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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Mark 16, verse 9.
We've been through almost everyrequired part of the story, I
would think the life, theministry of Jesus, his willing
death on the cross for the sinof the world and his promised
resurrection.
We find ourselves in verse 9.
Now, before we complete thegospel here, starting in verse 9
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, we have a little bit ofcontroversy here.
Most of your Bibles might letyou know that the earliest
documents do not include verses9 through 20.
And many Bible scholars agreethat that probably wasn't in the
earliest manuscripts and waslikely not written by Mark.
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Now, these aren't liberalscholars, these are very
conservative scholars and theybelieve in the inerrancy of
Scripture.
But here they would say thisprobably isn't Mark who wrote
these final verses and they havedifferent evidences for this,
that it's not in the oldestdocuments.
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And they mention that theseverses that we're about to read
don't represent the style of therest of the book of Mark.
They even point to some of thecontent here.
Notice in verse 9, mentionedhere Mary Magdalene, out of whom
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he cast seven demons.
So it seems like anintroduction here to Mary
Magdalene, giving us thisinformation that seven demons
were cast out of her.
But this isn't the first timewe've met Mary Magdalene.
You would think that would besomething that Mark would say at
the beginning when he firstintroduced her.
So a few different reasons.
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So a few different reasons.
But we wonder, why are theseverses here?
And we don't know, we don'thave Mark to ask.
We assume that it's because Godwanted them to be there.
Now we're going to go over somereasons why they ought to be
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here, but let's read what wehave here.
Well, actually, let's back upto verse 6.
I want you to see this.
This is the last bit of what weknow.
Marlboro, verse 6.
They said to them Do not bealarmed.
This is the angel saying yousee Jesus of Nazareth who was
crucified.
He is risen.
He is not here.
See the place where they havelaid him.
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But go tell Now.
In many scholars' minds, this isthe final verse of the book of
Mark, and you could see why.
This would just, you know, geton people's nerves.
Because what happens?
Jesus rises from the dead.
The angel says go and telleverybody this wonderful thing.
And verse 8, they went outquickly and fled from the tomb.
They trembled and were amazed,and they said nothing and won,
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for they were afraid.
That sounds like a horrible wayto end the book.
Right, they just all lockedthemselves in the room and
they're scared to death and, asfar as we're concerned here,
they don't do anything about it.
Now you can tell why.
This would get under people'sskin as they read this.
But perhaps we don't know, wedon't have Mark to ask, but
perhaps this was exactly what hewanted you to feel.
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Well, that's not right.
How can you just sit there?
Jesus is alive, don't be afraid, he's alive.
Go and tell everybody.
And we know what to do.
And I think maybe I don't knowI can't say for certain, of
course but maybe this was Mark'splan all along.
Hey, you go finish it, you gotake it out.
You feel that in your heartthat you need to tell the world.
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Go and do it.
But for whatever reason, itseems like Mark stops there and
perhaps many people just didn'tlike that and perhaps many
people just didn't like them asthis ending starts to come up
around 100 years after Mark.
Maybe they just said you knowwhat I'm going to write the end
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of the book of Mark.
I'm going to put down somethoughts.
Now we look and we go.
That's not good.
Don't add God's word.
We know that you shouldn't bejust making up your own
scriptures.
People 100 years after Mark,and that's true.
But what I want you to see aswe go through this is that none
of this information is new to us.
All of this information, exceptfor a tiny little bit, is
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really included somewhere else.
As you read through Matthew andLuke and John in the book of
Acts, you get all these thingsthat are brought up here in
verses 9 through 20.
So there's nothing new here.
It's nothing like the newgospel of Jesus like the Mormons
have.
It's not that, it is just thefacts that we know actually did
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happen.
So it's not bad and certainlyit ministers to people.
But let's just go on and lookat it here in verse 9.
Verse 9.
The post-appearances of Jesusafter the resurrection.
Post-resurrection appearancesof Jesus.
Now, when he arose early on thefirst day of the week, jesus
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that's, he appeared first toMary Magdalene, who cast seven
demons.
She went and told those who hadbeen with him as they mourned
and wept, and when they heardthat he was alive and had been
seen by her, they did notbelieve.
All right.
So first Jesus appears to MaryMagdalene.
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She's from a place calledMagdala, and in John 20, verse 1
, we see this is the truth right.
In John 20, verse 1, she findsthe empty tomb.
In verse 2 of John 20, you cansee she runs to tell Peter.
They come back and see In verse11 of John 20, mary stays at
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the tomb and has her firstencounter with Jesus that we
read about here.
She runs back and tells thedisciples.
And verse 11 lets us know herein Mark that they heard it but
they didn't believe.
Right, and this is kind of alittle bit of a theme they see
these things and they don'tbelieve.
Now, verse 12.
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Notice, after that Jesusappeared to him in another form,
to two of them as they walkedand went into the country, and
they went and told it to therest, but they did not believe
them either.
So here we see two walking downthe road.
Now Luke's got this one.
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Luke 24, verse 13 through 35, aswe read about it, it's two men
on the road to Emmaus and it'spretty cool.
But here we see that heappeared to them in another form
.
Now I have no idea what this islike, you know.
Was it like some heavenlydisguise?
You know where Jesus is like?
No, it's me.
You know what was it?
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Maybe because they didn'tbelieve they would see him, they
didn't recognize him as Jesus?
We're not so sure.
But in Luke 24, they're walkingalong the road and Jesus, he
unites with their little group.
They're talking.
They're talking abouteverything that happened in
Jerusalem, how Jesus died.
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And Jesus comes up and saysguys, what are you talking about
?
Well, we're talking abouteverything that happened.
But what happened?
They're like don't you know,you haven't heard.
And they began to tell him it'slike Jesus.
We thought he was the Messiah,but obviously he's not, because
he died on the cross and he'sdead.
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And Jesus, in Luke 24, verse 25,he says this, picture it.
And he said to them oh, foolishones, slow of heart to believe
in all that the prophets havespoken.
I, after Christ, have sufferedthese things and to enter into
his glory.
And, beginning at Moses and allthe prophets, he expounding to
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them all of the scriptures, thethings concerning himself.
So Jesus links up with thesetwo walking and he says you guys
, you don't get it.
The Messiah would suffer.
And Jesus gives them a Biblestudy, seemingly from Genesis to
Malachi, on all the ways thatthe Messiah was predicted and
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how he fulfilled it.
What an amazing Bible study,that would be right.
The whole Old Testament byJesus about Jesus.
And as they walk along, itstarts to get late.
They're in Luke 24.
And they say let's stop, stophere.
And they encourage Jesus tostop with them.
And then it says it was in thebreaking of bread that they
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recognized him.
I don't know what it was, howhe broke the bread.
Maybe they remembered, you know, the Last Supper when he did
that.
Maybe he had a special way ofdoing it.
We're not so sure.
Maybe they saw the prints inhis wrists, but they recognized
him and he— disappears from themidst.
And so Mark here gives us theabbreviated story of that.
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But notice verse 13,.
These two go to the disciplesand didn't believe them either.
Right, Pretty sad, oh ye, oflittle faith.
Now verse 14, we see Jesusappears to the rest of the
disciples and gives them what'sknown as a great commission.
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Let's read it.
Later he appeared to the elevenas they sat at the table, and
he rebuked their unbelief andhardness of hearts because they
did not believe those who hadseen him after he had risen.
And Jesus said to them Go intoall the worlds, preach the
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gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptizedwill be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will followthose who believe in my name.
They will cast out demons, theywill speak with new tongues,
they will take up serpents, andif they drink anything deadly,
it will by no means hurt them.
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They will make hands on thesick and they will recover.
So here Jesus appears to the 11.
That's the 12 minus one, judas,and he rebukes their hard
hearts and their unbelief andthen gives them, in verse 15,
what we know as the GreatCommission.
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This is our job as Jesus'disciples.
All the Gospels have somethinglike this in there.
As Jesus sends out hisdisciples into the world, the
book of Acts begins with thesame kind of commission to go
out into Jerusalem, judea,samaria and the uttermost parts
of the world with this good newsNotice there, go.
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It's a command to go into allthe world and preach.
Now some would look at this andsay, but I'm not a preacher.
You might be a preacher, butI'm not a preacher.
Well, the word preach therejust means to proclaim or to
herald.
Right, picture it.
Hear ye, hear ye.
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The war is over.
That's a preacher.
Right of peace.
Right, Hear ye, hear ye, thecaptives are free.
That's a preacher, someone whotakes the message and declares
it.
So we're all called to preachin one sense or another.
But notice there, it's preach,the gospel, the good news.
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The good news is a proclamationof everything that God has done
.
It's that message again Sin isdealt with and wiped away, death
is defeated, the debt is paid.
All those things are part ofthe good news of what God has
done for us.
And check it out.
That should be the naturalresponse of every believer.
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When we see what God has donefor us, we ought to tell others.
And so here's the commission.
Notice again in verse 15, goingto all the world.
Now that also might seem alittle daunting for you Because
you think about missions.
Well, where should I go?
Should I go to Africa?
That seems to be the default.
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I'll go to Africa and tell them.
I'll go to Africa and tell them, I'll go to China and tell
people there about Jesus.
You could, but in Acts, chapter1, you can turn there.
Let's turn there because we'vegot to turn.
Turn to Acts, chapter 1.
Acts is the continued story ofJesus' work through his
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disciples.
Acts, chapter 1, jesus is justabout ready to ascend to the
Father.
There in Acts, chapter 1, verse8.
And there's some questions thatthe disciples ask, but jesus
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doesn't really answer verse 8.
He says this you shall receivepower when the holy spirit has
come upon you.
And that's a story all of itsown, isn't it that god wants to
empower us to spread the goodnews, the holy spirit in us.
But notice verse 8, you willreceive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you and youshall be witness to me in
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Jerusalem, in Altidia, inSamaria and to the ends of the
earth.
So if you were to look at thisas a map, jerusalem was where
they were at At that very moment.
They were right outside thecity of Jerusalem, on the
hillside there, the Mount ofOlives, right outside the city
of Jerusalem.
And so Jesus could have pointedand said you'll be my witness
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in Jerusalem, right where you'reat, and that is always the best
place to start right whereyou're at.
You could go to the outermostparts of the world, and that's
fine, but there are people rightwhere you're at that need to
know the good news that sin canbe forgiven, that there's hope
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in this life, that you can havepeace with God.
It's your family, right, it'sthe people you work with, it's
the people that live down thestreet from you.
That's the mission field.
I know we say that all the time, but that really is true.
When Jesus says go into all theworld, start where you're at In
Jerusalem, judea, samaria, andthat are most parts of the world
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it expands, it can expand.
Start where you're at andnotice here back in Mark,
chapter 16, that's thecommission Go into all the world
and preach the gospel.
There's a lot of things we couldtell people, right, have you
ever thought about therapy?
Now, there's probably a timeand place for therapy, sure, but
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we need, like the good news,what God's done, the hope that
there is in that.
There's so many things we couldpoint them to a book, some
music, right, but really thegood news of what God has done
for us has to be the center ofit all.
Now, notice, he sends them outand he says in verse 16, he who
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believes in me and is baptizedwill be saved.
Now, we do have a hard timewith this, right, because the
word we probably focus on mostis baptized.
Be baptized and you'll be saved.
We focus on it and some would.
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You must be baptized to besaved.
Some would say you must bebaptized in my church to be
saved.
Very special.
But this is also why infantbaptism exists in some churches,
right, because if you have tobe baptized to be saved, then we
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better get those babiesbaptized or else they're in
trouble, right?
But baptism can't be a necessityof salvation.
We look very simply to thethief on the cross, right?
Jesus said to him today you'llbe with me in paradise.
And it's always pointed outthat he's never had an
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opportunity to be baptized.
And yet Jesus said you'll bewith me in paradise.
But this idea that you're savedby baptism goes against
everything that the Bible saysabout the need for faith.
Paul's message in Ephesians 2, 9, that we're saved by grace
through faith 2, 8, 9, saved bygrace through faith, and that
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not of yourselves but the giftof God.
It's not a verse and you cancircle back and underline that
there is no amount of works thatyou can do to be saved.
You can't be a good person andbe saved.
You can't clean yourself up andthen you'll be saved.
You're only saved by trust,simple trust in what Jesus has
done for us.
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Now baptism quickly here.
Baptism is an outward sign ofwhat's happened in our hearts.
You look at Romans, chapter 6,and that's the picture right,
that we died with Christ andwe're risen again with him to
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newness of life.
Baptism is really.
It's obedience, for sure, butit's a picture of what's
happened in my heart.
It's not my life anymore.
I'm dying to who I was.
It's a new life in him.
That's what I want, and we'retelling the world that Now this
word meant a lot more for theearly church right, this early
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church.
Because you know the story inthe book of Acts as they would
come down to the water and bebaptized, they were essentially
saying I don't care what you doto me and this happens in many
countries today where it'sillegal to be a Christian.
Talk about Jesus.
They would basically be sayingI don't care what you do to me,
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I don't care if you take my job,I don't care if you put me on
the outside of society, I don'tcare what you do to me, I don't
care if you take my job, I don'tcare if you put me outside of
society, I don't care if youkill me.
I believe in Jesus, and so whenthey would get baptized so many
times, it was a death sentenceto them, and so baptism, though,
was telling the world exactlywhat Jesus had done.
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Now notice what Jesus says inverse 16.
I think it makes a little moreclear he who believes and is
baptized will be saved, but hewho does not believe will be
condemned.
Because that really is theissue.
It's the belief.
It's not necessarily theoutward path.
It's the belief in our heartsthat saves us, and so Jesus
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tells them go out and preach thegospel, baptize them.
Now.
Notice verse 17.
Some more slightly confusingthings to come here.
Verse 17, it's signs that willfollow those who believe right
and notice they'll cast outdemons.
Well, you look at the book ofActs, and that is true.
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They get from time to time castout demons.
In Acts, chapter 5, verse 16,.
Acts, chapter 8, verse 7, andActs, chapter 16, verse 8, paul
is in Philippi, and he casts outa demon from a little slave
girl, and her life is changed,and the church in Philippi is
born from that kind of thing.
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But they did cast out demons,showing that God was stronger
than demons.
Notice verse 17,.
And they will speak with newtongues.
Well, that happened in Acts,chapter 2.
We could talk about that for along time, but we're not going
to.
It happened in Acts, chapter 2.
We could talk about that for along time, but we're not going
to.
It happened in Acts, chapter 2,right, so this actually did
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happen.
Now, notice, this is where itgets a little different.
They will take up serpents andif they drink anything deadly,
it will by no means hurt them.
Now, one of these is actuallylisted in the book of Acts, but
it's surprising which one it is.
They picked up serpents fromtime to time.
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You'll remember the end of thebook of Acts not on purpose, I
have to put that down.
Not on purpose.
In Acts 28, paul gets off of theshipwreck and he's on the shore
with all these shipwreckedpeople, and they start to.
On the island of Malta, theystart to collect sticks to put
on the fire and Paul not toogood to help.
He picks up a bundle of sticksand he throws them on the fire.
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As he throws them on the fire,it's a nightmare, it's my
nightmare.
Right, a viper jumps out ofthat packet of sticks that he
threw on and attaches itself toPaul's arm and Paul being the
tough guy that he was, he shookit off in the fire and he went
on working and you're like Paul,you're so tough man I want to
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die right then and there.
And the people were surprisedwhen they saw Paul didn't get
sick, he didn't die from thatvenomous snake, he was fine and
they got pretty excited aboutthat, but God took care of him.
Now I'm sure church tradition isfilled with people who drank
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things that were poisonous ormany water that was contaminated
, and they didn't die.
But here it's one of the thingsthat is listed here.
Notice also at the end of verse18, they will lay hands on the
sick and they will recover Actsof healing.
The book of Acts is filled withthose kinds of things as well,
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from crippled people to peoplewith disinentery healed by
laying on of hands.
Now that shouldn't besurprising to us, that God can
heal the sick, that God can castout demons, that God can keep
us safe from venomous snakes.
But here's the problem.
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Notice there, notice in verse17, how these are all listed and
these signs will follow thosewho believe.
So it's not to say that everyone of these signs will follow
people that believe God.
Could you know, work thesethings in your life?
No big deal, he's got it.
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But notice it says they willfollow those who believe.
Now, the problem in our worldtoday, where this gets a little
crazy to us, is that now listenis that believers tend to follow
these things.
Not these things followbelievers, but believers follow
these things.
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Oh, we're going to have amiracle meeting tonight and God
can heal, and that's great.
But many believers will followthese kinds of things from time
to time.
The gift of tongues Now Paulsays you can study up on it in 1
Corinthians 14, that noteverybody speaks in tongues.
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But in today, today's church,so many of us will follow that.
That's what we want.
We want that kind of thing.
We want some tongues, somethingtingly, something amazing and
and even some, you know, wedon't ever talk about here in
home church because people havethe wrong idea to begin with.
But some actually handle snakesin order to get bit by the
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snakes and believe that God willkeep them from dying.
Now I think that's putting Godto the test unnecessarily.
I honestly think, as I've seenvideos of this, it's satanic
because Satan wants to kill, tosteal and destroy.
God never said go handle snakesand it'll be fine.
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But yet they do and many timespeople die.
Now people follow all of thesethings, but these things
potentially could follow thosewho believe and it's a sign not
to the believer but to theunbeliever in these things when
they happen.
We'll look at verse 19 andwe'll close it up.
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Then, after the Lord had spokento them, he was received up into
heaven and sat down at theright hand of God, acts chapter
one.
This happens Jesus is sharingwith his disciples, saying
message go into all the world tobe my witnesses.
In Jerusalem, judea, samariaand the most parts of the earth,
the Holy Spirit will come uponyou.
(25:27):
And as he's talking in Actschapter 1, he begins to ascend
into heaven.
It's like he's on one of thosebooms, you know, and it's like,
and just he starts going up andthey don't say anything.
Right, you're not going tointerrupt him while he's talking
and they just watch him as hegoes into the palace to where a
couple angels have to say hey,men of Jerusalem, why are you
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looking in the air?
You know the same Jesus thatwent is going to come in like
fashion and go right.
And in verse 20, and they wentout and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them andconfirming the word through the
accompanying of sons, amen.
And so we get the ending thatmany probably thought the book
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of Mark should have.
And so they all went and theytold the world this good news of
what Jesus had done, and we'repart of that right.
That's always the end of thestory.
The end of the Book of Acts isthat it continues on with us,
that God has the same messagefor us, the good news and we all
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are complicated, I think I knowI do right, but the good news
that God has provided a way tobe saved, he's provided hope in
this hopeless world.
All those things, all thosethings that we should know, and
that's our message, simply toget out.
And he finishes with the wordAmen.
So be it.
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Let's pray.
God, thank you for this timethat we've had in the book of
Mark and we don't want to stopseeing you in the things that we
read.
And there's no way, if we readyour word, that we won't see you
.
But, god, I pray that you wouldhelp these things to be real in
our life.
God, like your disciples, wewould go out and make a
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difference in the world.
That you put each one of us inGod.
It's easy to find ourselvesprobably more likely in verse in
just afraid and locked down.
But, god, you want us to go.
You really do want us to gointo all of our world and share
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these truths with others.
So, god, help us the power ofyour spirit to be who you want
us to be and love this worldaround us.
I would love you to thank Godfor all this things in Jesus
name.
Amen.
Love you and thank you for allthis things in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
Mark 16, verse 9.
We've been through almost everyrequired part of the story, I
would think the life, theministry of Jesus, his willing
death on the cross for the sinof the world and his promised
resurrection.
We find ourselves in verse 9.
Now, before we complete thegospel here, starting in verse 9
(00:37):
, we have a little bit ofcontroversy here.
Most of your Bibles might letyou know that the earliest
documents do not include verses9 through 20.
And many Bible scholars agreethat that probably wasn't in the
earliest manuscripts and waslikely not written by Mark.
(01:00):
Now, these aren't liberalscholars, these are very
conservative scholars and theybelieve in the inerrancy of
Scripture.
But here they would say thisprobably isn't Mark who wrote
these final verses and they havedifferent evidences for this,
that it's not in the oldestdocuments.
(01:21):
And they mention that theseverses that we're about to read
don't represent the style of therest of the book of Mark.
They even point to some of thecontent here.
Notice in verse 9, mentionedhere Mary Magdalene, out of whom
(01:42):
he cast seven demons.
So it seems like anintroduction here to Mary
Magdalene, giving us thisinformation that seven demons
were cast out of her.
But this isn't the first timewe've met Mary Magdalene.
You would think that would besomething that Mark would say at
the beginning when he firstintroduced her.
So a few different reasons.
(02:02):
So a few different reasons.
But we wonder, why are theseverses here?
And we don't know, we don'thave Mark to ask.
We assume that it's because Godwanted them to be there.
Now we're going to go over somereasons why they ought to be
(02:25):
here, but let's read what wehave here.
Well, actually, let's back upto verse 6.
I want you to see this.
This is the last bit of what weknow.
Marlboro, verse 6.
They said to them Do not bealarmed.
This is the angel saying yousee Jesus of Nazareth who was
crucified.
He is risen.
He is not here.
See the place where they havelaid him.
(03:06):
But go tell Now.
In many scholars' minds, this isthe final verse of the book of
Mark, and you could see why.
This would just, you know, geton people's nerves.
Because what happens?
Jesus rises from the dead.
The angel says go and telleverybody this wonderful thing.
And verse 8, they went outquickly and fled from the tomb.
They trembled and were amazed,and they said nothing and won,
(03:28):
for they were afraid.
That sounds like a horrible wayto end the book.
Right, they just all lockedthemselves in the room and
they're scared to death and, asfar as we're concerned here,
they don't do anything about it.
Now you can tell why.
This would get under people'sskin as they read this.
But perhaps we don't know, wedon't have Mark to ask, but
perhaps this was exactly what hewanted you to feel.
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Well, that's not right.
How can you just sit there?
Jesus is alive, don't be afraid, he's alive.
Go and tell everybody.
And we know what to do.
And I think maybe I don't knowI can't say for certain, of
course but maybe this was Mark'splan all along.
Hey, you go finish it, you gotake it out.
You feel that in your heartthat you need to tell the world.
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Go and do it.
But for whatever reason, itseems like Mark stops there and
perhaps many people just didn'tlike that and perhaps many
people just didn't like them asthis ending starts to come up
around 100 years after Mark.
Maybe they just said you knowwhat I'm going to write the end
(04:35):
of the book of Mark.
I'm going to put down somethoughts.
Now we look and we go.
That's not good.
Don't add God's word.
We know that you shouldn't bejust making up your own
scriptures.
People 100 years after Mark,and that's true.
But what I want you to see aswe go through this is that none
of this information is new to us.
All of this information, exceptfor a tiny little bit, is
(05:01):
really included somewhere else.
As you read through Matthew andLuke and John in the book of
Acts, you get all these thingsthat are brought up here in
verses 9 through 20.
So there's nothing new here.
It's nothing like the newgospel of Jesus like the Mormons
have.
It's not that, it is just thefacts that we know actually did
(05:21):
happen.
So it's not bad and certainlyit ministers to people.
But let's just go on and lookat it here in verse 9.
Verse 9.
The post-appearances of Jesusafter the resurrection.
Post-resurrection appearancesof Jesus.
Now, when he arose early on thefirst day of the week, jesus
(05:47):
that's, he appeared first toMary Magdalene, who cast seven
demons.
She went and told those who hadbeen with him as they mourned
and wept, and when they heardthat he was alive and had been
seen by her, they did notbelieve.
All right.
So first Jesus appears to MaryMagdalene.
(06:08):
She's from a place calledMagdala, and in John 20, verse 1
, we see this is the truth right.
In John 20, verse 1, she findsthe empty tomb.
In verse 2 of John 20, you cansee she runs to tell Peter.
They come back and see In verse11 of John 20, mary stays at
(06:32):
the tomb and has her firstencounter with Jesus that we
read about here.
She runs back and tells thedisciples.
And verse 11 lets us know herein Mark that they heard it but
they didn't believe.
Right, and this is kind of alittle bit of a theme they see
these things and they don'tbelieve.
Now, verse 12.
(06:52):
Notice, after that Jesusappeared to him in another form,
to two of them as they walkedand went into the country, and
they went and told it to therest, but they did not believe
them either.
So here we see two walking downthe road.
Now Luke's got this one.
(07:13):
Luke 24, verse 13 through 35, aswe read about it, it's two men
on the road to Emmaus and it'spretty cool.
But here we see that heappeared to them in another form
.
Now I have no idea what this islike, you know.
Was it like some heavenlydisguise?
You know where Jesus is like?
No, it's me.
You know what was it?
(07:34):
Maybe because they didn'tbelieve they would see him, they
didn't recognize him as Jesus?
We're not so sure.
But in Luke 24, they're walkingalong the road and Jesus, he
unites with their little group.
They're talking.
They're talking abouteverything that happened in
Jerusalem, how Jesus died.
(07:55):
And Jesus comes up and saysguys, what are you talking about
?
Well, we're talking abouteverything that happened.
But what happened?
They're like don't you know,you haven't heard.
And they began to tell him it'slike Jesus.
We thought he was the Messiah,but obviously he's not, because
he died on the cross and he'sdead.
(08:16):
And Jesus, in Luke 24, verse 25,he says this, picture it.
And he said to them oh, foolishones, slow of heart to believe
in all that the prophets havespoken.
I, after Christ, have sufferedthese things and to enter into
his glory.
And, beginning at Moses and allthe prophets, he expounding to
(08:40):
them all of the scriptures, thethings concerning himself.
So Jesus links up with thesetwo walking and he says you guys
, you don't get it.
The Messiah would suffer.
And Jesus gives them a Biblestudy, seemingly from Genesis to
Malachi, on all the ways thatthe Messiah was predicted and
(09:03):
how he fulfilled it.
What an amazing Bible study,that would be right.
The whole Old Testament byJesus about Jesus.
And as they walk along, itstarts to get late.
They're in Luke 24.
And they say let's stop, stophere.
And they encourage Jesus tostop with them.
And then it says it was in thebreaking of bread that they
(09:25):
recognized him.
I don't know what it was, howhe broke the bread.
Maybe they remembered, you know, the Last Supper when he did
that.
Maybe he had a special way ofdoing it.
We're not so sure.
Maybe they saw the prints inhis wrists, but they recognized
him and he— disappears from themidst.
And so Mark here gives us theabbreviated story of that.
(09:48):
But notice verse 13,.
These two go to the disciplesand didn't believe them either.
Right, Pretty sad, oh ye, oflittle faith.
Now verse 14, we see Jesusappears to the rest of the
disciples and gives them what'sknown as a great commission.
(10:08):
Let's read it.
Later he appeared to the elevenas they sat at the table, and
he rebuked their unbelief andhardness of hearts because they
did not believe those who hadseen him after he had risen.
And Jesus said to them Go intoall the worlds, preach the
(10:28):
gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptizedwill be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will followthose who believe in my name.
They will cast out demons, theywill speak with new tongues,
they will take up serpents, andif they drink anything deadly,
it will by no means hurt them.
(10:48):
They will make hands on thesick and they will recover.
So here Jesus appears to the 11.
That's the 12 minus one, judas,and he rebukes their hard
hearts and their unbelief andthen gives them, in verse 15,
what we know as the GreatCommission.
(11:10):
This is our job as Jesus'disciples.
All the Gospels have somethinglike this in there.
As Jesus sends out hisdisciples into the world, the
book of Acts begins with thesame kind of commission to go
out into Jerusalem, judea,samaria and the uttermost parts
of the world with this good newsNotice there, go.
(11:34):
It's a command to go into allthe world and preach.
Now some would look at this andsay, but I'm not a preacher.
You might be a preacher, butI'm not a preacher.
Well, the word preach therejust means to proclaim or to
herald.
Right, picture it.
Hear ye, hear ye.
(11:54):
The war is over.
That's a preacher.
Right of peace.
Right, Hear ye, hear ye, thecaptives are free.
That's a preacher, someone whotakes the message and declares
it.
So we're all called to preachin one sense or another.
But notice there, it's preach,the gospel, the good news.
(12:19):
The good news is a proclamationof everything that God has done
.
It's that message again Sin isdealt with and wiped away, death
is defeated, the debt is paid.
All those things are part ofthe good news of what God has
done for us.
And check it out.
That should be the naturalresponse of every believer.
(12:43):
When we see what God has donefor us, we ought to tell others.
And so here's the commission.
Notice again in verse 15, goingto all the world.
Now that also might seem alittle daunting for you Because
you think about missions.
Well, where should I go?
Should I go to Africa?
That seems to be the default.
(13:04):
I'll go to Africa and tell them.
I'll go to Africa and tell them, I'll go to China and tell
people there about Jesus.
You could, but in Acts, chapter1, you can turn there.
Let's turn there because we'vegot to turn.
Turn to Acts, chapter 1.
Acts is the continued story ofJesus' work through his
(13:26):
disciples.
Acts, chapter 1, jesus is justabout ready to ascend to the
Father.
There in Acts, chapter 1, verse8.
And there's some questions thatthe disciples ask, but jesus
(13:47):
doesn't really answer verse 8.
He says this you shall receivepower when the holy spirit has
come upon you.
And that's a story all of itsown, isn't it that god wants to
empower us to spread the goodnews, the holy spirit in us.
But notice verse 8, you willreceive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you and youshall be witness to me in
(14:11):
Jerusalem, in Altidia, inSamaria and to the ends of the
earth.
So if you were to look at thisas a map, jerusalem was where
they were at At that very moment.
They were right outside thecity of Jerusalem, on the
hillside there, the Mount ofOlives, right outside the city
of Jerusalem.
And so Jesus could have pointedand said you'll be my witness
(14:35):
in Jerusalem, right where you'reat, and that is always the best
place to start right whereyou're at.
You could go to the outermostparts of the world, and that's
fine, but there are people rightwhere you're at that need to
know the good news that sin canbe forgiven, that there's hope
(14:55):
in this life, that you can havepeace with God.
It's your family, right, it'sthe people you work with, it's
the people that live down thestreet from you.
That's the mission field.
I know we say that all the time, but that really is true.
When Jesus says go into all theworld, start where you're at In
Jerusalem, judea, samaria, andthat are most parts of the world
(15:16):
it expands, it can expand.
Start where you're at andnotice here back in Mark,
chapter 16, that's thecommission Go into all the world
and preach the gospel.
There's a lot of things we couldtell people, right, have you
ever thought about therapy?
Now, there's probably a timeand place for therapy, sure, but
(15:38):
we need, like the good news,what God's done, the hope that
there is in that.
There's so many things we couldpoint them to a book, some
music, right, but really thegood news of what God has done
for us has to be the center ofit all.
Now, notice, he sends them outand he says in verse 16, he who
(16:03):
believes in me and is baptizedwill be saved.
Now, we do have a hard timewith this, right, because the
word we probably focus on mostis baptized.
Be baptized and you'll be saved.
We focus on it and some would.
(16:23):
You must be baptized to besaved.
Some would say you must bebaptized in my church to be
saved.
Very special.
But this is also why infantbaptism exists in some churches,
right, because if you have tobe baptized to be saved, then we
(16:46):
better get those babiesbaptized or else they're in
trouble, right?
But baptism can't be a necessityof salvation.
We look very simply to thethief on the cross, right?
Jesus said to him today you'llbe with me in paradise.
And it's always pointed outthat he's never had an
(17:07):
opportunity to be baptized.
And yet Jesus said you'll bewith me in paradise.
But this idea that you're savedby baptism goes against
everything that the Bible saysabout the need for faith.
Paul's message in Ephesians 2, 9, that we're saved by grace
through faith 2, 8, 9, saved bygrace through faith, and that
(17:28):
not of yourselves but the giftof God.
It's not a verse and you cancircle back and underline that
there is no amount of works thatyou can do to be saved.
You can't be a good person andbe saved.
You can't clean yourself up andthen you'll be saved.
You're only saved by trust,simple trust in what Jesus has
done for us.
(17:50):
Now baptism quickly here.
Baptism is an outward sign ofwhat's happened in our hearts.
You look at Romans, chapter 6,and that's the picture right,
that we died with Christ andwe're risen again with him to
(18:10):
newness of life.
Baptism is really.
It's obedience, for sure, butit's a picture of what's
happened in my heart.
It's not my life anymore.
I'm dying to who I was.
It's a new life in him.
That's what I want, and we'retelling the world that Now this
word meant a lot more for theearly church right, this early
(18:31):
church.
Because you know the story inthe book of Acts as they would
come down to the water and bebaptized, they were essentially
saying I don't care what you doto me and this happens in many
countries today where it'sillegal to be a Christian.
Talk about Jesus.
They would basically be sayingI don't care what you do to me,
(18:54):
I don't care if you take my job,I don't care if you put me on
the outside of society, I don'tcare what you do to me, I don't
care if you take my job, I don'tcare if you put me outside of
society, I don't care if youkill me.
I believe in Jesus, and so whenthey would get baptized so many
times, it was a death sentenceto them, and so baptism, though,
was telling the world exactlywhat Jesus had done.
(19:15):
Now notice what Jesus says inverse 16.
I think it makes a little moreclear he who believes and is
baptized will be saved, but hewho does not believe will be
condemned.
Because that really is theissue.
It's the belief.
It's not necessarily theoutward path.
It's the belief in our heartsthat saves us, and so Jesus
(19:39):
tells them go out and preach thegospel, baptize them.
Now.
Notice verse 17.
Some more slightly confusingthings to come here.
Verse 17, it's signs that willfollow those who believe right
and notice they'll cast outdemons.
Well, you look at the book ofActs, and that is true.
(20:01):
They get from time to time castout demons.
In Acts, chapter 5, verse 16,.
Acts, chapter 8, verse 7, andActs, chapter 16, verse 8, paul
is in Philippi, and he casts outa demon from a little slave
girl, and her life is changed,and the church in Philippi is
born from that kind of thing.
(20:22):
But they did cast out demons,showing that God was stronger
than demons.
Notice verse 17,.
And they will speak with newtongues.
Well, that happened in Acts,chapter 2.
We could talk about that for along time, but we're not going
to.
It happened in Acts, chapter 2.
We could talk about that for along time, but we're not going
to.
It happened in Acts, chapter 2,right, so this actually did
(20:43):
happen.
Now, notice, this is where itgets a little different.
They will take up serpents andif they drink anything deadly,
it will by no means hurt them.
Now, one of these is actuallylisted in the book of Acts, but
it's surprising which one it is.
They picked up serpents fromtime to time.
(21:03):
You'll remember the end of thebook of Acts not on purpose, I
have to put that down.
Not on purpose.
In Acts 28, paul gets off of theshipwreck and he's on the shore
with all these shipwreckedpeople, and they start to.
On the island of Malta, theystart to collect sticks to put
on the fire and Paul not toogood to help.
He picks up a bundle of sticksand he throws them on the fire.
(21:27):
As he throws them on the fire,it's a nightmare, it's my
nightmare.
Right, a viper jumps out ofthat packet of sticks that he
threw on and attaches itself toPaul's arm and Paul being the
tough guy that he was, he shookit off in the fire and he went
on working and you're like Paul,you're so tough man I want to
(21:50):
die right then and there.
And the people were surprisedwhen they saw Paul didn't get
sick, he didn't die from thatvenomous snake, he was fine and
they got pretty excited aboutthat, but God took care of him.
Now I'm sure church tradition isfilled with people who drank
(22:11):
things that were poisonous ormany water that was contaminated
, and they didn't die.
But here it's one of the thingsthat is listed here.
Notice also at the end of verse18, they will lay hands on the
sick and they will recover Actsof healing.
The book of Acts is filled withthose kinds of things as well,
(22:33):
from crippled people to peoplewith disinentery healed by
laying on of hands.
Now that shouldn't besurprising to us, that God can
heal the sick, that God can castout demons, that God can keep
us safe from venomous snakes.
But here's the problem.
(22:53):
Notice there, notice in verse17, how these are all listed and
these signs will follow thosewho believe.
So it's not to say that everyone of these signs will follow
people that believe God.
Could you know, work thesethings in your life?
No big deal, he's got it.
(23:14):
But notice it says they willfollow those who believe.
Now, the problem in our worldtoday, where this gets a little
crazy to us, is that now listenis that believers tend to follow
these things.
Not these things followbelievers, but believers follow
these things.
(23:35):
Oh, we're going to have amiracle meeting tonight and God
can heal, and that's great.
But many believers will followthese kinds of things from time
to time.
The gift of tongues Now Paulsays you can study up on it in 1
Corinthians 14, that noteverybody speaks in tongues.
(23:56):
But in today, today's church,so many of us will follow that.
That's what we want.
We want that kind of thing.
We want some tongues, somethingtingly, something amazing and
and even some, you know, wedon't ever talk about here in
home church because people havethe wrong idea to begin with.
But some actually handle snakesin order to get bit by the
(24:23):
snakes and believe that God willkeep them from dying.
Now I think that's putting Godto the test unnecessarily.
I honestly think, as I've seenvideos of this, it's satanic
because Satan wants to kill, tosteal and destroy.
God never said go handle snakesand it'll be fine.
(24:43):
But yet they do and many timespeople die.
Now people follow all of thesethings, but these things
potentially could follow thosewho believe and it's a sign not
to the believer but to theunbeliever in these things when
they happen.
We'll look at verse 19 andwe'll close it up.
(25:05):
Then, after the Lord had spokento them, he was received up into
heaven and sat down at theright hand of God, acts chapter
one.
This happens Jesus is sharingwith his disciples, saying
message go into all the world tobe my witnesses.
In Jerusalem, judea, samariaand the most parts of the earth,
the Holy Spirit will come uponyou.
(25:27):
And as he's talking in Actschapter 1, he begins to ascend
into heaven.
It's like he's on one of thosebooms, you know, and it's like,
and just he starts going up andthey don't say anything.
Right, you're not going tointerrupt him while he's talking
and they just watch him as hegoes into the palace to where a
couple angels have to say hey,men of Jerusalem, why are you
(25:50):
looking in the air?
You know the same Jesus thatwent is going to come in like
fashion and go right.
And in verse 20, and they wentout and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them andconfirming the word through the
accompanying of sons, amen.
And so we get the ending thatmany probably thought the book
(26:14):
of Mark should have.
And so they all went and theytold the world this good news of
what Jesus had done, and we'repart of that right.
That's always the end of thestory.
The end of the Book of Acts isthat it continues on with us,
that God has the same messagefor us, the good news and we all
(26:36):
are complicated, I think I knowI do right, but the good news
that God has provided a way tobe saved, he's provided hope in
this hopeless world.
All those things, all thosethings that we should know, and
that's our message, simply toget out.
And he finishes with the wordAmen.
So be it.
(26:57):
Let's pray.
God, thank you for this timethat we've had in the book of
Mark and we don't want to stopseeing you in the things that we
read.
And there's no way, if we readyour word, that we won't see you
.
But, god, I pray that you wouldhelp these things to be real in
our life.
God, like your disciples, wewould go out and make a
(27:19):
difference in the world.
That you put each one of us inGod.
It's easy to find ourselvesprobably more likely in verse in
just afraid and locked down.
But, god, you want us to go.
You really do want us to gointo all of our world and share
(27:41):
these truths with others.
So, god, help us the power ofyour spirit to be who you want
us to be and love this worldaround us.
I would love you to thank Godfor all this things in Jesus
name.
Amen.
Love you and thank you for allthis things in Jesus' name.
(28:03):
Amen.
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