verses 19 and 20. Every word
in these two verses is of immense importance. We ought to read
them with great care, praying that God the Holy Spirit will
both teach us what they mean and seal the words to our hearts. Rather than giving you an outline
to follow this evening, I want us to just look at this text
word by word Phrase by phrase, line by line, and I want to seek
by the help of God's Spirit to open to you that which is here
taught for our heart's good, for the glory of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right? So then, so then,
what a good way to wrap this thing up. Mark is here drawing
his gospel narrative to its close. He's wrapping up his message.
He's bringing his story to its final conclusion. He has talked
to us about the Lord's incarnation, his birth, his coming into this
world as a man, his life, his miracles, his ministry. He talked
to us about his temptations, his trials, his sufferings and
his death and his resurrection. And now he's saying to us, this
is the conclusion of the story of the earthly life and ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What will his conclusion be?
How is he going to wrap it up? Read on. So then, after the Lord
had spoken unto them. Now notice how Mark speaks of
the Master, the risen Christ. While he was upon the earth,
our Lord Jesus wore his name of humiliation, Jesus, all the
time. He is called Jesus because he
came here to save his people from their sins. But rarely in
the New Testament, even during the age when our Lord walked
upon the earth, very rarely did you find anyone speaking of him
merely as Jesus. Everyone today does, because
most everyone these days has a terribly low concept of who
he is. Everyone today speaks of him
in a buddy-buddy sort of familiarity. Now, I'm not saying that it's
always wrong simply to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as Jesus,
but I am saying this. We ought to take great care when
we speak of the Son of God, when we speak of God our Father, when
we speak of God the Holy Spirit, when we speak of the triune God,
we ought to take great care that our intention in using the name
of God, in speaking of him, is to honor him, exalt him, bring
others to worship him and worship him ourselves. I stress that,
because in this day, me and everywhere, on television, on the streets,
in schools, everywhere, little kids, from the time they're just
little kids, they use words like, oh Lord, or God, or gosh, or
golly, or gee, and that's kind of, all those things are taking
God's name in vain. Don't, even when we come here,
Even when we come here, let's not speak lightly. Let's take
great care, especially when we come here. When we speak of our
God, Lindsay does speak reverently of him. The songs you pick out,
man, I like them. I'm thankful he takes care to
pick them out, exalting his name. Now notice how Mark speaks of
him. After the Lord had spoken. Now this word, Lord, is a word
that's commonly used. Simply as a title of respect
much like we just were in Mexico They use the word senior to speak
of the Lord Jesus all the time. They use the word senior and
that's the Mexican word for Lord But in the New Testament, it's
more than just a title of respect This is a title of respect which
identifies our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord now notice Mark does
not say here that he is a Lord. He does not describe him as one
Lord among many, but rather he calls him the Lord. And there
is a definite article both in the Greek and in the English.
Then he proceeds to describe our Savior's Lordship. He describes
what it is for him to be the Lord. Now, I must not get ahead
of myself, but let's always recognize that as we come together to speak
of our Master, let's speak of Him with reverence, because holy
and reverent is His name. Let's recognize Him as Lord,
Lord over all things, all events, and all people. Now, what does
Mark mean when he says, after the Lord had spoken to them? Well, we know, of course, that
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, The eternal word the
logos in whom and by whom God reveals himself turn to John
chapter 1 John the first chapter There are many passages we could
look at would you look at John chapter 1 and maybe one other
text? Without Christ apart from Christ the God man Christ Jesus
God cannot be known by man Man's quest for God, his search after
God, is like a blind man groping about in a dark, empty void. No man knows God until God reveals
himself in the person and work of his dear son. I recall some
years ago, Brother Feral Griswold was preaching for me when I was
pastoring at Lookout West Virginia. And Feral, for those of you who
knew him, you knew him. He was distinctly a southern
gentleman. and looked like it and talked
like it. But he was a little upset. He
had heard some modern liberal talking about God and said, you
know, everybody sees God in his own way. And it's sort of like
the story about the blind men who all came up and they felt
an elephant and they all described the elephant in a different way.
And Farrell said, there's just two things wrong with that. He
said, I'm not blind and God's not an elephant. And I'm telling
you that men groping about in their quest for God in the darkness
and depravity of their minds may come up with any notion that
falls into their minds about who and what God is. Go through
history. Look at the various statues,
the idols, the pictures that men have made for themselves
of what they conjured up God to be. Everybody's got an idea
about God, but nobody knows God until God makes Himself known.
You understand that? Nobody understands who God is. Nobody can see Him. Nobody can
perceive the things of God until God makes Himself known. Here
in John chapter 1, God makes Himself known. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now that's stated exactly as
it should be. Jesus Christ, who is himself
the Word, is also himself God. Not a God, not a creature of
God, but God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. That kind
of eliminates the possibility of him being a creature of God,
doesn't it? Look at verse 14. And the Word,
he who is God, was made flesh, made flesh, and dwelt among us. We saw it right down here. And
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. Look at verse 16. And of his
fullness, His fulness as God, His fulness as the God-man mediator,
His fulness as our covenant surety and substitute, the fulness of
His grace, the fulness of His merit, the fulness of His righteousness,
the fulness of Him who is God the Son of His fulness. Have we all received grace for
grace? Now that shouldn't be too complicated.
What do they mean, grace for grace? Grace, on top of grace,
on top of grace, on top of grace, on top of grace, on top of grace.
What do we receive from Him? Grace. Grace. Superabounding grace. For the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18. No man hath
seen God at any time. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. But I saw God. No, you didn't. But I had a dream. I grant that, but you didn't
see God. But I saw God come to me in a vision. You didn't see
God. No man's ever seen God. No man. God's a spirit. God's
a spirit. How can I say that in such a
way that folks understand what I'm talking about? God's a spirit.
And you can't see a spirit. It's not like Casper the Ghost.
God's a spirit. He has no parts, no body, no
limitation. You can't see Him. God is spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. No man's seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, look at it now, which is in the bosom
of the Father. He's standing here on the earth,
but John says He's in the bosom of the Father. How can that be? Because He's God. God, though
He's a man, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him. Now this is exactly the
word that's used. He hath exegeted Him. What does that mean? That's a
word used mostly by preachers and theologians. It means to
take a passage and dig into the passage and get what's there
and then bring it out and show it to folks. This is what I'm
doing with Mark 16, 19, and 20 tonight. I'm trying to show you
what the text says. Now this is what the Son of God
did. He came into this world. He who alone, He who alone as
a man is God and has seen God and knows God because He is God.
He comes in human flesh, the Word of God and opens to us who
and what God is. And that's the only way you can
know Him. Man cannot know God until God reveals himself, and
God does not reveal himself except by his son, Jesus Christ, as
he's revealed in this book. Christ is the living word of
whom the written word speaks. Jesus Christ is God, and he alone
is the revelation of God. God does not speak to man, nor
will he be spoken to by man except by the God-man, Christ, our mediator. All right? But John in this text,
Mark rather, in Mark 16, is specifically talking to us about our Lord
and what he had spoken just before his ascension and his exaltation. He's talking to us about our
Lord's commission to his church to go into all the world and
preach the gospel. He's talking about our Lord's
promise to confirm his word with his servants. and confirm his
servants as his servants. His promise to give success to
their labors as well as his own unceasing companionship unto
the end of time. You remember in that commission
our Lord promised us his presence. He promised us his unfailing
unceasing protection. He promised us his power, all
powers given unto me in heaven and in earth. Now I'm sending
you out in that power, with that authority, with that power, with
that strength. We don't have to guess about
this because the Holy Spirit says exactly the same thing in
Acts chapter 1. Just listen as I read it to you.
All that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day
when he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had
given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. to whom also
he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible
proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now that's what Mark's talking
about here, when he says, So then, after the Lord had spoken
to them, he was received up into heaven, and sat down on the right
hand of God. Oh, I can't begin to tell you
how that thrills my soul. What's so thrilling about this?
He who is my Savior, he who came here, Bob, to redeem us and put
away our sins, who came here, pledged to save us from our sins,
he who died in our stead at Calvary, who gave his life's blood for
us, now sits upon the throne of absolute monarchy, Lord over
everything. Oh, if we could ever get a hold
of that. If we could ever get a hold of that, what peace and
joy give to our souls. There is a man in glory. I recall listening to a brother
down in Ashland several years ago preach on this subject. He said there's a man in glory.
And how thrilling that is. What does that mean? Well, that
means that men are welcome in glory. If one man has entered
into the holy place, perhaps another can. If there is a man
in glory, perhaps, maybe, even this man shall be found there.
And look at what he says here word by word. I don't want us
to miss a thing. He was received up into heaven. This one, a man. A man who walked
on this earth. A man who came here to live for
other men, to die for other men, to put away the sins of other
men. Now, he's received up into heaven. Received. Welcomed back
to heaven. Received as the God-man, our
mediator. Not as just a private person.
He's always been there as God the Son. That's not a matter
of question. He who is co-equal with God never
left heaven's glory. That language is used just to
describe for us our Lord's humiliation. He came down here, but he never
left there. He's always been God on the throne.
But now, as our mediator, as a public man, as a representative
man, he has been received up into heaven. Received as Jehovah
said, can you, the Lord our righteous, Received as our sin-atoning sacrifice
and substitute. Received as our great high priest
and all-prevailing advocate. Received with our names like
Aaron was received in the holy place with the blood of sacrifice
on the day of atonement. So Jesus Christ our high priest
has been received up into heaven wearing our names on his breastplate.
Received as our forerunner. This is what the scripture says,
the last word of Luke is The Lord Jesus lifted his hands and
blessed his disciples, and that came to pass while he blessed
them. He was parted from them and carried
up to heaven. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight. When our Lord Jesus was received
up into heaven, the angels of God watched him. You remember
the Apostle Paul said when he was Justified the spirit that
he was seen of angels that the angels of God watched as He who
had come down from heaven who had lived here in righteousness
who had fulfilled righteousness for us who had finished his work
now is received They watched him Satan and the devils of hell
were led into captivity by him and God the Father placed on
him the crown of universal monarchy He was received up into heaven
to look at the next line and sat down on the right hand of
God. What a word. Granted, the Father said, set
thou my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. But as
it is worded here and as it is commonly worded in the New Testament,
he sat down, not as a guest, but as a possessor. He sat down
not because he was invited to sit, but because he had the right
to sit down on the right hand of God. What on earth does that
mean? He sat down because he didn't
have anything else to do. His work was over. Just a little while, I'm going
to sit down right there. Sit down. Because my work for
this hour will be ended. I'm going to sit down. The work's
finished. And our Lord Jesus Christ did what no priest had
ever done before. He did what no priest could lawfully
do. He did what no priest even had
a picture or representative of. In the Holy of Holies, when the
high priest went in there, there was only one article of furniture
in there. That was the Ark of the Covenant. And all the time
that priest was in there, he was busy sprinkling the mercy
seat with blood, getting out as quick as he could. Because
he knew his sacrifices could never take away sin. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty O High, because with
a moral heart, he had put away our sins forever. Done. All that God required of him,
all that was stipulated in the covenant of grace for the saving
of our souls, everything that God Almighty could require of
man, he has now finished and fulfilled. Righteousness and
redemption. And he sat down. But notice this
also. He sat down on the right hand
of God. The right hand, right hand. Back in the days when monarchs
were all over the world, if a monarch really wanted you to have honor,
I mean he really wanted you to have honor, he'd set you right
at his right hand. This is a place of honor. I can't
do any better than this except abdicate the throne and give
it to you. He said she had his right hand. God Almighty sat
his son at his right hand in human flesh and he sat in there
giving him the place of highest honor, highest dignity, highest
power, sat down with the right hand of the majesty on high. He sits today upon the throne
of grace. Oh, what a blessed word. The
throne of God. through which, by which, upon
which God rules everything is a throne of grace, sprinkled
with the blood of the Lamb of God who's put away our sins.
He sat down. All right, let's look at the
scripture and see what it says. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Buddy read
it back there in the office. Romans chapter 8, verse 31. I
was looking at this just before the service this evening and
Thought for you preachers if you don't get if you get to it
before I do here's a good outline Three who's and a what? Romans
chapter 8 verse 31 What shall we say to these things? Paul's
been talking about us being free from condemnation. He'd been
talking about Christ fulfilling the law for us He's been talking
about God sending his spirit into our hearts giving us life
He's been talking about God's purpose of grace and God's providence
God sacrifices his son. Now look what he said What's
the conclusion of this? What shall we then say to these
things? Romans 8 31 If God be for us, who can be against us? Everybody may try to be, but
buddy, nobody can successfully be. Over the course of my lifetime
and especially my lifetime as a believer And more particularly,
my lifetime as a gospel preacher. Gary, I've run into a few folks
who were against me. I've never run into anybody who
did me any harm in any circumstance. Sometimes I thought they did.
Sometimes they'd hurt my feelings and hurt my foolish pride, but
they didn't do me any harm. God's for me. Is he for you?
If God be for us, who can be against us? And he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how? How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? I've told you this before, but
I don't know a better way to illustrate it. When Doug and Faith were
married, first time they came back home, I just took them out
to the garage, showed them around, got all the papers I have, whatever,
what little bit that is, and showed them where everything
was kept, gave them keys to everything. I said, now you just make yourself
at home. This is yours. Oh, I wouldn't do that with my
son-in-law. Why not? I gave him my daughter. I gave him my daughter. And I gave him my daughter willingly.
That means, buddy, I've given you the best I've got. I've given
you the apple of my eye. Now, you needn't ever worry about
me giving you anything. Listen to me. God Almighty gave
us his. What do you reckon he won't give
us? You know what it said to David? When David took Bathsheba
and had Uriah killed, God said, I've given you anything you asked
for. You didn't have to do this. I wouldn't have withheld anything
from you. I gave my son for you. All right, read on. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? A lot of folks try,
but nobody can, because it's God that justifies. Verse 34,
who is he that condemneth? A lot of folks would if they
could, but nobody can. How come? Because Christ died.
Yea, rather that it's risen again, who's even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Children of God, here is a blessed
cordial for our hearts and our souls in this world of sorrow
and woe. Jesus Christ the Lord, our Savior,
sits upon the throne of absolute monarchy. He who loved us and gave himself
for us is the absolute Lord of the universe. We live in this
world of wickedness and sin and evil, in this world of trouble
and care and heartache, And we're often cast down by everything
around us and in us. We live in this world of sin
and death knowing that we are decaying. Our bodies as well
as our minds are wearing away as they must. My hair's getting
a little bit long. A little past time for a haircut. Shelby ain't had time to cut
it and I ain't had time to get it cut. She said something, I said something
to her this morning. I said, I just don't want it to look
like I'm doing a cover-up job. She said, you don't have to worry.
We're wearing away. We're wearing away as we must. And we have before us the prospect
of death, judgment, and eternity. Now here's our comfort. We lean
back upon Him who is the Lord, our Savior, the King of glory. and we cast ourselves upon him.
We fall into his omnipotent arms. Oh, God give us grace to do that
in the face of every trial. I'm weak, but he's strong and he's my strength. I grow weary and I get weary
of things both physically, God forgive me, and spiritually. And sometimes I sleep. When I ought to watch, I sleep. When I ought to be watching unto
prayer, I sleep. But listen to me now. Here's
my comfort. My comfort's not in my vigilance.
My comfort's not in my watchfulness. Here it is. He that keepeth Israel
neither slumbers nor sleeps. I fall and I fail, but he can. He's the king of glory. He sits
at the right hand of the majesty on high. I'm dying and die I
must, but he's life and I live because he lives. J.C. Ryle wrote this. Blessed indeed
is this thought. Our Savior, though unseen, is
a living person. We travel on towards a dwelling
where our best friend has gone to prepare a place for us. The
forerunner has entered in and made all things ready. Once the
Lord Jesus was received up into heaven and sat down on the right
hand of God, we are told again in our text, and they went forth
and preached everywhere. They went Because they were sent. How can they preach except they'd
be sent? And they preached. That's the business of God's
church. That's the business of God's servants. Doesn't matter
whether you call them pastors, missionaries, evangelists. Those
who are called and gifted and sent of God into the work of
the gospel are sent of God as preachers. And that's the business
they're sent to do. And they preached what they knew.
They preached the gospel. They preached Him. They didn't
get sidetracked by dabbling into speculative theories, answering
unanswerable questions, and tracing out foolish genealogies, debating
theological issues with folks who like to debate theological
issues. They just preached. Read the Book of Acts. Mark everywhere
the words preach, preached, and preaching is used. Everywhere.
Thirty-seven times in those 28 chapters it's used. Every time. Every time without exception,
the subject was Jesus and the resurrection. Every time. Well, but we need to preach on
the church. No, preach on Christ and the resurrection. Church
takes care of itself. But we need to preach on church discipline,
church government. No, no, no, no, no. Preach on
Christ and the resurrection. And church discipline comes as
a sideline, never the main issue. Bob used to work on the railroad.
Railroad always has main line and then it's got spurs, am I
right? Go here, go there. Now, the fellow would be a nut
and soon lose his job who's running that train if he always rode
on the spurs because he couldn't get anywhere. He'd never get
anywhere. The spur is just an offshoot.
Everything else theologically and doctrinally is just the spur.
Here's the main line. Jesus and the resurrection. Preach
him. Preach him everywhere. That's the sphere of our ministry
everywhere, everywhere. It is our responsibility to the
best of our ability in the generation in which we live to preach the
gospel everywhere. And look at the next line, the
Lord working with them. What on earth does that mean?
That doesn't mean that we're his co-laborers, though certainly
that is a truth taught in scripture. It means that we're his tools.
As I've said before, we are his hoes and hoses with which he
works out his vineyard. That's all, just tools. The Lord
works with Paul and Apollos to accomplish what he pleases. Therefore,
Paul's nothing and Apollos is nothing. Would God we would learn
this. It'd put an end to jealousy,
envy, strife, and division among God's servants. All right, look
at the next line. Confirming the word. with signs
following. You read the book of Acts, and
you'll see that the Lord did just what he said he would. Read
church history, and though popes and politicians, pagans and priests
have tried to bind the word, the word of God has gone from
land to land, from nation to nation, from generation to generation,
and God's kingdom is being established. God's calling out his elect everywhere
to himself. The Word of God is not bound.
This Word is emblazoned upon the pages of church history,
and it's emblazoned upon our experience, is it not? The Lord
God our Savior has confirmed His grace to us and His work
in us with signs everywhere. We have in these 19 years never
yet knocked at a door He didn't open. We've never come to a raging
sea He did not divide before us. We have never met an enemy
He didn't slay. And we've never had a need he
didn't supply. He confirms his word so that
our labor is not in vain. His word will not return to him
void. He that goeth forth weeping and
bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing
his sheaves with him. But what's the conclusion of
the matter? Now, a homiletics professor always said there's
no sermon if there's no summons. Here's the summons. Let's cast
our bread upon the waters. Just cast it on. Just preach
the gospel everywhere. Just preach it everywhere. And
wait. After a while, it'll return.
The final word is amen. So be it. So shall it be. That's the way I want it to be.
Amen.