Death of a Conscience

Mark 6:14-29THE DEATH OF A CONSCIENCEIntro: This passage is one of the saddest in the entire Bible. It records the events surrounding the death of John the Baptist. He was a special man, chosen for a special mission. He was the “forerunner” of the Messiah. He was the fulfillment of several Old Testament prophecies. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the last martyr of the Old Testament period and the first of the New Testament period. He was a powerful preacher. He was a fearless prophet. He was a true man of God. As Jesus Christ Himself testified, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,” Matt. 11:11.John was one of the Bible’s documented accounts of reincarnation. In Matthew 17:9-13 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. 10And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? 11And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. 12But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. 13Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. While this passage reveals the details of John’s death, it also records the death of something else. This passage records the death of a conscience. Our text speaks of a man named Herod. He was a wicked man who ruled over one-fourth of Palestine at the time.