Walter L. Pearson “The Party’s Over”

is in progress i've got to get to this sermon i got to preach tonight i'm getting a little too excited uh there's one more and i kind of like it would you turn with me to the book of mark mark chapter six and uh tonight you've seen my title somebody already said did you plan that title just because it was the last night of preaching well i didn't exactly but it fits doesn't it the title tonight is the party's over so you can take it any way you choose but that's the that's the title for this sermon uh go to mark chapter six and i'm going to begin reading at verse 25. mark chapter 6 beginning with verse 25 here's what the bible says and she came in straightway with haste unto the king and asked saying i will that thou will give me by and by in a charger the head of john the baptist and the king was exceeding sorry yet for his oath sake and for their sakes which sat with him he would not reject her and immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought and he went and beheaded him in the prison would you pray with me father in heaven we are so grateful once again we have come to the last nightly sermon of this series but we are so grateful that the presence of god has been with us we are grateful for the presence of the holy spirit for jesus power within us around us about us and so tonight we do not doubt it's not because we are powerful it's not because we can guarantee success but it's only because where two or three are gathered together in god's name god is in the midst of them don't fail us tonight father be with us and we shall give the honor and glory and praise in the name of jesus amen this is an impressive occasion you must understand that while the bible says that john did no miracles that's john chapter 10 and verse 41 john did not do miracles as an ordinary prophet would do there were people of god there were men of god who touched those with diseases and they were healed there were men of god who would offer prayers and supernormal occurrences followed john did none of these things but when he spoke you knew that there was power most of his preaching was not about him it was about the one who would follow him he said there's somebody coming after me whose shoes i'm not worthy to unlock i'm not worthy to put on or take his shoes off so you would think that if somebody came preaching saying how lowly they were and how humble they were you would think that nobody would care but the bible says this while he did no miracle as normal prophets would do every word he said was true and the people gathered about him because he was an extraordinary preacher in fact one of my favorite writers says that when john the baptist spoke satan was in fear of losing his kingdom there were people who lived during the time of john the baptist who thought he knew too much to be as young as he was he was not a slave to fashion the bible says that he wore very very strange clothes he was not popular because of his dress he was not popular because of his educational background there is nothing that you can prove he was not popular because of where he preached it appears that most of the time when he preached he was out in the wilderness so the people from the city wearing their nice little city clothes came out to the country and sat anywhere they could to listen to the words of john the baptist and his preaching became so powerful that people began to whisper to each other why don't we make him our king let me tell you something this is what i know for sure just to stand up and talk doesn't give you power just to invoke god's name doesn't give you power anybody can do that you've got to have the power that comes from above and when things like this happen be sure that it's not the human being who doesn't it's not by might not by power but by the spirit of god so when this man preached it was not his dress it was not his credentials it might not have even been his voice though i understand that it was something to hear but when he spoke it was with conviction and it was with the power of the holy spirit and the people who came out from the city listened they were riveted to his voice they looked in his eyes i read long ago that when somebody speaks their eyes tell on them your eyes tell in milliseconds whether you think you're telling the truth or not your eyes say whether you believe what you say or whether you doubt it yourself i believe that if you speak for god god controls the way your eyes reflect and your eyes become a testimony of the power of god so when they looked in his eyes when they listened they were shaken to the core well according to the record one day the teach rock of galilee this term simply means that he was not really a king on his own right but the romans had given him his power that was a little shadow over his position but he was still a powerful man this herod antipas he came out and made the mistake of listening for a moment to john the baptist probably planned just to stay there for a little while and when does he start well he starts whenever he wants to where do you sit well i don't know where a man like you would sit sir because as you can see he doesn't have pews i usually sit on this stump right here would you like to use that no it'd be impossible for me to sit there i'll just stand how long does he preach well you can't tell sometimes it's long sometimes it's short and people come out here all the time well you see them and they'll be like this until he finishes so herod stops and listens in the middle of john's sermon something happens that is not politically correct john said you you harry you should not be married to the woman who you're living with huh now where i live i i know the reaction i know what would happen because you're waiting for something to happen you know that's too much holy boldness but when you're in touch with god you really don't worry so long as you're saying what god told you to say because if god says say it god will protect you and if he allows you to die you'll rise again so there's nothing to fear when you're telling the truth i imagine in fact i i read one of those scholars who likes to comment on what happens in the bible they said somebody perhaps told john the baptist look from now on you got by with that one but from now on if i were you i would not get so personal particularly with powerful people did you know who that was yes i knew it was you see what john would do he would he would live in the country but go into the city to see what was happening it's difficult to preach about what you don't know but you've got to have some place to talk with god because your power does not come with knowledge of the problem power comes with a personal contact with a powerful being so you can't just know what's going on knowledge of what's happening does not give you power everybody knows what's going on but it takes somebody who can see what's happening and retreat to where he lives and have a little talk with god and get the power built up and get the point put on the message then you go and preach about it so someone may have told him look uh we love your preaching in fact if you were up for election i would vote for you but we want you to live until an election you're not going to make it talking like this not to herod and what would john the baptist have said i dare to imagine but i'll tell you this he did not stop saying what he was saying here is the fact this uh herod was an amazing man he had been married to the daughter of the king of arabia now let's let's talk for a minute let's get real when you marry the daughter of a king you must be careful how you treat her well when you marry anybody's daughter you need to be careful how you treat her because who her father is on earth is not so important as who her father is in heaven and when you marry a child of the king you better know that there's somebody watching over you how you treat that child are you listening to him but uh herod marries the daughter of the king of arabia then puts her away when he finds herodias so he had two living wives do you see it if you get too quiet you'll make me wonder about you herodias had previously married philip her father's half brother now she becomes the consort of herod antipas who is her half uncle and you thought you had stuff on the daytime show there is more chicanery in the bible than anywhere on television if you want to see drama open up the word of god so here was the situation not only did herod have two living wives but herodias had two living husbands and herod didn't wait until philip had moved away he didn't allow a divorce to happen he drew herodias to him even though philip and herodias had a child so he broke up their home he was a home wrecker you're familiar with the term so you've got a man now who is doing a lot of things wrong and his wife with him because this may seem tilted gender but it is not you are guilty both of you because you've got two living spouses there's a child that's been put aside there's a family that's been torn apart and now they think that god will smile on this because they are rich and powerful god could care less how much money you have the truth is the truth anyhow the word of god is like a two-edged sword it will cut anybody all you got to do is get close to it in fact i have people tell me all the time pastor that sermon you preach really stepped on my toes i'll say well what do you think it did before i preached it to you while i was getting ready for it it doesn't care who it is that handles the word the word will declare the truth to anybody so the word is clear you don't have enough money to exempt yourself from the truth so when john the baptist preached he made it personal and he said it out loud in fact one of my favorite writers says that before before herod antipas married herodias the word came to him you better not marry her and it came from john the baptist when herodias heard about it and i tried to surmise about the personality of herodias she seemed a very strong woman she heard that john the baptist said they shouldn't get married and she started talking to harry forgive me i'm going to give her a voice that's one that i know from the neighborhood where i grew up so you say we're not going to get married because you went out and heard some strange dress and preaching and he said that you shouldn't marry me and you're gonna disappoint me because of somebody who eats wild honey do you know who you are man you're the king you can't let some strange looking preacher tell you what to do do you know who i am i'm no ordinary woman you don't play with my affections let me tell you something you better stay away from that preaching come in here talking this foolishness that you're talking now oh we're gonna get married this is gonna be a home [Applause] are we okay with that [Applause] herod herod tried as best he could to forget what john the baptist said but folk i'm going to tell you something you really need to hear me now once you know the truth there's nowhere you can go where the truth will not find you you can go to the end of the earth but once truth is in your mind and in your hearts it repeats and repeats and it repeats for a reason god says i'm not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance so the one who causes it to replay in your head is the one who loves you jesus loves you and will not let the truth let you alone so sometimes you'll wake up in a cold sweat and it may be some strange preacher you see it could even be me but you'll see some preacher and you'll hear the words but they will be words that are way more powerful than a human being could speak they will be words that are repeated by the power of the spirit so herod had a problem he's got this woman he can't resist and he's seen this prophet whose words won't leave him alone so he was tormented every time he saw her in fact they say that one time herod went again to hear the preacher these are all scholars trying to pull what they can from scripture and this time when he came back he was determined so he made up his mind you know how it is when you're on the way home making up your mind i'm gonna tell her i'm gonna start off i'm not gonna let any time lapse as soon as i walk in the door i'm just gonna die i'm gonna stop immediately she will not change my mind this time in fact i won't even let her speak i'm gonna step in the door talking before she can get a word in i will have told her so gentlemen when you open the door wait till i get right there and then spring back the curtains and i'll pop in and start talking and he goes in and he says look no you be quiet i'm gonna tell you something we are not gonna stay together the prophet is right we cannot we cannot remain together so this is over i'll find you somewhere i'll get you a place to live you'll do okay i can support you in the lifestyle to which you become accustomed but i will not disobey the voice of god through that prophet so what did she say honey come over here and sit down you tired i can tell you tired see that muscle right there sit down sit down feel that there it is right there see all that talk you were doing just tense that's all it is i mean yeah did you feel that see right there that's all it is see all that now don't you feel silly saying all that stuff you were saying when you came here there it is right there night i think it's kind of smooth out now what was that you were saying what was that you told me you were saying something what you saying something about we were not going to be together oh let me get this part of your neck right here tight tight tight in your neck now stand up and tell me tell me come on tell me you better watch out who you hook yourself up with and i want to say this with all the kindness i can get in my tongue when it comes to god's will being against anybody else's will you gotta cut that person off they cannot offer you what god offers in fact the truth be told herod was never happy with that woman because from the time he heard the truth and continued to resist it his life was miserable let me tell you something folks you heard me preach about real marriage if you want to be happy you get the right spouse one that god can bless you get the right marriage it'll be so wonderful you can't even think of problems you'll come home and try to remember what you were upset about on the way home but if god blesses your relationship it won't even come back to your mind but that's when god has got his hand on you when you are in a situation that god cannot approve of you will never be happy herod is the t truck of galilee he's got all the power that he can imagine and yet he's not happy because he's with a woman who won't allow him to obey god well herodias was also a resourceful woman she said how can i get rid of this man because it's not anything about god it's just that preaching so she kept after herod and after him so you know something he's out there talking about you in the woods i'm serious everywhere i go all my friends they asked me if your husband was a real man would he let people talk about you in the woods and i know who they talking about i'm embarrassed i try to defend you but i'm gonna tell you something harry either you're gonna be a man or not you're gonna let that preacher be out there talking about us you know you need to lock him up because if you lock him up he can talk but nobody here and she kept on harping on it you know there are people who know how to do that if you're married to one of them you've got to sit here right now and not let your face change i challenge you don't let a muscle twitch but there are people who will make your life miserable until you do what they want you to do so one day here says uh hey hey hey i'll lock him up lock him up tell somebody quietly look we're not going to do anything to him put him in a nice place try to get him as comfortable as you can because he's a man of god he speaks the truth but you know i got some issues if you understand what i mean so lock him up now listen i got a rule for you i don't think this is in the bible as i'm about to say it but if somebody learns that they can control your will and make you go against your god you are in trouble because they're not finished they're just starting oh boy i tell you the folks who need to hear this the most are locked now in a pose you can't move but the fact is that nobody can ever think that they have more influence on you than your god never i gotta get this in if you know that you should be baptized tomorrow and your spouse or your mother or your dad or your son or your daughter or anybody thinks that they can stop you from doing what is right and you know it's right you have better learned that you've got to obey god now i've heard people say well i want to wait until they can do it with me you need to be an example lead by example and not wait for everybody to come along with you there are some people who will never come along so you got to do what's right when it's right you don't have tomorrow all you've got is now so when god calls you you gotta answer now you may not be alive tomorrow so watch herod now she said you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna plan a birthday party for the king so she sends and invites all of the the dignitaries all of all of the parts of his kingdom are notified and everyone who is somebody is invited to come for the king's birthday party and herodias has a plan you see she knows already that she has put a dent in the style of john the baptist i can't spend long on this but i got to show you something the bible says that while john the baptist was in jail his situation started getting to him let me explain what i think about john the baptist remember he lives in the in the open he sleeps in the open he pulls his breakfast down there and he's you know he sleeps out there he he is an outside individual he's a rugged individualist and the devil knows how to watch you and find out where your weakness is stick with me so if what you love is plenty of room if ever say you know some i'm gonna lock him up i'm gonna put him in a cell he's so powerful outside let's see how he operates in an enclosed space so john the baptist who was always free never lived in town never had walls around him finds himself in a cell and then satan sends some of his disciples with a message well you you need to know this is in luke chapter 7. start around verse 20. well you need to start earlier than that some of the disciples of john came to disciples of john came to john and said hey john how you doing we came by to cheer you up i've only been in the hospital once but i've learned something about visitors not all visitors are the same there are visitors who know how to cheer you up there are visitors who will ruin your day i had some visitors come to me when i was in the hospital they knew why i was there and they would sit and say stuff like this well you look so nice i i'm just i'm hoping that you're okay my uncle had the same problem before he died last year [Applause] of course you know you don't have to worry i i hope you've got better doctors than he did but as i remember he had some of these same things in his oh i'm sorry forgive me there's some some visitors you just don't want here's what john's disciples said they said uh before we leave um we just want to tell you that uh you remember jesus who used to tell us about man they used to be good when you ah would you be preaching about jesus whoa powerful stuff i remember you used to talk about him we thought that when he came everything was going to change we thought that that that he would take over the the whole national scene we thought that we would gain our freedom the way you talked about him we thought that as soon as he came everything would be fine well uh they say what he does now is that he's taken over the crowds that you used to have but uh mainly i don't know what i hear is that he kind of eats with republicans and sinners that he uh in fact some people have accused him of being a glutton they say he hangs around with people of ill repute he'll talk to just about anybody and we i don't know john john i don't want to bring you down i want to bring it down but it didn't look like to me that he just nothing like what you would here you are in jail and he's out eating with high-class people and going to things that look like social gathering i don't know hey forget everything i said cause i don't want to bring you down in fact john says in that very text go and ask him are you the one or should we look for another you know that's that's bad let me tell you let me tell you why that doesn't make sense remember the first time they met remember that jesus came to be baptized of john remember that john said no i'm not worthy he said oh yeah it's got to be so because in order for me to set the path of righteousness i must be baptized so come on you are my you are my relative i want you to baptize me and john baptized jesus and brought him back up and everybody may not have heard but john the baptist heard a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased john saw the holy spirit in bronze light coming light on jesus and knew that there was father son and holy ghost in one spot anybody had stayed with jesus the whole time it should have been john the baptist but i tell you what i've learned i've learned that some people can't remember they have selective amnesia some of you in this room have seen so many powerful things that you ought never waver in your faith you ought to stand up for jesus all the time if you remember where he found you if you remember how he picked you up if you remember how he washed you in his blood if you remember how he turned you around you will not ever waver in your faith but there are people who forget where god found them here is john the one who saw it all saying go ask him is he the one or should we look for another when he got to jesus jesus didn't answer because jesus doesn't have to answer questions like that he just said come sit down and kind of watch me and they sat there and watched him as he healed a lame boy and he somebody came up on crutches and jesus just touched him and he ran away somebody came blind and he would just touch their eyes or or pick up some some clay and mix it with spittle and put it there and they'd say touch me one more time and they'd be able to see he saw somebody come with sins burning them down and he'd just say your sins are forgiven you and they'd straighten up in his presence and their faces would take on a smile and at the end of a day of watching that he said just go tell john what you saw let's go tell him what you saw ask him is he ashamed of me and that went away it went away just in time because herodias this woman who had a living husband in a house and a man somewhere taking care of her child that woman had a plan she planned a birthday party i wonder did she tell her daughter before the party i wondered did she tell her daughter what she had in mind it was her intent that john the baptist be dead but she didn't think she could get herod antipas to kill him outright so she built up a situation you got to be careful about people who know your weaknesses you got to be careful about people who offer you strangely wonderful things sometimes the best offer you hear is the worst for your future she says look honey we gonna have a a wonderful birthday celebration you deserve it you know something i'm married to a wonderful man when i look at you i just feel good and i got a plan we're going to put you you know your favorite throne you know that chair we're going to put you in there you know that uh you know that robe you have with like that metal kind of like has gold and silver in it would you wear that for me you know i love you all the time but when you put that on whoa i want you to put that on we're going to kind of place the lights so that you know it kind of hits you just right so when you walk in man people ain't gonna they're not gonna understand how you look that good and we're gonna sit you down and all your friends will be there it's gonna be a wonderful occasion and it was but this woman was calculating and i want to tell you something she was not calculating by herself the devil was calculating with her listen just as happy as god is about your progress the devil is angry and he will try to plan for your demise so when they come to this amazingly wonderful gathering there are a couple of problems they have some music that is not uplifting in nature now music is too controversial to linger on but you ought to be careful what kind of music you listen to i know there are people who say well see i'm not even listening to the music you know it's just kind of like a background for my life i don't even listen to the words you know man i just kind of you know if i'm ironing or something it'll just make me move you know it's iron i see your brain doesn't understand that part it doesn't know that that's the background of your life your brain picks up all kinds of stuff anything that's out there it's just grabbing stuff and pulling it in you ever wonder why when you reach back to get something to save you in a difficult situation you may not find what you think you ought to have in your brain because you've been pro programming in the wrong stuff and and i know the rule i don't do computers but g-i-g-o is a rule garbage in garbage out so if all you program into your computer is garbage when you reach back guess what you're gonna find garbage the music wasn't right and then they had alcoholic beverages and and look i have seen the court cases i've read some of them people will actually come to court and say may i speak your honor i was drunk and what's that supposed to mean whatever i did after that you know i just wish you would understand listen listen when you take a drink of alcohol you are responsible from that point forward for everything that you do the decision to drink included everything else that happened because when you drink you give your brain over to another control system your brain goes in the bottle while the drink goes in your body you don't have a brain anymore and you can go in any court in the land and unless it's some little country backwards kangaroo court you will not be set free because you drank alcohol you are responsible for what you do and you ought to be responsible there are too many children who have been killed there are too many families who have been killed there are too many cars that have been plunged into places where they shouldn't be because somebody was not in control their brain was gone so in that room there was music that was not edifying there was alcohol and all of a sudden all those powerful people started getting kind of loose with what they thought with what they said and then with what they did and herodias was watching while it happened listen there's nothing on television there's nothing on a motion picture screen that can compete with what i'm about to tell you herodias calls her daughter it's her daughter sweetheart you you look it's just marvelous you know when i look at you i see all the best of what i used to be oh look at are you proud of yourself you ought to be because you remind me of me you know you know something i got an idea baby and i need you to listen to mama now cause you know i would normally ask you for something like this but would you do something special for mommy come on girl just systematic all right here's what i want you to do you know i love i love that man out there you know that you love him too don't you he let us in his house hasn't he been kind to us i'm telling you he deserves the best and i'm gonna tell you something tonight that would really really make him proud i got something i had made for you to wear you want to see it look here have you ever seen anything like that but mama is that all of it oh well well not everybody could pull this off but you girl you just just naturally beautiful put it on go in there and put it on and come back let me see girl look at you you know something but mama i feel i feel almost exposed trust me anybody look like you can't afford to be exposed i'll tell you what i want you to do you have music out there right now i want you to just kind of think don't even think just feel that music just feel it and let it move you out there and just go out there and let your let your daddy's friends see what quality of family he has but but honey you said you're gonna do it for mommy and look here i got a feeling when you go out there your dad is gonna ask to do a special favor for you and when he does don't answer him come back here to me do you see it i think you do and here comes this young lady one of my favorite writers says that she was in the full bloom of womanhood god intended that women be attractive to men but not so that drunken men could ogle you you were not created to put people out of their minds you were not created to let licentious thoughts spill over into your mind and into your heart that's not why god created women beautiful or men handsome it is wasted when it's used like that and so that little girl went out there and sure enough her father was so moved that his friends were so impressed that he got caught up in the moment said come here salome you know what i'll give you anything you ask up to a half of my kingdom and all the men said yeah that's wonderful and for a moment he felt so proud and so powerful he felt like he was the greatest man who had ever lived and that young lady ran back to her mother and said mama he did exactly what you said what should i say now she said i want you to do something for me and i want you to get this right i want you to go out there and say i want the head of john the baptist on a charter get every but mama you're not acting to worry about how i'm at and she goes out and says it and let me tell you what happens she danced to music to lights to the influence of alcohol she ran back to mama and the music was still playing in fact the voices of those people what she asked knew all of them knew that there was nothing in john the baptist that deserved to die he didn't deserve it he was a man of god he spoke only the truth and one of them could have raised their voices could have said king don't do it in fact the king wanted somebody listen can i pause here a minute there are people who know what's right to do some of those people are waiting on you just to say something to urge them to do what's right there's somebody in your life who's trying to change their lives all they need is for you to say yes do what god says but instead you sit quietly you need to learn how to let god use you in situations like that one voice could have saved the life of john the baptist but all of those powerful educated wealthy men sat silently and the king said go get him and at that moment the music stopped there was no more laughter there was no more celebration it was so deathly quiet because everybody knew that they had done wrong all you could hear would be the footsteps of the executioner i have been in the building where they say it happened i believe it could be i hear the footsteps coming down now john the baptist may have even heard when the declaration was made he may have heard his own death penalty but if you live in christ you must learn that when you live godly you shall suffer persecution let me tell you what i know jesus will never allow to happen to you anything other than what you would choose if you knew the end from the beginning i'm going to tell you the truth i understand john's choice there was no fuss there was no scream there was no upset man down there they came and severed his head but all the time before his head was cut off god had sent angels to minister to him every day of his life i don't have any doubt in my mind that they had whispered in his ear john something's coming it's not going to be great in fact you will suffer for just a while but you'll suffer for jesus name and if you are faithful to jesus all the way to the end we can promise you that anybody who suffers unto death for jesus will think about two people they think about jesus and they think about you what if you are faithful to the end people who suffer to the end will remember how you are faithful until you die john was probably more prepared than you can imagine when someone came with a blade to take his head off and put it on a platter and took it back up but there was no more celebration and what herod thought was his greatest moment turned out to be an everlasting nightmare and here's what i want to tell you tonight this world is mad you know it our society has gone crazy things that are right or not condemned things that are wrong are turned upside down and they are praised people who stand for right are ridiculed people who do wrong are made into heroes and heroines there's something wrong going on in this society you know it's true the word of god is trampled people use the name of jesus only when they curse there are children who have never met christ their parents won't tell them about jesus and then they wonder why my child won't live a good life there are husbands and wives who can't stay together because they don't have jesus to hold them together and he's the cement that will not let you part there are folk who have never had a day of peace in their lives they have spent all their money they've gotten all their toys they have everything they ever dreamed of but they still aren't happy because joy does not come from things of this world the only real joy you'll ever have is when jesus lives in your heart and when jesus lives in your heart you can be broke you can be lonely you can even be sick you can be forsaken but you can never be by yourself because jesus promised never to leave you alone here's here's what i want to tell you there will come a day and it won't be long i have i have begged you in the name of jesus to just follow what the bible says you know it you've checked me i haven't asked you one thing on my own i've only said we've got to follow what the word of god says i've shown you in the word of god that that jesus is calling out a people to stand for him in the last days when everybody else falls i i've told you that jesus will take you no matter what other people think because what they think is not important in this decision jesus can select you jesus can fill you with his holy spirit jesus can empower you to stand for right and you will never be the same once you decide to represent him i tell you what you will be sometimes you'll be unpopular sometimes you'll stand alone except that jesus will be with you sometimes your friends will put you down but i'd rather have jesus here's what i need to tell you tonight and i hope somebody is taking out at our downlink sites those commitment cards for baptism tomorrow i'm going to make an appeal tomorrow but i want to make this one tonight i promise you that soon and very soon he that will come shall come i promise you that the end will come and all principality and power will be put down the party is actually over the bible says babylon is fallen the the rulers of the powers of this world have no more power they are running on something that's like vapor for god has already predicted that jesus is about to take over this world and what we are looking at now is the final moments of a society that is run out of time and your question tonight is simple will you go with jesus or will you follow the crowd will you spend your time being what they want you to be or do you have the temerity do you have the authority from christ to take hold of jesus hand and say by your grace and by your power i'll go where you lead me somebody tonight or to decide to be baptized not because i say so not because of the name of the church but because jesus calls i beg of you to do this in jesus name and now until tomorrow may god hear you when you call may god lift you if you fall may god bless you as you stand may god hold you in the palm of his hand good night [Music] while

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Length: 54min 7sec (3247 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 07 2020