Mark the 16th chapter. As you
know, we'll be leaving tomorrow to go visit our missionaries,
Walter and Cody Gruver, and their families in Mexico, as well as
several of the pastors and churches in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. I really wish all of you could
go. I wish you would make plans,
if at all possible, to do so, to go visit not only Walter and
Cody, but other missionary families as well. because it's encouraging
to the missionaries and it's encouraging to the churches and
pastors in those other countries for you to show such interest
in them. And it is good for you. It's good for you. Nothing will
give you an appreciation for and a concern for the work of
our missionaries like visiting them on the fields and seeing
the work they do. I have never known anyone to
go to any of the mission fields, visit a faithful man and the
work he's doing, and come back from the field without being
inspired to support and encourage others to support the work that
is going on in those places. Walter and Betty, remarkable
people. They spent 30 years, more than
30 years in Merida, Mexico. They took their children there
when they were just young children and raised their children on
the field. They've made tremendous sacrifices
for the cause of Christ. that ought to commend them highly
to every one of us. Several years ago, Cody, their
oldest son, and his wife, Winna, felt led of God to go join them
in the work. Cody quit his job, a very lucrative
job, with good benefits, good retirement. They sold their house,
and he and Winna took their three small children and moved down
to Merida. And there they had been laboring
together with Walter and Betty in the cause of Christ. In more
than 30 years since Walter went to Mexico, God has graciously
used him to establish, now this is just almost inconceivable,
but has graciously used him to establish somewhere over 30 churches. Most of these churches now have
their own pastors, the vast majority do. They're self-supporting churches. They don't depend on U.S. dollars
to take care of them. They support their own pastors
and build their own buildings. We help them as we're able and
as it's needed, but these churches are indigenous, self-supporting
churches. Since returning to Merida where
he was raised, Cody is now preaching in Merida. He's also traveling
to Chiapas, where Brother Milton Howard served the cause of Christ
for more than 25 years before he accepted the church in Ball.
And Cody goes down there and preaches and helps the churches
in that area. He's also taking regular trips to the Dominican
Republic, and they're helping to establish a gospel church
in that place. He and Walter maintained the
preacher's school in Merida, where they continually go through
training courses with the preachers in the Yucatan area. Since Cody
has gone there, making those trips and serving the cause of
Christ there, God just has continually blessed the ministry in the area,
both in the Yucatan and in Chiapas and now in the Dominican Republic. I brought all those things to
your attention. Because I don't hesitate to ask
you and myself, to ask you and your families and my own family,
to give generously, even if it involves sacrificing other things
on our part, to assist in the support of these missionaries
and others, both at home and around the world. Because I ask
these things of you, I think it's altogether proper that you
should understand clearly the reason why we go about giving
ourselves in the labor of the gospel and to these various missionary
endeavors. Why on this earth would any man
hazard his life and the lives of his wife and children to go
to foreign soil, give up livelihood, give up property, and give up
a great many of the liberties we have? Live in difficult, oftentimes
hostile circumstances for the gospel of Christ. What would
possess if I were to do so? Why do we spend so much of our
money, our labor, our efforts for the furtherance of the gospel
around the world? I'm thankful God has allowed
us for the past several years to take just about half of everything
that comes in here and it's spent just directly in support of missionaries
or preaching the gospel in one way or another around the world.
But why do it? Why do we have the conferences
we have and send out the literature that we send out and the tapes
and things literally, literally around the world? Why should
we make sacrifices to support this congregation, other missionary
families and churches, and other churches like this in this country
and in others? These questions could all be
answered from a number of places in Scripture and answered in
a number of ways. But they are answered very clearly
and very distinctly in the text that we have chosen this evening,
Mark chapter 16, verses 15 through 18. The title of my message is
The Great Commission. These are our Lord's last words
to his church before he ascended back into heaven. His last words
to you and me. This great commission was given
not just to the apostles of Christ and not just to preachers, but
it was given to every believer left in this world. It is our
responsibility and our privilege as God's servants in this world
to walk about our daily lives fulfilling this commission day
by day as God gives us the means and the opportunity until we
draw our last breath. Let's read the text together.
Mark 16, verse 15. He said unto them, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. 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. Now in these verses of scripture,
I want to call your attention to three or four things and we'll
move along very quickly. First, our Lord here in verse
15 gives us what has commonly been called the Great Commission.
He says to you and me, I wish each of us would hear it personally. Each of us. I wish that we would
take it to be a commission given to us distinctly as a gospel
church. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Preach the gospel to everybody.
Now it's utterly impossible for me to emphatically enough state
the importance and the comprehensiveness and the depth of meaning that's
found in these words. Our Lord's charge to us in this
one sentence is that which describes for us the work of God's people
in this world, our responsibility and our privilege. The need is
great. Our Lord commands us to go into
all the world preaching the gospel, Because all men everywhere by
nature, without the gospel of Christ, without faith in Jesus
Christ, are lost. All men everywhere are under
the wrath of God. All men everywhere are without
hope, without God, without Christ, lost, doomed, damned, and dying
in this world. God has given all men by nature
the light of creation. so that his wisdom and power
is seen in the heavens which declare his wisdom and power.
God's holiness and his requirement of holiness is stamped and engraved
upon every man's conscience by nature so that every man has
a God consciousness. Every man is aware that God is.
Every man is aware that somehow God will punish sin and God demands
holiness. And yet this light of nature
never is that which God uses to bring men to faith in Christ.
It is sufficient to condemn, because it reveals to every man
what God requires of him, but it doesn't give him any ability
to perform what God requires of him. Man by nature is utterly
depraved. He is responsible to walk in
the light God gives him, but he can't do it. He doesn't have
the ability to do it. He's dead in trespasses and sins.
And he chooses wickedness over righteousness in all things.
But God's given us a message. The message that we have is great
indeed. He says to us, go and preach
the gospel. Preach the gospel to every creature.
Now this is our responsibility. This is the work of God's church.
I don't suggest that we should by any means neglect the feeding
of the hungry, the clothing of the naked, the educating of the
unlearned. But these things are not our
primary responsibilities. We must never neglect the poor
and the needy in this world. As God gives us opportunity,
we do and we will continue to try to take care of needs which
arise in that regard. But there are multitudes of philanthropic
societies and organizations all around the world who take care
of those needs. And for the most part, while
they will, let them take care of those needs. But our responsibility
is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We send missionaries
and we support missionaries around the world, here at home and in
other places, who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not
as a matter of policy and I'm convinced biblical policy Support
missionaries go teach folks how to raise chickens in Africa.
That's kindly nuts We don't support missionaries to go build schools. Other folks build schools. We
don't support missionaries to go build hospitals. Folks talk
about medical missionaries and education missionaries and farming
missionaries. That's utter nonsense. Missionaries
are men, not women, but men called of God to preach the gospel for
the furtherance of the gospel, establishing God's kingdom wherever
God sends them. And those are the kind of men
God's given us the privilege of supporting. What is it then
to go and preach, to serve as a missionary? It is to preach
the gospel. And to preach the gospel is quite
simple. It is to declare ruin by the fall, redemption by the
blood, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. It is to declare
to men their utter depravity, ruin of all men by the sin and
fall of our father Adam, their need of a substitute and a savior.
It is to declare to all men the accomplishment of redemption
by Jesus Christ when He died at Calvary. Not simply making
it possible, but the accomplishment of redemption. Declaring that
judgment has passed. Declaring that redemption is
accomplished. Declaring your warfare is over to all who believe. and it is to declare to men the
absolute, efficacious, irresistible grace of God the Holy Spirit
in raising dead sinners to life, declaring to sinners that God
saves. Behold your God. Know yourself
to be flesh, withering, dying flesh, and behold God who saves. The preaching of the gospel is
so important that it is the means. Now I want you to get this. Turn
to Romans chapter 1. It is the means by which God
saves chosen sinners. I stress this here frequently.
I stress it because there is great need. Paul tells us in
the first two chapters of Romans, that the light of creation and
the light of God in a man's conscience, while sufficient to condemn him
so that all are without excuse, is never sufficient to save him.
Nor will God ever use it to save him, that is, use it without
the gospel. God has ordained the salvation
of chosen sinners by means of gospel preaching. Without the
gospel, None can ever be saved. You say, well, that's a fine
theological opinion, and we respect your opinion. That is not my
opinion, Rex. This is what God says specifically
in his word. This is the exact language of
the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 15, hold your
hands here, or look here in Romans 1, but hold your hand, hold it
just a minute and listen. In 1 Corinthians 15, the Holy
Spirit says to us, it is the gospel preached to you by which
you are saved. That's pretty strong language,
isn't it? It is the gospel preached to you by which you're saved.
Look here in Romans 1 verse 15. Paul says, so as much as in me
is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome
also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it
is the power of God The word power there is the word from
which we get our word dynamite. It is the explosive power of
God. It is the magnificent power,
the awesome power of God unto salvation. To everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. The righteousness of
God is revealed in the preaching of the gospel. And it is, by
God's blessing, the power of God to the saving of His people.
Now, the preaching of the gospel has no saving merit or efficacy
on its own. No, sir. But it's the catalyst. So that the power of God comes
together in the heart of a sinner by the power of God's Spirit.
And this gives life to dead sinners. So then faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1 verse
13. Paul is describing for us the
purpose of God in salvation. He tells us in another place,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Here in Ephesians 1.13, having described God's purpose
of grace in election, God's eternal predestination, the accomplishment
of redemption by Christ, he tells us that we are saved by God's
free grace to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now look
at it, verse 13. In whom you also trusted. Well, when did you trust in him?
When did you trust in Christ? When did you believe on the Son
of God? After that you heard now listen the word of truth
Folks talk to me all the time They say I was saved when I was
in when I was an Armenian then God taught me the gospel. No
you weren't That's just not so oh, no men and women are saved
when God teaches them the gospel You're saved not by the word
of falsehood, but by the word of truth. Read what it says.
The gospel of your salvation. That is, a man was sent of God
to proclaim to you by the power of God that your warfare is accomplished,
that your iniquities pardoned, that you've received of the Lord's
hand, double for all your sins. And hearing it, you believed.
Read on. The gospel of your salvation.
Salvation accomplished for you by the Son of God. Whom also
after you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise
now then look at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 Now this is what distinguishes
us in great measure from hard shells primitive Baptist folks
who call themselves old-school Baptist This is what distinguishes
us in great measure We believe in the necessary utility of the
gospel in salvation. That is, we believe that God
saves sinners only through the use of his appointed means. Our
friends, and we have many, I have many personally who are strong
primitive Baptists and they believe God saves his elect and he's
going to save his elect no matter what. No, he's not. No, he's
not he's going to save his elect exactly the way he ordained now.
Look what it says 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 13 We are bound to give
thanks all way to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord
Because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Yes,
sir. He's going to do it But how's
he going to do it through? Sanctification of the spirit
by the regenerating power and grace of his Holy Spirit Look
at it now And what does it say? Well, he's going to strike you
in the head with a bolt of lightning and save you whether you know
him or not. No, he's not. No, he's not. What does it say?
And belief of the truth. That's how God saves sinners.
No other way. Well, what if there's not a preacher
there to preach to him? That's no trouble to him. That's
no difficulty to God. He proved that in Acts chapter
8, didn't he? It's no difficulty to God to cause his servant to
go with his word to his chosen people at the time of his grace.
He always arranges it. All right? The apostle Paul then
tells us that this is the gospel by which you are saved. Our master
says for us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. I preach it to everybody because
he said do it. because we don't know who his elect are. And we
have his commandment to go preach with this promise that every
chosen redeemed sinner shall be called by the power of his
grace through the word that is preached. So shall my word be,
he says, that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
to me void. It shall prosper in the thing
where to I send it. It shall accomplish that which
I please. Oh, what a privilege to preach
the gospel of God's grace to sinners. with the hope that he
may allow us to carry the message to one of his chosen for the
glory of his name. I see those commercials on television
that publishes Clearing House, and I often think, man, I'd sure
like to have Ed McMahon and Dick Clark's job. Oh, I'd like to
go to somebody's house with a check for $10 million and just hand
it to them. I don't have any money to give them, but I'd sure
like to be there, boy. The only thing that would please me more
is to have my own to give to, but to take $10 million and just
hand it to somebody scot-free, just scot-free. But I've got
a better job than that, and this congregation's got a better job
than that. Fund to us is given in behalf of Christ to preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. We carry the
gospel literally around the world, scot-free, handing grace to sinners
as God's pleased to apply his word to the hearts of chosen
men. All right, look at this second thing. Here's a general
call, verse 16. The great commission is given,
go preach. And then the Lord tells us what to preach. He that
believeth in his baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Now, the effectual, irresistible
call of the Holy Spirit always produces faith in Christ. No
man can do that. It does not depend upon any man.
It is the work of God alone. And yet, the effectual, irresistible
call comes to God's elect. It comes to redeemed sinners
only through this general call that is issued in the preaching
of the gospel. Now, what do you mean by general call? We preach
the gospel to every creature. To every creature, indiscriminately.
You see, our responsibility in preaching is not determined by
the decree of God. We don't know who God chose and
who he didn't. We don't know who Christ redeemed, who he didn't.
We don't know who the sheep are and who they aren't. We have
no way of knowing until they're called. Our responsibility does
not depend on God's decree. Our responsibility is determined
by God's Word. And His Word, Larry, is go preach
and tell everybody, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved. Tell everybody. How can you tell that to everybody?
Because it's so. It's just so. You believe and
you shall be saved. You believe and you shall have
life. You believe and God's grace is yours. That's the word of
the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Now in preaching the gospel,
these two things must be made clear. God promises grace, salvation,
and eternal life to all who trust his son. The only way a sinner
can ever be saved is by believing on Jesus Christ. And every sinner
in the world who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has God's
salvation. Every one of them. Every one
of them. It is our faith in Christ that
makes our calling and election sure. Faith in Christ is the
one thing needful. This is a matter of concern.
Do we have this gift of faith? Multiplied thousands of people
had been washed in the waters of baptism who've never been
washed in the blood of Christ. Multiplied thousands of people
go to church every Sunday who've never worshiped the Son of God.
Multiplied thousands of people eat the bread and wine of the
Lord's table who have never tasted the grace of God in Christ. The
scriptures require one thing. God requires one thing. This
is the one thing needful for your soul, and that is that you
believe on the Son of God. And Samuel, if you and Don Fortner
believe on the Son of God, it's only because he gave us faith.
And him having given us faith is proof positive that he chose
us, and he redeemed us, and he called us. Believe on the Son
and have life everlasting, but be warned. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Oh, that men were wise, that
they would understand this, that they would consider their latter
end. And then our Lord gives us this
gospel confession. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Now, give me just a couple of
minutes here. Look at this carefully. It is
crystal clear in the scriptures that baptism doesn't save anyone.
Baptism doesn't wash away anybody's sins. Baptism does not convey
grace. Baptism does not regenerate.
Baptism contributes absolutely nothing to our salvation, our
standing before God, or in any way make us recommended to the
grace of God. However, believers' baptism and
faith in Christ are intimately connected. Look what it says.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. You see, true
saving faith in Christ and obedience to Christ go hand in hand. Where there is no obedience to
Christ, there's no faith in Christ. And the person who claims to
have faith, who does not obey the Son of God, is deceiving
himself. These are things plainly revealed
in Scripture. Our text here tells us plainly
that baptism follows faith. It doesn't precede faith. That
means that baptism is the believer's confession of faith in Christ.
It is not that which is done to someone in order to get them
to believe. Believer's baptism is an act
of obedience to Christ, the Lord. It is that first act by which
the newborn babe acknowledges and confesses the Lord Jesus
Christ as his Lord, Savior, and King. And therefore, it is the
answer of a good conscience toward God and must be done conscientiously. Baptism is the means by which
the believer confesses Christ. It is a picture of redemption
accomplished by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It
is a picture of our faith in the fact that we died with Him,
were buried with Him, and arose with Him. It is a confession
that we believe one day we shall rise with Him in resurrection
glory. And it is a confessed commitment
to the Son of God to walk with Him in the newness of life. Now
then, look at this gracious confirmation, verse 17. 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. Now it must be said emphatically,
in this day of charismatic chaos, confusion, and nonsense, that
the age of signs and tongues and miracles ended with the apostolic
age and the completion of Holy Scripture. Since that which is
perfect is come, that which was in part has been done away. These
signs were literally fulfilled in the apostolic age. You read
the book of Acts, you see them all literally fulfilled. These
signs, however, were intended by God to be a confirmation concerning
the apostles that these men were God's inspired spokesmen as the
penman of Holy Scripture. He confirmed their word to us
by signs and wonders, Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 2. But now these
miracles are over. You see, if miracles were done
every day like the Pentecostal nuts would have us believe, you
have these shoals and these Big campaigns, we're gonna have a
miracle revival. They're done every day. Place down in Florida,
folks been supposed to be having miracle revival for the last
five years every night. Folks come from all over the
place. Television crews come down there and watch the thing. Everyday miracles aren't miracles.
Something as common as dirt's not a miracle. Not a miracle.
These things were special signs and wonders. You don't have to
I don't have to confirm what I've said to you I don't have
to confirm to you that I'm speaking as One who was called and sent
of God to preach by performing a miracle or speaking in a strange
tongue an unknown tongue Not at all. All you got to do find
out whether or not what I'm saying is true is look in this book
That's all you got to do look in this book and my word is confirmed
by the book And yet our Lord here promises us that as we go
out and preach the gospel into all the world, to every creature,
his presence and power will be incessantly with us and will
manifestly be confirmed to us. It's a great pity that our faith
is so weak that we need for God to confirm his word to us, isn't
it? But oh, what grace that he stoops to confirm it, even to
our weakness. He says signs and wonders shall
follow. Well, how does that apply to
us? Well, just look around you and behold a house of miracles. Here are people out of whom the
Lord has cast seven devils by the power of his grace. Here
is a people who speak with new tongues. Mouths that were once
filled with cursing and bitterness are now filled with grace and
mercy. Here's a people who are forced every day, that's what
we were talking about a little bit earlier, Rex, to take up
serpents and be bitten of them and yet be unhurt. To drink the
poisonous concoctions of ungodly worldlings and yet be unhurt
by them. Here's a people who were sick
with the deadly palsy of sin who've been restored to health
by the power of God's grace. A people who, like Lazarus, lay
in the tomb and were dead, but now have been raised from death
to life by the power of God. Here's a people, this little
band of people, sent of God, literally into the world. We don't have any idea into how
many places, or where, or how God takes the word that goes
forth, but literally sent into the world, laying their hands
on sin-sick souls, dead in trespasses and sins. And every now and then,
God raises one up. Every now and then, he causes
one to recover by the word of his grace. I believe I'll go on scattering
the word, preaching the gospel, And I call on you to give yourself
relentlessly to the work with me and let us pray for God's
blessing upon it for the glory of his son and the building of
his kingdom. Amen. Lindsey, you lead us in
the hymn, please.