Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 42 and our hardback hymnal, All
Hail the Power. And may the Lord give us grace
to worship him this morning. Number 42, let's all stand together. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth a royal diadem and
crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by
His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every
tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and
crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty ascribe, And
crown Him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall, We'll join the everlasting song and
crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all. Please be seated. Good morning. How old is Armita today? 94.
Armita's birthday is today and she's 94 years old. Thank the
Lord for her. by way of announcements. Also,
Anne Neal's sister passed away this week and she and Wayne have
gone to the funeral. If you haven't yet read the letter
that Bruce Crabtree wrote, it's in your bulletin this morning.
I want to strongly encourage you to read that. You know, every week, a lot of
time and effort, I don't have anything in there this week so
I can say this, but a lot of time and effort goes into, a
lot of prayer goes into the articles that we put in the bulletin and
they're for your encouragement. I hope you'll take the time,
make the effort to read it. But Bruce's letter is just so,
so encouraging to hear about how The Lord is giving them grace
in this time of great, great trial. This morning, we are going to
say farewell to our dear brother Mark. Lord willing, we'll close
this account of the gospel up in the two messages that the
Lord has given me for today. And God has used Mark's testimony
of the gospel to lead us week by week over the last several
months to set our affections on things above where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God and how thankful we are for
the for the witness that this brother has been and for the
testimony that the Lord gave him for us. I pray the Lord will
be pleased to bless us once again today. I want you to know how
thankful I am for you and thankful for the blessing that you all
have been to Tricia and I over these years. Robert, thank you
brother for the message you brought Wednesday night. It was a blessing,
blessing to the church. Thankful for these men that are
faithful to bring the gospel in my absence. All right, let's
go to the Lord and ask his blessings on our time together. Our merciful
heavenly father, once again, you have in your good and merciful
providence brought us each to this place. Oh, how we pray that
you would spread the table with the bread of life, that you would
lead us into green pastures, that you would allow us to drink
from living waters, that you would send your spirit and power
and cause us, Lord, to truly have our hope in none other than
thy dear Son, who is the Savior of sinners, and who has accomplished
all by himself everything that you require for us to be righteous
and for us to be justified in thy presence. Lord, cause Christ
to be lifted up. Open your word, open our hearts.
Lord, we do pray for Bruce and Joe. We thank you for the testimony
that you have given to them and for the hope that they have in
Christ for life eternal. Lord, we pray your continued
grace upon them and ask Lord that you would cause each of
us to learn by their experience where our hope lies and cause
us Lord to place faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who
himself is our life. For we ask it in his name. Amen. I've titled this message, A Faithful
Witness. A Faithful Witness. If you were
on a jury in a court of law and you had over 500 people witness
on the witness stand, the same witness, you would be convinced
of the truth of their testimony. And such we have in the scriptures. We have God given to his church
witness upon witness upon witness testifying the same thing. And yet Unless the Lord is pleased
to give us faith, we will be like those that the Lord spoke
of in John chapter 5. You will not come unto me that
you might have life. In spite of the fact that there
is irrefutable testimony, there is irrefutable witness to the
gospel. You and I weren't there. This
took place 2,000 years ago. And no man has seen God at any time. You haven't seen him with your
eyes. The only message we have is the
testimony of them who saw him, the testimony of the risen Lord. And once their testimony was
given in scripture, then it became God's testimony. And when the
Lord causes you to believe the faithful witnesses, you just
believe them. You believe them. And all the
hope of your salvation rests in that faith that God gives
to believe the witnesses that he's given to us. All the hope
of our salvation is recorded for us right here in the book. And This, we've said this before,
we don't separate the written word from the living word. They
are one in the same. The written word testifies to
the living word. Everything in this book points
to the Lord Jesus Christ and the volume of the book, it is
written of me. So here's our hope. Here's our
hope. Notice in our text, in Mark chapter
16, beginning in verse nine, Now when Jesus was risen early
the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told
them that had been with him as they mourned and wept. So the biggest problem the disciples
are having at this point is that they did not believe the clear
testimony that the Lord told them that he would raise after
three days. Here they are weeping and crying,
figuring that all is lost. Mary Magdalene saw him. She was
the first one to see the risen Lord. And she went back and testified
to them, he's alive, he's risen, everything he said that he would
do, he's done. And they, when they had heard
that he was alive and had been seen of her, believed not. They did not believe the testimony
of this woman. After that, he appeared in another
form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country.
And they went and told it unto the residue. Neither believed
they then. Now that's a reference to what
we find in Luke chapter 24, you remember the two disciples that
are walking home to Emmaus and the Lord walks along beside them
and he begins to expound unto them those things concerning
himself from Moses and the law and the prophets, the Psalms
and when they get to their home they compel him to stay and and
then he in the breaking of bread and that's how the Lord continues
to reveal himself today in the breaking of bread. What we're
doing right now is breaking open the bread of life in hopes that
the Lord will do for us what he did for those disciples on
the road to Emmaus. Their eyes were opened and they
saw him and immediately he vanished from their sight. And what did
they say? Oh, did our hearts not burn within
us as he spake with us along the way. Seven miles Emmaus was
from Jerusalem. And so as soon as the Lord had,
it was late in the evening, dinner time, they turned around, ran
all the way back to Jerusalem, found the disciples weeping and
crying up in the upper room, wherever they were. And they told him, we've seen
him, we've seen him. And they believed them not. Here
is our problem, isn't it? When the scripture speaks in
Hebrews chapter 4 of that easily besetting sin, turn with me to
that passage. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews chapter 12. Now this is right after Hebrews
chapter 11 which is the testimony of all the Old Testament saints
and how God had spoke to them and revealed the gospel to each
of them. And then the writer to Hebrews says in verse one
of Hebrews chapter 12, wherefore, wherefore? In light of all these faithful
witnesses, seeing that we are also compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and
the sin which doth so easily beset us." Now, I used to think that that
meant that each of us have a different sin that we struggle with more
than anyone else. And that's true. I'm sure that's
true. But there is one sin that is the mother of all sin. There
is one sin that easily besets every one of us, and it is the
sin of unbelief. It is the very sin that these
disciples were guilty of in not believing the testimony. I have
sent you faithful witnesses. And in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, the Lord tells us that after he was seen in the apostles,
he was seen of 500 which were still alive. and able to give
testimony of what they saw. And so God has given us faithful
witnesses all throughout the word. And now he's admonishing us. Believe these
witnesses. Believe the testimony. They are
faithful witnesses. Lay aside that sin which does
so easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Now that word,
that next word, you see it despising? When you despise something, you
think little of it. And that's actually the literal
translation of this word. He thought little of the shame
that came upon him at the cross. In other words, he endured that
shame because it did not stop him from doing what he came to
do, die for his church, save his people. And so the Lord is
saying, looking unto Jesus, he's the author, he's the lamb that
was slain before the foundation of the world, he's the surety
that has always stood in your stead before God, look to him. Not only is he the author of
your salvation, not only is he the redeemer of your salvation,
but he's the finisher of it. He's going to keep you from falling
and he's going to present you faultless before the throne of
God. without blame, holy, undefiled. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. What is unbelief? Unbelief is
not looking to Christ. And our flesh is so full of,
well, our flesh is nothing but unbelief. And when that centurion
said, Lord, I do believe, oh, help thou mine unbelief. I've
got an easily besetting sin that's the sin of my flesh. It's this
body of death that I carry around with me. And it's constantly
causing me to look somewhere other than Christ for the hope
of my salvation and for the hope of my life. I'm always being
pulled away. And that's what the Lord is saying,
believe these witnesses. God has given us an abundance
of witnesses. And once their testimony is written
in scripture, it becomes God's testimony. Turn with me to the
book of Revelation. Now the Lord, these disciples,
Revelation chapter 1, these disciples didn't believe Mary Magdalene,
They didn't believe the disciples that came back from Emmaus, these
eyewitnesses who were only confirming what God had already promised,
what God had promised all through the Old Testament, what the Lord
Jesus Christ had affirmed in His testimony to the disciples. They were just confirming what
had already been said by God and they didn't believe it. Revelation
chapter 1. Verse four, John to the seven
churches. John, John testifies, I've seen
him and I'm testifying to you what I know is true. And John
to the seven churches, which are in Asia, grace be unto you
and peace from him, which is, and which was, and which is to
come and from the seven spirits, which are before his throne.
Now there are seven separate spirits. This is the word seven,
the number seven is the number for perfection. And the Holy
Spirit is perfect. And when God talks about the
seven spirits, he's talking about the Holy Spirit who convinces
his people to believe. That's what we, you see, in spite
of the fact that we have an abundance of witnesses, abundance of faithful
testimony and the Lord himself look at the next verse and from
Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness so to not believe the
scripture is to not believe the Lord Jesus Christ is to not believe
God the disciples that was their
problem they didn't believe I want to believe God I want you to
believe God I want you to believe Him with all your heart, all
your mind, and all your soul. I want us to not be able to not
believe God. And that's what faith does. Faith
cannot not believe God. Just can't do it. The Lord Jesus Christ who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for as the evidence of things not seen. And faith is
the gift of God. And the reason why faith comes
by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. We preach
what God has said and God gives faith to His people to believe
it. Turn with me over just a couple
of pages of Revelation chapter 3 verse 13. He that hath an ear, where am
I going to get that ear from? You see, the channel to the heart
is the ear. It's the ear. It's not the brain. It's not the mind. It's not the
intellect. You don't believe something because
you understand it. Whatever understanding God gives
us, it comes only after we believe what he said. These disciples
did not believe the testimony. And what is he saying? He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
God give me an ear to hear the Spirit of God and to believe. Turn to me to Revelation chapter
19. Revelation chapter 19. Man says, I'll believe what I
see. And the believer sees what he
believes. Believing always comes before
seeing. You hear And you say, truth Lord, yes, I believe. I can't not believe. And then
the Lord begins to give us some understanding as to what we're
believing and we never, oh, our understanding is so, everything
we're talking about, everything we believe is so limited in our
understanding, isn't it? The hope of our salvation is
based on our understanding. We're all in trouble. But if
it's based on the fact that we believe, Lord, you've given me
faith to believe these disciples had an easily besetting sin just
like you and I do. Acknowledging our unbelief. The
Lord's going to rebuke them. Notice what happens, Revelation
chapter 19 at verse 9. And he saith unto me, write,
blessed are they that are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God.
These are the true sayings of God. You say, well, how do I
know they're true? Because God said they're true. We're not here to prove the Bible.
You know, the Bible never seeks to prove the existence of God.
Never. In the beginning, God. The Bible just declares the truthfulness
of God. It doesn't seek to God doesn't
have to justify himself, he doesn't have to prove himself to anybody. Let's read the rest of these
verses. Verse 10, he saith unto me, verse
10, and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto
me, see thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. This is the testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This, he's the faithful witness
and he's given us faithful witnesses. We have a, oh, we have so many
witnesses that testify all to the same thing. Worship God for the testimony
of Jesus. The testimony of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the spirit of prophecy. So all the prophets spoke of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I saw heaven open and behold
a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful
and true. Faithful and true. And in righteousness, He doth
judge and make war. God has a standard of righteousness
and anything that falls short of that standard of righteousness
will be consumed by his fiery wrath. Oh, thank God. Thank God. We have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous one. One who has satisfied the demands
of God's holy law on behalf of his people. One who causes us
to cast all our care and all our hope upon him for he is the
one that's faithful and true. Believe his testimony. Believe God. His eyes were as a flame of fire
and his head were many crowns and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with the vesture
dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God, the
word of God. Brethren, we have nothing less
than the word of God. This word, I'll go back with me to our text in
Mark chapter 16. I want you to see these disciples
now. They didn't believe Mary Magdalene. They didn't believe
these two disciples that ran all the way back from Emmaus
to tell them that they had seen the Christ. Slow of heart to believe. Matter of fact, these two disciples
that ran back from Emmaus, When they were walking with the Lord
on the road, the Lord rebuked them for not believing the scriptures.
He said, oh, you slow of heart to believe. Did you not know
that Christ must suffer according to the scriptures? Didn't you
believe what God said? Verse 14 of Mark chapter 16,
afterwards he appeared unto the 11 as they sat at meat and upbraided
them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they
believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. The Lord
Jesus Christ rebukes the disciples because they did not believe
the testimony of these eyewitnesses. Thomas wasn't there. We learned
from other gospel writers. And Thomas didn't believe the
testimony of the 11 disciples, 10 disciples. He didn't believe
the 10 disciples. Lest I put my finger into the
wounds of his hands and my hand into his side, I will not believe. I will not believe. I've got
to see it in order to believe it. And what did the Lord say
when he appeared to Thomas? Thomas, here they are. Put your fingers into my hands,
put your hand into my side. Oh, I'm just certain that Thomas
never did that scripture. He didn't stick his finger in
the Lord. He fell at his feet and he confessed, my Lord and
my God. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
to Thomas, Thomas, it's good that you believe. Now that you've
seen me, but blessed are those, blessed of God are those who
have not seen yet they believe. Why do they believe? Because
they heard the faithful witness of those who had seen. Isaiah chapter 7 verse 9 says,
if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. Now that word established means
to have assurance, to have a place to stand, a place of comfort. And God says, if you will not
believe, you shall not be established. You won't be established before
God. God calls on us to believe. Believe. Luke chapter 22, verse 67, the
Pharisees trying to interrogate the word of God, art thou the
Christ? And the Lord Jesus Christ said
to them, if I told you, you wouldn't believe. You wouldn't believe. Hebrews chapter four. Turn to
me there. We have Hebrews chapter four. God calls all men everywhere
to repent, to believe. The preaching of the gospel is
to call on men to believe God. Just believe God. Rest all the
hope of your salvation on the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ,
for he is faithful and true. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 1, let
us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into
his rest, any of you should come short of it. Coming short of entering into
his rest, that's what it means to be established. If you will
not believe, surely you shall not be established. You shall
not have rest for your soul if you will not believe. And now
the Lord's using the example of the Old Testament Israelites
who died in the wilderness. They never crossed the Jordan
River. They never entered into the promised land. Why? They
heard the testimony of the gospel. They saw the water from the rock.
They saw the manna every day for 40 years, day in and day
out. They heard the testimony of the law. In so many ways,
the Lord demonstrated the gospel to them. They saw the brazen
serpent put upon a pole. And then when God said, go into
the promised land, oh, we can't do that. We can't do that. We're grasshoppers on our own
side. Look at the giants in the land. And because of their own
unbelief, they died in the wilderness. And now the Lord's gonna use
that as an example for us. an encouragement for us. Look
what he says, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as
unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it. They heard the gospel, they had
ears but they did not hear, eyes they had but they did not see.
The Lord The Lord confronted them with the gospel, but they
refused to believe God. They believed what they saw. You will not believe, the Lord
said, unless you see a sign and a wonder. A wicked and perverse
generation seeketh after a sign. There's not going to be any signs.
Don't wait for a sign. Don't wait for a feeling. Believe
God. What they heard was not mixed
with faith in them that heard it, for we which have believed
do enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, what is entering
into his rest? Although the works were finished
from the foundation of the earth. Entering into his rest, believing
God is believing that God did all the works necessary. for our salvation. It's resting
all our hope in the finished work and glorious person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's looking unto Jesus who is
the author and the finisher of our faith. That's what faith
is. That's what believing God is.
And God gave to these disciples testimony upon testimony, upon
testimony, witness upon, they all came. And they, we're not
gonna believe it till we see it. And the Lord rebuked them. If you're gonna wait to see something
before you believe it, you will die in your sins. You will die
in your sins. God's not going to give you any
other witness other than the witness that he's given you.
No other testimony, no other word. This is it. God says, believe
the faithful and true witness. It's all I'm gonna give you.
All I'm gonna give you. Believe me. Let's take a break. you