Let's look in our Bibles today
to the last chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 16. And we're reading the last verses
beginning with verse 15. Mark chapter 16 and verse 15. And he said unto them, go you
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. 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. We're looking at the last
verses of Mark, which tell us of our Lord ascending into heaven
the day of his ascension and being seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high. First, when did the Lord Jesus
ascend into heaven? To ascend or to sit on the right
hand of God. Well, if you read this passage,
you might believe that that was after he appeared to the 11th
in verse 14. We looked at that last time,
those three appearances of the Lord on the day of His resurrection. But if you look in verse 19,
we see, so then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was
received up into heaven. So it was after the Lord had
spoken the words in verses 15 through 18 that He ascended on
high to be seated at the right hand of God. That appearance, when our Lord
gave this command, that appearance was at the Mount of Olives. When He appeared to the 11 disciples
there in verse 14, that was in Jerusalem on the day of His resurrection. That appearance took place in
Jerusalem, but now this appearance, the day he ascended on high,
his ascension was from the Mount of Olives. I want you to hold
your places here, but look over with me to Acts chapter 1. I'm going to read these first 12
verses, and then I'm going to go back and point out six things
to us in these 12 verses here in Acts chapter 1. The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until
the day in which he was taken up. After that, 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 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God. And being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, you
have heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father hath put in his own power. But you shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why
stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet. which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath
day's journey. Let me point six things out to
us in those verses. First of all, we read in verse
three, that over 40 days from the day that he rose from the
grave, for the next 39 days, 40 days, the Lord Jesus showed
himself alive to the apostles. It tells us very clearly to the
apostles he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs. It was then to the apostles to
whom he gave commandment that he showed himself to be alive
by these infallible proofs. What were those infallible proofs? Well, first of all, they saw
him. They saw the wounds in his hands
and in his side. Not only that, but they were
allowed to touch him, to handle him, to see that he was not a
spirit, not a ghost, that he was a man. He had a body, a resurrected,
glorified body. And another infallible proof
was he ate. He ate before them. These were
infallible proofs the Lord Jesus Christ showed himself alive.
but it was for 40 days. There are many things in scripture
which took place over 40 days. Many things. Moses was up on
the mountain 40 days when he received the law. The flood was
upon the earth for 40 days when God destroyed all flesh except
those eight inside the ark. Many things. The Lord was tested
for 40 days. attempted of Satan at the beginning
of the Gospels. There are many things that took
place over 40 days, but there's none more important than this. There's nothing more important
than these 40 days in which the Lord Jesus Christ showed himself
alive. He was crucified. Yes, he had
died, but he was raised. He was and is alive. We worship and we serve a risen
Savior. We trust in one who is alive
today. Yes, he died. He died for our
sins, but he was raised for our justification. A second thing
is, in these verses, in verses four and five, he promised the
apostles that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And we
know that this took place 10 days after those 40 days. That is on the day of Pentecost. The Lord Jesus poured out his
spirit, baptized these apostles of the church. They were to wait
until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. People over
the years erroneously, believers have thought we need to wait
You know, let's get together and pray and wait for the Holy
Spirit to be poured out upon us. That was one time. That was
one time when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon His church. When a person is saved, when
God saves a person, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. We're
not taught anywhere that we are to wait for the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. Yes, we pray. Yes, we ask. Yes, we trust God. Our Lord said
one time, if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? So yes, we continually ask
for God the Holy Spirit's help, His guidance, because we know
that without Christ we can do nothing. We meet here to worship
the Lord. We pray for the Holy Spirit's
help, but we're not looking again for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Here's a third thing. The apostles,
it appears, were still looking for a kingdom in this world. They were still looking for a
kingdom in this world. You notice in verse six, they
asked him, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom
to Israel. Now I mentioned last week, some
of you were not here, but the two disciples on the road to
Emmaus. Remember one thing that they
said, we had trusted that it was he, that Christ was the one
who would redeem Israel. And I made the point that redemption,
the first time it's used in the word of God, it speaks of Israel
being redeemed out of Egyptian bondage, and it was redemption
by blood. Now the Lord had shed his blood,
he'd been crucified, but they were sad. They thought their
hope was over. They were looking for a kingdom
in this world. And they're still looking for
it here. Uh, when the Lord went up into heaven, when he was,
when he ascended up into heaven, you see that a national kingdom
for Israel, the kingdom of God, our Lord, he said, my kingdom
is within you. It doesn't come with observation. You know, most kingdoms in this
world, they come. by a great military battle or
victory and a kingdom is set up and a kingdom is enlarged
by battle. That's not the Lord's way. His kingdom is when He saves
one of His elect, He sets up His throne in that person's heart. And He reigns. He reigns in your
heart today. If you're one of his, he said,
well, I call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I
command. Yes, his kingdom is not in this
world, comes not with observation, but it is real. It's a spiritual
kingdom. But they were still looking,
still expecting the nation of Israel to be raised up once again
as it was in the days of David, and Noah, and Hezekiah, and all
those great kings in the past. That's not His kingdom. Here's
the fourth thing. There are times, such as when
Christ shall come again, that the Father has put into His own
power. Notice that in verse 7, our Lord's
answer. It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power,
when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again. No one knows
that except the Father. That's what he told the disciples
in Matthew chapter 24. No man, no angel knows when Christ
is going to come again. And those words are so clear
and they're so plain and yet Over these 2,000 years, how many
times, how many men have tried to predict the coming of the
Lord? And they've been convinced that
they have the formula. They know exactly when the Lord's
going to come again. And they deceive many people.
Our Lord said, the Father has the times and the seasons in
His control. We do know this. We know what
it's going to be like when the Lord comes again. You say, what
is it going to be like? It's going to be like just what
we see today. People are going to be eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until, just like
it was in the days of Noah, Everybody was going along fine. Everything
was hunky-dory. That old fool, Noah, building
an ark, never had rain before. And he says it's going to flood.
But when God shut the door, shut them in and then shut the door,
then the rain started falling. And it's going to be the same
way, our Lord says, in the days of Noah as it was in the days
of Noah when our Lord comes again. You're not going to be looking
for it. There's not going to be any signs other than what
is going on, natural. Things going on as they are today
until the Lord, until we hear that shout, the shout of the
archangel, the trump of God. then we're going to be caught
up to meet the Lord in the air. It's going to come. And that's
something we'll see here in just a minute. And then we see a fifth
thing here in these verse. We see the order of evangelism. They were to be witnesses unto
Christ, first in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then
to the uttermost parts of the world. And that is exactly what
the church has done. The sixth thing we see, when
he was taken up out of their sight to sit on the right hand
of God, the writer of Hebrews tells us in showing the superiority
of Christ. You know, you go through the
letter of Hebrews and you see he's superior to those animal
sacrifices because he by his one sacrifice had put away the
sins of his people. He's superior to that tabernacle
that they built. He tabernacled among us. And
just one thing after the other. He's superior to the high-praised
Aaron. But he begins by showing that
he was superior, is superior to all the angels. Because the
Lord God never said to any angel, sit thou at my right hand until
I make thy enemies thy footstool. He has said, He has said that
to His Son. He did say that to His Son. The
God-Man, as God, He's always been on the throne, right? He's
always reigned and ruled over everything. But as the God-Man,
He ascended to the Father's right hand and the scepter, the ruler
over all things today. is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
a man in glory. There's a man in glory. The God-man
is exalted to the Father's right hand, place of preeminence, place
of authority, place of rulership, the right hand of God. And then the sixth thing we see
here, the Lord Jesus will come again. And don't you like the
words the angel spoke to those men? They were looking up into
heaven. And he said, why stand you here gazing up into heaven? Look, this same Jesus. This same Jesus. Remember, the
Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This same Jesus. Listen to me. If you're here today and you've
never been saved, and if you have just a little burden because
of your sin, this same Jesus, He's still the same. And can
you find anywhere in the Gospels the history of His life here
in this world where anyone ever came to Christ with a need and
was turned away? No, no, He's the same today. Call upon Him, trust in Him,
look unto Him. He's merciful and gracious unto
all who look unto Him. Someone said, well, I called
and He didn't save me. Really? What were you basing
that on? You expected some kind of lightning
to flash across the sky or some kind of great feeling that you
were going to have? Is that what you were expecting?
You were looking not to him, you were looking to that feeling
or to that experience, whatever it is. The scripture says, for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
He's going to come again, and when he does, the Apostle Paul
says he shall be glorified in all his saints. That is, he's
going to bring our departed loved ones, those that were saved,
who are now with the Lord. Spirit, their soul is with the
Lord. They're going to come with Him.
Those who are alive, when He comes again, our bodies are going
to be changed and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, oh
that's fast, oh that's fast, in the twinkling of an eye, we
shall all be caught up together to be with the Lord forever.
Oh, can you imagine that, to be with the Lord forever? Turn
back with me now to Mark 16. What is the commission given
to the apostles? Verse 15, he said, go, go where? Go where? Into all the world. And do what? Organize protest? Organize boycotts? Oh, no. Go into all the world
and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. To whom? To every creature. People, you
were mentioning this morning, Austin, in your class about these
People that are so wise, worldly wise, so educated, and they've
made fun. Preach the gospel to every creature?
You mean to donkeys and horses and chickens? They're creatures.
Of course not. Preach the gospel to every man.
That's the commission that is given. But what does it mean
to preach the gospel? I was reading this past week
in the biography of John Gill. George Ella was telling, he's
the author of that biography, was telling what Gill considered
to be the gospel. I mean, you can just keep adding
things and things and things, but for how long? You'd have
to take a four-year course in college to understand or hear
the gospel. Let me just give you a few things
that I believe it means to preach the gospel. This is the way I
take this commission. We must tell men why they need
the gospel. Most people, they don't have
any need, or they're better than their neighbor. They've never
done a whole lot that's bad, maybe a few things, but who hasn't? Who hasn't? No, we must tell
people why they need the gospel. That all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That sin, which we are all guilty
of, is a transgression of God's law. And God will not, this is
what he says in his word, God will not hold him guiltless who
takes and offends his law, breaks his law. That we are all by nature
the children of wrath. All men, we are all by nature,
that's what we deserve, the wrath of God. If God gives us what
we merit, what we deserve, he will punish us forever in hell. We're all by nature sinful, therefore
the children of wrath, merit the wrath of God. We must tell
men why they need the gospel. And we must tell men that God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. The eternal
Son of God. Who is He? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who is He? Is He just some historical
figure? Some man that lived 2,000 years
ago? Is that all He is? Some good
man? You know, I heard recently some
men interviewing The wealthiest man, they said, the wealthiest
man in this world. And they tried to speak to him
about the Lord Jesus. And he said, oh, well, he said,
I don't, he said, I believe he was a good man. He was a, he
had good moral teaching and, but here's the thing, my friend.
If he's not God, he wasn't a good man. He was a liar. If he's not God, if he's not
able to save all that come unto God by him, he's a maniac. No,
no. Preach the gospel, we must tell
men and women who it is who came into this world. The eternal
son of God, the God who created you, the God who created this
world and everything in it. He came into this world as a
man. He took into unity with his being,
his deity, that body that was prepared him of the Holy Spirit. And He lived and He died in obedience
to the Father's will. He pleased the Father in all
things. He came here as a servant of
the Lord. And that's the reason in one
place He said, My Father is greater than I. He's not speaking there
in his deity only, but as his place as a servant of the Lord. He came, made flesh to be the
servant of the Lord, to work out a perfect righteousness. It was prophesied of him and
Daniel. that he would make an end of
sins. How did he do that? How did he
make an end of sin? He took the sins of his people
in his own body, and he bore them on the cross, and he satisfied
the justice of God. Not only an end of sin, but to
bring in an everlasting righteousness. How did he do that? By living
a perfect, obedient life, never offending, Never transgressing
the law like you and I have. And we must, number three, we
must tell men that we are God's ambassadors. You're looking at
an ambassador of God. And I beseech you in Christ's
stead, be you reconciled to God. I beseech you, I beg of you,
be you reconciled unto God. Throw down your weapons of warfare
against God and raise up that white flag. Complete surrender
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I beseech you. There's no coming to God. There's
no reconciliation with God by anything that you can ever do.
You must look to be saved by grace through faith. Well, here's the third. What
is the promise given? Well, there's two promises, actually.
There's a promise given to those who hear the gospel. Positive,
and there's a negative. The positive is, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the positive. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Now, think with me
just a moment. I know maybe I'm taking too long,
but listen. Think with me just a minute.
We'll be through here. Can anyone see anything different
than a person should have faith before they're baptized? That's
what he said, he that believeth and is baptized. If sprinkling,
if taking a few drops of water and placing that on the head
of an infant, if that were baptism, which it's not, But if sprinkling
were baptism, still faith should precede baptism. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Baptism doesn't save, it doesn't
help save. The thief on the cross, he went
to heaven without baptism. And there's a man in Acts chapter
eight, Simon Magnus, he went to hell with baptism. Baptism doesn't save you. You
say, well, what is it then? Well, it's a confession. It's
a confession. It's a confession of the gospel,
we believe. It pictures the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ. It's a confession that when he
died, I died in him when he came forth from the grave. I came
forth to walk in newness of life. And it is an answer of a good
conscience unto God. A good conscience. Obedience. He said, believe and be baptized. Someone said, well, I believe,
but I'm never going to be baptized. Well, that's not obedience. That's not obedience. So the positive is, believe. Just as the Apostle Paul said
in Romans 10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with baptism
confession is made unto salvation. Now the negative here is, believe
not and be damned. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. What is it to be damned? It is
to be separated from God and experience his wrath forever
and ever and ever. To be damned. Well, there's a
promise given to the apostles who preach the gospel, these
signs shall follow them. Those signs that are mentioned
in verse 18, and every one of those signs you can find fulfilled
in the book of Acts, except the drinking of poison. Tradition teaches us that some
of the apostles even experienced that. But just in the book of
Acts, every one of those signs is manifested. Plus, plus some
people were raised from the dead. Some people were raised from
the dead. Wasn't it Dorcas that Peter prayed
for? And the Lord raised her up? And
then that man that fell out of the third loft, he's there, Paul
was like me, he preached a little long, a little long, and this
young man, he got sleepy and fell out of the loft, fell down,
I don't know. Paul went to him and he said
his life is still in him, whether he was dead or not, I don't know.
Most people believe that he did die. But he was raised. These signs shall follow them
that believe. These apostles believed Christ
and they went forth in obedience to his command. And I'll close
with this. What an encouragement to you
and I to be witnesses and to preach, testify of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because just as the Lord worked with these apostles, So
he will work with us and does work with us. He said, lo, I'm
with you unto the end of the ages. And this age hasn't ended
yet. And we have this promise in first
Corinthians. Therefore, my beloved brethren. God's family loves each other,
don't they? Don't we? We love each other. We love Him, and we love those
who are begotten of Him. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. For as much as you know your
labor, is not in vain in the Lord. Sometimes we may think
that we're just laboring here, nobody seems to be interested,
God's not doing anything. That's never the case. Every
time the gospel is preached, remember this, every time the
gospel is preached, it's a savor of life unto some and a savor
of death unto some. And as Paul said, who is sufficient
for these things? I trust God will bless his word
this morning. Number 414, as we stand and sing,
number 414, am I a soldier?