Acts 12:20-25 - Indiana Jones and The Worms

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. It is great to be with you on this wonderful, at the time of recording.

It is a Tuesday afternoon, and had some great things happen today, some good conversations even with Pastor Ron about our church and as we move forward, some great things happening on kind of the organizational side of things, and I'm really excited

to see some more of those come to fruition, and most excited about being able to dive into God's Word with you today. So, we are in Acts chapter 12, and yesterday we saw that James, the brother of John, one of the sons of thunder, he was killed, and

he was killed by King Herod, and King Herod also arrested Peter, and Peter was thought, he thought he was a goner, the church thought he was a goner, they prayed for him to be released, but when God released him and brought Peter to the church, they

didn't believe that he was truly out of prison. That's how gone they thought he was. And God did a miracle there, it was a wonderful thing, and we talked yesterday about the power of prayer, and how we ought to believe that God can do incredible

things, we ought to pray that God can do incredible things, and then we ought to act as though we genuinely believe it. Now, we are in Acts 12 and verse 20.

It's kind of an interesting portion of scripture, I think as we dive into it, you'll see why that is. Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. It was kind of a more northern element of Israel.

Together, they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king's bedroom, they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food from the king's country.

They were like, eh, you know, stop some of the blockades. Stop not giving us food. We really need food.

So why don't we make peace together? In the appointed day, verse 21, in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them. The assembled people began to shout, it's the voice of a god and not of a man.

At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. Wow, what a way to go. Death by worms.

Many of us might be familiar with Indiana Jones and the snakes. Why is it got to be snakes?

And there's kind of a Christian movie, animated movie company called Veggie Tales that when they were doing kind of a kids version of Indiana Jones, they had it be worms, and there you have the cucumber going, worms, why did it have to be worms?

And whenever I read this story of Herod, that's what pops out into my head. History would tell us that this was not a all at once death when the worms got him. This was a three day, I believe, process.

This was something that was very slow, that he went down in the speech but didn't pass for a couple more days after. I want to take a second here and talk about why is this in the Bible? Why is it important?

Well, number one, the Bible records many things that actually happened. They record historical events kind of regardless of how good or bad it is.

As you read much of the Old Testament, there are lots of things that are written that are highlighted not for a, hey, you should do this or you should be this or this is the way that you should live your life.

It's simply people really did this and it was not pretty. And sometimes it's not even something that you can learn a direct lesson from other than, don't be terrible, don't murder people, genocides do happen.

And this is kind of one of those instances in which there is death and it was a historical event.

We read about it from some other sources that testify to the veracity of Scripture that it's not that the only place that you can find this account or this story is in the Bible, you can find it in other places as well.

That the Bible wasn't just making up stories, making up things, but these were real accounts that really happened. And it was big news back in the day when a king bit the dust.

I see here the justice of God, that this person who was incredibly cruel was the son of an incredibly cruel king as well. Also named Herod as a matter of fact.

This person that had put people to death, this person that really had a temper that flew off the handle many different times, God brought justice. And when God brings justice, it's complete, it's total, there's nothing left.

God doesn't know about a justice that says, okay, I'm going to punish you this much and then you're done. And I want to make us think about justice as it relates to us. I mentioned this on Sunday in our small group.

Many of us want God's justice on everyone else. We want God to judge the wicked in America, except for us. We want God to judge the wickedness in this world, except the wickedness that's in us.

And we ought to be very thankful that God's justice is not more prevalent and more strong than it is. Because when God does something, he doesn't do it half-heartedly, he doesn't do it just a little bit, it is complete, it is total.

You can think about the flood and Noah and the justice that was made that was met out on the earth at that time. You can think about Sodom and Gomorrah and the justice that came to that plane because of their wickedness.

And here it is Herod, and though he had sentenced Christians to death, specifically James, attempted to do it for Peter, that God brought justice. I think of Jesus' words where he says that, He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.

And we should not be lovers of violence, of death. And that's not really an attribute that is unpopular nowadays. A lot of people love the thought of violence, the thought of war, but as Christians, we ought to have a different mindset.

Here it's God that's doing this. It's not people that's doing it, but God is the one who gives life, and so God is the one who can take life.

And so we would believe that that ought to be something that we leave in God's hands, not take into our own hands.

Obviously, there are some things outlined in Scripture as far as dealing with evil and wickedness in the world, pervasive evil, evil that would take the lives of others, and God has outlined in his word what some of those protections were to be, but

he specifically outlines it in the realm of government, that those that are in government would deal with those things. I can think even of Romans chapter 13, and I'm flipping over to that page right now, where he says, Let everyone submit to the

governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. So then the one who resists the authority is opposing God's command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval.

For it is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God's servant, an avenger, that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.

So Bible talks about, specifically, God is one who takes life, and it talks about the government is one that takes life. As far as Christians, we should not have a thirst, a desire for people to die.

We should have a thirst and a desire for even those most violently opposed to us, like a Paul, like a Saul, that they would come to know Christ. So the justice of God, I see here that God is the one to whom all praise and all glory should go.

Verse number 22, Are you giving glory to God? In whatever you do, when people compliment you. When they praise you, do you have a response that says, praise the Lord?

Do you have a response that humbly would say, thank you, I have been blessed by, maybe it might be parents that helped you stay in school and do what you needed to do to learn so that you could get to the place that you are.

Maybe it's someone that invested in you spiritually, that they are the reason why you know many of the things that you do about Scripture, that you can pass on praise, you can pass on glory to other people.

Not in the way that's disingenuous of, oh, well, you think I'm really smart? Oh, praise the Lord.

Not a disingenuous way, but a legitimate thought at the very least in your heart that you would say when you are praised, when you are lifted up as something great, you'd say, God, none of this is me. This is all you.

And I pray that all of us would have that heart. Then in verse number 24, so Herod dies, one of the persecutors of the church, he says, But the word of God flourished and multiplied.

After they had completed their relief mission, so we read yesterday how Barnabas and Saul brought some money from Antioch down to Jerusalem to help out with a famine.

So after they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John, who was also called Mark. The word of God flourishes and multiplies.

Though kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall, the Lord our God will reign forever. And no matter what the kingdoms of this world are doing, I know right now we have a lot of things to pray over in America.

There are instances in which we are living wickedly. That we are calling good what God calls bad. We are mandating and calling bad what God calls good.

And we need to consistently be in prayer for our leaders. Here we see the end of Herod's life. But this was someone that Jesus interacted with at many points throughout his ministry.

And I think of 1st Timothy chapter 2 and as it relates to our leaders, whether that is a president, whether it's a congressperson, whether it's maybe a local mayor or something like that, we ought to pray for everyone that is in authority over us.

The Bible says this, First of all then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for everyone. For kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This is good, and it pleases God our Savior who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I think that list is interesting. It's petitions, things that we're asking for.

It's prayers, it's that conversation with God, it's intercessions, it's asking on behalf of someone else, and it says, thanksgivings be made for everyone.

I know for our area what the predominant political landscape is, and I know some of who our congregation and who people in our area tend not to love as much. Are you thanking God for President Biden, for Vice President Harris?

Are you thanking God for Chuck Schumer? Are you thanking God for Nancy Pelosi? You might say, whoa, I can't do that.

They are wicked rulers. They do this and this and they advocate for this. Can I challenge you?

The rulers that Paul was talking about were much more wicked than our politicians today. None of our politicians today are actively, literally, lighting Christians on fire. None of our politicians today are actively taking...

You can look up the stories of Nero. There are some sickening things that were happening during that particular time in Rome that even in our landscape of today are unthinkable that someone would do them. So I'd like to challenge you.

As we think about Herod, as we think about God bringing justice, as we think about the Word of God continuing to multiply and increase and people being saved, let's remember that our primary attitude towards those in government needs to be an

attitude of prayer of God. Please help them to make decisions so that we can lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. And God, help me to pray that they would be saved.

How incredible would it be if those that maybe do not avow Scripture as their primary goal, their primary lens through which they walk through the world?

I think of even our Speaker of the House that I believe it's Mike Johnson, that is actually one of our fellow Southern Baptists. And are you praying for him?

Maybe you're someone that would be more democratic, and you would say, hey, look at this and this and this that he's doing and that he's espousing that doesn't line up with Scripture. Can I encourage you?

Are you praying for, are you thankful for Mike Johnson? Are you thankful for those that are in our leadership? This is an election year.

At the end of the year, we're going to have either, well, we're either going to have an old new president or the same president as we currently have.

Will you commit now, before that time comes, will you commit now to praying for our president every day? Why would we do that? Because God commands it.

And because though here God brings justice on Herod, how much more wonderful would it be if Herod, another one of those kind of manifestations of the dragon, the empires of this world trying to eat up God's people, how much more incredible would it

have been if Herod had gone the way of Paul? That Herod would have had maybe a moment where he would say, oh, yeah, I've met Jesus. I've interacted with him. I've talked with him.

And I believe in Jesus. It happened to Paul. It could happen to anyone.

And that's what we want to pray.

We want to pray that whether it's Donald Trump or Joe Biden or anyone else, we want to pray that whoever our rulers are, that they would be saved, that they would know Jesus, that they would know the vibrancy of a life and walk with God.

That's what all of us want. Are we praying that way? You say, I wish Congress was different.

I wish the Senate was different. I wish the presidency was different. I wish my town mayor and all of these things were different.

Pray. And it will change your heart. It will change how you interact with people if you're praying for them.

It will change how you talk about them, how you type about them online if you're praying for them and if you love them. Hope that would be a challenge to you today. I know it is to my heart.

I know I don't put many of my political beliefs out there. I don't believe that that's one of those things that I'm really called to do unless it's something directly tied to scripture.

But I know for me there are politicians I like, politicians I don't like, and I need to remember that I'm called by God to pray for all of them and to love them and to pray that they would come to know Jesus.

So I hope that would challenge you as it's challenged me today. Look forward to being with you tomorrow in Chapter 13.