In today’s sermon Pastor Babij teaches how to understand the four possible endings to the gospel of Mark. Pastor Babij explains how these different endings present no contradictions of established Christian doctrine.
Pastor Babij also exhorts Christians not to engage in sinful unbelief, as such will lead to certain condemnation before God’s judgement seat. Pastor Babij shows that God uses Christians, not miracles, as His witnesses of the impending judgement.
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let’s take our our bibles and turn to the gospel of mark i’m coming actually i’m the this is the last official message in the in the gospel of mark and um so my plan i think my plan will be for the future after mark is that i uh probably will do the solos of scripture because of the reformation here uh you know saved by faith by grace by scripture by christ and alone and so i i may do those and then also i may uh preach on the doctrines of grace because some people have not ever heard that and then also um i’ll probably and then i’ll do two messages on um the discipleship qualities in mark there’s eight of them i’ll probably do that next and then i’ll do the other things and eventually i think i’m heading to first peter so but this morning we’re in a the last chapter of mark and as i mentioned last time there is a problem all right and let me just give you the problem real quick the problem is that there are um at least four endings of the gospel of mark curran in manuscripts greek manuscripts that they know of uh the first ending would be that the last 12 verses of this gospel are not are actually absent from the old discrete manuscripts from old latin codex manuscripts from sciatica manuscripts uh syriac manuscripts and 100 armenian manuscripts and two of the georgian manuscripts so there would be in other words it ends at verse number eight in those manuscripts of course um the second view would be that several witnesses including four greek manuscripts of the seventh eighth and ninth centuries as well as old latin uh manus uh actually versions they would say that um there’s plenty of witness to say that from verse 9 to 20 should be there in our bibles all right and then of course the traditional ending uh so familiar to the authorized version uh of other translations like the texas receptives which we get the king james version the new king james version right and there are a vast amount of manuscripts some 16 manuscripts that contain the last section of verses from 9 through verse number 20. uh so now saying all that i i do have to say this that none would ever view one has on this issue there is really no contradiction to the teaching of the christian faith there’s uh it’s not going to it’s not going to uh really diminish anyone’s faith whatever view they choose because everything found in this passage is found in all the other gospels at least and or the rest of the bible i would say except maybe one thing all right so you you have to ask the question well how did this happen well how do they actually uh determine when it comes to manuscript evidence well they determine uh alternative in actually three ways source what they call source criticism and what source criticism is uh what manuscripts what original greek manuscripts support a short ending or a long ending all right secondly text criticism that’s the external evidence like manuscripts versions of the bible and of course what the church fathers have said that means the ones that were discipled by the apostles and those fathers what did they say about the ending and then of course there would also be internal evidence like the language of the book is inconsistent with what mark already wrote the vocabulary is it the same vocabulary mark used throughout the rest of the the gospel all right the syntax is the same style is is it the same context uh what about the content in theology is it all there at the end and then of course what’s mark’s intention at the end of the gospel so all these things come into play when you decide whether uh you include it or not now if you notice in your bibles it probably all the bibles you have in your hands include verses 9 through 20 right all right it includes it all right and then it has a little mark at the end of it all right it says uh at the end very end they’ll say and they promptly reported all these instructions to peter and his companions and after that jesus himself sent out sent out that uh through them from the east to the west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of the eternal salvation right so that is either in the short ending after verse number eight or in the long ending after verse number 20.
all right but there’s only very little manuscript evidence for that that’s why it’s in brackets right now uh and of course there’s bibliology the doctrine of preservation god of course preserved the scriptures through manuscript and testimony in their original text so really when we say we believe the bible what we’re saying is that we believe what is written in the original manuscripts of scripture right now the the thing is that of course you’re going to think you’re going to you’re going to ask where do i land of course i’m going to tell you in a minute uh but why would this problem come about uh what happened well several things happen uh before i get to the text i’m i’m getting there i’m not going to spend a lot of time on this this is like in a fiat for a theology class but uh jerome which was one of a very important uh church father uh really what he started doing is that when he wrote the latin vulgate he included the long ending all right in the latin vulgate was was extremely important and influential in the church before the english bible came about and so why did he include the long ending in the latin vulgate well perhaps for the same reasons that it’s included in our bibles today it antiquity traditional timidity or not wanting to rock the boat because in 400 a.d a riot broke out in tripoli where jerome’s translation of jonah chapter 4 verse number 6 was read publicly and he used the word ivy instead of the word gourd of course that described the plant that sheltered jonah if you remember in that minor prophet jonah uh and of course augustine saint augustine wrote to jerome about the situation pleading with him to temper how much he tampered with the traditional text so even though jerome wrote a defiant letter back it is likely that there were limits to his alterations so in other words if a riot broke out over the description of a plant in jonah how much more chaos could result if jerome had omitted jesus appearance to his disciples in mark chapter 16.
and then also historically a man named victor of antioch in the fourth of the fifth and sixth centuries notes the very many copies of the gospel ended at verse number eight and then he said a very many number of the gospels also ended at verse 20.
uh so he weighs that out and victor is important because his commentary was extremely popular on the gospel of mark in the later church and of course the testimony of the church fathers is very it’s really has a very interesting trend to it from the earliest discussion on the authenticity of of this passage the fathers indicated that most of the copies of mark ended in verse number eight yet in the later century the short ending was increasingly looked on as unfavorable and in the standard commentary on mark in the middle age the short ending was rejected putting this on a course which uh of course in other words the majority in the middle ages start started as um to be the popular one and of course that’s verses nine through verse number 20. of course my i would say of course we need to leave it alone it’s in the scripture and um i would find that um as i think about it as mentioning last time this problem of the ending of mark and the four endings of the gospel the last ending had hardly any manuscript evidence at all i didn’t mention that one but in my reading and my research of the four endings i i would say this one chapter i said man i believe in the short ending the next chapter i read i believe in the long ending you know and i’d go back and forth like this because that’s how it reads i mean you have convincing people to convince you of why you should believe this or that but i think that you know as i considered it myself say what am i gonna do about it um i think that um i’m kind of convinced about the long ending and my being convinced now there are some questions and problems with that but i’m convinced for this reason i studied the passage and i said you know what this does sound like how mark would end this right he’s very abrupt to the point right and he wants to put before the apostles they’re faltering faith right and challenge them about what they’re supposed to do and what are they supposed to do preach the gospel to the world so i would say this i think after studying the verse and looking at it i think that the long ending is the ending i really do now of course someone very much more smarter than me can convince me otherwise but they can’t convince me of what i see and uh it was even uh rc lenski uh who was a lutheran who wrote this the gospel he’s talking about the gospel mark shows careful consideration on in harmonization well with its beginning especially in this that the apostles are ordered to preach the gospel in all the world and they indeed did this this is strong evidence for mark’s composition of this fitting conclusion i agree with that i believe that uh it’s there in scripture i do believe in the preservation of the word of god and god preserved it for us today and i do think except for two points maybe maybe one specifically that possibly i don’t know how it got in there all right but so saying that let’s look at the passage and you decide for yourself but i believe that this is definitely part of the message that mark penned for his people now as we look at that and before i have a word of prayer we’re looking this now in this passage about the post-resurrection ministry of jesus on earth and you see something highlighted here you see the kindness of the lord himself and in the backdrop you see the eyewitness testimony of the resurrect post-resurrection jesus and then unbelief or belief that’s what you see all right now let’s see how that looks in scripture this morning but before i do that let’s pray lord this morning i pray that you would just lead us into your word i pray that you would show us what mark was intending to say here for us as he concludes this great gospel and i pray lord that we would really look at it ourselves in a way where we see the challenge that he we see here and we we will notice the the force that comes in this passage about what the apostles were supposed to be believing and what they were finally going to do and i pray you would help us uh to be comforted by this truth and yet at the same time be rebuked by it and i ask this in christ’s name amen all right so the first thing that we’re going to see is the kindness of the lord manifested in jesus remember this is after his resurrection he died on the cross he is now resurrected and now he is out of the tomb and he is appearing to people all right now if you notice in mark it says in mark chapter 16 verse number 9 there’s at least several appearances that are mentioned actually there’s three mentioned in mark the first one is jesus appears to one person and that person is mary magdalene notice in verse number nine now after he had risen early on the first day of the week he appeared first to mary magdalene from whom he had cast out seven demons all right that’s the first person that he actually uh appears to now the benefactor of mary’s condition and position is the lord himself in other words because jesus cast seven demons out of mary this put her in really put her on a course that made her foremost among the women she was the foremost disciples she was the one at the tomb she was the one leading the women she was unafraid of anything anybody would say so mary beheld the glorious body of his of her savior and testified that he was indeed living so he appeared to her first now what does mary do after the appearance of the resurrection of jesus well she goes and she reports what she saw to who to the disciples right specifically to the apostles right that have already been chosen in the beginning beginning of mark now notice what she it says in verse number it says morning she finds them mourning and weeping it says she went and reported to those who had been with him while they were mourning and weeping now again for your information mark is the only gospel that tells us the disciples were mourning and weakening weeping now that’s that’s an interesting thing the other gospels did not mention so the disciples heard her testimony but come on who can believe a woman who was once riddled with demons can your is her testimony really reliable they really i don’t really think they considered her testimony reliable witness and look at the text what it says about the disciples response to her witness in verse number 11.
when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her they refused to believe it now this is the motif that marx started in the beginning this motif of unbelief it’s all over mark more than any of the gospels it’s this thing of challenging unbelief why because unbelief is such a deadly thing it’s a damning thing it’s an eternally damning thing so if anybody’s going to get this right it has to be the apostles so see to me this would be appropriate language that a gospel writer would bring and and show us in the word of god about how deadly it is to be an unbelief all right that’s not it now let’s look at the second appearance he appears to two in verse number 12 to 13. it says there after that after he appeared in a different to two of them while they were walking on their way to the country all right let me stop right there now even though mark doesn’t mention who they are we know who they are we know that these are the two disciples that were walking on the road to emmaus about seven miles from jerusalem right now let’s pick that up for a moment in and turn your bibles to luke right right there you’re right there in luke go to chapter 24 and notice verse number 13 and then we’re going to look down to verse number 27.
now while you’re turning there following christ’s resurrection a fr and a friend were going to emmaus when they encountered another traveler on the road emmaus was a town in judea that appeared in the book i’ll write the gospel of luke notice in verse number 13. it says and behold this is luke 24 13.
and behold two of them were going that very day to a village named emmaus which was about seven miles from jerusalem all right now let me stop for a minute two of the disciples were walking to emmaus when they of course meet a stranger of course the stranger is jesus but they don’t recognize him all right and the reason why it says in the passage of scripture because jesus appeared in a different form it what it means there is that he he was able to withhold his identity from them it didn’t mean actually it’s the word morph in greek right you know we get the you know these words to morph things you know morphology all right well here he in a sense morphed himself where he was able to prevent others from recognizing who he was now how he did that i don’t know he has a resurrected body who knows what he he did right so three travelers walked together but the disciples did not recognize that stranger was jesus and jesus asked them what they were talking about and the disciples told him all about the resurrection the empty tomb how discouraged they were that things didn’t work out like they hoped they would and so look pick it up at verse 14 of luke chapter and they were talking with each other about all the things which had taken place while they were talking and discussing jesus himself approached and began traveling with them but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him and he said to them what are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking and they stood still and looked looking sad one of them named cleophys answered and said to him are you the only one visiting jerusalem unaware of the things which had happened here in these days verse 19 and he said to them what things and they said to him the things about jesus the nazarene who was a prophet mighty indeed and word in the sight of god and all the people and all the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to this to the sentence of death and crucified him but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem israel indeed beside all this it is the third day since these things happen but also some women among us amazed us when they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body they came saying that he had also that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive in verse 24 some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the woman also said but him they did not see now if you notice that this is important that the witnesses are witnessing to these these two men on the road to emmaus and they’re believing the witness of the women all right they’re believing the witness of the women all right now what does jesus jesus do well he rebukes them look at verse number 25 and he said to them o foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken was it not necessary for the christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory then beginning with moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself in other words jesus was saying listen the old testament’s talking about me and he explains it to them and of course later on it says and their heart when jesus appeared well what happened is that they went on and they invited jesus to uh spend the night with him and it’s these three uh jesus accepted their invitation and spent to spend the night and as they were eating a meal he blessed and broke it and gave it to them to eat and at that very moment the disciples recognized him and then he vanished from their sight and they returned to jerusalem to report the amazing event to the other apostles so in other words that jesus unveiled himself to them he vanished out of their sight and yet now they believed so here in mark it tells us that these two travelers went back and reported their encounter with the res with of course uh with the resurrected jesus now let’s turn back to mark chapter 16 notice verse number 13 so in other words what was the disciples response to their witness well look at what it says in verse 13.
they went away and reported it to the others the others are the apostles but they did not believe them either do you see what’s going on here that the ones who ought to believe are not believing but everybody else is believing the women are believing their testimony is true but now the disciples are not believing now if you remember way back when i started preaching in mark i mentioned the greatest wickedness that exists among humanity and you remember it was this unbelief it’s still unbelief unbelief is a wickedness in the world unbelief is a special evil because unbelief tends to make the heart evil and an evil heart has a tendency to turn away from the living god in fact that’s what it says in hebrews in hebrews chapter 3 verse number 12 it says take care brethren that there not be anyone among you with an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living god in other words if someone remains in unbelief they will fall away from anything they knew about the true and the living god there are several things actually that will take place when someone falls away from and and stays and remains in unbelief the first thing that takes place is that they will turn their affections toward the world and what it has to offer and what how it concludes issues because it says this in the book of acts when the people heard moses and his testimony and they didn’t believe him it says in acts chapter 7 verse 39 our fathers were unwilling unwillingly to be obedient to him that’s moses but repudiated him in their hearts and turned back to egypt see that’s what happens a person turns back to what they know if they are in unbelief and of course they start worshiping what they can make with their own hands in other words they end up as an idolater whatever the idol they want to make in their mind they’ll make it that’s this is what it says in acts it says saying to aaron that was of course uh moses brother who did most of the speaking make us make for us gods who will go before us for this moses who led us out of the land of egypt we do not know what happened to him and then it says in verse 41 of that chapter of chapter 7 of acts and at that at that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands there it is that’s the sense of idolatry that if a person remains in unbelief they will that doesn’t mean they stop worshiping it doesn’t mean they stop being religious it doesn’t mean any of those things what it means is they they just replace it with something else or they continue or go back to their old system or they go back to their own philosophical framework they go back to what they know that’s what they do or they’re influenced by the world and that’s why we have so many uh you know people go to fortune tellers they go to hand and card readers they go to articulate professors they go to f a feisty talk show host who really have become the moral and spiritual compass of our day get that and many people listen to them as if they know the truth and they’re leading people the right way it to me it’s just the pooling of ignorance and foolishness when you listen to them speak so what that’s what they do a second thing that happens if somebody remains in unbelief is that and they stay on the path of unbelief is that god will turn away from them and give them up to the twisted desires of their own heart that god will hand them over to worship the gods they prefer that’s what will happen and that’s exactly what happens when somebody rejects god’s revelation and rejects jesus christ so if a person rejects god’s general revelation in creation and then when god’s special revelation is unfolded to them and they reject that also then in both cases the only thing left for that person to do is to remain an idolater there’s no other place to go looking outside of god’s plan for deliverance and blessing always leads to further bondage always and of course hebrews tells us that try to prevent people from staying in unbelief try to prevent people from having an evil heart of unbelief where it says but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin specifically deceitfulness of a god that you make in your own mind that you think you ought to worship or that’s the way you think god ought to be or god would never do that you know god’s too loving to send someone to a place called hell so i don’t worship that guy well if you don’t worship that god and you even call that god jesus you have the wrong god that’s not the god of the bible so i’m saying all this to say how unbelief is a very damning sin and many times when people come to christ they’re they’re coming turning from their unbelief to believe in jesus and they’re turning from their idolatry to believe in jesus what they’ve been what they’ve been worshiping they’re turning to jesus and they’re believing in him all right now with all saying all that no let’s let’s look back at the gospel of mark chapter 16 verse and see how jesus handles unbelief in his own disciples who will eventually function as apostles in verse number 14 jesus appears to the eleven and we see the kindness of the lord shown to them in their in his rebuke notice what it says after verse 14 after he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table and he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen so the disciples in other words are rebuked for their unbelief and for their the spiritual condition of their heart they had hearts in other words their mind their emotion their will refused to bend and yield to the proper evidence that jesus indeed had risen from the grave they refused to listen to the witnesses that god had already produced at that time they refused to witness take their witness as legitimate and again for your information mark is the only one of the gospels who tells us that the disciples were reclining at the table dining so in other words not believing the witnesses the lord sends across our path is a very serious matter some will say well i didn’t see any miracles when i prayed to the lord to give me money he didn’t give me any i’ve never heard his voice so i conclude that religion is a crutch i don’t need to believe in god and i don’t believe that jesus rose from the dead if you need to believe it in order to get by then that’s fine you believe it but i don’t believe it see the lord will say to those with similar stories well i sent a co-worker to you and that co-worker shared the gospel with you and you didn’t believe that witness or i had that faithful christian aunt and uncle during holidays they used to share the gospel with you during the holidays and they lived the gospel before your eyes and you didn’t listen to them and what about that faithful sunday school teacher that you had as a youth that shared the gospel with you many many times in many many lessons until you thought you had grown up out of those children bible stories and didn’t believe yet or that little church that preached the gospel two times a year when you decided to attend church for christmas and each easter that’s if it was if you weren’t uh they were not too busy doing something else that was more attractive to pull you away from your biannual door darkening of a church see all those things in other words everyone who sits here today was witness to somebody every one of us even those who did not believe people were wit came alongside of them and they shared the gospel with them they shared why their life was different with them you know those witnesses are ordained by god so if you decided not to listen to someone when it may be the only witness god may send you and you remain in your unbelief you are guilty all right you are guilty of unbelief you are you remain in that condition of course obviously the lord takes our ambassadorship seriously we’re ambassadors for christ ambassadors do not come with their own agenda they do not come on their own authority ambassadors come with the agenda of another on the authority of another we witness on the authority of jesus christ in other words we christians are aliens in this world and have been called by christ to bring the word of god the gospel to the world that is steeped in darkness and that’s our own family that’s the people we work with that’s the people we rub shoulders with elbows with we see every single day we’re responsible for them we can’t be silent in other words you and i are witnesses we are witnesses to this message and thankfully thankfully at the end all the disciples do believe and they of course believe with a world conquering faith you wouldn’t be sitting here if they didn’t believe because their witness went to the next person which went to the next generation to the next century all the way up until the present and we’re still witnessing the truths of the gospel so the apostles are commissioned to take this life-giving gospel to the world right so that’s what we see next so we see now the unbelief being dealt with now we say okay after unbelief is what well let’s what it says in verse number 15 of mark all right here’s the command verse 15 and he said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation isn’t that the command we have isn’t that what we’re supposed to do right it doesn’t matter who they are if they’re a creature a human being created an image of god they are a candidate for our witness right doesn’t matter what religion they came from doesn’t matter what they were born into doesn’t matter the color of their skin doesn’t matter anything about them their culture we’re to witness to them we are to bring the gospel to them that’s what we’re supposed to do now of course there’s terms of the gospel you know the gospel is always a two-edged sword it’s sharp on the top of the sword and it’s sharp on the bottom of the sword right it’s a two-edged sword it’s going in very sharply into someone’s heart so there’s two if we’re looking at the top and the bottom of a sword being sharp what’s the top part of the sword it says in verse number 16 it says this of course the term is this christ the savior he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved there is the sharp end of the top end of the sword the gospel is to be preached to all nations of people with one divine purpose that they all would believe that they would all be rescued from their unbelief in their idolatry that’s the goal the mission reaches to the end of time until the lord comes back we’re never to stop doing this as a church and of course believing is that trust and confidence in the heart that rest fully upon the gospel embracing the entire course of believing i believe it all i don’t understand it all but i believe it all because the one it comes from is the god of truth who cannot tell alive so i believe it and as i grow in christ i’m understanding more of what i believe isn’t is not why we’re here we’re understanding more of who he is of what we’re supposed to believe and what we’re supposed to do and we see here what we’re supposed to do is make sure that we speak forth the gospel so this believing is embracing the whole thing which includes in our passage identifying in the lord in believer’s baptism all right so in other words believing in christ and baptism go together in baptism christ identifies with the sinner when we become believers and confess christ as our lord and savior we identify with christ in his death and his burial and his resurrection right so we’re identified with his work he did on our behalf and of course that becomes a public thing where we stand in the water and as we stand in the water it’s it’s our old life when we go down in the water we’re being buried right to our sin and our old life when we come back up out of the water we’re raised to resurrection a new life right we’re now we’re new believers the old life is i’m not gonna obey the devil anymore i’m not gonna live for him or the world or or even my whole own remaining corruption i want to live now for christ i have a new life in christ so jesus saves those who believe and keep he keeps them saved saved with a salvation once for all as it says jesus rescues and delivers believers from moral danger of death and judgment god demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we’re we’re yet centers christ died for us and then it says more than much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of god through him so in initially what are we saved from we’re saved from god’s condemnation and wrath upon our sin upon who we are we’re we’re the only way we’re going to be saved from that is to believe in jesus there’s no other way there’s no other one who can save us from that so a christian can stand and declare i have been saved you know you’re saved today can you declare that with with a hundred percent confidence that you are saved that my whole position has changed from one of not being saved to one of being saved one of being of one of being condemned to one of being free from god’s condemnation in other words we are moved from one place to another from the place of not being a christian to the place of becoming a real biblical christian persevering right to the end are are you that kind of christian do you know that for sure are there any doubts in your mind that if you were to die today where you would end out you got to you have to those doubts have to be cleared up in scripture there’s a boldness that god gives us about being christian if you don’t have the boldness you won’t witness because you don’t believe you you’re all what you are what you’re supposed to be as a believer boldness comes from believing i believe these things i believe all of it and so therefore i can proclaim it i can preach it with confidence i don’t doubt it at all that this is the truth that i’ll go to my grave preaching it because it is the truth there’s nothing else that can save you and i jesus christ’s death satisfied god’s judgment on sin so because of that the removal of god’s anger towards sinners and of course that’s the appeasing of god’s wrath when i believed in jesus christ as my lord and savior god jesus christ removed god’s wrath from me and now i have become his friend i’m at peace with him because of the blood of christ that’s the top end edge of the sword what’s the bottom of the edge of the sword look at verse 16.
it says the middle of the verse but he who has disbelieved there it is again shall be condemned is that not clear i love mark for this reason he does not mince with words he doesn’t go on this long thing if you want to know what to believe here it is he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved but here’s the other end he who has disbelieved shall be condemned in other words every time you and i witness every time the gospel is up is preached it’s going out to either save or condemn that’s sobering that’s serious so here’s here’s a very sobering thought a person that comes to disbelieve and remain in disbelief at that moment shall have the verdict of condemnation pronounced upon them by christ the judge of all people so the final judgment is a day that has been set with eternity with actually certainty that god will judge the world and all those who have not repented will receive god’s justice all those who have repented and trusted in his son jesus christ will receive mercy and escape the just wrath of god if you neglect the only great means of salvation to escape god’s wrath well you’ll stand alone to face the justice of god it will not be a matter then of how can i escape but the cold firm reality is there is no escape you realize that when people stand before jesus there’s no longer escape that’s what unbelief will do the gospel will go go out to save and the gospel will go out to condemn that’s the power of the gospel see god hates all sin and his righteous demands that he punish sin not just a few sins all sin lord tells us in exodus who keeps loving kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity transgression and sin yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished god will take care of that all right let me uh look at the last part of this and then i’ll close all right here’s the promise of the resurrected lord that’s given by mark and the promise is actually i would say first of all that god is going to say to his disciples i’ll be with you and how does he tell them that well if you notice in verse number 17 it says these signs will accompany those who have believed all right now remember signs specifically were for the apostles signs were credentials for the apostles and their gospel message to specifically show that the lord jesus was present with them all right so it says there in verse number 17 it says signs will accompany those who have believed in my name they will cast out demons right so who in the beginning of mark were able to cast out demons not everyone only the apostles were able to do it right it says in mark 3 14 and he appointed 12 so that they would be with him and he could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons so right there we see that in the second thing they will speak in new tongues that would be not gibberish not languages that cannot be understood but this is foreign languages that had never been learned by the speakers but were perfectly understood by those who spoke the language all right that’s what it’s talking about there right they will speak be able to preach the gospel where do we state we see that in the book of acts they preach the gospel to the gentiles to the jews to the samaritans and we see the manifestation of tongues that they heard these guys preaching in their own language when they knew they didn’t never study that language or could not speak that language so in the spirit if you’re going to get the gospel out you that would be a signed gift to the apostles to make sure that would happen all right and the next thing is that they would pick up serpents all right now we do know that in acts chapter 28 there is a section in that part where paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on a fire and a viper a snake came out and uh because of the heat of the fire and fasting onto his hand and the the bible tells us in acts that the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand and began to say to one another undoubtedly this man is a murderer and though he had uh has been saved from the sea when they got saved from the shipwreck justice has not allowed him to live and they were waiting for paul to blow up and keel over dead well he doesn’t kill over dead he shook off the creature and uh he didn’t swell up he didn’t fall down dead and of course uh they waited for a long time for that to happen and nothing happened all right so we see that again paul being apostle that particular one took place and the he was able to preach the gospel to them and then we also know that he was able to heal people right there on the island of malta there in uh after that shipwreck and then it says there and if they drink deadly poison it will not hurt them they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover now the drink any deadly poison is found nowhere in the bible except here so see that would be a question that people have why is that there um of course the other one that you know they would lay hands on people and they would be healed that’s all over the scriptures that’s all over the ministry of the apostles right all of those are saying this listen when you go out there apostles and preach and the word of god’s not written yet i’m going to give you these signs to prove that they’re divine and come from heaven and the message you have comes from god and so these signs are going to be accompanying your message i’m going to be with you right and so that’s what he’s saying there and then in mark chapter 16 verse number 19 it says so then when the lord jesus had spoken to them he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of god so he gave he gives them the commission as all the other gospels have done all right and he goes to heaven uh and of course that is all over the word of god we know that and but remember when jesus ascended into heaven what did he tell his disciples to do go right out and preach the gospel no go wait in jerusalem for the holy spirit to be poured out upon you and don’t do a thing until the spirit of god is poured out upon you and then you’ll be witness to me in you know in jerusalem judea and the other part of the world and then the unfinished work of christ has been given to not only the disciples but to us in verse number 20 it says and they went out and preached everywhere and while the lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed now usually that’s where it ends that’s where the gospel of mark ends right there in verse number 20.
now you have that other added section there that has really uh very little manuscript evidence so that’s why they put that in brackets that’s probably one thing that wasn’t there so either that was connected in verse number eight or it was connected in verse number 20.
so that there’s the message of mark i so i when i looked at this i said obviously i i believe this is exactly what mark intended to conclude his uh gospel with because it seems like everything he said in the gospel kind of like comes out very rapidly into the last section and then he commissions jesus ascends into heaven he commissions his disciples and then that commission is also given to us all right so the apostles have to be firm in what they believe so they can preach with boldness and god says i’m not i’m going to be with you i’m going to work with you don’t worry i’m like it says in matthew i’ll never leave you or forsake you right i’ll never depart from you and has that come true yes or some 2 000 years plus separated from this particular point in history and the gospel is still going out right people are still getting saved you’re you got saved right you who know christ are here because somebody witnessed to you the gospel of jesus christ came to you you repented you had a change of mind about who god is and who christ is and because repentance means you ask certain questions about god see does god make a difference to me in my life does my life in any way confirm that i believe in him have i been living as i had an endless lease on life and will never die or what am i how am i living what is the purpose of life what’s the end going to be see repentance changes our mind about not only who god is in christ jesus but about what we are supposed to believe and how we’re supposed to believe that because it’s also a redirection of our heart towards jesus by the preaching of the word of god the scriptures reveal the status and the dignity and the significance of jesus christ and it is clear that jesus is the central person and focus of god’s program for salvation of all men and women everywhere at all times and it never has been different believing the gospel means to obey the message concerning our lord jesus christ that he is the son of god that he is god’s own way of salvation and that god sent jesus to the cross that god put all our sin on him and punished them in him that’s what we ought to believe that’s what the scriptures teach so believing the gospel means that you stop all self-justification every reliance upon your good deeds and your own efforts and you believe simply in the work of jesus christ on behalf of sinners on the cross his death his burial his resurrection and so what is the gospel of mark supposed to do for us too well remember it’s the gospel about the servant right the servant jesus christ so it should do the same for us once we grasp the message once we are a hundred percent sure we are been saved by jesus christ and we’re we have the spirit of god living in us then we’re called to be the servants of jesus christ all right he’s our master we are his servants and we’re to serve jesus christ in order to serve his people so that they may hear the gospel from our mouth from our life and so that they may be saved and brought to maturity that’s the whole purpose of god’s plan to save us to bring us into maturity and then to bring us into the presence of god that’s how it’s working you’ve got to make sure that you’re on that path do you know if believe me if you’re here today and you do not know 100 that you’re saved please talk to me pull somebody aside and tell them you don’t you’re not sure and young people i do want to challenge you don’t go through the rest of your life thinking this is this is something that you don’t need to believe this is something you should believing be believing right now in your life and growing in your knowledge and wisdom of jesus christ because young people are definitely the next generation of christians i pray they’d be strong ones and they’d be firm in the faith believing the scriptures and believing and the scriptures in a way they can speak of it with boldness not ashamed to talk about it with family friends or anybody else just want to tell people about jesus christ and in doing so people get saved people come to the knowledge of jesus christ and god’s work goes on so that’s the end of mark it’s been a long journey i started in 2014 actually the end of the year so that’s about what i don’t know how long it is but it’s a long time but i i thought it was very interesting gospel and very helpful in bolstering my faith in the truth let’s pray lord thank you this morning for allowing us to have the gospels in our hand thank you lord jesus that contained in them are the very truths that we need to be saved but lord i’m very aware of that when the gospel goes out it goes out as a two-edged sword it’s either going to save and rescue some from someone from unbelief or it’s going to condemn someone in their unbelief and i pray lord that as long as somebody has breath and red blood running through their veins i pray lord that you would always give them the chance to be saved convict their heart lord of sin of your righteousness and judgment and holy spirit you know you’re the necessary condition for us to be able to say yes to christ so lord convict us so we see christ as the only solution to be rescued from the condemnation of our sin and i prayed that we would confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that god raised him from the dead and in doing so lord save us and let us see the evidence of salvation in our life with a changed mind and the changed will and even changed the motions about you lord that we would come to love you because of the great things you’ve done in our stead on our behalf so this morning we want to give you praise and glory for all that has been done and all that you will continue to do in our life we look forward some day lord to being with you in your presence and i pray this in christ’s name amen