If you turn back to Mark chapter
15, you will notice with regard to these women we just read about,
three things are said of them. They were also women, there were
also women looking, looking, looking on afar off, but they
were looking. And then in verse 41, it says
with regard to these same women who also, when he was in Galilee,
followed him and ministered unto him. I've entitled this message,
looking, following, and ministering. Where were the male disciples
at this time? They were in hiding. The scripture
says, with the exception of John, they all forsook him and fled. And the only ones left of his
disciples at this time were these women, these courageous, Two Marys are mentioned in our
text. Mary Magdalene and she is the
first person the Lord appeared to after his resurrection. He
didn't appear to Peter or John or James or Thomas. He appeared
to this woman, Mary Magdalene. And we also read of Mary, the
mother of James and Joseph. I guess the early church knew
who he was talking about. I don't know who these people
were, but she's brought out Mary, the mother of these two men who
presumably everybody would know who he was talking about. And
Salome, the mother of James and John. You'll remember she's the
one who prayed that her two sons might sit at the right hand and
the left of the Lord in his kingdom. And we know from John's account
that Mary, the mother of the Lord, was there. Let me read
you this passage in John chapter 19, verse 25. As the Lord hung
on the cross, now there stood by the cross. And that's a powerful
word. They're stood by the cross. Uh, same word Paul uses when
he talks about where in ye stand with regard to the gospel, they
stood by the cross. The men were not there, but these
women stood by the cross. Now they're stood by the cross
of Jesus, Mary, his mother, And his mother's sister, Mary, the
wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. Now verse 41 of our text says,
and many other women, which came up with him unto Jerusalem, maybe
there were more women disciples than there were men disciples. I want to read a passage from
Luke eight. I love this passage of scripture.
You might want to turn with me there. Luke chapter eight. Verse two and certain women,
which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary
called Magdalene out of whom went out seven devils and Joanna,
the wife of Cusa, Herod's steward and Susanna with many others. which ministered unto him of
their substance. Now, what I love to think about
is these women following the Lord around. Where he went, they
went. Somebody says, what about their
families? I don't know, but I know this. Where he went, they went. And I love to think of these
courageous women who love the Lord Jesus so much Where he went,
they went. Now, in Christ, there is neither
male nor female. Scripture says that. In Christ,
there's neither male nor female. But I can't help but notice at
this time, the females seem a lot more commendable than the males,
don't they? The males have left in fear. There these women continue
to stand. I think that's interesting, don't
you? The men have all forsook him and fled, and here are these
women. I think it's interesting in the
burial of Christ. None of the disciples were around,
but two questionable men were used to bury Christ. Joseph of
Arimathea. The scripture says he was a secret
disciple for fear of the Jews, and I'm sure not many people
found him to be a commendable person. And Nicodemus, who came
to Christ by night. He was afraid to come during
the day and be identified with the Lord. These are the two men
that God used for the burial of his son. Don't you love the
way the Lord does things? Everything he does is perfect. And it's because he did it. Now, the three Marys spoken of
all speak of the gospel. The first Mary, the Lord's mother,
speaks of the grace of grace. The second Mary, Mary Magdalene,
who was totally possessed by seven demons, seven being the
number of completion. That means she was completely
under the dominion of these seven demons and the Lord delivered
her. This speaks of the power of his
grace. And then this third Mary, I like
what Matthew called her, the other Mary, the other Mary. That's her claim to fame, the
other Mary. And she was the last one to leave the cross. And she was the first one at
the tomb with Mary Magdalene. Why? Somebody believed what the
Lord said. The Lord said, I'm gonna be crucified. I mean, this was common knowledge.
He said this at least three times. I'm gonna be crucified, and on
the third day, I'm gonna be raised from the dead. Well, who was
there? Somebody that believed. There
is the evidence of grace. Faith. She believed what he said. Now, in that simple, so simple,
description of these three remarkable women, these three who by grace
were courageous women. These women who at this time
demonstrated more than any of the men disciples. We see the
grace of God's grace. We see the power of God's grace
and we see the evidence of God's grace. And what is pointed out
with regard to these three women? And many other women, they looked,
they looked, they followed, and they ministered. Would to
God that that would describe me and you, folks who look to
Christ, folks who follow Christ, and people who are ministers
or servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before we consider
how these three women, I'm considering these three women named Mary
that demonstrate the grace of grace, the power of grace, and
the evidence of grace. Those are three very important
subjects, aren't they? All that can't be separated. I first want
to ask this question and I need to ask this question really every
time I preach. What's meant by the grace of
God? What is meant by the grace of
God? What is the grace of God? We can't proceed Until that is
settled. So would you turn with me for
a moment to Ephesians chapter two, that great chapter on the
grace of God. Ephesians chapter two. And you have, he quickened who
were dead. in trespasses and sins. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, Satan, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, Fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature
the children of wrath Even as others But God and there's grace But God Who is rich mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us
together with Christ and then Paul makes this parenthetical
statement saying here's what I mean by all this by grace you
are saved and hath raised us up together. When Christ was raised, I was
raised, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,
for by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
It's not something you generated. It didn't come as a result of
some kind of decision you've made or the act of your will.
It's the gift of God, not of works. Less than any man should
boast for we here's what grace means. We are his workmanship
created. That's a strong word. Isn't it
created? Only God can create. You know,
somebody says, well, I'm going to try to recreate life. And they gather up whatever things
they would to try to create life. Wait a minute. That's not like
God in the first place. God created life from nothing. That's God's dirt you're using.
Plus you can't do it. Only God creates. Created, that's a strong word,
in Christ Jesus. Unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. Now, God's grace
includes our walk. God ordains. in this new creation
that we should walk in them. Now, grace, God's grace is saving
grace. It's not grace offered up to
you to accept it or reject it. It's not made available to you. God's grace is saving grace. You see, if you're a recipient
of God's grace, that means God elected you before time began,
chose you to be his. It means he redeemed you by his
grace, made payment for all your sins. It means he justified you
and made you stand before God's law without guilt. It means he
called you and gave you life and birthed you as a new creation
in the kingdom of heaven. It means he preserves you. That's why you continue in the
faith. Salvation is by grace. Amen. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, as I said, these three women
typify the grace of grace, the power of grace, and the evidence
of grace. Now, Mary, the mother of the
Lord, who as a virgin gave birth to
the Lord Jesus Christ, she is now experiencing the prophecy
Simeon made some 33 years before, a sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also. Now I want you to think of the
anguish. she felt as she saw her son, and I'm sure she didn't
understand everything that was taking place, but she saw her
son, whom she'd given birth to, and she knew who he was, the
son of God. She loved him, and she saw him
nailed to a cross, and she saw him die. Don't you reckon a sword
pierced through her soul as she beheld this? Now, some 33 years
before, she heard these words, Hail, thou art highly favored. And that word is only used twice
in the Bible. We're going to look at the second
time in just a moment. But she said, hey, the angel
said, hail thou art highly favored among women. And that word means
much graced. The Lord is with thee, blessed
art thou among women. And can't you imagine how she
must have felt every single day knowing that the Lord had chosen
her to be the mother of his eternal son? I can't even imagine that,
neither can you. I mean, just every day she knew
THAT SHE WAS HIGHLY FAVORED OF THE LORD. MUCH GRACED. LADIES, WOULD YOU FEEL MUCH GRACED
IF THE LORD USED YOU FOR THAT? OF COURSE YOU WOULD. NOW THIS,
THERE'S ONLY ONE OTHER TIME THIS PARTICULAR WORD IS USED IN THE
SCRIPTURE. YOU'RE THERE IN EPHESIANS, TURN TO EPHESIANS CHAPTER 1 VERSE
6. to the praise," Ephesians 1,
6, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved. Do you know that's the same word?
Same word He said to Mary. You are highly favored. You are
much grace. Do you know every single believer
without exception is just as highly favored as she was? Every believer is accepted, much
graced in the beloved. Oh, how highly favored every
believer is. Christ died for you. Christ loved
you. How highly favored. He doesn't love everybody. He
didn't die for everybody. He died for you. He loved you. I realize some people would think,
well, how could that be fair for him not to love everybody?
How could it be fair for him to not die for everybody? Anytime
I hear somebody say that, all they're saying is he ought to
die for me. He ought to love me. I deserve it. They prove
by that they don't really believe they're sinners. They wouldn't
be talking that way if they really believe they were sinners. But
if you really believe you're a sinner, how highly favored
you are. Look in verse three of this same
chapter, Ephesians chapter one, blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now don't miss that
spiritual blessing. This is God's blessing. Well,
God has blessed me material at my bees cursed you materially.
You know, I've seen people who seem to forget God because of
the riches of their material things. It can be a curse. God's
blessings are spiritual blessings. And they're infinitely, I mean,
material blessings. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm
thankful to be able to pay my bills. I'm thankful to have a
home to go into that's heated and air conditioned. I'd be miserable
without that. I'm thankful for a car. I'm not
saying I'm not thankful for material things. I am, but I'm a whole
lot more thankful to be found in Christ, His spiritual blessings. And He names what those are.
Verse four, according as He hath chosen us in Him. before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein
He hath made us accepted in the beloved. The high favor, the
much grace of God. To Mary, yes, and to everybody
else Christ died for. Every believer is highly favored
of God. And I, every time I think of
that, I think, why me? Why me? Why would he look in
such favor toward me? I'm glad he did. Mary, the mother of the Lord,
highly favored. She's a demonstration of the
grace of grace. She's a sinner just like you
and I are. Yet God highly favored her and he's highly favored everybody
that he gave his son to die for. Now what about Mary Magdalene?
Mary Magdalene was there and all we know about this woman
is that the Lord cast seven demons out of her. Now the word seven
has to do with the completeness of her being demon possessed. She was utterly powerless to
deliver herself. If she would have been left to
herself, she would have remained demon-possessed by seven demons. She was totally under the dominion
of those demons and she was powerless before them. They had complete
control of her. Now, I realize much has been
conjectured about Mary Magdalene and people have made all kinds
of guesses about her and what kind of person she was, but all
we know is that she was demon-possessed. It's what the Bible says. All
this other stuff that you've heard, nothing to it. But we
know this, she was demon possessed under the complete control of
demons. And I love the way she was the
first person the Lord appeared to after his resurrection. Mary Magdalene, this woman who
was demon possessed, and the Lord cast those demons out. Now she demonstrates to us the
omnipotence of grace. Now this is why we don't need
to despair with regard to ourselves or anybody else because God's
saving grace is omnipotent grace. Mary Magdalene is an example
that she couldn't do anything to deliver herself And look what
the Lord did for her. The omnipotence, the power of
God's grace. Listen, grace doesn't take no
for an answer. Aren't you thankful? Grace can't
be resisted. I love it when the Lord said
to Paul, Paul, it's hard for thee to kick against the prince. You know what he's saying? You're
only hurting yourself, but you can't resist my will. You can't
resist my will and my purpose. That is the grace of God. It's all powerful grace. As powerful as those demons were,
they were no match for omnipotence. Let me show you what this looks
like. Turn to Romans chapter five. Verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Now, that word, what I picture
in my mind is just a continual flowing out and covering of everything. The law entered that the offense
might abound. to where it covered, it just
spewed out, it came out like a fountain and covered everything. Now, if you ask somebody tomorrow
that you run into, does sin abound in you? They'd probably say,
well, no. I mean, I sin, I make mistakes,
I do wrong things, nobody's perfect. But to say it abounds in me?
No, I don't believe that. Well, why would they say that?
The Lord's never done anything for them. You see, you don't
understand anything about sin until the Lord does something
for you. And then, and not before then,
you see that it abounds in you. Do you see that? Let's go on
reading. But where sin abounded, Grace
did much more abound. Now remember, this is omnipotent
grace. That a sin hath reigned unto
death. Now that word reign, how much
power do you have to prevent death? None. None. You can't say no to death. You have no power. None. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign. How much power do you have over
grace? None. That's the power of grace. It reigns. It will not take no
for an answer. Somebody says, I reject your
grace. Well, you may say that, but you're
not gonna do it if you're his. He's gonna save you by His grace. How? Even so might grace reign
through righteousness. This is righteous grace. This
is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto eternal life
which is by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the third Mary is called
the other Mary. I like that. the other Mary. You know it could be that she
just didn't have a strong personality as the other Marys and she was
just very quiet and nobody ever heard anything about her and
she's just called the other Mary. She stood there with the Lord
even after he died when everybody was gone. She and Mary Magdalene
were the ones who looked to find out exactly where the Lord was
buried. The disciples didn't know they
were gone, but they waited to find out. They saw Nicodemus
and they saw Joseph of Arimathea take his body down. They never
left. They watched as his body was brought to that tomb. They
knew exactly where he was. And you know who was there waiting
on him the third day? the other Mary. You know why? It's simply this. She believed
what he said. That's what faith is. It's believing
what he said. Now, what is the evidence of
grace? Please listen real carefully. This is so important. Well, Do I see evidence of grace
in my life? Do I see evidence of grace in
my heart? Have I experienced something
and felt something that lets me know that God is doing something
for me? Forget that foolishness. That's
what it is. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God? Do you believe he is who he said
he is? That's the evidence of grace.
And that's why these women were there waiting at the tomb. They
believed the report. Now, in closing, there are three
ways that these women are described. They looked. They followed and they ministered. They looked, they followed, and
they ministered. Back to our text in Mark chapter
15, if you would turn with me there. Look what it says in verse
40. And there were also women looking
on afar off, but they were looking on, weren't they? Now that word,
looking, is found 57 times in the New Testament, and this is
the only time it's translated looking. It is the same word the writer
to the Hebrews used when he said, consider how great this man was. Well, that's something to consider,
isn't it? Consider how great this man was. Perceive, see. Now, salvation, insofar as our
experience goes, begins when we see who he is. It doesn't
begin with you. It doesn't begin with your subjective
experience. It doesn't begin with your feelings. It begins
with seeing who he is. That's where salvation begins.
Seeing who he is. I love to think of the thief
on the cross. When he was first nailed to the cross, he didn't
know who the Lord was. He was reviling. But by revelation, he now knows
who he is. That Roman centurion, when he
began presiding over the crucifixion, he didn't know who he was. But
now he says, surely, truly, this man is the Son of God. Now, that is only known by revelation. When you know who he is, quit
looking within yourself. Do you know who he is? Now that's what these women were
doing. They were perceiving, they were
looking upon who he is. And I want you to think of, there's
so many scriptures. Isaiah said, in the year the
king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. And his train
filled the temple. Now, I think it's interesting
in the previous chapter, either five or six times, Isaiah said,
woe unto them. Woe unto them. When he sees the
Lord, woe is me. Daniel said, when I saw him,
my comeliness turned to corruption. It's only then when you see him
that you see what you are. What about the leper? The scripture
says, when he saw him, he saw who he was, he fell at his feet
and worshiped him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Now, he didn't say, I will that
you make me clean. He said, if you will, you can,
make me clean. And you know, salvation doesn't
only begin with seeing who he is, it's continued by that. Looking unto Jesus, continually
looking. And as far as the consummation
of the experience, when we see him as he is, That
is when we'll be like Him. They were looking. And it also
says they followed Him. If we ever see Him, of this I'm
sure, we will follow Him. Everybody who sees Him, without
exception, follows Him. Matthew, follow me. Well, this wasn't a blind act
of faith on his part. He knew who he was, and that
is why he followed him. He didn't just get up and say,
I'm gonna follow this man. No, he had revealed that this is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, and he followed him. In John chapter 10, 25, the Lord
said, you believe not because you're not of my sheep, as I
said unto you, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they
follow me. Now, most people, when they deal
with this thing of following Christ, they say, what you need
to do is imitate Christ. Imitate Christ. Well, would I
say that's a bad thing to do? No, I mean, if we imitated him
perfectly, that'd be a good thing to do. Have your fair. How have you fared? Imitating Christ is a good thing. I wouldn't in any way say anything
against that, but how have you fared? How much like Christ are
you? What kind of job are you doing
imitating him? Following is not so much imitating,
and like I said, I don't wanna speak against that in any way,
but when you follow somebody, what do you do? You keep your
eyes on them. You don't look down. And as a matter of fact,
that scripture I've already quoted, looking unto Jesus, means it's
only used one time in the New Testament. It means look so as
you take your eyes off everything else and look at that one object.
That's looking to Christ. You see, as soon as you look
down, as soon as you look within, you're not looking to him, are
you? As soon as you look at trying to find evidences in yourself,
you're not looking to him. As soon as you look down, he
may be gone. I can remember when, first time I went to Mexico,
and Walter Groover, when he took us downtown, and that's the first
time I'd ever been down there, and he had no, he didn't care,
he just took off. And all of a sudden we're gone.
Where am I? And we just had to start looking
right away. He didn't come looking for us either. We finally found
him. And I learned at that point, I'm never taking my eyes off
a man. When I'm down there, I'm gonna keep looking to him. I'm
not gonna look down. I'm not gonna look anywhere else.
I'm gonna look at him because I won't follow him if I don't
keep my eyes on him. Now that's what looking to following
Christ is. You look to him at all times. You look to Him. And here's what all who see Him
do. Here's what all who follow Him
do. The scripture says that they
followed Him and they ministered unto Him. They were His servants. They were His willing bond slaves
and their only objective in this life. I don't know what happened
with their families. I'm sure they were good moms
and good wives, and I don't understand what all was happening, but I
know this. Their only objective in life
was to be His servant. That's all they wanted. That's
all they cared about. These people didn't try to squeeze
serving Him into life's busy schedule, try to make time for
it. No, this was their one objective. to be His servant. May the Lord make me and you
just like these women. Examples of the grace of His
grace. The power of His grace. And may we give the evidence
of grace looking, believing Him. And may this describe us. We
look, we keep looking, we follow, and we are his servant. Doesn't matter what the duty
he gives us is. It's just that we're his servants.
Doesn't matter where he places us. It's just that we are his
servants. Let's pray.