In Mark's Gospel, in the last
chapter, chapter 16, from verse 9, we read the following. 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
had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, believed
not. After that, he appeared in another
form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country.
And they went and told it unto the residue, neither believed
they them. 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 baptised
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents.
And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then
after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into
heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and
preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming
the word with signs following. Amen. And he said unto them,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. As with the accounts in the other
three gospels, this is a remarkable passage, a tremendous passage,
declaring the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and his
appearance unto the women and to the disciples. One of the
most tremendous events in all history, in all time, alongside
the death of Christ, is his resurrection. This man, the son of God, as
man, truly died. He truly died as a substitute
for sinners, as a sacrifice for sinners. He came into this world
to save sinners. He went to the cross. He was
slain upon the cross. God laid upon this man, his only
begotten son, the sins of all his people. And God judged those
sins in His own Son. He suffered and travailed for
those sins. He suffered the torments of hell
for those sins. He suffered the anger and wrath
of His own Father because of the sins of those people. those
people He loved He suffered for hours an eternity contracted
to the span of hours He suffered hell for those people upon the
cross that He might take those sins away and He took those sins
away He delivered them from their sins He delivered them from death
He delivered them from condemnation and at the end was laid in a
grave this man died but this man this man rose again he rose
again from the dead The women went to the tomb, a tomb of stone,
a cave with a great stone used to seal it and soldiers guarding
that stone and they found the stone rolled away. And that man
had risen, he was gone. He came back from the dead, he
truly rose again. And they saw Mary saw and knew
her Lord was risen. Some of the disciples met him,
met him on the Emmaus road. They did not recognize him till
he made himself known unto them but when they knew, when they
heard his speech, when they knew it was the Lord, they were astonished
he was alive. He'd conquered death, he conquered
hell. He was alive, a tremendous event,
and yet, and yet, when Mary came to the disciples that mourned
the death of their Lord, that mourned that Jesus had been crucified
when she came unto them and said, I have seen he is alive, he's
no longer in the tomb. The Lord is risen, I've seen
him. When I heard her report, Despite
all that they knew of Christ, despite all that they'd seen
him do, the miracles, the casting out of devils, the turning water
into wine, the healing the lame, the blind, the deaf, the bringing
Lazarus back to life again, despite all they'd seen of him, and despite
all they'd heard him say, despite all the truth they'd heard him
declare in the gospel, and despite all he'd told them of the necessity
of his death. that he would be taken, that
he would be slain, and that on the third day the Son of Man
would rise again from the dead. Despite all they'd heard and
all they knew, when Mary told them he's alive, they believed
her not. And despite all they knew and
all they'd seen, when those two disciples came back from Emmaus
and told them what they'd seen, told them the Lord is alive,
they believed them not. Neither believed they them. Such was the hardness of their
hearts. Such was their natural unbelief. that despite the witnesses of
more than two, two or three witnesses, despite these ones whom they
knew and trusted, despite their very brethren, their very friend
coming unto them and saying, we've seen him, he's alive. And despite all the promises
the Lord had made, such is the unbelief in man's heart. Such is the hardness of their
heart. they believed them not. And in verse 14 we read, afterward,
Jesus 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. They believed them not. The risen
Lord had appeared unto men and women and sent them with the
truth, the message that He was alive unto the others and when
they heard they would not believe. Such was the hardness of their
hearts. and nothing has changed from
then until now because your heart and my heart
is as hard as their hearts were and you're as unbelieving by
nature as these disciples were though an angel from heaven should
come unto you Though a messenger sent on high should come unto
you. Though Christ himself should
appear, perhaps, as he did before those two on the Emmaus road,
even they did not recognize him for who he was. And Christ himself
could stand before you and you might not believe. Not until
he makes himself known. not until he opens your blind
eyes to see, not until he puts faith in your unbelieving heart
to see. Such is the hardness of our hearts
that any can come before us with the truth, with the gospel, with
the proclamation that Jesus is risen from the dead and we do
not, we will not and we cannot believe. We do not, we will not and we
cannot believe. Our hearts are like rock and
we are full of unbelief. But the Gospel which is preached
today is also just as powerful as the Gospel which was preached
in their day. And the same Gospel which cast
out seven devils from Mary Magdalene The same voice of the Lord Jesus,
spoken by His Spirit through His Gospel, which turned the
unbelieving to look unto Him by faith, which heals the sick,
which gives sight to the blind, which puts speech on the tongues
of those who are dumb, which causes the deaf to hear, the
same gospel which brought dead sinners unto life then by the
mighty power of God, is the same gospel that the same Christ,
risen and ascended on high, send forth today into a world of darkness,
a world of unbelief, and a world of hard-hearted sinners like
you and I. were as hard-hearted and blind
as they were then, so unbelieving. Yet the same gospel that Christ
sent unto them, he has sent throughout all the world, even unto our
generation. As he said unto them, Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. So then after the Lord had spoken
unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right
hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them. and confirming the word with
signs following. He sent the gospel forth then
and it continues to be preached today and it's your only hope
if you're ever to be delivered from the darkness of your natural
unbelief. Those disciples then were just
as hard-hearted as you are today. They believed not them which
had seen him after he was risen. After he was risen. Despite all
they'd seen before. Despite all they knew. This wasn't
the world here. This wasn't outsiders here. These
were the disciples. Yet even they confronted with
this news doubted. And it's the same today. We have
seen him. There are those who have seen
the risen Lord. We've seen him by faith. Our
report, our testimony to you is true. We know Him, we've seen
Him, we've heard His voice, He's risen and we declare unto you
that the Lord is risen, He's alive, He's conquered sin, He's
conquered death, He's conquered hell, He's wrought salvation. But though we speak the truth
and though we lie not, your hard heart won't receive it. The hard of heart will not believe. Why not? Because the heart is
so hard. And you are so light. And the
unbelieving like you are so full of unbelief. Well, is that you? By nature it is, but do you know
so? Or do you fight against it? Is
that you? If it is, it's because you, like
all men, have gone astray. You fell into sin at the beginning
in Adam. and sin passed upon all men and
death by sin and you're born in sin and iniquity and you cannot
see the truth though it be presented so clearly to you you don't believe
you don't believe because the message is not true It's not
because you're presented with lies. It's not because you're
presented with cunningly devised fables. It's not because the
message is at fault. That's not why you don't believe.
You don't believe because the evidence doesn't fully support
what we state. Your reason for not believing
in the risen Lord isn't because there isn't sufficient evidence,
though you might claim that. That's not why. You don't believe
because you have a hard heart. And I could present all the evidence. The Lord himself could stand
before you. All the proof could be laid bare.
And you would not believe, because unless God opens your heart,
unless He breaks the veil of your heart down, that light might
enter in. You cannot and you will not. But like I said, these weren't
those who had never heard Christ. These weren't those who had never
walked with Him. These weren't those who had never
seen Him. These were the disciples. Those
who had left all and followed Him. Those who professed His
name. Those who declared their love
for Him. Those who suffered the rejection
of the world around them for being associated with Him. They
knew what it was to be with Him and to follow Him. Yet when they
heard that He had died and was risen again, Despite all they knew, they doubted. And so today, even if you have
believed, even if you have heard the gospel, even if God has brought
you to life to follow Christ, how easily you doubt the power
and efficacy of the gospel. Oh, God may have saved you. but somehow so often you look
at others. You look at how hard-hearted
others are. You look at the darkness and
evil that is all around in this world. You look at the great
falling away in the churches. You look at how few gather under
the gospel. You look at how disparaging all
the world is of all things concerning Jesus Christ. all things concerning
the truth. You look at how the Bible, the
Word of God is trodden underfoot, and how Christ is trodden underfoot,
and you look at how people utterly reject these things, and you
wonder, how will any believe? You wonder, how can they be made
to come and to hear? You wonder how would anyone want
to come into a meeting like ours and sit and hear the gospel in
such a day. And you doubt. And though God
took you just as blind and dead as they are now and brought you
to see, you doubt that he could do the same with them now. How
many there are in the churches, who though they heard the gospel
and were brought to life by the gospel, seem to think that something
else must be added to that gospel if others are to believe like
they did. They so easily forget that it
was the gospel that brought them to faith, nothing else. And mankind is no more dead than
you were, oh don't doubt. Don't doubt the efficacy and
the power of the Gospel. It's the same Gospel. The same Gospel brought these
dead sinners unto life at the time of Christ. The same Gospel
will bring you unto life if God pleases it. It's the same Gospel
which saves today as it did then. The same power the same power. Jesus 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. Is that you today? You've heard
You've heard those who tell you that Christ died for sinners
like you. You've heard those that tell
you that Christ wrought salvation. You've heard those tell you that
Christ brought in righteousness. You've heard those tell you that
he is risen today. You've heard those tell you that
it's through his gospel that you will be brought into everlasting
life and you will not believe. Your heart is hard. Your heart
is hard. You're full of unbelief. For what is Christ's answer to
these disciples? What is Christ's answer to their
unbelief? What is Christ's answer to an
unbelieving world around them? What is Christ's answer to your
unbelief? He said unto them, Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 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. That's the answer. to the hardness
of heart and the unbelief your hardness of heart the hardness
of heart of others that you see around the darkness and unbelief
in this world there's only one answer to the darkness and the
evil and the unbelief and that is the preaching of the gospel
the preaching of the gospel What does the world today hate the
most? What do the churches silence? The professing churches. There
are many places which gather on a Sunday. There are many meetings,
even around here. And you will see much done and
said in those meetings. You will hear many things sung
about. You will hear much activity. You will hear much entertainment. You will see many youth groups
and many activities and many outings and many programs. But what you hear little of,
what is reduced, what is sidelined, what is put out of the churches,
what the people hate and won't tolerate is the preaching of
the gospel. Don't make your sermons too long. Make sure they're short and appealing
to all ages. Make sure they're entertaining. Don't offend people by speaking
of hell and of sin. Don't offend people by telling
them that they're full of sin. Tell them what good is in them. Give them something nice to hear. People don't mind gathering.
People don't mind what they call worship. but they hate the preaching
of the gospel and they hate the truth of the gospel which sets
before them the hardness and unbelief of their heart by nature
because of the sin and the depravity which is in all men by nature. They'll accept anything in the
meetings but preaching and if there is preaching it's anything
but the gospel. And if they have something they
call the gospel, you will find it rarely starts with the Lord
Jesus upbraiding his hearers with their unbelief and the hardness
of their hearts. oh they say you can have your
religion that's fine just keep it to yourself don't offend us
by preaching to us what laws have all the western nations
brought in in these latter years just recently all these laws
about hate speech all these laws to ensure that you can't offend
your neighbor by finding fault with his religion or by saying
anything that anyone might find offensive If you preach the gospel
today and preach it loudly and boldly so that people on the
streets may hear, then you are in danger of some troublemaker
standing up and saying, I don't like what he said, I'm offended
by what he said. And being brought before the
magistrates and authorities. And they can use their laws to
sentence you. Well the disciples of old went
into all the world and preached the gospel and they lived in
just an evil world as we live in today and they were brought
before the magistrates and the authorities and there was a great
uprising and an offence at what they preached and they were very
often put in jail. But as soon as they got out,
they went forth and preached the gospel. Because they could
do no else. Because only that gospel brought
them to life. And only that gospel saved them. And they knew that only that
gospel could save others. And for them to live is Christ
and to die is gain. And what does it matter if the
world takes offense if that offense leads to the salvation of a poor
sinner? What does it matter if that sinner
begins offended if he's brought unto life in the end? And what
does it matter if the preacher's put in jail for declaring the
truth? He knows that that truth is the
means of God to deliver sinners from destruction. Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. That's Christ's answer. But there's another voice that
rises up within that says otherwise. Because unbelief and hard hearts
say, oh maybe not. Unbelief and hard heart say oh
that might not work. Unbelief and hard heart say oh
no the gospel's offensive. Unbelief and hard heart say oh
no we shouldn't go into all the world and preach to every creature. Let's just preach to those who
have an interest. Unbelief and hard hearts doubt
that that gospel will save, and doubt that its preaching is the
means to declare it. And unbelief and hard hearts
lead the thinking, the reasonable, the pragmatic, to go another
path. But Christ says, go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel. Now which voice will you listen
to? The Saviour's? Or the reasonable,
pragmatic, sensible speech of your hard, unbelieving heart? Do you listen to that heart?
Do you keep quiet as a result? Well Jesus says preach. in all
the world to every creature. Indeed the preaching of the gospel
and the role of the preacher in going forth to preach that
gospel is the very theme and essence of Mark's gospel. Of course all these gospels are
a record of what Christ did in his time in this world. But Mark's
gospel sets forth Christ as the messenger, as the preacher, as
the apostle of that gospel. He comes in the beginning of
this gospel as one who comes preaching. And he concludes in
this 16th chapter in these latter verses as one who leaves preaching
and as one who sends forth his disciples to preach. That's the
very message of this gospel. the preacher and his gospel and
his message. The very message. Which is why
Jesus here appears unto these unbelieving disciples. He comes,
the risen Lord, into their midst and begins by upbraiding them
for their unbelief. He begins by exposing their sin
and then he goes on to declare that he is risen. I have done
what I have said. And He stands before them as
that victorious Saviour and sends them forth to preach the very
same Gospel in all the world. And He promises unto them what
signs will follow when that Gospel is preached. He that believeth
and is baptised shall be saved. and he that believe if not shall
be damned. These signs shall follow them
that believe in my name shall they cast out devils, they shall
speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, if they
drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them and they shall
lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. He declares unto
them that this gospel is powerful, it saves, it's what drew you
to follow me, it's true. And when you preach it, you will
by its power see sinners here and believe. And you will see
devils cast out of them. And you will see those believers
speak with a new tongue. You'll see the serpents cast
out. You'll see that no deadly thing
can harm you. And you'll see that the sick
recover. You'll see that the deaf hear,
the blind see, the lame walk, dead sinners live. This book of Mark opens with
the Gospel and it closes with the Gospel. Preaching is at the
essence, the heart of this book. Which is why these last verses
in Mark have been so attacked and so undermined throughout
the ages. If you take one of the modern
translations of the Bible, so-called, such as the New International
Version or some of these other versions, you will discover that
half this 16th chapter is missing. The latter half of it is entirely
missing. These intellects, these scribes
and scholars, have studied the various manuscripts and decided
that this has no place in the Bible. They found some manuscripts
where it was missing and reached the conclusion that it shouldn't
be there. But through their folly they have eroded the Word of
God because God wrote this in the beginning. It's central to
the overall message of Mark. It brings the Book of Mark, the
Gospel of Mark to a conclusion which is symmetrical with its
beginning. which concludes how it started. And to undermine it, to cast
doubt on it, to take it away is to do just what those unbelieving
disciples did then. They were full of hardness and
of heart and unbelief. And these hard-hearted unbelieving
scholars that proclaim to be doing the work of God have undermined
the very gospel which they profess, the very truth they claim to
have compiled. O fools and hard of heart! How can you take away from the
end of Mark's Gospel the conclusions which it opens up with? Go ye
into all the world and preach the Gospel. Preach the Gospel. Whenever and wherever opportunity
arises, speak of Christ, testify of Christ, preach the Gospel. The Gospel. the Gospel of Christ,
the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the Gospel of substitutionary
atonement, the Gospel of grace, the Gospel of our salvation,
the Gospel of a Saviour, God, taken into union with his divinity,
humanity, human nature entering into this world, God with us,
Emmanuel, coming into this world, the Son of God, Christ Jesus,
that he should suffer and die for his people. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. His people, The gospel which
declares first the person of Christ and secondly what he did
and he came, that son of God, the son of man, that one uniting
humanity with his divinity, that man came into this world to save
sinners, to save his people, to save the sheep from their
sins. This gospel declares redemption,
a particular redemption. For Christ did not die for all,
but he died for the sheep. I laid down my life for the sheep. He said to others, you do not
believe because you are not of my sheep. He did not lay down
his life. for those who are goats. The
gospel declares the salvation which is effectual and complete. When Christ died for that people,
every one of those people's sins were laid upon him. He took every
one of those sins away that he should save every one for whom
he died. And every one for whom Christ
died will are and shall be saved. Not one shall be lost, not one
shall perish, not one child of God shall be plucked from his
hands. Christ did not die for all mankind only to see the majority
pass into hell and to see his salvation come to nothing. He
died for a people, a company, an elect chosen company, every
one of whom will be saved. every one of whom was saved at
the cross, justified at the cross, delivered from their sins and
everyone for whom Christ died will come to hear this gospel
and will believe on Christ. It's effectual. This is the gospel
that Christ sends these disciples forth into all the world to preach
and no other gospel, it's this gospel which saves and no other
gospel. And this gospel has a beginning,
a middle and an end. When Mark opens this book, he
opens with these words, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets,
behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare
thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. make his path straight. John did baptize in the wilderness
and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. There's
the beginning, a voice, a messenger going before the Lord preparing
the way and that messenger went before the Lord preaching John
went before Christ into the wilderness, the wilderness of this world,
the wilderness of the dark souls of men, preaching. preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, preaching
that they should repent, preaching that they were full of sin, preaching
that we are full of unbelief, preaching that we have hard hearts,
preaching that we need to turn unto a Saviour. And when Christ
appeared and appeared unto John, John said of him, he preached
of him. There cometh one mightier than
I after me, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloose. I indeed have baptised you with
water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost. And it came
to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptised of John in Jordan. Christ came and John pointed
unto Christ and pointed the people unto Christ and said, you hard-hearted
sinners, I've come baptizing you in a figure with water but
the baptism you need is a baptism of the Holy Ghost and He's the
one who will baptize you. Christ will, the Savior will. So we see here at the beginning
the same order that we see in chapter 16, the same upbraiding
the people for their hardness of heart and unbelief. John was
sent to point out their sin, to convict, to upbraid, to show
that they are sinners and to point unto Christ. And He makes
plain unto them that they need to hear and to believe on Christ
and to be baptized with Christ's baptism, that baptism of the
Holy Ghost. Which is why when Christ says
in chapter 16 to go into all the world and preach the gospel,
that He says, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Not baptized with water, but
baptized by the Holy Ghost. brought to life by the Spirit
of God brought to see and believe by the sovereign divine operations
of God the Holy Spirit Preaching John came preaching
and when Jesus followed him we read that Jesus came preaching
Mark 1 verse 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus
came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God
and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom is at hand, repent
ye and believe the gospel. He came preaching, preaching. And straightway in chapter one,
when Jesus came preaching what do we see? We saw that there
were those fishermen who heard him and straightway forsook their
nets and followed him. James and Johnny's brother. We
see that he went straightway into the synagogue preaching
this gospel. And those who heard him were
astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had
authority and not as the scribes. And we see that he came unto
a man with an unclean spirit, and he cast out that spirit,
and he cast out devils, and he healed the sick. There were signs
which followed Jesus' preaching of this gospel immediately. The
same signs of which he speaks in Mark 16. You shall cast out
devils in my name. Mark 1, 25 Jesus rebuked this
unclean spirit, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud
voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed insomuch
that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What
new doctrine is this? For with authority commandeth
he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. And immediately
his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee. Now these disciples, full of
unbelief, had seen and heard these things. And Jesus said
unto them, Go and preach the same message, and you will see
the same effects. that gospel will be preached
and will be heard when it's preached by my spirit through you whom
i send when people hear that gospel they will hear the same
power declared in the same authority and they will see the devils
cast out of sinners they'll see the grip that satan has upon
sinners taken away they'll see the change You'll see the change
in those who were once dead in sins when they're brought to
faith to believe on me. You'll see how those devils that
once possessed them, you'll see how that sin that once indwelt
them is shed aside. You'll see the change in their
life, you'll see the change in their words, you'll hear their
new speech. Those people full of cursing,
those people full of lies, those people full of the wisdom and
thinking of this world, when they hear my gospel and when
the Spirit brings them to life, you'll hear a new language, you'll
hear new tongues. You'll see the change. You'll
see the change. Because when they believe and
are baptized of the Holy Ghost, when they're brought to life
by the Holy Spirit. We're not talking about a change
merely of intellect. We're not talking about embracing
just bare words on a page, but we're talking of life entering
into a dead soul. We're talking about life entering
into people who were once dead. We're talking about the dead
brought to life. And when the dead are brought
to life by the Spirit of God through this gospel, devils are
cast out. their people speak with new tongues. You are taking out serpents,
the serpent, the deceiver, the accuser, the devil and casting
him out because his grip upon these is loosed. You're taking
the sick and healing them by the gospel. All the changes,
all of which were seen in chapter 1 of Mark when Christ preached
the gospel. He healed the leprous man. He
healed the sick. He delivered from devils. He
caused the disciples to follow him. And indeed he was tempted
by Satan, the serpent, who was not able to make him fall. And
that same serpent will try to attack and to tempt and to deceive
all who are sent to preach this gospel. But all whom God sends
to preach this gospel stand by his grace in his strength. and
they take up serpents, the serpent, and cast him out. Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. For when you do, you
will see those who believe and are baptized, who are saved,
and those who don't believe who will be damned and you'll see
the signs that follow you'll see the transformation because
the power is not of man but of God be not unbelieving but believing
how will these things come to pass? By your strength, by your
mighty words, by your oratory, by your wisdom, no. By the power
of Christ indwelling, by the Spirit of God. All that Christ
did, all that Christ wrought when he went forth preaching
will be brought to pass when those whom he sends go forth
preaching. Because they go with the same
gospel, the same power of God unto salvation, the same preaching. to the same sort of hard-hearted
sinners under whom Christ came when He walked in this world.
He, the Light of God, came into this world of darkness and preached. And He, the Light of God, sent
forth His preachers into all this world of darkness. to preach
that same gospel to every creature. This ascended Lord from the heights
of heaven sends forth his preachers, sends forth his preachers to
preach this same gospel. So then after the Lord had spoken
unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right
hand of God they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord
working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Oh don't doubt when this gospel
is preached this gospel of free grace, this gospel of a free
and sovereign grace, this gospel of Christ, this power of God
unto salvation, when this gospel is preached, the Lord works and
there are signs which follow. Eat the dead, even the dead,
shall hear the voice of the Son of God and believe. Go ye, go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Amen.