00:00:06,050 --> 00:00:08,660 Welcome to Expound, a verse-by-verse study

of God's word.

Our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God

by explaining the word of God in a way that is interactive,

enjoyable, and congregational.

00:00:24,630 --> 00:00:27,240 Father, we just now calm our hearts.

We just push everything aside, making ourselves aware

that, not only do we have open Bibles,

but that all things are naked and open before the One

with whom we have to do.

As the writer of Hebrews reminds us that,

every thought and every action is under Your clear purview.

And so as we sit and we open our Bibles,

we also open our hearts.

Because it would seem that there is always

a need, some kind of a need that we have,

whether we are aware of it on the surface or not, it's there.

A need to be readjusted, realigned with your will,

reminded of something, encouraged with some thing

or some one's example.

But, Father, we are leaving that all to you.

And we know that, in as much as you dispense truth

through the Word of God to encourage,

to build up, to challenge, at the same time,

it depends on us.

And it depends a bit on our hearts,

for we remember the Lord Jesus said, "whoever has

ears to hear, let him hear."

So would you just make us sensitive to be

able to hear, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, we've had some great times so far in the Book of Acts.

We've seen some incredible individuals.

In chapter 9, we saw a rabbi who fought God, and was converted.

His name was Saul of Tarsus.

He fought against God's plan for his life,

was trying to fight against the spread

of the church from Jerusalem northward into Syria, Damascus.

So he fought God and he was converted.

In chapter 10, we read about a soldier named Cornelius.

A centurion who followed God and he was converted.

He had a belief in God.

He went through some of the Jewish rituals, had

a basic system of belief, and Peter

came-- was dispatched to his house, shared with them

the truth.

And he received it.

So we have a rabbi who fought God, and was converted.

A soldier who followed God and was converted.

Now, in chapter 12, we read about a King

who fought God and was killed.

00:03:21,590 --> 00:03:25,760 Interesting, Saul fought God and he was saved.

Herod fights God and he is slain.

And why is that?

Well, easy answer, he really ticks God off.

And you'll see why by the end of this chapter.

There is not a modicum of repentance in his hardened

heart.

He exalts himself like Satan did, like the Antichrist will,

and he will end his days on the earth

by the end of this chapter.

Now there is a theme that we have

noted throughout the Bible, and in particular

in the Book of Acts.

And that is the theme that we serve a sovereign God.

He is large and in charge.

He rules the world, and he over-rules

in the kingdom of men.

And there was a King who even came to that understanding

himself while he was ruling on the earth, named

Nebuchadnezzar, who paraded himself

around the city of Babylon.

And looked around and he said, is this not the great Babylon

that I have built?

And God didn't take kindly to that earthly King usurping

authority over God's power and sovereignty.

And so he let Nebuchadnezzar go insane for a period of time.

And when he finally came to, Nebuchadnezzar said, I now

know that God rules in the kingdom of men

and gives it to whoever he chooses.

So a King, then, an earthly ruler,

is also a steward in governmental work

over a people, over a city, over a nation, and one of them

is on display in chapter 12 named Herod.

Now Jesus did say that He would build His church, right?

He said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell

will not prevail against."

So we are watching Jesus build his church,

just like he said he would.

He builds it in Jerusalem.

It grows strong, even under persecution.

People try to put it out, doesn't work.

It grows.

It grows northward toward Damascus,

as we have already seen.

Saul try to put out that fire.

Didn't work.

Philip has taken the gospel into Sumeria

and shared with an Ethiopian eunuch, who takes it down

into Africa.

We also saw that the gospel is spread also into Syria

toward Turkey in Antioch.

Saul, we'll go back to Tarsus, or has

been in Tarsus before Barnabas gets him,

so it's spreading around.

"I will build my church and the gates of hell

will not prevail against it."

00:06:33,460 --> 00:06:36,729 At the same time, one of the things

we wonder about or struggle with is,

in the sovereign plan and purposes of God,

what role does prayer play?

Does it matter if I pray or not?

I mean, if God is sovereign and does whatever He wants, then,

who cares if He hears from me or not,

or if I ask him for something?

If we live in an evil world, and even bad things

happen to good people, even God's people,

what role does prayer play?

Now, you're going to see some of all of these things,

kind of, converging as we get into chapter 12.

In verse one of chapter 12 it says, "now about that time,

Herod the King stretched out his hand

to harass some of the church."

If you know your New Testament at all,

you have come into grips with the name Herod

on many occasions.

And sometimes you read about Herod

and you'll scratch your head, because you read about Herod

somewhere else, and it's like, well, he died,

but then there he is again.

And then he's dead, but there he is again.

And he shows up in different places.

So we get confused.

Now let me just say, when you see the word, Herod,

it's a bit like seeing the word Caesar.

Because there's more than one Herod, unfortunately.

Because Herod-- the Herods, the Herodian Dynasty

was like a whole bunch of really bad dudes.

In fact, if I were to categorize the Herod family,

it's a messed up family, it's the family

who fought against God.

And you will see one here fighting against God.

So when we read about Herod, we're

not reading about the Herod that we

saw at the beginning of Jesus' life

when he was a baby in Bethlehem.

There was a Herod then.

So let me just give you a little thumbnail about how confusing

the Herodian family is.

Maybe I'll clarify it, maybe I'll make it worse.

But my point is-- my hope is to clarify it.

So let's begin with Herod the Great.

That's the one we read about at the beginning of the New

Testament.

Herod the Great was an Idumean.

That is, if you were to look at a map of Israel

and go east and south on the area

east of the Dead Sea and south, that's the ancient area

Nabataean area of the Idumeans.

So the Idumeans came from a guy named Esau.

So remember Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob.

Esau was the father, the progenitor,

of the Idumean Kingdom.

So he is related--

Herod, then is related to the Jewish people.

But he is not Jewish.

But he is in that Semitic family, from way back,

from Esau.

So his dad, Herod the Great's dad was called Antipater.

And Antipater was Idumean.

He had a conversion to Judaism, it is said.

Then little Herod was born, Herod the Great.

He wasn't so great till he called himself that.

But he was the guy who met with the Magi

when they were looking for the King of the Jews,

asked the Magi to find out who it was,

because he wanted to come and worship him.

And it was that Herod, Herod the Great,

who killed all the babies in Bethlehem.

Now Herod the Great was a great builder.

He was not a great person, but he was a great builder.

If you go to Israel today, you will

see things that were built by Herod the Great.

Even the retaining walls of the ancient temple

have Herodian stones.

There's things that he built like Masada,

and many fortresses around.

He just was this incredible builder.

But he was a horrible character, a horrible person.

He married 10 times.

So he had 10 wives.

He killed several of them.

He killed several of his children, his own sons.

In fact, back in Rome, there was a saying

that it's safer to be Herod's pig than it is his son.

00:11:27,530 --> 00:11:30,410 Now one of the wives that Herod the great married

that he killed was a gal by the name of Mariamne.

She was Jewish.

She was Hasmonean.

Have you heard that term, Hasmonean?

She related to the Maccabees that

revolted against the Syrians.

And it was that Maccabean revolt that

birthed the festival of Hanukkah every year, the rekindling

of the temple sacrifices.

Well, he married her.

Now, unfortunately, he was in a bad mood and he killed her.

And he felt really bad about that.

But, of course, he couldn't do anything, because she was dead.

But he was Herod, so it didn't matter.

He was kind of above the law.

And one of her sons he also killed, named Aristabulis.

Am I confusing you yet?

We're just on the first one, Herod the Great.

So, anyway, that's how bad he was.

He killed wives, killed sons.

And, by the way, when he was close to death,

Herod the Great ordered all of the most notable citizens

of Jerusalem to be imprisoned, and upon his death,

to be executed.

Because he knew that when he died, there would be no tears

shed for him, but he wanted to make sure that when he died,

there would be mourning in Jerusalem.

That's how whacked he was.

00:12:54,700 --> 00:13:01,740 One of Herod's sons was a guy named Herod Phillip the First.

Herod Philip the First was the husband of a gal

named Herodius.

So it's bad that there's Herods, but there are also Herodius.

Herodius was the gal responsible for the death

of John the Baptist, but not while she

was married to Herod Philip.

00:13:21,770 --> 00:13:25,760 After Herod Phillip was another son named Herod Antipas.

Herod Antipas ruled up north in the Galilee region.

Jesus will stand briefly in one of his trials

before Herod Antipas.

It was that Herod, Antipas, that lured

Herodius away from Philip to marry him.

That's why John the Baptist denounced

that Herod, Herod Antipas, and her, Herodius.

And it was while she was married to Antipas that she made sure

that John the Baptist was killed.

00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:08,209 Now after that, there was a guy named Herod Archelaus, who

was the ruler of a few territories like Judah,