Let's open our Bibles, if you
would, to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Elder Eric Floyd is preaching
this morning in Wheelersburg. We want to remember him in prayer. John chapter 20, we'll begin,
we'll read the first 18 verses. The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark under the sepulchre,
and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. And she runneth
and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus
loved, and saith unto them, they've taken away the Lord out of the
sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore
went forth and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So
they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter,
and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down and looking
in, saw the linen clothes lying. Yet when he not in, then come
the Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulcher and
see if the linen clothes lie. And the napkin that was about
his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together
in a place by itself. Then went in also that other
disciple, which came first to the sepulcher. And he saw and
believed. For as yet they knew not the
scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples
went away again into their own home. But Mary stood without
at the sepulcher weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher and see two angels in white sitting,
the one at the head, the other at the feet where the body of
Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, woman,
why weepest thou? She sayeth unto them, because
they've taken away my Lord, and I know not where they've laid
him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw
Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus said
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou
have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and
I'll take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. He called his own by name, then
she knew him. She turned herself and saith
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say master. Jesus saith unto
her, touch me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my father. What
he's saying is, he's not telling you you're not allowed to touch
me. He says, you don't have to cling to me. I'm not leaving
to go back to my father yet. But go to my brethren and say
unto them, I sinned unto my father and your father, to my God and
your God. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken
these things unto her. We'll end our reading there.
All right, let's stand together as Sean leads us in singing our
call to worship. With broken heart and contrite
sigh, A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry. Thy pardoning grace is
rich and free, O God, be merciful. to me. I smite upon my troubled breast,
with deep and conscious guilt oppressed. Christ and His cross,
my only plea, be merciful to me. No alms nor deeds that I have
done can for us sing, though sin atoned to Christ alone. O God, be merciful to me. And when redeemed from sin and
hell, with all the ransomed throng I dwell, My raptured song shall
ever be. God has been merciful to me. Okay, if you would turn to song
number 495, Unsearchable Riches. O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, wealth that can never be told. Riches exhaustless of mercy and
grace, precious, more precious than gold. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, who shall their greatness declare? Jewels whose luster our lives
may adorn, pearls that the porous may wear. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, freely, how freely they flow. Making the souls of the faithful
and true happy wherever they go. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold! O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, who would not gladly endure? Trials, afflictions, and crosses
on earth, riches like these to secure. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, Precious, more precious than gold. Let's open our Bibles
now to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. As you're turning,
there's one other announcement I failed to make. I knew I was
missing something. This is in the bulletin, but you're invited
to a Christmas party. Gary and Janie Hoback's house
on December the 10th at 6 p.m. And the address is here in the
bulletin. I hope we can all meet together and have a good time
there. All right, Mark chapter 16. And when the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had brought
sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very
early in the morning, the first day of the week, They came unto
the sepulchre, the rising of the sun. And they said among
themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door
of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw
that the stone was what was rolled away for it was very great. And
entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting
on the right side, clothed in a long white garment and they
were afraid. And he sayeth unto them, be not
afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth. who
was crucified. He's risen. He's not here. Go
to the place where they laid him. But go your way. Tell his disciples and Peter,
be sure to tell Peter, he goes before you into Galilee. There
shall you see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly
and fled from the sepulcher for they trembled and were amazed.
Neither said they anything to any man for they were afraid.
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. And they, when they'd heard that
he was alive and had been seen of her, believe not. After that, he appeared in another
form under two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it under
the residue. Neither believed they them. Afterward, 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. 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. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for the good news of the gospel. How we thank you for
the good news of a risen, victorious, successful Savior. Father, I
pray, I beg of you, that this morning that you might enable
us to preach to preach His matchless name, to preach His precious
person, and that you enable us to believe, to believe on Him,
to rest in Him, to believe on Him for the very first time,
to see Him with eyes of faith for the very first time, and
to believe Him more fully, to rest in Him more fully. Father, we thank you for such
an awesome privilege that you've given us to meet together and
worship your name, to preach the gospel of your dear son.
Father, I pray that you send your spirit upon us, enable us
to worship from the heart, that we not just go through the forms
and motions of religion and orthodoxy, but that you'd give us a true
hour of worship. Father, while we pray for ourselves,
we pray for your people all around the world who are meeting together
today. Father, bless them. We pray a
special blessing, our brother Eric, as he preaches. Father,
bless him mightily and bring him back home safe to us. Father,
for those who are hurting and sick, Nietzsche especially, Father,
we pray that your hand of comfort, healing would be upon them, that
you would deliver them as soon as it could be thy will. We thank
you for the good report we've had on so many, so many we've
been praying for, you've restored the health, restored them back
here to worship together with us. Father, we're so thankful. We're so thankful. Father, we
pray that you would continue to bless this congregation. How
we thank you that you've given us a place we can meet together
in peace and love and unity. And Father, we pray that you
continue to bless. Bless your word that your people might be
blessed and comforted and edified through the preaching of Christ
our Savior. For it's in his precious name
we pray and give thanks. Jesus, lover of my soul, lend
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still me, O my Savior, hide, till the
storm of life is past. Safe into the haven, guide, O
receive my soul, Refuge have I none, hangs my
helpless soul on thee. Leave all, leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is saved
All my help from thee I bring Cover my defenseless head With
the shadow of thy wing Christ art all I want, more than
all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick and leave the blind. Just and holy is False and full of sin I am, thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with thee is
found, grace to cover sin. Let the healing streams
abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain of
heart, freely let me take a If you would open your Bibles
with me again to Mark chapter 16. I will confess to you that it
has been my prayer these last three or four days I've been
looking at this passage, preparing to bring a message on it, that
it has been my earnest prayer. It's really been on my heart
that the Lord will enable me to preach this message in such
a way that it will be a life-changing message. Years ago, Brother John
Chapman and I were talking, I've pointed out how often we've heard
messages that were just life-changing. Just such a clear revelation
of Christ that they were life-changing. And I don't know if I should
exactly make it my goal to preach a life-changing message, but
that really is my prayer this morning. I beg God that He would
enable me to preach Christ so clearly that the Spirit will
enable us to see Him so clearly that we'll trust Him, that we'll
rest in Him, that we'll believe Him, that we'll find comfort
for our hearts and assurance for our soul like we've never
had it before. And maybe we can take it with
us. Maybe we can take it with us and trust Him more fully. And I want to do it not by telling
you a feel-good story, but by preaching Christ, preaching God's
Word. And here in our text, Mark records
something that our Lord said after he rose from the dead that
is very, very comforting to every believer since we are so often
weak and erring like the Apostle Peter was. In verse seven, Mark
chapter 16, the angel says, but go your way, tell his disciples
and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall
you see him as he said unto you, I've titled the message this
morning, And Tell Peter. It seems specifically here that
the angel tells Mary, you be sure to tell Peter. Tell all
the disciples, but you be sure to tell Peter that I'm risen.
And I'll see him in Galilee just exactly like I promised him I
would. Now when you and I think about Peter, there's several
things that we think about. We think of Peter as a man who
is bold. and confident in Christ. This
is the man that said, we believe and we're sure. Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. There's no doubt about that.
He was bold and confident, wasn't he? We think of Peter who was
so bold as to tell the Lord, these other fellas, I believe
you. And you say, they'll forsake
you. I won't. I'll die with you. And Peter meant it, too. He meant
that when he said that. But we also think of Peter who
was weak and frightened at the questions of a teenage girl.
A damsel's question made Peter deny that he even knew the Lord.
Yet we know Peter loved the Lord. He said, Lord, you know all things.
You know I love you. And Peter summed himself up,
calling himself a sinful man. That time they were fishing all
night and caught nothing. The Lord said, cast your net
on the other side. They took in all these fish. Peter said,
depart from me. from a sinful man, oh Lord. That's
Peter. Can you identify? Can you identify
with that? That confidence and strength
and love for Christ and yet such weakness and frailty. Can you
identify? Well, if you can, I've got some good news for you. I've
got a gospel for you. Since the Lord arose from the
dead, there's a gospel. There's good news to preach to
weak, sinful people like Peter. The gospel that we preach, the
gospel we believe, is good news for sinners. And so much of that
is tied to the resurrection of our Lord. Christ died as a sacrifice
for the sin of his people. And aren't we glad? Aren't we
glad he died as the sin bearer, bearing the sin of his people?
Aren't we glad that he died as the burnt offering, the sacrifice
for the sin of his people? Oh, we're glad. But I tell you,
there'd be no good news in that death if he didn't rise again
three days later like he promised. And that he rose. He rose from
the dead. And the resurrection of Christ
means something very important to you and me. The resurrection
of Christ means that the sin that was charged to him is gone. The father never would have raised
him from the dead if there had been any sin left upon his son.
But his blood put away the sin of all his people. Everyone for
whom he died, their sin is gone. It's gone. And the proof of it
is his resurrection. Now that ought to comfort our
hearts, that ought to encourage us, that ought to draw us to
Christ. He's raised again as a justification
for his people. Now at this point at the sepulcher,
this is pretty much all Peter knew. Peter knew that the Lord
had suffered and died. He knew that. What Peter didn't
know is the Lord risen from the dead. He didn't know that the
Lord was risen and he also didn't know all the good things that
were accomplished that were given to God's people by the resurrection
of Christ. Peter knew the Lord suffered
and died. And you want to know the other thing Peter knew? Peter
knew I denied the Lord. I denied I even knew him. I just
bet you Peter thought there's no hope for me. Peter
just thought it was a hopeless case. I mean, he must have thought
this. There's no difference between
me and Judas. John mentioned it in his message
Wednesday. I thought, here he goes. He's going to be all over my
message, you know. Peter thought there's no difference between
me and Judas. And in them, there wasn't any difference. They're
both lost in Adam. They're both. One of them denied
the Lord. One of them betrayed him. But there was a difference
between Peter and Judas. And you know what it was? God's
grace. You know what the Lord said to
Peter? I prayed for you that your faith
fell not. Peter just didn't know all that
yet, did he? And the Savior tells us, you go tell sinful people
like Peter. If you find anybody that doesn't
have any hope in themselves, now, I grant you, most people
have hope in themselves, but if you can find somebody that
doesn't have any hope in themselves, you tell them the good news of
the gospel. You tell them what Christ has
accomplished for his people by his death, his burial, and his
resurrection for them. So what is our message for people
like Peter and everybody like him? Well, here's the first thing.
There's rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's servant has finished
the work of redemption for his people. Look, verse one, Matthew
chapter 16. And when the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and slowly had
brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And
very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came
under the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. They said among themselves,
who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher.
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away
for it was great. Now these women came to anoint
the body of our Lord and they came after the Sabbath. They
couldn't do this work on the Sabbath day. This body of our
Savior lied resting in that tomb on the Sabbath day. And you know
that the Sabbath day was instituted by God when he rested from his
work of creation on the seventh day. And we've been studying
that in the book of Genesis. God didn't rest from his work
because he was tired. You know, creating the earth,
that didn't wear God out. He was tired, had to take a day
off. God rested from his work because it was done. It was finished. It was all done and God saw it
was very good. And God instituted the Sabbath.
Well, that Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ our Savior. He's our
Sabbath rest. The Savior's body lay resting
in the tomb on the Sabbath. And you know why he lay there
resting? There was no more work left to do. The work of redemption
was finished. He cried, it is finished. That
means there's no more work left for him to do, and there's no
more work left for his people to do. The work is finished,
and he lay there resting. But now the next day, these women
come to anoint the body. The stone had already been rolled
away from the sepulcher. You know why? Because Christ
was risen. He was risen from the dead, and
he came out of that tomb. And when he did, he gave us proof
positive that all of the sin that had been charged to him
had been put away under his precious blood. He cried, it is finished. And when he walked out of that
tomb, we could see why he meant it. It's finished. The work of
putting away the sin of God's people is finished. It's been
put away. Now you go tell Peter, you go
tell all those other weak sinners. You find those people, God's
people, who bless their hearts just because of what they've
done. They think there's absolutely no hope for me. You tell them
what the resurrection of Christ means to them. It means you rest
in Christ. Just quit. Quit trying to make
up for your sin. Quit trying to do something you
think will make God happy with you. Quit trying to please God
by your works and just rest in Christ. He's already finished
the work. Now just rest in Him. Salvation
can't be by our works. Salvation is by faith in Christ.
by believing Christ, by resting in Him, that He is all I need
to be saved. Because He already finished the
work. Quit trying to please God with your religion. Just quit
it. Quit trying to go through all the forms and the ceremonies
of religion, all the orthodoxy of religion. Make sure you're
doing everything just right, you know. You think if you do
everything just right, God's gonna accept you? And if you
get something out of order, God's not gonna accept you? Salvation is not in the ceremony
of religion. It's not. Salvation is in Christ. Now you just rest in Him. Worship
Him from the heart. The ceremony will be right. Worship
Him from the heart. But rest in Him. He's all you need. That's
true spiritually and that's true in this life. In all the events
of this life. In its ups and its downs and
its twists and its turns. Just rest in Christ. In every
trial. in every heartache, in every
dark night, in every painful moment, just rest. Rest in Christ. Yes, I'm not
saying pretend like it's not painful and it's not dark and
it's not a heartache. Our God has already appointed
an end to this thing. He's got a purpose in it. He's
appointed the end of it. Just rest in Him. I think we
might be a whole lot better off in these trials and these dark
nights and these painful moments Maybe if we quit trying to get
out of it, quit trying to make the darkness in and the pain
in and the heartache in, and maybe if we look to Christ and
try to find out what is it God's teaching me in this, maybe it'll
end faster. I don't know. But I do know this,
we'll be a whole lot better off if we just look to Christ. If
we just rest in Him. Quit trying to work our way out
of this fix and rest in Him. He's finished the work of redemption
for you, and I'm talking to you who believe. What is your greatest
problem? It's our sin. He's already put
away your sin. He suffered and died for you.
He rose again for your justification. Now rest in Him. This I promise
you, whatever it is He brings you through in this life, He'll
bring you through it. He paid for your sin. He redeemed
you. He's going to have you. He'll
bring you through it and bring you to Him. that you may be with
Him where He is, that you may behold His glory. You just rest
in Him, He's going to do it. And when it comes time for us
to face death, and we know the end of this life is right near,
I'll tell you what to do. You rest in Christ. Our Savior
already arose from the grave. He made a way out of the tomb.
And He'll bring you out of it too. He'll bring you out of it
too. Just rest, rest in Christ, rest
in not only what he's accomplished for his people, but rest in who
he is. Rest in his love for his people. After the Savior arose,
I read two different accounts this morning of the Savior arising
when he had arisen and he first saw his people. He first saw
Mary, the angel first talked to Mary. What was their message? Both Christ and the angel. What
was His message? Don't be afraid. Fear not. Don't be afraid. The disciples
were scared. They were in hiding. They are
so disappointed. They thought that the Lord Jesus
was going to establish an earthly kingdom. They thought they were
going to get to be in His cabinet. Secretary of State. Secretary
of Defense. Secretary of Commerce. They all
had their appointments all mapped out. And the Lord's died. He's
not going to set up an earthly kingdom. They're so disappointed.
They don't understand. How is it that he can rule if
he's, if he's died? They don't, they're so full of
fears. They're so full of doubts. And the Lord told them over and
over again, I'm going to die. I'm going to suffer and die.
I'm going to go to Jerusalem. I'm going to be mistreated by
the, by the Romans, by the Jews. They're going to put me to death
and I'll rise again the third day. How many times did he tell
them that? And they didn't believe. And
yet, His message to them, their faith was so weak and so, he
upbraided them for it, we read that, didn't he? But yet his
message to them was words of comfort. Fear not, fear not. Your salvation doesn't depend
upon the strength of your faith. It depends upon me. You fear
not. You just rest in Christ. He's
the only place a sinner can find rest for their souls. Now you
rest in him. Number two, what's our message
to people like Peter? Salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone. 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, and when they had heard that he was alive, had been seen
of her, believed not. After that, he appeared in another
form, under two of them as they walked and went into the country
and they went and told it under the residue. Neither believe
they then. Now the disciples had heard the
Lord tell them just like I said, several times that he would die
and rise again the third day. It's been three days since the
Lord died. He was buried. They knew he was buried. And
now three days later, several witnesses are coming to them
telling them, I've seen the Lord. The Lord's risen. and they didn't believe. It never
crossed their mind. You know, the Lord said something
about this. Isn't this just what the Lord told us he'd do three
days later? And they didn't believe. Now there is no salvation apart
from believing Christ, faith in him. Look at verse 14. Afterward,
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. And he said unto
them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized
should be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Now it is not our sin that damns us. I know that's served by thanks,
but it's not our sin that damns us. I know that so because Christ
came to save sinners. He came to save his people from
their sin. So it's not sin that damns us. You know what damns
us? It's self-righteousness. It's
relying on our own works. It's relying on our own understanding.
And if we refuse to believe something just because I can't understand
it, we're going to be damned. I'm telling the truth. We'll
be damned. Who can understand God? The gospel is a mystery. Who can understand it? Who can
understand how God became a man? Who can understand that? Who
can understand how the holy God was made sin? Who can understand
that? Who can understand how God died?
He's life itself. Who can understand how He died?
Who can understand how the God-man came and put the sin of somebody
else away by His death, His sacrifice? Who can understand that? Who
can understand how it is that a dead man arose from the grave
by His own power? Who can understand that? Who
can understand how this hated, homeless man, Jesus of Nazareth,
is right now ascended, sitting on the throne of glory? Who can
understand that? Nobody. Nobody. That's a mystery,
isn't it? That's a mystery. But, this is
true, if we don't believe on Him. If we don't trust all of
the salvation of our soul to Him, we'll die in our sins. We must believe on Christ. And here's something else. It's
not perfect faith that saves. These that the Lord came to,
the 11, He came, He upbraided them with their unbelief and
hardness of heart, didn't He? But they were saved. They were
His people, because He immediately sends them out to go into all
the world and preach the gospel. See, it's not perfect faith that
saves. It's a perfect Savior who saves. It's trusting in Him. Now, if
you and I would be saved, If there's any poor Peter here this
morning that's lost and feels like there's no hope for you,
tell you what, if we would be saved, we must believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe. But nobody's
going to believe. Nobody's going to believe on
Christ unless God gives them faith to believe. You must believe
on Christ. What must I do to be saved? Believe,
believe. But don't make a work out of
faith now. Nobody can believe on Christ unless God gives them
faith in Christ. But I can tell you exactly when
a person will believe on Christ. I know exactly when somebody
will believe. It's when God the Holy Spirit is pleased to reveal
Christ to them. Look at Luke chapter 24. When you see Christ with eyes
of faith, not physically now, but with eyes of faith, you'll
believe him. Luke chapter 24. We won't read this whole account.
This is when the Lord was walking with those disciples on the road
to Emmaus. And he had, uh, He had appeared
unto them and now he's gonna go to his disciples, verse 36.
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of
them and saith unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified
and afraid as to suppose they'd seen the spirit. And he said
unto them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that is I myself,
handle me and see. For spirit hath not flesh and
bones as ye see me have, And when he had thus spoken, he showed
them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not
for joy, they thought, this is too wonderful. They saw him physically,
they touched him. And they still did not believe.
And he said unto them, have you any meat? And they gave him a
piece of broiled fish and of honeycomb, and he took it and
did eat it before them. They saw he was really, they
still didn't believe him. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake, which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms
concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, thus it is written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer
and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance
and remissions of sin should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem and you're witnesses of these
things. Now, when is it that they believe?
When is it that they are witnesses and they can now go out and preach
the gospel? When they believe Christ. When did they believe
him? When he opened the scriptures
to them. See, it wasn't seeing him physically. It was having
the scriptures open to them and they saw Christ in the scriptures
and they said, now I see. Now I see the sacrifice. Now
I see what all those Old Testament sacrifices were about. Now I
see what all those days of atonement were about. Now I see what all
those Sabbath days were about. Now I see. Now I see the story
of Jonah and the whale. Now I see what that was about.
It was about the resurrection of Christ coming out three days
later. Now I see. And they believed when the Lord
opened their understanding. And the best that we know how
to do it We preach God's word, don't we? Verse by verse, line
upon line, precept upon precept, week after week, month after
month, year after year. Because if God's going to save
anybody, I tell you how he's going to do it, it's by this
word being open to him. That's when we'll believe. God,
the Holy Spirit, shows us Christ and his word. This is the gospel
that we preach now to weak, sinful people like Peter. Salvation
is by faith, through faith, and it's by grace. It's got to be
by grace. Got to be by grace. You think,
oh, there's no hope for me. You think I'm too bad. Salvation
by grace. Salvation for people who don't
have any hope. What do you reckon Peter's thinking about here?
You know, Peter told those disciples, I'm going fishing. He didn't
mean he's going to go to a bass tournament. He's going back to
professional fishing. You know why he said that? He
thought there's no hope for me. He's sitting there thinking.
He's sitting there stewing. They're meeting in that upper
room, they're hiding, he's thinking. About those last few days. What have I done? What have I
done? Peter swore he'd die with the
Lord. And he ran like a scared jackrabbit
when a girl came to talk to him. Peter swore Those others, oh,
they'll desert you. Listen, Lord, I believe you.
These others are going to desert you. Not me. Not me. And then
Peter denied he even knew who the Lord was. He said, I know
not the man. And now Peter's heartbroken.
Now Peter believes God, but he just thinks salvation in Christ
cannot be for him. He believes Christ is the Savior,
but he thinks it can't be for me. He said, I'm too bad, I'm
too far gone, I'm too unworthy, I'm just like Judas. Peter just
could not see any difference between him and Judas, could
he? God's given us a message of grace for just those people,
people who are too bad, they're too far gone, they're so unworthy. Listen, Peter, salvation's by
grace. Grace is undeserved, unearned
favor from God. It's God giving us what we don't
deserve. We don't want God to give us
what we deserve. I want God to give me what I don't deserve. Peter, the blood of Christ has
paid for your sin. Blotted it out, made you as white
as snow. Even the sin of deserting the
Lord and denying Him. It blotted that sin out too. Whatever sin you're thinking,
it blotted out too. But what about, it blotted that
one out too. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanses us from all sin. Now Peter, all us Peters, Christ
is risen. Here's the result of Christ's
resurrection. You're justified. You're justified. Look at Romans
chapter four. Everything's all right. Everything's
all right between you and God. Yes, yes, your sin is deplorable. Yeah, y'all not done it. Yeah,
of course y'all not done it. But everything's all right between
you and God because Christ is your justification. He puts your
sin away and you're complete in Him. Romans 4 verse 23. Now it's not written for his
sake, for Abraham's sake alone that it was imputed to him, but
for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses. Here's why He died, it's for
our offenses. Our sin laid on Him when He was raised again
for our justification. He was raised again because His
sacrifice justified His people and made them without sin. Now
I say it again, Peter, believe on Christ. Believe on Him. It's
not our sin that damns us. It's not our lack of good works
that dams us. It's not our mistakes that dam us. It's our lack of
faith in Christ. Insisting on trusting in what
we've done rather than trusting in Christ alone. Now salvation
is by grace, through faith, by resting in Christ. Now that's
the best news a genuine sinner's ever heard. Salvation is by grace. Thirdly, what do we tell Peter?
Weak, sinful people like Peter. Peter, salvation from sin is
through union with Christ. Now the truth of this is pictured
in the way that the Savior told us to confess him. He said whoever
believes and is baptized should be saved. He told us that to
confess him, confess our salvation through believer's baptism. Salvation
is ours, not by anything that we do. Salvation is ours through
what Christ did. And we have that salvation through
union with Christ. Salvation is ours through representation. God sees the whole human race
in one of two representative men, Adam or the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is good news for a weak,
sinful person like Peter who can't do anything right. Bless
his heart. Peter can't do anything right.
I understand. I understand. Yeah, Peter, all
you ever do is sin. Yeah, Peter, you have good intentions,
but everything you do is a mistake. And listen, this won't be the
last one. This won't be the last sin. This
won't be the last humiliation because of our sin, our conduct.
This won't be the last mistake you ever made. But Peter, God
doesn't accept you based on what you do or you don't do. God accepts
you and Christ your representative. When the Lord Jesus Christ lived
as a man, And he obeyed the law perfectly. So did you. Because you're in it. Just like
you were in Adam, you became guilty in Adam, didn't you? When
Adam sinned? Can you deny that Adam made you
a sinner? No, we're guilty in Adam, aren't
we? That's why we come to this world speaking lies. In the exact
same way, Christ made his people righteous by his obedience. When he obeyed the law, you did
too. And when Christ suffered and died for sin, he died to
satisfy God's justice, you did too. You died to satisfy justice. Justice is satisfied because
you already died. Justice demands our death. And
justice says, God's justice says, you already died. You died in
the person of your substitute. A holy God will never demand
that you die twice for the same sin. you already died in Christ,
you're justified. Free from condemnation. Much to Janice's chagrin, there's
a movie, I watch parts of it every time I see it on TV, Miss
the Green Mile. That's a story about prisoners
on death row. And one of those prisoners was
executed. One of the young guards was there,
look at that dead body, he'd been electrocuted. And he is
making fun of that body. And one of those older guards
said, you stop it. You stop it. He's square with the house. He's
square with the house. And to every Peter here, I say
this, you're square with the house. You died in Christ. God's justice is not looking
for you anymore. Don't be looking over your shoulder
thinking God's justice has come to whack you on the back of the
head, cut your head off from behind or something. Justice
isn't looking for you. If you died in Christ, you're
square with the house. Can a poor dead sinner hear any
better news than that? Look in Isaiah chapter 26. This
is not something that just came up at the death of Christ. This
is God's eternal purpose. When Christ obeyed the law, you
who believed did too. When he died to satisfy justice,
you did too. And when Christ arose from the
grave, you did too. Isaiah 26, verse 19. Thy dead man shall live together
with my dead body, shall they arise. When his dead body, they're
gonna arise in me. Now awake and sing ye that dwell
in the dust, for thy due is as the dew of herbs, And the earth
shall cast out the dead. The earth is going to cast out
the dead because all of God's elect arose to new life. Christ
walked out of that tomb together with his dead body. That's a
union with Christ. That's what the old timers call
a vital union with Christ. And I'll tell you why they call
it vital. You cannot live unless you're connected to Christ the
head. But if you're connected to him, everything he did, you
did too. You're righteous because you
obey the law in Him. Justice is satisfied for your sin because
you died in Him. That's the only way we can be
square with the house. It's through union with Christ. So what's
the gospel now? We preach to poor, weak, sinful,
hopeless people like Peter. Number one, you rest in Christ.
Christ finished the work. Number two, salvation is by grace.
That's not by works. It's by faith. Faith in Christ. Salvation is by union with Christ.
And fourthly, that salvation in Christ will be confessed publicly. Back in our text, Mark 16, verse
15. Let's read this again. 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. Now, the Lord's not teaching
us here that a person's soul is saved, some preacher dunks
them under the water. Cleansing from sin is found in
the blood of Christ, not by a pool of water. You know, a person
can be baptized and not be saved. Simon the Sorcerer was baptized,
wasn't he? He wasn't saved. A person can
be saved and not be baptized. The thief on the cross was with
the Lord in paradise and never baptized. Abraham was never baptized.
You can be saved and not be baptized. Somebody is thinking, well, Frank,
you're saying baptism is not important to him. No, absolutely
not. I'm not saying that at all. Baptism
is very important. The Savior gave believers just
two ordinances, just two, only two. And you know what both those
ordinances are? Both of them are confession of
Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection. The first one,
the first ordinance the Lord gave us, we did it Wednesday
night. We observed the Lord's table. The elements of the Lord's table
are pictures of Christ's sacrifice for us. The bread is the body
of Christ being broken. You were here Wednesday. The
room was silent. Getting ready to observe the
Lord's table. Very serious, isn't it? And Wayne came up here and
started breaking that bread. That crunch just went through
the whole room, didn't it? That's Christ's body being broken,
being broken for us. You take that bread and you put
it in your mouth and you start chewing, you hear it, don't you?
It's his body being broken, being ground under the justice of God
for our sin. And then the man hand out the
wine. The wine is a picture of the blood of Christ. That juice
and that wine used to be inside a grape. Somebody had to get
it out of there. You know what they did? They crushed it. Got
that grape juice out of there. and fermented it to be a picture
of the sinless blood of Christ. And we take that blood and we
drink it, saying that's the only hope my sin being put away. He
shed his blood for me. And we eat that bread and we
drink that wine. We're showing this union with
Christ. It's my only hope of salvation.
And the second ordinance is baptism. Now, baptism doesn't save anybody.
Baptism is a confession of what Christ has already done for me,
already done in me. When a person is baptized, this
is what they're publicly saying. My only hope of salvation is
in Christ. I'm saved through union with
Him. When He died, I died in Him. When He was buried, I was
buried in Him. He died the death that I deserved.
He died the death because my sin was charged to Him. When
He died, I died in Him. When He was buried, I was buried
in Him. My death to sin and the law is real. I died in Christ.
But brother, I didn't stay dead. No. The grave was no place for
my savior to stay. He couldn't stay there. His life
himself, he had to come from the grave because in his sacrifice,
he put away the sin of his people. And because he did, he walked
out of that grave a mighty conqueror. He conquered death, hell, and
the grave. And we baptize a person, we dunk
them under the water. completely under the water to
represent the death of Christ. Our baptismal pool looks a whole
lot like a casket, doesn't it? Pretty good picture of what's
going on. That person's being buried. They
died in Christ. But when we bury that person
under the water, we don't hold them under there for long. See,
the grave wasn't a fit place for Christ because He put away
the sin of His people. Well, the grave's not a fit place
for His people either. Christ put their sin away. We
bring them up out of that water. Because the grave's no place
for them, they must live. Because Christ rose and died
for them. When He arose, they arose in
Him. Now that's how God saves His
people. It's through union with Christ. Not through what I do
or don't do. It's through union with Christ, what He did for
me. Our Savior said, you go into
all the world and preach that gospel. You preach it, everybody listens
to you. And I'll tell you what, when God saves a sinner, this
is what I've learned, that sinner will confess Christ. Sooner or
later they will. They can't help it. They just
can't help it. Because life always confesses itself. When a baby's
born, if that baby's not stillborn, if that baby's alive, when it's
born, if it's a live birth, you know what that baby's gonna do?
It's gonna cry. Nobody's gotta beg it. Nobody's
gotta beg it to cry. because life expresses itself,
it cries. Sometimes about three o'clock
in the morning, we want to beg that baby to quit crying. But it won't, because life expresses
itself. And that's how that life expresses
itself in that baby. And that's why I never beg anybody
to be baptized, never. Just leave them alone with God.
If God saves them, they will publicly confess They just can't
help it sooner or later. And if I talk him into something,
I'm going to give him a false hope. Just leave him alone with
God. If God gives him life, that life will confess itself. Sooner
or later it will. And I tell you, if you're like
me, you see a whole lot of yourself in Peter. Weak and sinful as
Peter. If Almighty God gives you eyes
of faith to see Christ, and you confess Him, it will be with
great joy. With great joy. What a Savior,
huh? What a Savior for people like
Peter. What a Savior for you and me. And what a glorious,
you think what a glorious privilege it is that God's given us. to
be able to preach this gospel and tell this gospel of good
news to folks like Peter. I don't know about you, but I'm
going to need it again Wednesday. Isn't it a blessing God's given
that to us? Oh, what a blessing. God help us to not take it for
granted. And like I said when I opened
this message, it is my earnest prayer that right now you think, oh,
that's my salvation. That's the Savior I need. That's
the God I believe in. I love that. You know, come Tuesday
or come Thursday or come next month, and we're just in it. Alligator's up to our neck. God,
help us remember to rest in Christ. Salvation's by grace. Is there
any better news than that? Not to Peter, there's not. All
right, I hope Lord bless that to you. Let's bow. Our Father, how we thank you
for the good news of the gospel. How we thank you for our Lord
Jesus Christ, his successful, victorious salvation that he's
conquered every enemy for his people. And he enables us to
rest in him. Father, I pray that you would
bless your word through our stumblings and bumblings that you've blessed
your word, that you revealed to each heart here the glory
of Christ our Savior, enable us to rest in him today, tomorrow,
and all the days ahead. It's in his precious name, for
the glory of his name, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. If you would, please stand and
turn to song number 87, Joy to the World. Joy to the world, the Lord is
come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven
and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior
reigns. their songs employ, while fields
and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows
grow, Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings
flow, Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found. For as, for as the curse is found,
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations
prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love, and
wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love.