If that he requireth is to be
lov'd, he doth give. If he is to this be giv'd, take
the spirit right in him. Love incarnate, God has sent
thee. Peace on earth, love his blood. Venture on in, venture on in,
let the Lord our trust be true. God, God, Jesus, God, God, Jesus,
hand of heaven, sinner's woe. That's good. The incarnate God of sin, that's
good. He leads America to glory. Thank
you, Sherry. Mark, chapter sixteen, now. This is the story of our Lord's
resurrection and appearance to his disciples. He makes three
separate appearances here, and we're going to see how each one
of them applies to us. Three separate appearances. All
right, let's begin in verse 9. This is where we left off Sunday
morning, verse 9. 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 there's a couple
of things we can learn from this. Christ did indeed come to save
sinners, even the chief. That's why he came. The very
first person that he appeared to upon his resurrection was
the worst of the bunch, a harlot. Scripture says, harlots and publicans. He saved many harlots and publicans,
they followed him, and sinners. So the Lord did indeed come to
save sinners. He's the Lord, He's the Savior,
He's the friend of sinners. That's good news to anyone who's
a sinner, especially a cheat. Second thing, I want you to turn
to John 20. John chapter 20. I'm going to go back and forth
between these accounts of this. John chapter 20. Second thing
we learn from this, not only does our Lord appear to sinners,
but he appears, he makes himself known to seekers. He makes himself
known to true sinners, and he makes himself known to true seekers.
Mary was a seeker. Look at it. John 20, verse 1
and 2. Now, first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene. Early. It was still dark. This woman was serious, wasn't
she? She loved the Lord. It was dark. She came unto the
sepulchre and seeeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre,
and she run, runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter and to other disciples
whom Jesus loved, John, and sayeth unto them, and I can just hear
the anguish in her voice, the anxiety. They had taken away
the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they lay.
She is distraught. She's early, and now she's anxious. That's who the Lord appears to.
The early, and the anxious. Those are her values of business. That's why she came. She was
early, and she was anxious. Look at verses 11 and following. Mary stood without at the sepulchre.
Apparently the other ladies left, and she was weeping. And as she went, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulchre and see of two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had laid. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? And she saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back,
and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him him, Tell
me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus
said unto her, Mary. She turned herself and said unto
him, Master. Early and anxious. That's who the Lord appears to.
He said this, he said, those that seek me early shall find
me. First fruits, first part of the
day. She did. She found me. And he spoke to her. No one else,
her. And those who searched for me
with all their heart, she wanted to know where he was, didn't
she? Where is he? She asked everybody,
would you tell me where he is? I need to know. And he personally
came and said, I'm right here. I'm right here. You want the
Lord's presence? You want the Lord's special blessings
and worship? Be early and be anxious. Pretty simple. Verses 10 and
11, back in our text. verses 10 and 11. She went, she
ran, we read, and told them that had been with him as they mourned
and wept. And they, when they had heard
that he was alive, or heard it from her, and had been seen of
her, they believed not. They believed not. She ran and
told The disciples who were mourning and weeping, who these were,
I'm not sure. That's not important. But anyway,
there were some disciples, and they were together, and they
were mourning and weeping over what had happened. Now, these
people, these men, women, whoever they were, they believed Christ.
They did. They did, although they all pled,
though they all forsook Him. Did Peter believe that he was
the Christ? Did he? He sure did. He sure
did. And now they're mourning over
his absence and weeping. They believed Christ, but listen,
they were so overcome with grief and sadness and anxiety that
they couldn't hear the good news. You ever been there? They were
so, let me repeat, they were so overcome with grief and anxiety
and trouble that someone was trying to tell them the good
news and they couldn't hear it. The very thing they needed to
hear to dispel their sadness. The very thing. It's the same
with us. The same thing happens to us.
We believe that we're so overcome at times with something, whatever
it is, And we can't hear the good news. The only thing that
will dispel the sadness. See that? This woman was trying
to tell him. He's alive. Oh, he's dead. Oh, he's alive.
Oh, but, but, but, he's alive. He couldn't be too sad. I don't
know. Verse 12. After that, after that,
he appeared in another poem. under two of them as they walked
and went into the country. Now, these are the disciples
on the road to Emmaus. Let's go back there and look
at that. We sang about it in Luke 24. He appeared again in
another form. What kind of form? Well, a body.
And these men who walked along knew him to be a man, but they
didn't know him. But he was a man, took a bodily
form, and talked to them as they were walking. What he did, he
hid himself, purposely. He hid his identity from them,
on purpose. He's testing them. And the Scriptures tell us that
he still does the same thing, that we entertain angels, Right? But, and he tells you
something. It's easy to believe when you
see it. Isn't it? It's easy to believe what you
see. That's what the world says, show me and I'll believe. That's
what people in Missouri say. Isn't it? Just show me and I'll
believe. Anyway, the world says show me and I'll believe, but
no, no, no, no. The Lord proves faith and then shows you. The
Lord tries faith and then shows you. Faith honors him more than
disciples. He said in one place to the disciples,
he said, you believe because you see. He said, blessed are
they that believe, having not seen. That honors him. What does it honor? His word.
He takes in that word. And he's mighty in fact, his
word above everything. His word. His word. Well, these two disciples, Luke
24, verse 13, walking to Emmaus, a village, verse 13, two of them
went the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from
Jerusalem about three square furlongs, that's seven or eight
miles. They were walking, they were
walking, seven or eight miles, Stephen, seven or eight miles. Stephen, my truck broke down
at Sam's house. And Stephen, I called him, and
Mary dropped him off, and we walked back to Stephen's house.
And I said, how long is this? About 12 miles? And we were walking,
and he said, well, actually, it's about eight-tenths of a
mile. It was dark, and I had old boots
on, but it just seemed like eight miles that we were walking this
river. We got it easy, though. Seven or eight miles, we were
walking. And they were talking. Seven or eight miles, how long
would it take you to walk that far? Somebody tell me who does
a lot of walking. How long does it take you to
walk a mile? Come on, where's a lot of walking in here? Twenty
minutes a mile. Well, you're going to slow down
a fourth mile. It's going to take you about four hours, I
bet you. At least, to walk seven or eight miles. So they're talking.
To pass the time. Not just to pass the time. They
left Jerusalem where the Lord was crucified, and they're talking
about Christ and him crucified. That's what they're talking about.
They're communing together about all this. Everything he said,
he did. Look at verses 14 and 15. They talked together of all
these things which had happened. They were talking for thirty-four
hours. It came to pass that while they
communed together, They were not just talking, they were pouring
out their hearts to one another. It says they were talking, yes,
but they were communing. When you commune, it means you're
expressing all your doubts and your fears. Have you ever communed
with someone? Sure you have. Communicate. I mean really, not out of talk,
but you're pouring out your heart. All your doubts and fear, that's
what they're doing. They're walking along talking about Christ crucified. In the news, somebody says, risen. And they're just, ah. You can
imagine all the thoughts going through their mind. Their communion
and reasoning. Well. And Jesus himself drew
near. Jesus himself drew near. And went with I want you to look
at verse 15. It says, They communed together
in reason, and Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Got right beside them and walked
for two more hours. Now, who does the Lord appear
to? The early and the anxious. Those who communed together about
the things of Christ. where two or three are gathered,
he said, in my name. I'll be right there. Did he? He sure did. They were communing,
talking of Christ, intimate conversation, and Jesus himself grew near and
went with them, just as he said he would. He is true to his word. I'll be in the midst of them.
In the midst, I believe he got between them. And went with them,
left with them, Verse 16 says that their eyes were holding
that they should not know him. There it is again. He was with
them, and they didn't know him. Himself. Does that still happen? Well, it did then. Sure it does. Their eyes were holding. Why?
Again, because they were grief-stricken, and they were bewildered, and
they had forgotten what they'd heard. They'd forgotten everything
he said. They were reasoning, but they'd
really forgotten, or else they wouldn't have believed, wouldn't
they? They would have believed the record. He's risen. Well,
he said he would. We knew he would. He said he
would. They'd forgotten. How quickly we forget. Again,
the Lord appears to one or two who truly seek him. That's who
he appears to. Early the anxious, the seekers.
Look back at Luke 16, go back, I'm sorry, Mark 16, go back there,
Mark 16, verse 13. And so they went after the Lord
appeared to them. Now, he did reveal himself, remember? He revealed himself in breaking
the bread. They didn't know it was Christ,
but he was talking to them about it. Himself, about Christ crucified
in the scriptures. All about Christ was suffering,
and to enter into His glory, and beginning at Moses, and the
prophets, and so on. He expanded unto them the things
concerning Himself. He reasoned with them from the
scriptures about Christ crucified, the gospel, starting in, you
know, tell a story about Genesis 3, and the brazen serpent, and
the smitten rock, All in all, Passover and just all those glories
just went on and on, and they were walking. And we came to
the city, that eight miles just, man, it just passed like that.
And he acted like he was going to walk on past. I said, don't,
don't, don't go. He'd been preaching for two,
three, maybe four hours. He didn't get tired. I said,
don't go, come in, come in. They didn't know it was him.
He's just a preacher of the gospel. He's just a preacher, just a
man, a preacher of the gospel. Come in, come in. Tell us some more.
And he came in, and they were sitting
at the table. Master. And then he's gone. Be careful to entertain strangers. Most preachers don't have any
respect for people today, even true preachers, because the false
ones have done such damage to the office. Anyway, verse 13, they went and
told it unto the resident. They didn't believe them. They
didn't believe them. They didn't believe them. Turn
with me now to verse 14. Let's read this. Afterward he
appeared unto the eleven, as they sat at me, and I prayed
to them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they
believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. Because
they didn't believe them. I now turn to John chapter 4. Nobody believed anybody, did
they? No matter who it was that told
them, they didn't believe them. John chapter 4. John chapter
4. This is also relevant. John chapter
4 is the story of the woman at the well. You know this story.
The woman at the wedding, the Lord appears to this woman. Now
again, he appears to the chief of sinners. This woman had been
married seven times, and now was living with Adam Mary. She got tired of being married,
so he was living with her now. And the Lord appeared to her,
chief of sinners. That's what our Lord came to
say. And if you remember our study Sunday morning about The
Lord makes his appointments. He's the one that makes the appointment.
He made this appointment with her. She was one of his chosen,
one of his life's sheep. He's the one that made this appointment.
He made it before the world began. And now he's going to keep it.
He's going to keep it. He comes and he went before her.
Like he told the disciples, I'm going to go before you. He went
before this woman. on the well and waited to be
gracious. John 4, verse 28. Now the woman, after he revealed
himself to her, left her water pot, that was most of her worldly
possessions, left her water pot and went her way into the city
and said to the men, come see a man which told me all things
that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? They
went out of the city and came unto him. Finally, somebody believed
somebody. Look down at verse 39. It says,
Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the
sale of a woman. Well, thankfully. Let's testify. He told me all whatever I did.
So when the Samaritans—and who is this that believes him? Samaritans. Gentiles. Samaritans. When they
came unto him, he would tarry with them. So that's who the
Lord speaks to. And he abode there two days. Blessed third house, forty-eight
hours of his presence. And many more believed because
of his own word and sent unto the woman, verse forty-two, now
we believe not because of thy saving. We've heard him ourselves
and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the
world. Fact be it, now here's a fact
of the matter, none will believe the gospel unless Christ gives
faith to believe it. None will. His chosen won't until
He, until the time. None, and here's a fact also,
none truly believe Him until He personally reveals Himself
to them. But it appears that those people
believe the facts the woman said. We believe that. But then they
had to come see for themselves. That's a true seeker. Right? Not just facts. I want to hear
him speak to me. And they did. They came, and
the Lord did reveal Himself to them. It's got to remind me of
my story. I remember believing the facts,
you know, as a young man, believing the facts. And the Lord in mercy
and grace later on created in me an earnest, heartfelt desire
to really know Him, to hear from Him, to speak to me. And He did. And He did through
His Word, through His Word. I've never seen the Lord personally. And I've seen from this book
just as plain, just as clear as if he stood before me. So none will truly believe until
he personally reveals himself to you. And that's what you do. You get alone. You get in your
closet and ask the Lord to come to me, speak to me. Now back
to the text, Mark 16. This is another appearance. We
just read about another appearance, the third appearance, verse fourteen. Afterward he appeared unto the
eleven as they said to me. Now who does the Lord appear
to? Who does the Lord appear to?
Who does the Lord make himself known to? Who does the Lord have
intimate fellowship with? Who does the Lord appear to?
The early natures. taught together of these things. Those that are sitting at meat,
these have not forsaken the assembly of themselves together. Thomas
did, and he missed out. That's another account. The Lord
appears to those who look for him, those that gather together
with the saints, that love is appearing And then to say that,
he said that he'll appear to them with love he's appearing.
These men and women, though they forsook him at the cross, they
had to. Michael, they had to, in God's
purpose, didn't they not? They had to. Christ had to go
along. But they were guilty for forsaking
him. But they did not forsake this
sinner in whom it says to you. You remember, Peter said, I'll
go and fish it. But the rest of them said, wait, wait, we'll
go with you. Now, he's not leaving us. They needed each other. It was their darkest hour, you
know? Those three days when the Lord
was in the tomb was their darkest hour. It was the worst time in
the previous three and a half years. Everything up to that
point was just wonderful. But for three days, they had
a little field of doubts and fears and darkness and sadness
and grief and just anxiety. They didn't know where to go
or what to do, but what did they do? They didn't go home and sit
around. Thomas did, and he missed out. They gathered together and had
dinner. You know, they were praying and
seeking the Lord. And he appeared to them. He appeared to them. He appeared
to them. And verse 14 says, He upbraided
them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because, their
unbelief, because they believed not them which had seen him,
those that told them after he was risen. Now, the Lord didn't
first upbraid them. The other accounts tell us, Matthew,
Luke, and John tell us that he first said, the very first thing
he said to them, peace be unto you. He's not afraid. It's I. It is I. Don't be afraid. Peace. That's the Lord. Peace
be unto you. Because when he appeared, they
were just taken aback. They saw him dead, and he appeared
alive. They were frightened, and he
said, Peace men, don't be afraid. So that's the first thing. After
speaking peace to them, and allaying their fears, then he upbraided
them. Now, the word upbraid, the word
upbraid, I looked it up, and it was to weigh them all. It's to chide. is to reproach,
is to debase. He was not talking sweet to them. This is not the Jesus you hear
about in preaching today. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true Christ, the
true Christ, and He rode on His disciples. He reproached them. He spoke
firmly and sternly rebuked them. Is that all right? Is it? Do we need it? Look at Hebrews 12 with me, Hebrews
12. Now after, notice, after he said,
he's feeling it, and we ought to pray. And he, now I've got
something to tell you. You listen to me. And you're
raining on me, Steve. Have you thought anybody ever
rained on you? Huh? Yeah, because you had a
faith. You had a true faith. I did too.
And buddy, there were times when he would rain on me. Here's what,
anybody in here who had a true father and a true mother, one
or the other, or both, And if you were a typical child, a typical
child, and did things to upset them, after they repeatedly told
you, I mean repeatedly, repeatedly, kept repeating, telling you,
telling you, you did it anyway. It's like you never heard them.
And they're royal on you. And you needed it, didn't you?
So it is with God's choice. Look at Hebrews 12. If ye be
without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards, ye not sons? Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which collected us, and we gave them leavens.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits, and live? Nay, very happily is our earthly
father for a few days chastened to us after their own pleasure,
according to them. whatever seemed right to them,
but he always thought I profit, that we might be partakers of
his holiness. Now, no chasing, no chasing for
the present seemed to be joyous. But my dad was, I never did say,
thank you, dad, I appreciate you. Yeah, take the birth talk,
I mean. Never! Did you? Oh, maybe again,
I think. Oh, no. Never, no Chasen's ever seen
a joy of this grievance. Don't hit, I would say, don't
hit me again. But they never done been hitting me. Probably
just hit me twice. Seemed like eight miles. Less than 20 seconds, Steve,
it seemed like 20 hours. You don't want to talk about
it. Oh yeah. It's grievance, never the less,
afterwards. It yielded, I hear you, the pieces
of fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which
hang down the feet of men." Did you hear that? That's raving on you. But I can't do it. The Lord has
to do it. And he does it through his word.
The Lord sternly rebuked his disciples. Go back there and
see what he rebuked them for. A couple of things. Rebuked them.
Were upbraided by them. And that means spoke real hard
at them for their unbelief. What's unbelief? How many times did he tell that?
They never heard him say that. They weren't listening. Thinking
about something else. They shouldn't have been listening. And he didn't die. And he didn't
rise again. And they didn't believe him.
The time they needed the most, they didn't believe him. The
time they needed the most, they didn't believe him. And he upbraided
him for their unbelief, as if to say, why don't you believe
me after all these years? He was with them for three and
a half years. They never had any reason to doubt him. Everything
he said to them came true. Everything he said to them came
true. Didn't it? For three and a half years. Everything
he said to them came true. They never lacked for anything.
One time he asked them, I've been with you three years, have
you lacked for anything? Nothing. All the blessings. He said, no,
you're going to go through tribulation. And it's just as if he was saying
to them, and he probably did, but, after all I've done to you,
and for you, after all I've said to you, and after everything
that's come to pass, it's exactly the opposite. And for three days,
you're ready to quit. For three days, you're not going
to, you're not going to do that. We need that up there, you know.
Huh? No. And the hardness of their
heart. He had bred them from their unbelief and hardness of
heart. And all of this was due to the fact that they believed
not in him which had seen him after he was risen. Hardness
of heart. He doesn't say, but he's... You know, later on he spoke peace
generally to Peter, and I'm not sure at the time, finally, But
he had some choice words for Peter. You know he did. You going
to go fishing? That's where you were when they
found you. You were a nobody, a nothing.
That's what the Lord told the baby. I took you from watching
sheep. Now look at you. one of my personal ambassadors. You going to go back fishing?
You going to quit? You going to go back fishing? No. No. Tip-Rex Magnus. Tip-Rex Magnus. Heartless of
heart. Love his family more than these,
he asked. Why don't you believe your brother? Why don't you believe
your sisters? Huh? Why won't you? I spoke to
them. They never lied to you before.
I hope you believe them. He's upgrading them, he said.
That's what he's doing. He's upgrading them. I'll tell you why. He was so
hard on them. And he was. But it was good for
him when he read that in the Hebrew scripture. He's going
to send them into the world to pray. And the Lord's not going
to appear to anybody in person. He's going to send these eleven
apostles out of the world to preach to a crazy, mad world
of people who have to be legal. So he's upgrading them. You're
going to be an example of faith. That's what he's saying. You're going to be an example
of faith. If you don't believe the word of those that I send,
should I help them believe you? You understand? Should I help
them believe? You're going to be an example
of that. You're going to be an example. And now here's the divine commission
here. The divine commission. I'm about
to hurry. Verse 15. And he said up to there, and
preach the gospel to every creature. Go ye in all the world and do
what? What's the divine commission to preachers, or whoever is disciple? Not just preach the gospel. What are preachers supposed to
do? The answer's in the question. They're a preacher, that's what
they do. Right? Preach the gospel. Every creature,
read on, every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall
be healed, but he that believeth not shall be nailed. Now, everybody
loses sight of this right here, because of the next couple of
verses. The whole world is taken up with verses 17 and 18. And they lose sight. Jeanette,
the first thing he says is the most glorious. This is the miracle
of miracles, he said. This is the most wondrous thing
of all. Now, if Paul said, no, I speak with the tongue of men
and of angels, big deal. But to be saved from your sins,
now that's a miracle of miracles. That's the wonder of wonders.
He that believed it, what? No, no. He didn't believe in
the gospel. He didn't believe in the gospel.
And he's baptized. So that's the commitment. That's the final commitment,
like the marriage ceremony. He didn't believe it when he's
baptized. I don't get excited. I don't really believe anybody's
testimony until they give me food. I don't. I hear all kind of comments
from people. Visitors come, visitors go, I
hear good comments. I quit listening to it. I'm just
about fit for people, but not completely. I like to hear good
comments. I sure do. I like to hear people
say things encouraging. But, see, I don't believe a word
of it. Until. They keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. And then they come
to me and say, I believe. I can't confess right now. It's like two people that say
they love one another. I don't believe it. Until I've
loved one another. And I'm going to love one another
for the rest of my life. I love them. I believe in that.
Maybe. But this is the miracle. He that believeth the gospel
and his baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Shall be damned. That's the striking
verse. And these signs shall follow
every believer. In my name shall they cast out devils. They shall
speak with new tongues and words of language. They shall take
up serpents. They shall drink any deadly thing
and shall not hurt them. and shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover." Who's this talking about? Anybody? It seems to, at first glance,
that this should follow them to believe. Now, going down to
verse 20, they went forth and preached every word, the Lord
working with. Who's this talking about? The Son. They went forth
and preached every word, the Lord working with, and confirming
the word of the Son's Father. Now, the word was being written. They were writing the word. People
didn't have a copy of the Bible. And these men came preaching
the gospel, and they came to man's life. Now, they never handled
snakes. There's not one account in this
whole book, in the New Testament, of who never snake-handled men. Now look here, an absolute fool
with ten snakes. Absolute idiot. This happened
when the apostle Paul was on an island with my neighbors,
all right? He was on this island where there were some barbarous
nannies and tough men, but they made them cannibals. Barbarous
nannies, it says. They were ready to kill them
all. And Paul reached down in the fire to grab a stick, and
a snake, a deadly snake, lapsed under his hand. He reached just
like that, and the snake was hanging from his hand. Now this
is one of those, like a great mountain boulder, that Ken Wyman
talks about in Africa. You dip, you're dead. You go five steps, you're dead. And they knew it. The babies
knew it. Because this says they waited for him to die. He was
dead, baby. And said, Paul, he didn't pick
up that snake and show it. Look, watch this. Snake bit him
and he shook it off like that and went on back there. And he
made a swell. And he turned red. And I'll start preaching to them. They said, this man must be from
God. Nobody can keep people away from snakes and lizards unless
it's God's will. And they listened to me, I said. They never drank
poison. And that one camp was all the
Bible where they actually drank deadly things. But, you know,
there were disciples who were, they tried to kill him. Paul
tried to kill Paul on every hand. They tried everything. Speaking in new languages. You
know the account of Pentecost. Peter and all the disciples,
well, these were Galileans. For the Spaniards, they had never
gone to a language school. They didn't know Hindu, and Greek,
and Arabic, and all these different languages. And they started preaching Pentecost.
And there it was, like a big Bible conference. They were preaching. And lo and behold, they're preaching
Spanish. They start preaching Spanish
to people out there from Spain, or wherever, blah, blah, blah. We're hearing the gospel in our
own language. Aren't these men from Galilee?
They're back there in Arizona. Come to Galilee. They want to
speak in babble. I got to tell you a story. I'll
give you time. It's a few seconds. There was some, uh, Brother Cody,
there was some, his nephews went down to Mexico, and, uh, to visit. And they were sitting in one
of the services, and Cody was speaking in Spanish. He was preaching
in Spanish. And they were preaching in Spanish
for about 20 minutes. And then he said something in
English, for the sake of those kids, or whoever was there, didn't
know. He said something in English, and he went back to preach in
Spanish. And that night, they went home, and one of those boys
said, you know, for a minute there, I can understand Spanish. So I did. I could do exactly
that. But this actually happened here.
He started speaking in Galileo, you know, a number of a fellow
from the Far East. He can't understand what I'm
saying. Speaking in Hindu. And all around it went. It wasn't
some foolish battle. That's fun fact. They were strict. They're not trying to impress
people, they're trying to teach the gospel. That's the power
of God in salvation. The gospel, not gibberish. You can't save a fleeing gibberish. The gospel's the power. And that's
what happened. They'll speak the new languages.
And they laid their hands on the sink, and they said, that's
right. And look at this now. Ben, you wrote for Hebrews 1. And verse 5, it says, he went
back and sat down at the right hand of the majesty of God. You
remember reading that? Look at verse 19. So then, after
the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven
and sat. on the right hand of God. Sat down. Work finished. Salvation
accomplished. Order is given. The Holy Spirit
said, it's done. And they went forward, so they
did. Now they believe. Now they know. And they preached
every word. The Lord working with the worded
hands in the temple. Let's read it this way, the Lord
working with and confirming the Word. That's what the Lord uses. With
signs, power, actor, the Word. Signs, proof, the Word's power. See, signs aren't for believers. Believers don't need signs, they
just need the Word. Now, let me just bring this to your attention.
There were three appearances in that chapter. There were three appearances
of our God. And that coincides with His three
appearances in this letter. That's a small sign. He appeared
in the beginning. Once in the beginning, the world,
the Old Testament days, He appeared to. right behind him, he knew
it, so he did it. And then he was incarnate, became
karmic, karn, no, flesh, incarnate. He appeared second time in a
body, a body of sacrifice, and he kept that. And he lived. He's coming again. He won't do
it a third time. Well, that's me. I'm going to
wait for him and look back and sit and eat. We're all going
to be anxious and talk about these things. He's going to be
good. He's going to be a wonderful
artist. I hope that gospel work was a
blessing to you. That's fine. Now, Father, thank you for your
words. We can't tell you enough. We don't feel sincere enough
from the heart, but we do. Thank you. As much as life is
in us from your word, we ask your forgiveness for not heeding
it as we should. We need to be uprighted, though,
as you did in Cypressville. We ask your forgiveness for not
believing you, and for hardness of our heart, and for taking
your word for granted and not being interested in it. As there'll be a time when we
need it no longer, so Lord let us hear that good word. Let's
hear it and see the ungranted word. It's like a well spring,
springing up when we're thirsty. Thank you for your gospel, the
gospel of Mark. Blessed to have him standing
in your glory. In Christ's name, amen. It is
needed. Are you coming up here to speak
to us?