Mark Chapter 16 When the New Testament church,
at the time of our Lord, when the New Testament church first
began, and the Lord sent out His disciples to preach the gospel,
He gave them some amazing gifts. He equipped them with some amazing
abilities. They could actually perform miracles. And he did this so that people
would know and believe that they were sin of God. That's why he
did this. Mark chapter 16, look at verse
9. It says, Now when Jesus was risen
early the first day of the week, our Lord rose on a Sunday morning.
I believe He's coming back on a Sunday morning. It says, 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. And they, when they
had heard that He was alive and had been seen of her, believed
not." His own disciples, they didn't believe. Verse 12 says,
"'After that, He appeared in another form unto two of them
as they walked and went into the country. on the road to Emmaus. And they went and told it unto
the residue. Neither believed they them."
His own disciples. Much less the unbelieving world.
So verse 14 says, "'Afterward He appeared unto the eleven 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. And he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe." These will be the signs that they will see
that's going to cause them to believe what you're saying. In
my name shall they cast out devils. And that really happened. My
reference says it happened in Acts chapter 5, Acts 8, Acts
16, Acts 19. Paul and Peter, they really did
cast out devils. It says, they shall speak with
new tongues. And that really did happen. Acts
chapter 2, Pentecost. The apostles started preaching
in languages they'd never heard before, never learned before.
Real languages. And that gift is still given.
I thought about, whenever I read that, I thought about Brother
Bill Clark. And then after that, I thought, hey, Janine's going
to be here. And then I thought, Evelyn's going to be here. How
many languages could he speak? Two languages. Preach the gospel.
Three languages. It's a gift of God. It's a gift
of God. They shall take up serpents.
And that really did happen. Paul was gathering sticks for
a fire and he reached for a stick and a viper bit him. A venomous
viper. And they knew it was a deadly
snake, deadly bite. They didn't have an ER. They
said, he's a dead man. Let's just sit and watch him
die. Nothing ever happened to him. Never got sick, nothing.
It says, if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. After
Paul was bitten by that snake and nothing happened to him,
he went in unto a man who was sick and he healed him. It really
did happen. So the Lord gave them these gifts
to prove that they were sent of God. The New Testament Scriptures
had not been written yet. They were being lived out. That's
why. They were living them out. Now
we have the Scripture. We have the record of these things
that God did. And those gifts are no longer
needed. That's why we do not have those gifts anymore. People
are handling snakes in country churches and they don't need
to be doing that. The Lord tells us now, the way you'll know if
a messenger is of God, is if he preaches to you this Word
that I have written. These events that I have written.
Christ in the Word, Christ who is the Word, if he preaches the
Word. Alright, now turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. 1 Corinthians 12, in verses 28 to 30, Paul speaks
to the church, to believers, and that's to us
if we believe this gospel, he speaks concerning these gifts
that were given. And he's saying, don't be taken
up with the gift. Verse 28 says, God hath set some
in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,
government, diversities of tongues. He says, are all apostles? No,
they're not. So being an apostle is not an
evidence of being a believer. It's not a requirement to be
a believer. Are all teachers, are all prophets, are all teachers,
all workers of miracles? No, they're not. These are not
evidences of being a believer. We don't need to speak in tongues
to evidence being a believer. Have all the gifts of healings?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? No, they don't.
Brother Cody Groover is a wonderful interpreter. A man can speak
in English and he's seamlessly translating into Spanish, interpreting
for the people. That's a gift given to him, but
it's not an evidence of being a believer. So Paul says in verse
31, covet earnestly the best gifts. These are wonderful gifts
that have been given to different men for the glory of God and
for the good of His people, but covet earnestly the best gifts."
There are some gifts that are given to every one of His people. And He calls them the best gifts.
He calls them charity, and He's going to tell us their importance
in chapter 13. This is our text. These are the gifts. The first
one is Christ. Every single believer has been
given Christ. He is the best gift. And the
second one is His love. Christ and His love. The love
of Christ to a sinner. Love for Christ. Not just love
for religion and not just love for heaven. Love for Christ and
love for His people is a gift of God. It is not possible with man by
nature. It has to be given from God. It's a grace of God. Grace means
gift. Paul says it's the best gift.
I want to quote word for word, Brother Henry. He said, however
poor I may be in gifts, I can't do this and I can't do this and
I can't do this. He wrote, John the Baptist did
no miracles. Not one. However poor I may be
in gifts, I can be rich in this grace if God has given me this grace.
The grace of love. The gift of love. This is not
an exhortation only. It's a commandment. It's a commandment. It's vital. It's so vital. Without
this grace, every other gift is useless. If we don't have
love, every other gift we have is completely useless. Without
this grace, a person cannot be a child of God. Without Christ and His love,
a person cannot be a child of God. Paul writes in chapter 13,
verse 1, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, He said, though I could speak
and preach in every language known to man, even the language
of angels, he said in 2 Corinthians about himself, he said, I knew
a man about 14 years ago, and he was caught up into the third
heaven, and he said, I heard things that is not lawful, it's
physically not possible for a man's mouth to say, He said, if I could speak and
preach in the language of angels, but I don't have Christ and His
love, he said, it's just noise. It's just noise. Just vain words. He said, it doesn't matter what
I can do if I don't have Christ, it's lip service. That's all
it is, is lip service. Verse 2, he says, though I have
the gift of prophecy, prediction, some men throughout history have
been given the ability to predict things, and some of them have
been right. He says, though I understand
all mysteries, men today are taken with this mystery of prophecy. Last week I was in Cottageville.
And I got to the church Sunday morning and three of the members
were already there. And I walked in and put my Bible
down and was doing a few things. And two visitors came in. A man who was 60 maybe and his
wife. And I didn't know they were visitors
at first. I just thought maybe I hadn't seen them for some reason.
When I came back into the auditorium, he was talking to one of the
members there, and the member introduced me and said, he's
going to be preaching here today. And the guy was asking if they
had a statement of faith. He said, I want to see your statement
of faith. And he said, well, we don't have
anything printed up per se, but he said, we preach the gospel,
we preach Christ in the Word, And then he looked at me and
he said, here's what I need to know. He was more or less saying,
if I'm going to sit here, this is what I need to know. He said,
where do you stand on Daniel's 70 weeks? I said, I don't know anything
about that. Nothing. And he said, well, then how do
you feel about some ism I've never heard of? I said, I don't
know anything about that. And he said, well, what do you
think about some ology I've never heard of? I said, I don't know anything about
that. He said, well, what do you believe? I said, every single
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's what I believe. I said, we believe scriptures
alone, Christ alone. And he said, well, what do you
believe about this? And I said, you know, all we
do here, I said, the Lord said, search the Scriptures. They are
they which testify of me. I said, all we do here is we
start in Genesis and we go to Revelation, searching the Scriptures,
looking for Christ. That's all we do. We just try
to see if we can see Christ in the Scripture and point men to
Christ. And that's it. He said, well, don't you think
it's important to teach people about something I've never heard
of? I said, I don't know anything about that. He stayed for the
first service and then they left after the first service. Men
are taken with prophecy and prediction. Taken with it. Paul says, though I have the
gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. Though I have all knowledge,
not just knowledge of physical things, knowledge of spiritual
things. Knowing how God saves a sinner
cannot save a sinner. Knowing how God saves a sinner
cannot save a sinner. A head knowledge of how God saves
a sinner cannot save a sinner. You know the only thing that
can save a sinner? Christ and His love. Well, don't you mean
Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Yes, I do. That is exactly what
I mean. Romans 5.8 says, God commendeth
His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. He said, greater love hath no
man than this. And He laid down His life for
His friend. Why did He die for us? Love is
the answer. Love. We say it's all unto Him
who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Why
would God create us in the first place? Clothe us after we sin. He didn't have to do that. Show
us our only hope of redemption. Become flesh and dwell among
us. Die on the cross for our sins.
Raise us together with Him. Go back to His Father and prepare
a place for us. Call us unto Himself. And dwell
with us forever. Love is the answer. Love is why
He did that. Paul says in verse 3, though
I outwardly follow His example, though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, Though I give my body to be burned, though
I work to establish my own righteousness, though my zeal is so strong I'm
martyred for my cause, if I don't have Christ and His love, love
for Him and love for His people, He says, it's going to profit
me nothing. Nothing. If I have Christ and His love,
I have everything. If I do not have Christ and His
love, no matter what I have, I have nothing. No matter who
I am, I am nothing. And no matter what I do, it is
nothing. Christ is everything. I must
have Christ. I must. If I do, If a person
has Christ, if the love of God has been shed abroad in a person's
heart, and if a person has been predestinated to be conformed
into His image as He is, so will they be. If He resides in them, if love
is in them, then that's what they'll produce. Love. How is
He? If we are like He is, how is
He? What is He like? Verse 4 says,
Christ in His love suffereth long. Suffereth long. How long did He suffer? He left
glory, heaven itself, for 33 years. How long did He suffer
on the tree? Till the end. All the way to
the end. The long-suffering of the Lord
is our salvation. If we ever get a hold of that,
we'll want to be just like Him. If we ever understand what He
did for us, we'll want to be just like Him. Verse 4 says,
our Lord is kind. He's kind. I entered into that for one fraction
of a second when I studied it. And I don't know if we'll enter
into it right now, but one day, if the Lord chose us and if He
redeemed us, He's going to allow us to walk and talk with Him
face to face. We're going to get to be with
Him face to face and touch Him Talk to Him. Ask Him. And the
thing that every single one of His people is going to fall in
love with is just how kind He is. He is so kind. Our Lord is so kind. I want to be just like Him. Our Lord is kind. Our Lord did
not have to put up with our sin for one second. Gone. Our Lord is kind. He's so kind. I'm not like Him. But the Scripture
says, one day I shall be. By His grace, one day we will
be. While I'm on this earth, with
all the ability He will give, with all that He will allow,
I want to try to be. I really do. I speak from my
heart on that. Oh, wretched man that I am. And
the things that I do, I wish I didn't do them. And the things
that I want to do, I don't do them. But I wish I did. I want
to be kind for Christ's sake. He's been so kind to me. Verse
4 says, Christ and His love envieth not. God the Father has given
to God the Son all things, everything. And He's made us joint heirs
with Him. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? He earned it and we didn't. He
deserved it and we don't. But we get everything He gets.
And what's love's example? No envy. No jealousy. He willingly gave us everything. No envy. Verse 4 says, the love
of God vaunteth not itself. It's not puffed up. There's no
pride. It's not proud, it's the exact
opposite. Our Lord proved His love by humbling
Himself more than any man. That is what the love of God
produces in a sinner. Humility. Verse 5 says, the love
of God does not behave itself unseemly, improperly, uncharacteristically. If I love Hannah, would it be
in character for me to ignore her and not show up for three
or four days? No, that's out of character. That's not how love behaves.
The character of the love of God, verse 5 says, seeketh not her own. Our Lord said, I seek not mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. Turn over to chapter
10. Chapter 10, verse 24 says, let
no man seek his own. But every man another's wealth." That is what the love of God
produced. Everything that our Lord did
on this earth was not for His wealth. Though He was rich, yet
for our sakes He became poor. That we through His poverty might
be rich. True love seeketh not our own.
Verse 5 says, He is not easily provoked. How often do we provoke
our Lord? Provoke means offend. How often
do we offend our Lord? Thanks be to God, He's not easily
provoked. Eighty-five times it said provoke
or provoked or provost or provoketh or provoking in the Scripture.
He's not easily provoked. He's kind. May we learn from
our Lord, not be easily offended. How can we be not easily offended? Verse 5 says, there ain't no
evil. Our simple minds allow us to
think the worst. What did you say? Why did you
say that? What did you mean by that? Thanks be to God, he said, I
know my thoughts toward you. their thoughts of peace. Think
no evil. That encourages me to want to
do the same. I want to do the same. Verse
6 says, The love of God rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth
in truth. Ezekiel, just listen to this,
Ezekiel 33 verse 11 says, Say unto them, as I live, saith
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked."
No pleasure. But that the wicked turn from
his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? He takes no pleasure
in the death of the wicked. He rejoiceth not in iniquity,
and neither should we. Neither should we. He said, confess
your faults and cover one another's. Verse 7 says, the love of God
beareth, believeth, hopeth, and endureth. Love for God, the love of God,
will cause a person to bear every trial that comes as though it's
of God. This is of God. It beareth. He said, you will bear them,
they will come. But He said, I won't put more
on you than you're able to bear. Beareth all things. That's good
news. Christ and His love in a person
beareth all things. Considering all He bore for us,
He bore our griefs, He carried our sorrows. That causes us to say, what can
we bear? for each other. This is an active,
working, producing love. Christ in us produces love, true
love. Love believeth, it says, every
word of God. Believeth the best in each other.
Love hopeth all things in Christ. Love hopes for the salvation
of others. Not just me. All men. How would that all men
were saved? Love endureth to the end. Continues
in the faith. Still here. If we're still here,
it's Christ in us that keeps us here. If we have the love of God, We
will never fall out of love with each other. Never. It's an everlasting
love. Verse 8 says, Christ and His
love never faileth. Great is His faithfulness. If
we endure to the end, it's because He shall not fail. Verse 8 says,
where there be prophecies, they're going to fail. Once a prophecy
is fulfilled, it's no longer a prophecy. It says, where there
be tongues, they shall fail. I believe everyone in glory speaks
one language. It's the tongue of angels, which
is the tongue of Christ. One language. Verse 8 says, where
there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Now why would it
say that? Because it says down in verse
12, then shall I know even as I am known. The knowledge we
have now, verse 9 says, we know in part, we prophesy in part. When that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was
a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now, we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know, even as also unknown. Back in Franklin, Tennessee,
where I moved here from, it's a big Civil War history town. They have a lot of old houses
there that were key in the Civil War and you can tour these houses.
And we would take people to see the houses and we went often
as people came and visited. Some of the windows in the house,
they have multiple panes of glass, and some of those panes of glass
were original to the house. Some were replaced. And the original
ones were wavy, and they had bubbles in them. And then next
to it would be a new pane of glass. And when you look out
of the old pane of glass, You could see, and I knew what was
out there. There was a cedar tree in the
yard, and I did it every time I went. I'd look through there,
and I could see that cedar tree, and I knew that it was a cedar
tree. Not just a tree, a cedar tree. But everything, the lines
were fuzzy. I could see the grass, it was
one lone tree, and see the sky, but it was just fuzzy. I knew
what everything was, but I just couldn't see the whole clear
picture. Now we see through a glass darkly. And one of these days, that glass
is going to be taken away, and we're going to see clear, face
to face, Him as He is. We're going to see His love as
it is. Well, verse 13 says, Now abideth in a believer
Faith, hope, and charity. Christ is love. It says, but
the greatest of these is charity. Faith is a gift of God. Hope
is a gift of God. Christ is the gift of God. Faith
will give way to sight. One day we will see Him as He
is. Hope will give way to possession.
No more need to hope. We will have Him. His love is
never going to end. Never going to end. The love
I have for my two children is stronger today than the day they
were born. It grows. It's never going to
end. It's going to continue to grow. And there are many reasons why
it's the greatest. It's God-like. That's the greatest. We want to be like Him. It's
the greatest because he said all the law and the prophets
hang on two commandments. Love the Lord thy God and your
neighbor as yourself. And it's the chief evidence of
Christ in a person. Let's close with John 13. John, chapter 13. Verse 35, the Lord said, By this
shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love
one to another. Really, that's the chief evidence
that Christ dwells in us. We have love. one to another. If we do, it's a gift of God.
Not of ourselves, it's a gift of God. I pray the Lord will
bless that.