Risen Savior (Mark 16:1-20)

But like I said, we're going to be in Mark chapter 16.

Mark 16 · chapter mention

We're going to be reading verses 1 through 19.

So would you please stand with me for the reading of God's Word?

It says, When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Siloam, bought spices so that they could go and anoint him.

Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise.

They were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?

Looking up, they noticed that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side.

They were alarmed.

Don't be alarmed, he told them.

He is not here.

See the place where they put him?

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you to Galilee.

You will see him there just as he told you.

They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them.

And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.

Early on the first day of the week, after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and reported to those who had been with him, as they were mourning and weeping.

Yet when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it.

After this he appeared in a different form to two of them walking on their way into the country.

And they went and reported it to the rest, who did not believe them either.

Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table.

He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen.

Then he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs will accompany those who believe.

In my name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up snakes.

If they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them.

They will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.

So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

Jesus, I I've been praying this every week for the last month or so, but I pray that you would show us, that you would reveal yourself to us in your word here, just in incredible ways, that you would freshen the places where we've become callous to your word or callous to this story of all that you've done for us.

Would you give us new eyes to see?

Would you give us soft hearts?

Lord, help our hearts to not grow hard at the things that we're reading and the things that we're learning, the things that you want to speak to us.

Lord, I pray that we would be clay in your hands, that you would mold us, and that you would use me as your mouthpiece here this morning to bring this word forward in a way, Lord, that we can understand it better, but also apply it to our lives and what we're doing right now.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, You may be seated.

So, like I said, today we finish the book of Mark.

And today, really, where we're starting off, it's a continuation of the last three weeks of what we've been going through in the book of Mark regarding the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus.

And then at the end of this chapter, as we just read, you'll see we're gonna see Jesus' ascension as well.

So last week we ended with Jesus being buried in the tomb by Joseph and by Nicodemus on the Friday afternoon, right before Passover hit.

And as most of you know, the Sabbath starts on Friday at sundown and it ends Saturday at sundown.

And during that time, no one was supposed to do any work or walk any significant uh distance during the Sabbath because it was a day of rest, a day that God had set aside for his people to rest, just like he did on the seventh day of creation.

So we're gonna pick up on the Marys, because we see these two Marys on their story, and it's picking up here on Sunday morning.

But before we jump in to verse one, I want to remind us all of something that we've talked about multiple times as we've gone through the book of Mark.

See, Mark's gospel was intentionally written to be as concise as possible.

It's more concise, and it's the shortest gospel of the four that we see of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And it was written in a way that could be read aloud or could even be acted out in one evening.

So we're gonna be looking as we go through this at a few of the other gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Actually, we're gonna be looking at them a lot today and pulling to kind of answer some of the questions that uh Mark might leave open-ended.

And I want to explain to you kind of um what the Jewish people of this time were used to as far as history.

So the Jews in biblical times had this rich oral tradition and they handed down history in that way through that oral tradition.

And it's very different than how we as Americans learn history today.

Because what we do is we take history and we give all the facts and all the dates and all the geography and all of the numbers in one pass.

And then we close the book and then we go on to the next class.

And that's kind of how we're used to it.

But what they would do is they would tell stories multiple times, and each time that they would tell a story, they would fill in different details and different information that maybe wasn't there the first time.

So by the time you hear the story maybe four or five times, then it's like, okay, now I feel like I have a grasp on what the full history of it is.

And that's one of the reasons we have four gospel accounts, and it's a great example of that because you could read through each gospel.

By the time you get to the fourth, it's like, okay, I think I've got all the information and I think I've pieced most of it together at this point, but each pass through you're learning something, you're getting a little different detail uh than the previous gospel gave you.

It's why when we look at the Old Testament, we have Kings and Chronicles.

Why in the first five books of the Bible there are some stories that are told multiple times, and each time they're filling in little different details.

And I bring this up because Mark's gospel tells us that the Marys encounter an angel on the right side of the tomb, and that angel speaks to them.

And in other accounts, we see that there are actually two angels in the cave.

And this brings up a lot of questions, like, well, why didn't Mark mention that?

But basically, Mark is just mentioning the angel that's speaking.

He's trying to keep it as concise as possible.

So he doesn't mention that there's a second angel in the tomb.

He just says there was an angel on the right, and he started speaking to us.

And so, also in Mark's gospel, it doesn't say that Mary actually encountered Jesus right outside of the tomb and accidentally mistook him as a gardener.

But so Mark's just keeping things concise and not putting in those details, but we're going to look at some other uh the other three gospels to kind of fill in a few of those things here this morning.

But all that to say, Mark's just trying to keep things as concise as possible.

You know, when we understand this method of history, you start to realize that what some people look at and say that's a contradiction, it actually isn't.

They're actually complementing stories, like I was saying, that are filling in different details along the way.

So, with all that said, verse one, it says, When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Siloam bought spices so that they could go and anoint him.

So they waited until Sunday to come to the tomb as they were recognizing the Sabbath.

So as soon as they possibly could, they're headed back to the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, um, are the same women that we took a look at last week.

They're two of Jesus' most faithful followers.

They're observing the crucifixion, and then they're observing his burial that was taking place and the stone being rolled into place.

And now we see them on Sunday morning heading back to that tomb.

But these women, as devoted as they are to Jesus, were not expecting to encounter an empty tomb.

If they were, they wouldn't have gone and bought these spices to bring into the tomb for Jesus to kind of help with the smell that was going to happen with the decaying flesh.

And they do this even though Jesus told his disciples over and over what was going to happen.

And they just still didn't get it at this point in the story of Jesus.

So it says they go and they buy spices, and then verse 2, it says, very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise.

You know, I think we so often just picture these women walking along this path, you know, and there's rays of sunshine and birds singing, and they're just walking along, going about their business.

But I want us to put ourselves in their shoes and think about what they're going through.

Think about what they're about to do.

They are about to, or at least they thought they were about to go into a dark tomb and touch a dead body.

And this would not be without emotion.

They were about to touch the dead body of a dear friend that never sinned against them and that loved them perfectly.

Someone they cared about deeply that had just been handed the most painful death known to mankind, and they witnessed the whole thing.

They were going to anoint a body that was in shreds.

They're gonna anoint it with spices to help the smell of the decaying flesh that they were expecting.

I think the mood was probably one of dread.

Thinking, you know, we have to see his body again.

It's probably hard enough the first time.

They're thinking, you know, we have to touch that body to properly bury it.

And this is gonna be the last time that we see this body, and we're gonna have to say our last goodbyes to this body in this tomb, which obviously doesn't happen, but this is them approaching, not knowing what they're gonna see.

Verse three.

They were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?

So, to Mary and Mary's credit, this took an element of faith on their part.

You know, they bought the spices, they're headed to the tomb, and they had no idea how they were gonna get in to actually perform this anointing on Jesus.

But they had enough faith to actually buy the spices and head in that direction.

Now remember, these two women witnessed the stone being rolled into place on Friday, and they knew that just the two of them couldn't move it.

And when you look at similar stones in Israel and similar locations that are from that same time period as Jesus, it was most likely this big disc-shaped stone that they would roll into kind of a channel that they would dig out right in front of the door.

And there would be kind of a little bowl right there.

And these stones would typically be anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 pounds.

So to get into the tomb, they'd not only have to roll the stone, but they'd actually have to roll it up and out of that bowl that was dug, that little channel that was dug for that stone.

Think about how many people this would take.

If you had to do this, how many people would you ask to come help?

A lot, right?

1500 to 3,000 pounds, and then having to roll it slightly uphill just to get it a little momentum.

So it makes sense that this is the question that they're asking.

Who's gonna help us to roll away this stone?

And something that we don't see in Mark's Gospel, but we do in Matthew's gospel, and I'll just read it to you, it's chapter 27, verses 62 through 66.

So if you're taking notes and want to read it on your own, Matthew 27, verses 62 to 66.

Matthew 27:62–66

And it says, The next day, which followed the preparation day, so this is the Sabbath, the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that while this deceiver, that's how they refer to Jesus, we remember how this deceiver was still uh when he was still alive, he said, After three days I will rise again.

So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day.

Otherwise his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people he has been raised from the dead.

And the last deception will be worse than the first.

You have uh then this is Pilate speaking.

He says, You have a guard of soldiers, Pilate told them.

Go and make it as secure as you know how.

They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards, plural, guards, plural.

There's multiple of them.

So we see that the religious leaders that started all of this by saying Jesus threatened to tear down their temple and then resurrect it in three days, they actually know that Jesus was talking about his own body and not the temple that they were actually accusing him of while he was on trial.

And they actually understood something that the disciples didn't at this point.

That Jesus would rise on the third day, even though he kept telling them and telling them.

Something kept it from getting in.

So to keep the disciples from stealing the body and saying that he was resurrected, they sealed the stone to the grave and they left guards there to make sure Jesus' body was not tampered with and that it wasn't stolen.

So think about what's happening here.

God's using the religious leaders to help make sure that conspiracy theories couldn't be built.

Right?

God's using these men for his own purposes, and they don't even realize it.

Now, remember, last week we saw multiple confirmations of Jesus' death.

We saw multiple groups witness Jesus being placed in the grave and the stone being rolled into place.

And then Jesus' enemies sealing the tomb here today, we see, and then placing guards in front of it.

There's no room for anyone to make a conspiracy theory at this point.

There's no way that a lie could go out and be believed that Jesus didn't really die or that the disciples stole his body.

None of those theories will actually hold water.

Yet that is exactly the theory that the religious leaders are going to try and promote that we're going to see after we look at verse 8.

But first, let's look at verse 4 and get back to the Mary's story.

Verse 4.

Looking up, they noticed that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side.

They were alarmed.

I guess so.

You enter a dark tomb that should be closed, expecting to find a dead body, and then all of a sudden you see movement.

I think I'd be a little jumpy too at that moment, right?

Verse 6.

This is the angel speaking.

He says, Don't be alarmed, he told them.

You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He is risen.

He is not here.

See the place where they put him.

Now, I want to read to you Matthew 28, verses 1 through 7, because it fills in what happened before the women actually got to the tomb.

Matthew 28:1–7

And again, if you're taking notes, that's Matthew 28, 1 through 7.

And I'll read it for you here.

It says, After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb.

He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.

The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.

The angel told the woman, Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who is crucified.

He is not here, for he is risen, just as he said.

Come and see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples, he has risen from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee.

You will see him there.

Listen, I have told you.

So if we piece the two accounts together, like I was talking about when we started, of Mark and Matthew, this is what we have so far.

It says, or yeah, if we piece it together, the angel descends and rolls away the stone, and then he sits on it, which I think is an awesome picture.

Like he conquered it all by himself.

Like, yeah, I got this.

I'm just gonna sit here and take this in for a moment.

The so the stone's rolled away, he's sitting on it, and then the guards pass out because of all that they're witnessing and taken in.

They are just like they are dead men, just laying on the ground there.

At some point, either before or during or after this, Jesus resurrects, and the angel goes inside the tomb.

The women get there, and at this point, the guards are either passed out or they're on their way into town already.

The stone's been rolled away, they walk into the tomb, and this angel in all white is sitting there on their right and tells the woman, look, he is not here, for he has risen just as he said.

And I don't think this angel had snark.

I really don't.

But in my head, I picture him saying it like, he's not here for he has risen.

Just like he said.

Because he told him, you know, over and over.

Did Jesus, and then the other question that comes up at this point too is did Jesus use the door?

Or did he kind of, you know, teleport or walk through walls or something like that?

Because his resurrected body seems to have the ability to walk through walls or to teleport in in some way, which makes me very excited.

Because we are all one day going to have resurrected bodies, much like we see Jesus having his resurrected body.

And I say this because every time my son asks me, you know, if you could have any superpower, Dad, what would it be?

It's always teleportation.

It's no more car rides, no more plane rides.

If you're telling me like right after church, I could go have like handmade pasta in Rome and then be back by one.

Like, that's an amazing superpower, right?

That's where my imagination goes, at least.

But most likely the angel rolled away the stone, not for Jesus to get out, but so that others could get in and see that Jesus was gone and that he had indeed resurrected.

And note that his body was not revived, his body was resurrected, and he was resurrected into his eternal body.

You know, we see stories like Lazarus, where he was dead and then he came back to life, but he came back to life in the same body.

But Jesus was resurrected to his new body, as all of his followers one day will be when he returns.

But this is the first time in scripture that we see this taking place where somebody's resurrected into a new body, not just taking up the old one that they had.

You might be asking, okay, so why is that important?

Why did Jesus have to be resurrected?

You know, or you maybe have the question, didn't Jesus already pay for all of our sins?

So why then did he have to be resurrected?

Because he said on the cross, it is finished.

So why the resurrection?

Well, first, it proves that he's God.

If he hadn't resurrected, I think we'd all still be wondering, you know, well, what if he wasn't God?

And he just claimed to be all the way to death?

Because anybody can claim to be God and then die.

And the resurrection proves that he is God because Jesus is in his resurrected eternal body that no one else, that none of us, are going to receive, like I said, until his second coming.

And Jesus already has his.

Now, the second thing that marks the importance of the resurrection.

It proves that he defeated death and that he defeated sin.

If he stayed in the grave, there'd be no guarantee that those things were conquered, that sin and death were conquered.

We would be left with, like the first thing I was talking about, kind of some doubts, or maybe wondering, or just saying, you know, I sure hope he was God, and I sure hope he defeated sin and death, which would probably lead to, well, maybe we should do some extra works just in case.

And then I think the third thing that marks the importance of the resurrection, we, you know, we've been talking a lot about how Jesus is our compassionate high priest and why he needed to experience so many things to the fullest.

Even pain, you know, we saw during his crucifixion.

With the proof of his life after death, we can now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, know that Jesus is alive and that he stands as our compassionate high priest, and he stands as our mediator between us and God.

Hebrews 7.25 says, Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for us.

Or for them, it actually says.

And then 1 Timothy 2 5 says, For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.

So what does that mean?

You know, Jesus being the mediator.

Jesus is the mediator that stands between the sentencing judge, which is God, and us.

Our sin, our offenses against God are deserving of death.

That's what we owe.

And like we covered last week, it says the wages of sin is death.

That is what we owe.

And Jesus stands in between us and God and says, I've already paid for that.

That wage of their sin has been paid in full.

Jesus' last words on the cross were to telesti.

It is finished, paid in full.

And Jesus' resurrection proves that we have each been paid for in full by Jesus to make a way to his Father in heaven.

So the angel continues, and in my head, honestly, the snark continues a little bit too with this angel.

Verse 7 says, But go, tell his disciples and Peter.

You will see him there.

Just as he told you.

Because Jesus was prepping them and prepping all the way since we saw blind Bartimaeus.

He was prepping them and trying to help them see more clearly what was about to take place.

And it just wasn't sinking in.

If you remember in Mark 14, 27, 28, these are the words of Jesus.

He said, Then Jesus said to them, All of you will fall away, because it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, but after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.

And I just have to wonder if any of these words are circulating through the disciples' heads in these three days where Jesus is in the tomb.

They're expecting to find him in a tomb and bring spices to help with the smell.

It really doesn't seem like they're getting it at all at this point, or like those words of Jesus have been circulating to any capacity.

But I want us to notice in verse 7 that the angel says, Tell his disciples, like give them this message, and Peter.

Peter gets singled out here, which makes me wonder where Peter's head is at this point.

If maybe Peter had come to the conclusion that he had gone too far and that he couldn't be redeemed, or that he could never be associated with Jesus again, or maybe he could never be a disciple of Jesus because of the way that he denied him and even denied knowing him, because he flat out did that in Jesus' greatest time of need.

And I wonder if the Marys had gone to the disciples, I wonder if the Marys had gone to the disciples without that special instruction.

We have a message for you and Peter.

If Peter maybe would have assumed that he was not included in that invitation.

Maybe he's thinking he's not a disciple because he failed so miserably.

So I think in God's mercy, through this angel, he extends an invitation by name to Peter.

Verse 8.

They went out and ran from the tomb because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them.

And they said nothing to anyone since they were afraid.

So they just left a tomb with something in it that wasn't supposed to be there, and something missing that was supposed to be there.

They just got startled in the dark by an angel.

Every time in Scripture we see that, people are pretty terrified.

And then were told that what they had warned for over the last three days was no longer necessary.

You know, that's a lot to take in before your first cup of coffee in the morning, isn't it?

So they go on their way.

Now, remember, I was talking about conspiracy theories developing, right?

Matthew 28, verses 11 through 15, I'll read that to you.

Matthew 28:11–15

But it interjects something at this point in the story, at this point in the narrative.

So Matthew 28, 11, 15 says, as they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.

After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, Say this.

His disciples came during the night and stole him while you were sleeping.

That's important.

If this reaches the governor's ear, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.

They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.

There are so many things that are wrong with this conspiracy theory.

First, these were Roman soldiers, and there were most likely four or more of them on guard at a time.

You know, some will try to argue that these are actually temple guards, they're not Roman soldiers.

Um, that the religious leaders sent the temple guards to do this.

But if the religious leaders had done that, they wouldn't have had to go to Pilate to get permission.

They could have just sent them to do that.

And the guards wouldn't have been worried about getting in trouble with the governor if it was the actually the temple guard.

Um these men were fearful of Pilate, and the religious leaders are saying, hey, we'll take care of it, don't worry about it.

Because if a Roman soldier was found sleeping while they were supposed to be standing guard, they would be put to death.

That was the sentence.

They were just put to death.

That was their punishment.

That's why the religious leaders are saying, if this story that we're telling you to tell reaches the ears of the governor, don't worry, we'll take care of it so they won't kill you, is basically what they're saying.

And even if all four of the soldiers were sleeping, you're telling me that they slept through 11 guys moving a 1,500 plus pound stone right around where they were sleeping.

That just makes zero sense whatsoever.

So, like I said earlier, God provides witnesses and Roman guards and the tomb being sealed to make sure that ridiculous conspiracy theories wouldn't hold water, that they could not be proven.

And this is the perfect example of that.

Now, before we hit verse 9, we're going to take a little break here.

Some of your Bibles will have a note right here that says that verses 9 through 20 are not found in some of the earliest manuscripts.

So this is a good time for us to talk about this as a church.

So, what do we do with passages like this where we have these little notes in our Bible that some of the manuscripts didn't have this chunk of scripture in it?

So that raises questions like is verses 9 through 20 the inspired word of God or not?

Should we study it or should we not, since we're not sure?

Well, it was found in the overwhelming majority of the original manuscripts, but not all.

And some think that the end of the scroll, that's how you know they would have written it, uh, of one of the early manuscripts was maybe damaged and ripped in some way, and that the scribes that were that were copying those scrolls, that's all they had to work with, so they just stopped at verse 8.

But look at verse 8.

With the amazing job that Mark's done of giving this concise account of Jesus, do you think he would end the good news of Jesus with?

And they said nothing to anyone since they were afraid.

Bam, the end.

Doesn't seem like how Mark, you know, would want to end his gospel, I wouldn't think.

Um they never can um, you know, if if it was ended that way, it would leave a lot of questions.

Like, you know, so these women never conveyed the story to the disciples and to Peter that the angel told them to, you know, because it says they said nothing to anyone.

It's a very abrupt ending, and they were afraid.

So verse 8 doesn't sound like you would the way that you would want to end good news, right?

They were afraid.

But back to the question is verses 9 through 20 the inspired word of God?

Should we study it or should we not, since we're not sure?

With all the verses that we see this, where there may be something missing or one manuscript had it and the other one didn't, my question is always this Does this section of scripture that we're looking at, is it disputed in any way?

Or does it cause a dispute with any other doctrine that we see in Scripture?

And the answer every time is no.

All those scriptures where we might see a footnote like this is actually always supported by the rest of Scripture.

And the second question I always ask is does this section of Scripture contradict any other section of Scripture?

And the answer is always no.

So for me, if it doesn't add to doctrine, some new concept that we don't see anywhere else in Scripture, and if it doesn't contradict any doctrine that we see anywhere else in Scripture, then I say, let's take a look at it.

You know, the early church accepted it and they canonized it as scripture.

So who are we to argue with them if they accepted it?

And the other thing is many early church fathers actually quoted the second half of the Gospel of Mark chapter 16 in their writings.

Mark 16 · chapter mention

So they obviously accepted it as the inspired word of God away as well.

So let's take a look at verse 9.

So early on the first day of the week, so Sunday, after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and reported to those who had been with him as they were mourning and weeping.

So John chapter 20 gives us the long version of Mary's encounter.

John 20 · chapter mention

You can read that on your own time if you'd like, where she thought that he was the gardener, and then it says that she clung to him.

But Jesus sends her off to report to those that had been with Jesus previously all that she had seen and heard.

And I love this because women in this time in Israel were not allowed to be disciples of rabbis.

And as backward as it sounds to us in our culture, the testimony of a woman was not to be taken seriously in this culture at this time.

And I love it because Jesus blows the doors off of both of those stereotypes and he elevates and regards women at a much higher standard than the culture did in that day.

So he sends Mary to be the eyewitness of everything that had happened at the tomb and then to go and tell the disciples.

And she does.

And she finds the disciples still mourning and still weeping because they weren't waiting for a resurrection.

If they were, I think they would have set up some lawn chairs on Saturday night right in front of that tomb, saying, We gotta see this.

He said, in three days, you know, I want to see how this goes down and what happens here, and what a sight that would have been.

But they weren't thinking about that.

They thought their rabbi that they've been following for around three years was dead.

They're found thinking that Jesus is gone forever.

Look at verse 11.

It says, Yet when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it.

So not only did they not listen to what Jesus had said, they didn't believe an eyewitness testimony confirming what Jesus had already told them several times at this point.

So what does Jesus do?

Look at verse 12.

After this, he appeared in a different form to two of them walking on their way into the country.

So this is the road to Emmaus, we call it.

And we get the longer version of that in Luke 24.

So you can read that on your own time if you'd like to, where it says, Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

And if there's instant replay in heaven, I want to see this instant replay of Jesus talking about himself all through Scripture.

I think that would just be an amazing thing to encounter.

Verse 13 says, And they, so the two on the road, went and reported it to the rest who did not believe them either.

You know, the disciples, I think it's safe to say, had very hard hearts at this point.

They don't believe eyewitnesses that are confirming all that Jesus had already told them.

And don't look down on these disciples too hard.

Because I think we all struggle with this, don't we?

With our own hardness of heart in whatever area it might be, where we're not listening to God and not listening to others that God is sending to speak to us.

And it's because of the hardness of our heart, I think, that we sin in the first place.

Because that's just pride, thinking that we know better than God does.

It's the hardness of heart that keeps us from surrendering completely to all that God has for us, to his will and to his sovereignty.

I think it's because of the hardness of our hearts that we hold things back instead of allowing him to have all of us.

So I think we need to pray often, and you will you've probably heard me pray it often from up here, that God would soften our hearts.

That the things that he's telling us through his word would penetrate and actually have an effect on us.

That we would actually listen to the people that God is sending into our lives to speak truth as well, and that we would have soft hearts to receive whatever that might be.

But this hardness that's found in the disciples is so bad that Jesus has to show up himself.

Look at verse 14.

Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table.

He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had arisen.

So Jesus just goes in and finally removes all doubt.

And he confirms that he did what he said he would do.

And he rebukes them for their unbelief and for their hardness of heart.

You know, I think this is our main challenge today, our main takeaway from these verses.

It's better to have God point these things out in us to a willing heart than to have God show up and have to rebuke us face to face.

So, my challenge to us today is to ask the Holy Spirit to point out where our hearts might be hard.

Because it's way easier that way, and we usually get a much gentler way that God deals with us if we ask him to point it out, as opposed to him having to show up and tell us and rebuke us face to face.

Verse 15.

Then he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

This right here, this is the Great Commission.

This is Jesus' last directive to his disciples.

Then and now this is for us here today as well.

To put the labor of our hands to helping people come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ so that he can mediate for them too, just like he's already doing for us.

And then discipleship is going one step further, and that is helping those same people that we see come to Christ become more like Jesus as we become more like Jesus.

And then, as it says, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

That's discipleship at its core, and it's a directive to all of Jesus' disciples then and now.

And that's why discipleship is so important and why you hear me talking about it so much.

That's why we're doing that discipleship class in March.

That's why we're doing the parenting class in May to try and learn how we can better fulfill this great commission that Jesus has given us.

Because we're called to it.

It's not an option.

The problem is, I think we so often think that we're not qualified to make disciples.

Or maybe that it's the pastor's job or it's the elder's job to be doing that, which it is, but we're not alone.

It's everybody's job.

All the followers of Christ are to do this.

Jesus was talking to all of his followers here.

Go and make disciples.

And like I mentioned a few weeks ago, if you're a parent, you're already in a discipleship relationship with your kids.

Whether you want to be or not, you are there.

And they are becoming just like you, whether you want them to or not.

And that's really scary to say as a parent, or scary to think about, actually.

So as a church, I want us to be found doing this well.

You know, a couple weeks ago when we talked about this, we're doing the vision message for the year in January.

I've asked each person to pursue discipleship relationships.

Either where you're being discipled or you're discipling somebody else.

So I want to ask, are you seeking those relationships?

How are we doing as a church in fulfilling the Great Commission?

And this isn't your pastor trying to get you more involved, I promise.

This is your pastor saying, Let's do this well.

So Jesus says, go and make disciples and baptize them.

You know, on a side note, we're coming up on our one-year anniversary next month, and we haven't done a baptism yet.

So if you would like to be baptized and you haven't, would you just come tell me afterwards and we'll figure something out to where in the spring we can make that happen?

Whether it's you, whether it's your kids or whatever it might be, if you're ready to take that step, I would just come let me know.

Because it's a beautiful step of obedience, it's a public declaration that you've joined in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection as you're submerged under the water, and then you come back out, just like Jesus came out of the grave.

And it's awesome.

I've never been to a bad baptism.

It's always the church just rejoicing at this public declaration that you're making, that you are a follower of Christ.

So if that's you, let us know.

We're gonna well, we'll make it happen in the spring.

Verse 17.

And these signs will accompany those who believe.

In my name, they will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up snakes, if they should drink in Anything deadly, it will not harm them.

They will lay hands on the sick and they will get well.

It's like Jesus is prepping them for the book of Acts or something, right?

We actually see a really good picture of this, in particular with the snakes, with Paul on the island of Malta in Acts 28.

It says that he was gathering wood for a fire, a viper came and latched on his arm, and he shakes the snake off into the fire, and then the locals are sitting there waiting for him to drop dead because they think he's cursed.

And then he doesn't.

And then they're like, oh, he must be a god.

We should worship this guy.

And then uh we also see that on that island, um, that was accompanied by a bunch of miracles as well that Paul was able to perform through God, obviously.

Uh, that opened up Paul's ministry on this island.

That's exactly what Jesus is talking about here in verse 18.

And this verse has led to some weirdness in Christianity with weird snake handling and church services and all kinds of weird stuff.

But notice that we're responsible to go and preach the gospel.

God is responsible for accompanying miracles.

We don't need to generate them, we don't need to work ourselves up into them as if we could in the first place.

This verse doesn't say to seek this stuff out either, and to bring snakes in and start handling them to prove God's miracles.

But the thing is, is that God can and will use miracles to confirm what we're saying, the gospel, as we're preaching the gospel.

He will use those things to prove that this is truth.

You know, and I've heard firsthand accounts from missionaries of things like this happening in very dark places where nothing short of a miracle, locals listen to the gospel and believe it.

But because God did provide a sign, or he did provide a miracle of some sort that opened the door for the gospel to be believed and then received.

Signs and miracles are never for our own entertainment.

They are to back up the preaching of the gospel.

And we saw Jesus doing that over and over and over again.

Verse 19.

So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, which is a place of authority and a place of honor.

You remember when Jesus prayed, he said, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The kingdom in heaven, Jesus' kingdom in heaven is established.

The kingdom on earth, where do we find that?

It's wherever Jesus is on the throne.

And right now, the only place that that can be is in our hearts.

Where Jesus can live and rule, where his kingdom can reign in our lives, in the church, not the building, but in the people of the church.

Jesus is on his throne in heaven, and he desires to be on the throne of each one of our lives as well.

Verse 20.

And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.

Just as we've been seeing in the book of Acts, uh in our home groups, because we've been going through that for a while now, just as Jesus told them, these things are happening in the book of Acts, and we see it over and over and over, the signs that are accompanying the gospel and God using those things to bring thousands and thousands to faith in Him.

So here this morning, as we close out the book of Mark, this is what I hope we walk away with when we look at the whole thing together.

You know, Jesus' whole purpose from birth to death was to love us.

He stepped down from his heavenly throne to walk among us for 30 some odd years, to deny his flesh on a daily basis, to sacrifice himself for us and love us perfectly.

To stand before the Father and say, Give me the cup of your wrath toward sin.

I'll take all of it and I'll bear it on the cross to pay these sinners debt.

We are those sinners.

Jesus is saying, I will mediate for them because I love them so much.

There's no other human, there's no other God that would ever do any such thing for you.

You know, the Almighty God over everything did this for us.

And he's holding out this gift and saying, Will you take it?

The gift is already paid for.

Will you just take it?

So my question is, will you accept all that he has done for you?

Will you accept that free gift that's free to us was not free to him.

He surely paid for it.

But will you take it?

The word says, if you confess with your mouth, if you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that you will be saved.

That he will stand in that gap and he will mediate between the judgment we deserve and before God the Father.

So will you accept that gift today?

And if you will, will you pray with me this prayer?

Lord, I surrender to you.

I realize that I have sinned against you in so many ways and ask that you would forgive me of my sin.

Jesus, I realize that you stand as the mediator between me and between God.

And I thank you so much for that and pray that you would do that for me here today and for the rest of my life.

Jesus, I thank you for the sacrifice that you made on the cross.

Would you now sit on the throne of my life and guide me?

And may I live my life in a surrendered way, with no hardness of heart, in a way to walk with you and to follow you at your faintest whisper.

And Lord, for all of us, I pray that we would do that.

That we would walk with you, that if there's any hardness of heart in us, or that you would soften us, that you would speak to us, and that we would listen and take things in and allow you to form and to shape us and to mold us into the people that you've created us to be, that you want us to be as we become more and more like Jesus.

Lord, would you speak to us?

Would you show us the changes that you want to make in our life?

Would you show us how to be more like Jesus?

Would you show us how to be in relationships that help others become more like Jesus as well?

Lord, we love you and we thank you so much for all that Jesus did.

Lord, we thank you for the book of Mark and all that you've shown us in this time going through it.

I pray we would learn and apply things that wouldn't fade away, but that would last for the rest of our lives.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.