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Sermons / Mark

September 28, 2025

Forward, On the March part 2 (Mark 6:14-29)

Dr. Michael A. Bond · Mark 6:13–29

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Mark 6:13–29

Good to see you all. Let’s turn to the book of Mark, chapter 6. We’re going to start in verse 13, Mark 6.

And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. 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.

(Mark 6:13–29)

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. Father, give us the grace today to walk in your ways, filled with your Spirit, to hear from you. We ask, God, for your mercy upon us. We thank you, Lord, that our sins are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, that we can stand before you in righteousness because we have the righteousness of Christ, not a righteousness of our own. And we thank you that you are a God that is seated high on the throne. And one day, your Word says, every knee will bow. By the way, pray for the upcoming fall party coming up. We pray as the gospel goes forth, that people would hear it and receive it and respond in faith. We pray that many, many seeds would be planted this coming Saturday and much, much fruit would be born from it. We pray for a good time of fellowship. We pray that you would keep everyone safe. We pray that your name would be glorified on that day. And we thank you, Father, that you are sending your Son again to claim us, to redeem us fully, to give us the fullness of our salvation. We say, Come, Lord Jesus. [audio unclear] May we continue on until you send your Son again to claim his bride. Amen.

Who Becomes the Bad Guy

Well, last week we looked at this passage and noted some different things about the passage in regards to current events going on, specifically Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I wanted to talk again about it today and notice a couple other things about the passage that I think still continues to relate to us and the different things that we are being looked upon and forced to address in our culture today. I want you to first notice that John called out their sin. It wasn’t just Herod’s sin, but it was his new bride. He called out their sin. And what was their response? Well, their response wasn’t to receive the rebuke. I mean, he was rebuking them. It wasn’t to listen to it. It wasn’t to act on it. But what was the result? Well, they got mad and they held a grudge. Verse 19, Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. Now, we don’t know how long it was from the time this happened. We don’t know how long John was in prison until the time he got put to death. But this apparently festered in Herodias for a while, and she was looking for an opportunity. The opportunity presented itself and she took it. So when you don’t have an argument, you end up attacking the person. That’s what she does. When you can’t deal with their words, you try to silence them. But here’s my question. Who’s the bad guy here? I mean, who’s the bad guy? I mean, it’s Herod, right? But it’s also Herodias. But it’s also the daughter, like they’re all complicit in John’s murder, yes? So it’s not just Herod, I mean, he could have stopped it. Herodias, she could have dropped the grudge, she could have received the rebuke, she didn’t. And the daughter who gets kind of dragged into her mom’s—you talk about mom issues, who gets dragged into her mom issues, right? She could have been like, no, that’s a bad request. But what happens a lot? Well, John calls out the sin, and even though we can see that Herod’s the bad guy and Herodias and the daughter, he’s the bad guy in whose eyes? Well, in our eyes, right? His wife is wicked and vile, but who’s the bad guy from Herod’s perspective? I mean, it’s John. John the Baptist calls out the sin, and he becomes the bad guy. He’s like public enemy number one, and Herodias is looking for an opportunity really to take him out. And this is what usually happens. Who’s usually made to be the bad guy? The one who calls out the sin. You’ll see it happen time and time and time again. You call out the sin, and all of a sudden, the light is shining on you, and you’re the problem. Not the person doing the sin, but the one who calls out the sin. Why? Because people love their deeds of darkness. People love escaping accountability. Here’s what it says in John 3. Just listen. John 3:19: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Now in John chapter 1 we find out who is the light. It’s Jesus. So he comes in, you literally have the Son of God on this earth in the flesh, and what do people do? They reject him. By and large, the people reject him. This is the judgment. Why? They love the darkness rather than the light. One, let’s make sure that we’re in the light. Not the darkness, but the light, which is going to mean a couple things for us. One, listen, the unrighteous, they play by a different set of rules. And we don’t play by those rules. Whatever the Word says, that’s how we play. Whatever the Word says, that’s how we interact. Whatever the Word says, that’s how we address people. We fight fairly, we fight honorably, we fight graciously, we fight lovingly, and that, in fact, we do fight. But the unrighteous play by a different set of rules. It’s not fight fire with fire. We fight the way God says to fight.

Abhor What Is Evil

One of the things we need to do is we need to get a healthy dose of abhorring evil. Look at Romans chapter 12. Keep your place in Mark. We’ll come back to it. But Romans chapter 12: “Let love be genuine,” verse 9, Romans 12, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” So when I talk about playing by a different set of rules, like, this is the rule book for us. Love is genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. I want to talk about abhorring evil. What was done to John was wicked. We should abhor it. What was done to Charlie Kirk was wicked. We should abhor it. And we should have a visceral reaction to evil and wickedness. This is the right response. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil. Abhor. The verb denotes strong dislike for something. Another said you could translate it with the idea of hate exceedingly. The verb refers to a strong feeling of revulsion. True virtue, as one pastor put it, “True virtue is not passive about evil but has an intense revulsion against it. Evil is not tolerated but is despised as that which is injurious and wicked.” We don’t want to get to the place where we can see all sorts of horrible things going on in our midst and we’re apathetic about it. That’s a bad place to be. It’s a bad place to be. We should have a reaction when we see wicked things happen. So what’s our default? Well, I would say a lot of people’s default, sadly even Christians, is we don’t abhor evil, we tolerate it. Or we put up with it. And sometimes we even coddle it and we indulge it. Because one of the things, if we’re honest, is sometimes there’s some wickedness in our own heart. So if we want to talk about the wickedness out there, we first have to talk about the wickedness in here. And it needs to be addressed and it needs to be dealt with. In 1 Peter it says, judgment is coming and where is it going to start? The household of God. Judgment is coming and it’s going to start with the household of God. We need to make sure we’re ready and our hearts are prepared. So we don’t coddle it. We don’t put up with it. We don’t indulge it. If we’re going to talk about the wickedness out there, we have to address it in our own hearts. That includes porn, that includes gossip, that includes anger, fits of rage, anything like that that might be residing in our heart. We have to get rid of it. Let me just say something about porn, brothers and sisters. If you’re struggling with that, you need to repent, you need to get it out of your life. Like, porn is Satan’s picture book, all right? You’re messing with the devil’s stuff. You need to hate what is evil. Don’t coddle it. Don’t be apathetic to it. All right? We’re kind of at the point where we can’t pretend that life is fine and great in the Shire. You know, Lord of the Rings, right? I mean, they just wanted to be kind of left alone. I understand, I understand that. It’s really not an option for the child of God. And what do the hobbits learn? The evil eventually will come and find them. So what do we need to do? Well, one, if we abhor evil, we’re going to take action against it. We’re going to do something about it.

Tear Down the High Places

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Starting in verse 3, 2 Corinthians 10: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” So we tear down the high places. We want to tear down the high places. In the Old Testament they struggled to tear down the high places. Now their high places were physical locations. Our high places are more high places of the mind and the heart. Our high places are sex, pleasure, money. But what do we see time and time again that the nation of Israel, they had high places and they were tough to tear down. There were even kings, good kings that did many good things. But what does the text say at the end of their life? You see this more than a handful of times at the end of their life, it was a good king. And what does it say? Yet he didn’t take down the high places. Why? It’s tough to tear down high places. You start attacking the high places and what happens? The populace gets upset. You’re not so popular anymore. It’s tough to tear down the high places. But what happens to Israel? Were the high places a good thing or a bad thing? They’re a bad thing. And it caused their downfall. What happens when you tolerate a high place? Another high place gets built. And what happens when you tolerate the second high place? Another high place gets built. And what happens when you tolerate that? Another one. And pretty soon you’ve got high places everywhere. Listen, some of you might be thinking, those things don’t affect me. Well, one, I’m not sure that’s true. I’d actually push back pretty hard on that. But two, even if for some reason that might possibly be the case, which I disagree with—but two, it’s not about you. It’s not about you. Does it affect your brother or sister? Yes. Does it affect your family? Yes. Does it affect your neighbor? Yes. Well, then you should be concerned. Because you’re putting others’ interests above your own, as Philippians talks about. So even if you can somehow convince yourself, I don’t think those things affect me. Look, you can’t be in a culture without the culture affecting you. You can try. But those cultural influences, it is hard for us to step outside our culture and be able to look at it and see some of the critiques that we need to have about it. It is very hard to do. And it’s much easier just to go with the flow. This is the way the culture’s going. Let’s just go with the flow of the culture. But no, we want to tear down those high places. In Romans 12, a little bit later, here’s what it says. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” That’s the—we don’t fight fire with fire, right? Someone insults us, we don’t insult them back. Someone does wickedness to us, we don’t do wickedness back. All right, someone insults us, what are we supposed to do? We’re supposed to return it with what? With a blessing, it says. That’s tough to do, but that’s very Christ-like. So we’re not to be overcome by evil. It is so easy to adapt, to adopt the mentality and the mindset of the wicked. It is so easy to want to fight fire with fire. It is so easy to want to play on their terms. Don’t give into it. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. It’s not biblical. It’s not the way of Christ. But listen, if we want to destroy high places, the way you do that is not becoming wicked and vile and doing unrighteous things yourself. You still have to walk in righteousness. We overcome the evil with good.

Overcome Evil with Good

What does that mean? Well, think for a minute about how the church responded to the martyr of Stephen in the book of Acts. Look at Acts chapter 8. [audio unclear] “standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.” Did they try to reason with him? No. I mean, he gives a defense and what is their response? Verse 54, they were enraged and they ground their teeth. I mean, you gotta be pretty mad if you’re, you know, you’ve got your jaw clenched and you’re really upset at what’s being said. And what’s the result? They stoned him. They stoned him. So what happens? They cried out, verse 57, with a loud voice, stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees, he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution. And what’s the result? Well, keep reading. “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” But then notice verse 4. So they bury Stephen. There’s great lamentation over him. That makes sense. That’s what they should do. The church does its thing. And then Saul does his thing. What does he do? He’s going after the church, ravaging the church, house after house, dragging off men and women into prison. But what happens, verse 4, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” How did they overcome the evil? With the gospel of Jesus Christ. How did they overcome the evil with that good? Did they try to find the Jews and do something to them? No. You overcome evil with good. We have the power of the gospel. Saul is there. You would think that all of this would affect him, but what does it take? Jesus himself appearing to him. Jesus himself on the road to Damascus. And you know what? We have friends and family members that need to have their own Damascus road experience. And we need to be praying for that. We can use all the words that we possibly can and some of us have, and yet there’s not been a single change at all in their lives. Well, they need to be introduced to Jesus and meet him. We can offer the introduction all we possibly can, right? And they can reject it and reject it and reject it. And so we need to pray for them to have that Damascus experience. You come face to face with Jesus. He had a decision to make. People hear the gospel, they got a decision to make. Sometimes it takes an experience like that to get a hold of someone. Keep praying for your family members, keep praying for your friends, keep praying for your neighbors. If they’re breathing, there’s hope. So Stephen’s death ignites the church.

You Will Have Enemies

Here’s the thing, brothers and sisters, you will have enemies. You will have enemies. Matthew 5: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” That’s the way of the world. “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Right? You want to be the son of your Father? Then you walk like your Father would walk. You act like your Father acts. “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Right? There’s a common grace that the Lord has for every single person, wicked and righteous. But what does it say further in Matthew? Jesus talking again. He says, “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,” which is basically another name for Satan, “if they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household?” Which means if Jesus got criticized, how much more you? So if you’re a follower of Jesus, it’s a given. You will have enemies. 2 Timothy 3: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” If you don’t have any enemies, your godliness is probably not showing very well. Luke 6:26, “Woe to you.” Jesus doesn’t give many woes, but he gives a few. And here’s one of them. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you.” Woe to you. So John the Baptist, he spoke up. Did anyone speak up for John the Baptist? Did any of the people at the dinner say something? I mean the text doesn’t say, but I’m guessing you’ve read this many times before and never thought to yourself, oh I bet there was at least one person who said something. No, that person would have been beheaded too, right? A lot of times what happens, and I think our default is, I’m not going to speak up yet. I’m not going to speak up yet. I’m not going to speak up yet. I’m not going to speak up yet. I’m not going to speak up yet on this issue, and I’m not going to speak on this issue or this one either. Well, what are you training yourself to do? Never speak up.

Neutrality Is Not an Option

You’ve probably heard this famous poem before. It’s by a pastor, Martin Niemöller. He was living in Germany at the time, a German pastor. It said:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[audio unclear] “There must have been a possibility 14,000 Protestant pastors and all Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths. If we had said back then, it is not right when Hermann Göring, one of the leaders, simply puts 100,000 communists in the concentration camps in order to let them die. I can imagine that perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 Protestant Christians would have had their heads cut off. But I can also imagine that we would have rescued 30 to 40 million people, because that is what it is costing us now.” See, neutrality is not an option. Remaining neutral is not possible. Remaining on the sideline is not an option. There’s no such thing as neutral education. Your education that you’re giving? I mean it’s either going to be atheistic or deistic or theistic. These are going to be atheism or Christianity or Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, whatever. There’s no such thing as neutral education. There’s no such thing as a neutral marriage bed. Everyone will have beliefs on marriage and what is good and acceptable. And the foundation will come from somewhere. Again, atheism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism. There’s no such thing as a neutral government. It will have a foundation built on something. Well, what are we supposed to do? Ephesians 5:11, you can just listen: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” So we need to expose the deeds of darkness. Don’t be concerned about offending the left. They’re already offended. So how do we expose? Well, we expose by words and actions. We want to have a call to advocate and stand for a biblical worldview. To be courageous to speak out to neighbors and family members and friends. Maybe you’re not online or that’s not your thing, that’s fine, but you have to speak up in conversations. We can’t talk about confronting the deeds of darkness and then never confront them. We can’t talk about confronting the deeds of darkness and then never say anything or do anything. Salt only works when it comes in contact with the food. We’re supposed to be the salt. We’re supposed to be preserving. Well, we have to make the contact. What about light? Light shines in the darkness? We just read it. Light shines in the darkness, but not when the bulb is turned off. The light has to be on. It has to be shining. And yes, you’ll be mischaracterized. You’ll be mislabeled. Brothers and sisters, it’s all for Jesus. It’s to advance his kingdom. It’s for his glory.

Speak Up

How many of you have heard of the apologist Natasha Crain? Some of you. Actually, she’s only written a few books, but the books she’s written are really good. I want you to listen to this. She’s a very sharp woman. She posted this shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. She said, as many of you know, I’m a textbook introvert. Writing is very comfortable for me because I can take the time to make every word say exactly what I intend. I read and reread everything I put out into the world, whether it’s a social media post, an article, or a book, in an effort to never make a misstep. I have idolized precision out of fear that someone will catch me in a poor trap. A few years ago, when people started asking me to do a podcast, I thought there was no way I could do it. Say stuff out loud. What if I don’t say something as well as I could have? What if I actually say something in error? What if someone catches me not being as precise as I—aha, the solution? I can write out my podcasts. And that’s what I have always done. I would never simply turn the mic on and talk. If I were willing to do that, I could put out podcasts far more often, but I haven’t, because precision. People ask me why I don’t do YouTube. I’ve never wanted to put myself on video because unless I’m just reading what I’ve already written, that feels too risky. I would have to give up precision. So what does this have to do with Charlie Kirk? I’ll be honest, there were quite a few times I saw videos of his, throughout his life, and thought, hmm, I wouldn’t say it that way, or someone’s going to take that out of context. But seeing and processing how many people he reached in his life and the impact he reached in his death, I am so humbled by his willingness to prioritize kingdom impact over a personally safe precision. Because as we so poignantly were reminded this week, life is short. If Charlie’s goal was personally safe precision, one that guaranteed no perceived or actual missteps for people to catch him in, he certainly could have reached that goal. He was brilliant. Instead of hundreds of events reaching tens of thousands of people, he could have done a handful of events that he carefully scripted. Instead of inviting real-time dialogue, where he had to think and respond on his feet, risking a dreaded imprecision, he could have simply prepared carefully crafted talks. He didn’t do that. And I’m so grateful. He put himself aside and did all he could to reach hundreds of thousands of people for the Lord, far more than anyone who idolizes precision ever could. And what’s her point? We gotta speak up. We gotta say something. Are we going to say it perfectly? No. Are we going to say it precisely? No. But we gotta say something. So we address the deeds of darkness.

And it’s interesting, Allie Beth Stuckey, maybe that’s a little bit more well-known name to you, another woman apologist, very sharp. She said, “Call me crazy, but if I were the devil, a brilliant scheme would be to convince a bunch of Christians that they shouldn’t talk about politics, then sneak in the front door through politics. Then when Christians are like, hey, that isn’t biblical, all the elite evangelicals can say, shh, don’t be so political, you Christian nationalist.” But think about this just for a minute. Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior, Jesus was misunderstood. Yes. Did he speak with imprecision? No. Did he speak carelessly? No. Did he speak in a way people could understand him? Yes. And what happened? Did he try to fool people? No, but his words were twisted. Our Savior’s words were twisted. They’re still twisted today, but they were twisted. So don’t be surprised when they do it to you. Get used to the labels. What did they call your Savior? A glutton, a drunkard, a false prophet, a deceiver, a blasphemer, a Samaritan, demon-possessed. You’re in good company with your Savior. And remember, name-calling is what they do when they don’t have an argument. Name-calling is what they do when you don’t have an argument.

Don’t Be a King Herod

Back in Mark, it was a foolish request by Herodias. It was foolish, it was wicked, it was vile. An act of revenge, she hated John, hated what he stood for. What should Herod have done? Well, we could probably postulate a couple different things when the request came, but he could have said something like, I said I’d give you up to half my kingdom, not be the one who controls my kingdom. He could have simply denied the request. Instead what did he do? I mean it says it right there. He was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests. And his guests. Up to half the kingdom, that was his. But his guests, what was it? Fear of man. Listen, don’t be a King Herod. If anyone should have no fear of man, it should have been him at his time in his place. He’s the king. Like, who should he fear? [audio unclear] We are not called to run into every battle, but we are called to run into the battle that the Lord puts before us. And we are called to do battle on the battleground that we find ourselves. We’re not given a sword just so we can polish it. We are in a war, which means we should and will find ourselves in various battles. Soldiers don’t get the option of sitting on the sidelines. Remember what we’re told in 2 Timothy 1: “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” You might object and say, well, that might ruin my witness. If I start talking about addressing gay marriage or transgender—no, your witness is ruined when time after time after time after time you have a chance to stand for biblical truth and you don’t. That ruins your witness. Your witness is ruined when for the sake of peace, which is not really peace, you don’t ever speak up and stand for biblical truth. And it’s kind of going back to what Natasha was saying. We can choose, oh I’m only going to speak three times. Why not speak 30 times and be a little bit off occasionally than just three times precisely. Now let’s address these things.

Have you ever heard of broken window theory? It’s pretty interesting. It makes a lot of sense once you hear it. Anyone living in a neighborhood with a very strict HOA, you might not have heard of broken window theory, but it’s practiced in your neighborhood. And the idea is that you address small signs or issues of disorder with the idea that it prevents larger problems from developing. You know, so the HOA is like, oh, your grass is like half an inch over what it’s supposed to be, right? Or you need to paint that little spot up on the fascia of your roof. Well, why do they do that? Well, some because there’s, you know, people like that in this world that are real nitpicky. But two, you go into those neighborhoods and you’re not going to find a broken-down car in the driveway. Why? Because they practice the broken window theory. They deal with the small issues and everyone knows, well I can’t even get away with that small issue, so I’m definitely not going to get away with big issues. So the idea is you address small issues or signs of disorder and it prevents larger problems from normally developing. You think of a classroom setting, all right, some of you are teachers. Teachers correct minor infractions. You’re like, man, that teacher’s so strict. Why does she correct minor infractions? So that major ones are less likely to happen. So the idea, if you take that over into the world of apologetics or polemics, the idea is to challenge ideas in their infancy or challenge what appear to be smaller issues. Why? So they don’t grow into larger ones. The first time someone said to someone else, hey, what do you think about a man being able to be a woman? They should have just been laughed at. That would have been the right thing to do. Why? That idea should never have been even put on the table. You put it on the table, you give it a seat at the table and it’s like, oh, maybe we should give this some credence. And why do you think it was put on the table? I’d say because of a twisted empathy, right? Oh, oh, oh, you’re dealing with this, I feel so bad. Okay, let’s talk about this. Let’s have a conversation. Let’s have a discourse. No, that person needs some counseling privately, but not public discourse. And so sometimes these things, because they weren’t dealt with in their infancy, they get all out of proportion. And look where we’re at now.

Scott Klusendorf, I know I’m quoting some different people today, also another apologist, big guy for pro-life. He had a really good quote. I’m going to kind of change the end of it so it’s more applicable to us. But he said, suppose it’s 1860 and you, an African Christian man, are wasting away on a slave ship in the sweltering heat of Charleston Harbor. As you pray to God for deliverance, who would you rather have pleading your case? People like John MacArthur, Charlie Kirk, Voddie Baucham—he just passed away—or some pastor who doesn’t believe cultural issues should be addressed from the pulpit, or some pastor who doesn’t believe slavery is a gospel issue, or some pastor that believes slavery is too insensitive an issue to address from the pulpit, or some pastor that believes that slavery is complicated, and we have to understand both sides. Who do you want advocating for you? And which direction will you go? Voddie Baucham, some of you probably know the name, black pastor, passed away this week, very young, had some heart issues. But he was bold for the truth. Very bold for the truth. I saw a video in 2014 or 2015, right at like almost the cusp of when the whole wokeness was, it was in its infancy. And there we go. And he’s sitting, he’s on this panel discussion and he is sitting up there with big-name pastors, you’d recognize, right? And someone’s moderating this debate. It’s on race. He’s black. And so different people had spoken, then the moderator turns to him and says, you know, we know that your position is not like—one of these things is not like the other. Your position is not like everyone else’s, right? All these pastors, big-name pastors, were basically capitulating. And he, in this audience, with all these big names sitting up on the stage with him, he opposes them. All right, does it graciously, does it kindly, but he’s like, that’s true. I don’t agree with what they’re saying. We’re not headed in the right direction. And think about that. That type of courage encourages others to be courageous. There’s a lot on the line when you’re a big-name Christian and you’re rubbing shoulders with other big-name Christians and then you oppose those big Christians, and not only that, you do it while you’re sitting on the stage next to them. That takes courage, and where does that come from? It comes from none other than God himself. But that courage should beget courage in us. Look, you can say, like, oh—start small. Don’t compare yourself to John MacArthur who recently went to be with the Lord, or Charlie Kirk, or Voddie. Start small. There’s never going to be another Charlie. There’s never going to be another John. There’s never—I mean, there’s just one of each of us and you are you. So you be you the way God intended you to be. But look for opportunities to advance the gospel, minister compassion and truth, confront the forces of darkness in your sphere of influence, no matter how small or big. It could be just as seemingly insignificant as having a conversation with your children about standing and being courageous. Start there.

Joyful Warriors for Truth

One of the things we need to be in the midst of all this is we need to be joyful, joyful warriors for truth. Right. In 2024, I found out how many people would celebrate murdering a U.S. president, right? Thankfully, the assassin missed. In 2025, I find out how many people would celebrate murdering me. I advocate the same ideas that Charlie Kirk advocates. Allie Beth Stuckey said he was killed by the shooter for his Christian values. This means that if people believe Charlie Kirk deserved it, then I also deserve it, for I share and will continue to advocate for those values. Listen, someday you’re going to be dead and you’re going to be gone and there’s going to be a funeral for you. If you’re a member of this church, there’s a high likelihood I’ll be doing your funeral. I’ll likely say some nice things about you. You don’t even have to pay me for that. But here’s the thing. All the naysayers, all your enemies, all the people who push back against you, they will not care. They won’t care. They won’t care that you’re dead. So why should you care now while you’re living? We’ll care, we’ll care, but they’re not going to care. I mean, there’s thousands of videos about Charlie Kirk, but I saw this one video and they were interviewing him and they said, what do you want to be remembered for? His response, he said, courage for my faith. Courage for my faith. Let’s be joyful warriors for truth. In Nehemiah it talks about the joy of the Lord is our what? It’s our strength, right? So we don’t have to go around with a sour look on our face. We can have joy and we should have joy. It’s one of the fruit of the Spirit. We gotta remember something. We win in the end because Jesus already won, right? We win. So we can go into battle knowing that we win. We might not win that particular battle, but we win. We win. The war has been fought. Satan did his best. Now it’s just kind of cleanup, right? Victory has been assured by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’re not uncertain about that. John and Charlie Kirk didn’t lose. They won. They gained. To live is Christ. To die is gain. They gained. So don’t lose heart. Don’t lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:16, he says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” We got the Spirit of God living inside us, renewing us every single day, enabling us to do whatever he calls us to do, enabling us to say whatever he wants us to say, enabling us to speak up and to be bold and be courageous. We can do that, why? Because of the Spirit of God living inside us. Yes, the outward self, the older we get, the more we feel it, the outer self is wasting away. But the inner self, renewed day by day. Renewed day by day by day by day. So don’t lose heart. Why? Because we win in the end. So why? What can we do from there? Well, we can go forward with confidence. Not a confidence in ourself, but a confidence in Christ. That he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. So we can walk in that confidence, a Christ-confidence, and have joy as we’re doing that, as we’re getting attacked. Think, they get thrown, the apostles thrown into prison in Acts, right? And are they having a pity party in prison? No, what are they doing? They’re singing, right? They’re singing. And on another time, they get beat, they get publicly beat, and what do they do? They leave and they’re rejoicing that they got to suffer for the name of Jesus. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s joyful warriors for truth. That’s what changes the world. Walking that out, that just confuses the common man. They don’t know what to make of it. And we’re an aroma. We are an aroma. That’s what Corinthians talks about. We’re an aroma. To some, we’re an aroma of death to death. To some, an aroma of life to life. What does that mean? Well, it means like we’ve got a perfume on us, right? And some people think it smells amazing. And some people think it reeks. But we’re going to be that perfume. We need to spread the fragrance of Christ. And some people are attracted to it and some people are repelled by it. But let’s be a fragrance that is appealing. It’s appealing. It’s going to offend some. That verse literally says some people will think you reek. It doesn’t matter what you say, they’re going to think you reek. So you might as well just say it. Say it with compassion, say it with truth, but you might as well say it. Why? Because we’re not just doing it just to do it. We’re wanting to win hearts and minds for Christ. So I mean, the gospel goes forth, but it goes forth through word spoken. Back to Romans 10, right? People get saved by the word spoken. People change hearts and minds by words spoken. Companies spend like whatever, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars to change our mind or get us to try a particular product. Right? You guys remember New Coke? Yeah, I mean, if you’re over the age of, I don’t know when that came out, maybe 30, 35, right? Some of you never even heard of New Coke. Some of you are learning today that they changed the formula. And that lasted all of about like what, a month or something? That’s why it’s called Coca-Cola Classic. Yeah. Lots of advertising to change minds. We have more than all that money put together. We got the Spirit of God. He’s living inside us, he’s speaking through us. And that can change the hearts of men and women. It can change it. It can make that heart of stone become a heart of flesh. It can take those dry bones and give them life. And we’re privileged to be able to be a part of the ministry of reconciliation, that we can go and share and talk with people. So let’s do that, in faith, by God’s mercy and grace. Amen? Amen. Let’s stand.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank you that you have given us your Spirit, that you’ve given us power from on high, that we can go forth, that we can speak truth, and we pray, God, you’d use our words, that you would speak through us, that you would touch the hearts and minds of men, bring them to repentance, whatever path it has to be to bring them to that place. But let us be faithful, Lord, to be joyful warriors for truth for you, to speak the truth in compassion and to be courageous for you. Thank you, Lord, that you are good and gracious and kind to us and that we can walk in faith before you, Lord, by your Spirit. Thank you for the grace we have by faith that you’ve saved us, Lord, and that one day your Son is coming back to bring home his bride. Do it for your glory, we pray, Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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