
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  Speaker 1: of the Forerunner's death, the one who had baptized him,
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  Speaker 1: who had told others, he is the Lamb of God,
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  Speaker 1: who takes away the sin of the world now gone.
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  Speaker 1: Voice is now silent, and we read words that describe grief.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in
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  Speaker 1: a boat to a remote area to be alone. I
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  Speaker 1: think there are times when we read the Bible that
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  Speaker 1: we need to stop reading and let the wonder in
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  Speaker 1: our Lord, all alone on the little boat out at sea,
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  Speaker 1: remembering and mourning, thinking back to those great moments they
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  Speaker 1: shared together, and the great ministry the baptizer had had,
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  Speaker 1: boldly proclaiming of Christ against all odds and in front
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  Speaker 1: of whomever rank never intimidated him, as we see in
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  Speaker 1: this very case where the one who is in charge
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  Speaker 1: of the entire province of Galilee is confronted by John
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  Speaker 1: more than once. It isn't right. You're doing wrong. This
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  Speaker 1: kind of thing displeases God and God's people. The morning ends,
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  Speaker 1: as we will see next time, as a huge crowd
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  Speaker 1: comes and Jesus moves into another scene. We've looked back,
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  Speaker 1: and we've rehearsed the setting. We have seen this event
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  Speaker 1: in all its lewdness and ugliness. Now there are lessons
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  Speaker 1: to draw from it, believe it or not. Herodius the
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  Speaker 1: wife herod Anthipus, the husband, solo only the dancer all
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  Speaker 1: teach us something we can take with us from this
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  Speaker 1: day on. Even the whole story makes a statement to
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  Speaker 1: everyone by way of applic Listen carefully as we all
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  Speaker 1: look within. Herodius, the wife teaches us how dangerous is revenge?
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  Speaker 1: How wrong is holding a grudge? It led to murder, shameless, senseless,
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  Speaker 1: needless murder. She didn't flinch. You nurse a grudge long enough,
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  Speaker 1: There is no limit to which you will go to
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  Speaker 1: get even or to get back. It's like an aggressive
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  Speaker 1: cancer growing within your mind and within your emotions. How
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  Speaker 1: much better it is to accept the reproof that's someone
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  Speaker 1: gave you that you at the time resented. How much
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  Speaker 1: better it would have been in your case when that
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  Speaker 1: person offended you, for you to forgive them, even though
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  Speaker 1: they may never ask for it. I mean, the alternative
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  Speaker 1: is you suffer the consequences. Read Matthew eighteen for yourself,
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  Speaker 1: where Peter asks his Lord, how many times do I
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  Speaker 1: forgive another? Seven times? Jesus answer is seventy times seven.
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  Speaker 1: He's not saying four hundred and ninety times. Don't take
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  Speaker 1: that literally. He's saying an infinite number of times for
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  Speaker 1: every offense, there must be forgiveness for everything wrong done
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  Speaker 1: against you. You must be able to be big enough
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  Speaker 1: to get past it. If you do not read the
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  Speaker 1: end of Matthew eighteen, and you will read that, you
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  Speaker 1: will be turned over to torturers, the inner torturings that
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  Speaker 1: eat away like an acid on your piece and contentment.
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  Speaker 1: Herodius is eaten up with the torturings of her grudge.
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  Speaker 1: She teaches us, how dangerous is revenge. You're holding a grudge,
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  Speaker 1: any of you, against someone you once worked for, against
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  Speaker 1: one of your parents, against a former mate. How about
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  Speaker 1: your current mate. You're holding a grudge. You know how
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  Speaker 1: miserable you're making your own life, not to mention the
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  Speaker 1: lives of others. Herodias was hell to live with. Antipus
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  Speaker 1: by now must have wondered why on earth did he
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  Speaker 1: elope with her. But they're indeed now really deep because
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  Speaker 1: of the power of revenge. Let it go. Let it go.
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  Speaker 1: If you have trouble doing that, remember what our Lord
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  Speaker 1: has done for you. He knows everything no one else does.
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  Speaker 1: He knows everything you have done that was wrong, And
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  Speaker 1: as far as east is from the west, he removes
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  Speaker 1: those transgressions from us. God doesn't carry a grudge. How
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  Speaker 1: foolish of us to do so. Herodius teaches how dang
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  Speaker 1: in Juris is revenge. Herod Antipas teaches us something else.
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  Speaker 1: How powerful is peer pressure? How powerful is peer pressure?
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  Speaker 1: You know why he didn't go back and correct his statement.
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  Speaker 1: You know why he didn't stop Salomi before she left
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  Speaker 1: the room, the people around him, fearing what they would
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  Speaker 1: think or say, not realizing that folks respect you more
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  Speaker 1: when you acknowledge a foolish statement or a wrong act,
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  Speaker 1: and you know who loses in it. By Herod Antipas himself.
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  Speaker 1: There's an old English couplet that is said of Judas
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  Speaker 1: is Scariot. It goes like this, still as of old
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  Speaker 1: man by himself is Christ. For thirty pieces. Judas sold himself,
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  Speaker 1: not Christ, to borrow from that for fear of what
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  Speaker 1: others may say or think. Herod sealed his own fate,
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  Speaker 1: not John's. John's eternity is secure. As soon as he
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  Speaker 1: stopped breathing on this earth. He took up residence in
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  Speaker 1: the presence of the Father, Same with us when we die.
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  Speaker 1: Herod Anapus teaches us how powerful is peer pressure. Before
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  Speaker 1: I move on, I have to ask, are you living
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  Speaker 1: under the intimidation of peer pressure? What others may say
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  Speaker 1: or think it's cool that are that's coming from your classmates,
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  Speaker 1: What someone or others may say about your decision regarding
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: your own faith in Christ. So you've decided the best
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  Speaker 1: way to continue here is just to take a vow
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  Speaker 1: of silence. Wrong, you're vowing to peer pressure, peer pressure
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  Speaker 1: keeping you from telling the truth to someone else. Why
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  Speaker 1: would you yield to that? Truth sets people free doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean you become more popular, but it does mean that
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  Speaker 1: you're rewarded for doing what is right without being afraid
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  Speaker 1: of that herod Antipist teaches us how powerful is peer pressure.
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  Speaker 1: Sulomi even teaches us something, How treacherous is rationalization? Rationalization?
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  Speaker 1: That's how she got involved in all that. She didn't
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  Speaker 1: carry the grudge her mother did, but when she heard
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  Speaker 1: the mother's request, she put the pieces together. She's smart
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  Speaker 1: enough to know what this is all about. How can
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  Speaker 1: she be involved at rationalization? Check the word in the dictionary.
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  Speaker 1: It means to devise self satisfying but incorrect reasons for
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  Speaker 1: one's behavior. Again, to devise self satisfying but incorrect reasons
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  Speaker 1: for one's behavior. It's been called the Adolf Eichman syndrome.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: One of the books I read this past summer during
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: my time away was Hunting Aikman, fascinating book about the
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: man who played such a vital heart in the extermination
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  Speaker 1: of millions of Jews, horrible, horrible creature to the core.
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  Speaker 1: He took orders from Himmler, who took his orders from Hitler,
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  Speaker 1: and he orchestrated much of it. He choreographed some of it,
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  Speaker 1: even photographic sessions of such horrible atrocities. What is interesting
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  Speaker 1: is that when they finally caught him in Buenos Aires
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  Speaker 1: and secretly flew him back to the state of Israel
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  Speaker 1: to stand trial, he was as calm as he could
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: have been. They were shocked to see how calm. And
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: the reason was words, I was only following orders. That's
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: called rationalization. How could I off Ike wouldn't do such
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: a thing. Why would he say, when they were ready
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  Speaker 1: to hang in, don't put a hood on my face,
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  Speaker 1: I'll not grimace? And he stood calmly as that trap
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  Speaker 1: door open and his neck snapped without a hood. I
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  Speaker 1: was only following orders. But this isn't the lesson about Eichman.
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  Speaker 1: This is about Salomi and you and me. The power
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  Speaker 1: of rationalization is shocking. You can, by rationalizing, talk yourself
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  Speaker 1: into the worst kind of acts, and if you get
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: good enough at it, your pulse will not even rise.
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  Speaker 1: You will remain calm as you can be, because you've
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: rationalize your way out of any responsibility. I was only
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: following orders. One final word to you who work in
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: a company where you must do wrong to follow orders,
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  Speaker 1: you're in the wrong company. You who have friends who
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: urge you to do wrong things, you have wrong friends.
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  Speaker 1: Stay with them long enough, you will cultivate rationalization, and
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  Speaker 1: you will find you no longer have a moral compass.
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  Speaker 1: There is no line between right and wrong. It's all rationalized.
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  Speaker 1: Salomi teaches us how treacherous is rationalization. The whole story,
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  Speaker 1: the whole sordid story, teaches us this, how addictive is sin?
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  Speaker 1: How addictive is sin? I won't do it. But if
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: we were to go back to the original Mafia family,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: can you imagine this dysfunction in that family, beginning with
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: the godfather of the family. Can you imagine the piling
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: up of sin upon sin, sin upon sin, and the
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: addiction of it as it wraps its way around the suns,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: the daughters, the marriage partners, the children. The story is
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: captivating while also treacherous as it unfolds the extensive addiction
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  Speaker 1: of growing sin. I don't have many little sayings in
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: my study at home. After a while they all sort
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: of run together. But I do have one that I
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: have written and put on my printer, my copy right
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: by my computer, and I see it every day. I
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: look at it every day. I'm reminded of it every day.
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  Speaker 1: It says three things. Sin will take you farther than
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: you want to go. Oh, sin will keep you longer
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  Speaker 1: than you want to stay. Sin will cost you more
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  Speaker 1: than you want to pay. Why would I have that
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: in front of me? Because I want to finish my life. Well.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want the end of my life to be
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: a reproach on the name of Christ or on this
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: fine congregation. Because I know I have a nature just
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: as wicked and just as evil as anyone you could name.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: If I were to give in and begin the process
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: that I've described, why it's only a matter of time
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: that I'd be covering up those things that would be
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: exposed after my death. And so I remember how addictive
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: sin is, and if I cultivate a taste for it
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: where it becomes to me secretly delicious, which can easily
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: happen at a computer, or in the imaginations of my mind,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: or even in the quietness of my own study where
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: no one is around. I'm a goner. I'm finished. No thanks.
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  Speaker 1: My constant prayer is Lord, Lord, God, keep me clean,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Remind me to keep short accounts. Show me over and
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  Speaker 1: over how weak I am, so that I will lean
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: hard on you and not bring shame to the swindlef
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  Speaker 1: family or to the people to whom I now minister.
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  Speaker 1: And you have such a vital part in my life.
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  Speaker 1: Sin will take you farther than you want to go,
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  Speaker 1: it will keep you longer than you want to stay.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: It'll cost you more than you want to pay. Change
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: the pronoun and it becomes very personal. It'll take me farther,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: it'll keep me longer, It'll cost me much more. You see,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: that's the reason that when we come to the Lord's table,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: the instructions are so clear. Let each one examine himself,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: and then let him or hurt take of the bread
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  Speaker 1: and drink from the cup. It's a time of self
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: examination before you worship the one who paid the price
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  Speaker 1: for our sins and dying in our place. Let's take
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: care of that right now, a bow with me? Will you?
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: Sitting right where you are is a perfect place to
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: do your own self search. Are you certain you know
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you absolutely certain he is
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: your savior, that you have trusted him, the one who
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: has cleansed you from all unrighteousness? Go there first, otherwise
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: you really should not partake in the Lord's table. These
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: elements are those who know Christ. Secondly, let's say you
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: know Christ. Are there things going on that you not
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: have not made right? Made right with the Lord and
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: made right with others? Is the addiction begun to travel
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: so long that you've begun to rationalize around it. Now's
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: the time to stop. First, let him examine himself, and
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: then eat the bread and drink from the cup that's
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: for you right now. Thank you, our Father, that you
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: love us with an infinite amount of love. And that's
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: the reason you tell us the truth. That's the reason
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: you preserve stories like this. You don't hide from us
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the reality of life, and you've not done so today.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Make this time extremely meaningful, because we have washed our
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: hearts before we have eaten this bread and drunk from
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: this cup, in the name of Jesus, whom we worship
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and adore. Amen.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Strangest of All Gifts of Beheading,
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty one, and
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Charles R. Swindall Ink. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.