today to Mark chapter 16. Last Sunday morning I brought
my message from the scriptures which speak
to us of the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ, his body being
buried. And this morning we want to look
at these verses in the gospel of Mark, which reveal his resurrection. I'm thankful that God has given
us four gospel narratives. And I would encourage all of
us when you are reading about some event in the life of Christ
to look at the other gospels as well. They will never contradict
one another, but they will enlarge on different events. Today, as
we look here in Mark chapter 16, we're looking about the fact
that he wrote about this most glorious of all days. when Jesus
Christ rose from the dead. You know that verse in Psalm
118 and verse 24 says, this is the day which the Lord hath made,
we will rejoice and be glad in it. We might use that verse of
scripture to apply to many days, the day in which the Lord Jesus
Christ made an atonement for our sins. This is the day which
the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. The day when he ascended to the
Father's right hand as our advocate. This is the day which the Lord
hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. The day when he called us out
of darkness into his marvelous light. Oh, happy day that fixed
my choice on Thee, my Savior and my God. This would be certainly
a day that we could apply that scripture to. This is the day
which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. But especially, I think especially,
the day that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the grave, having defeated
all of our enemies, having conquered and defeated sin, death, grave,
and hell, he came forth from the tomb. Actually, actually,
every day is a day which the Lord makes. Every day that he
gives us is a day which he makes, and we should all determine by
the grace of God to rejoice and be glad in it every day. To rejoice
and be glad in it. Let's read these first 11 verses. And when the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought
sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very
early in the morning, the first day of the week, They came unto
the sepulchre at the rising of the sun, and they said among
themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door
of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw
that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering
into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right
side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, be not
affrighted, You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his
disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There
shall you see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly
and fled from the sepulchre. For they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to
any man, for they were afraid. Now, when Jesus was risen early
in the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told
them that had been with him as they mourned and wept. And they,
when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her,
believed not. Now I want to make three observations
from this passage of scripture this morning. The first observation
is simply this, the truth that God's children may have unwarranted
concerns. Now that may sound strange, may
sound a little confusing, but let me go on and I'll explain
it. the truth that God's children, you today, if you're one of his
children, that you too, like these women, may have unwarranted
concerns. Mark is the only gospel writer
who tells us of their concern. You see it in verse three. As
they came to the sepulchre that morning, who shall roll us away
the stone from the door of the sepulchre? unwarranted concern. These women had witnessed the
stone rolled upon the door. If you look back to the last
two verses of the chapter before, chapter 15, Joseph of Arimathea,
he brought fine linen and took him down and wrapped him in the
linen and laid him in the sepulchre, which was hewn out of a rock
and rolled a stone upon the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was laid. They
had witnessed this stone. They knew it was a great stone,
as our text tells us. A great stone had been rolled
upon the door. Now, what they probably did not
know, and this would have caused them even more unwarranted concern. What they probably did not know,
because they came to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus Christ
with these spices, they would have to get through first a Roman
guard. They would have to make their
way somehow through that Roman guard, which were placed there
so that none of his disciples could get to his body. And secondly,
they didn't know that there was a seal on that stone. Someone
would have to break that seal. The thing that they were concerned
about is what they had seen, and that was that there had been
a great stone rolled on the mouth of that sepulchre. They had left
on Friday afternoon after they witnessed the Lord's body placed
in that sepulchre. They had gone home, no doubt,
and the Sabbath began as the sun started going down. Now,
from that time until the sun went down the next day, they
couldn't do anything. They couldn't buy anything. They
couldn't prepare anything. The only thing that they could
do, and no doubt they were doing, just as this verse tells us the
disciples were doing, they were weeping. They were weeping, which
would be only natural for them to weep, having seen this one
that they loved, this one that they had followed, this one who
had done so much for them, having seen his body crucified or him
crucified and his body taken from the tree, laid in that tomb. They couldn't buy anything. It
was a Sabbath. You know, the Sabbath was a very
important thing with the Jews. Two things especially, and we
see this as we read through the New Testament. The Sabbath day
and circumcision, those were two things out of all the law
that was given, so many rules, that was so uppermost in the
minds of these Jews who were living when our Lord was here
in the flesh. Remember his disciples one day
were walking on the Sabbath day and they were hungry and they
walked through a field and they took some grain of wheat, rubbed
it together and ate that grain. And the Pharisees accused his
disciples to the Lord that they had broken the Sabbath day. And our Lord told them at that
time a very important thing. And that is, he was the Lord
of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not made, or
man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for
man. And they had great rules. I was reading this past week
one rule they had about a handkerchief. I mean, they had multitude of
rules. Was it legal to carry a handkerchief
on the Sabbath day? Was a handkerchief a burden? Was this a burden? And did the
law forbid carrying a burden on the Sabbath day? And so they
ruled, yes, it was illegal. It was wrong if you had the handkerchief
in your clothes. But if you took the handkerchief
and tied it around your neck, it wasn't a burden. It was part
of your dress. It was part of your clothes.
They were very precise about keeping the Sabbath, very strict
in their observance of the Sabbath day. What was the Sabbath? Well, the Sabbath was, of course,
a sign that God had given between himself and the nation of Israel. It was a sign that marked them
off, that kind of fenced them off from the Gentiles. The same
was true of circumcision, of course. But these two women,
three women rather, they couldn't do anything on that Sabbath day. So when we read here that they
came having bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint
him, we know that this is something that they had done on Sunday
morning. And remember, Sunday morning
would have begun when the sun went down on Saturday. So this
is something that they would have done in preparing these
spices to come. Now all four of the gospels,
this is the reason I mentioned at the beginning how thankful
I am that we have four gospels and it's always good to read
all four of them when you're looking at any event in the life
of Christ. But all four of the gospel narratives
tell us, as does Mark here, that it was the first day of the week. The first day of the week. The
Lord Jesus Christ declared, the Son of Man is delivered into
the hands of men, and they shall kill him. And after that he is
killed, he shall rise the third day. The first day of the week,
Sunday, would have been the third day that his body had been in
the tomb. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Not 24 hours of each one of these
days, but three days. Three days, as he said, Jonah
was in the belly of the fish, a great fish, so the Son of Man
must be in the heart of the earth for three So it was the first
day of the week, it was Sunday, but it was the third day after
his crucifixion. I believe that the work on the
third day in the week of creation pictured his resurrection. If
you take your concordance sometime and just look up those two words,
the third, three words, the third day, and just see what It refers
to, the scripture refers to. But look back with me into Genesis
chapter 1, that gives us the week of creation. On the first day, God created
the light. On the second day, God divided
the waters. On the third day, the third day,
just as our Lord comes out of the grave on the third day. See
if this doesn't picture to us and may serve as a type of his
resurrection. Verse nine, chapter one. And
God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together
unto one place. Now notice, and let the dry land
appear. And it was so. The Lord Jesus
Christ, he appeared On this third day, the third day, which was,
as I said, the first day of the week, he appeared as the water,
as the dry land appeared on the third day. And notice what happened
when this dry land appeared. And God called the dry land earth
and the gathering together of the waters called he seas. And
God saw that it was good. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass. Let the earth bring forth grass,
the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after
his kind. What do we see here? We see life.
That's what I see. I see life. God brought, as it
were, the earth out of its watery grave. And immediately there
was life. There was the grass and the fruit
and the herbs. There was life. The Lord Jesus
Christ came out of the grave on that third day, who is the
life. Remember, he said, I am the life. I am the resurrection. He is the life. And I know this,
that the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, when he wrote and told the
church there at Corinth the gospel that he had preached unto them, by which he said, you are saved
if you keep in memory what things I have spoken unto you. He listed,
of course, he was crucified or he died according to the scriptures. He was buried, we saw that last
week, and he rose according to the scriptures. In other words,
the Old Testament had testified to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, just as it had testified to his death, just
as it had testified to his burial, the resurrection of Christ. I
want you to look with me in Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews chapter 11, And verse 17, we read, by faith,
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received
the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that
God was able to raise him up, even from the dead. Now notice,
from whence also he received him in a figure." Abraham received
Isaac in a figure. When was it? It was on the third
day. You read Genesis chapter 22,
and they came to that place. Now, in Abraham's heart, he had
already offered Isaac when God commanded him to do that. But
it was on the third day when they came to the place and Abraham
told his servants, I and my son will go there and worship and
return unto thee. In other words, he received Isaac
back in a figure, in a figure from the dead. And it was on
the third day. The Apostle Paul said that the
gospel which we preach was according to the scriptures. His death
according to the scriptures, his burial and his resurrection. The Lord had taken care of the
women's concern. I began by saying it's unwarranted
concerns. The Lord had taken care of their
concerns before they got there. As far as the Roman soldiers,
They had become, according to the gospel of Matthew, as dead. As dead. And the seal had been
broken. The stone had been rolled away.
You know, the proverb says there are many devices in a man's heart. And they had devices. We're going
to keep his body in that grave. We're going to make sure. that
his disciples do not come and steal his body away. We're going
to make sure that he stays in that grave, his body stays in
that grave. Let's put a seal on it, let's
put a big stone on the opening, and let's put Roman soldiers
there to guard it to make sure no one can steal away his body. The devices of a man's heart,
many devices, nevertheless, Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that
shall stand. And God's counsel was that on
the third day, he would come out of that grave, the first
day of the week. Matthew tells us there was a
great earthquake. You know, there was an earthquake
when he died. When the Lord Jesus Christ gave
up the spirit, commended his spirit into the hands of his
father, saying, it is finished, bowing his head and dying, there
was an earthquake. And on the morning of his resurrection,
there was an earthquake to declare that this one is both Lord of
heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before we go on
to my second observation, I want to bring two practical lessons
to us. First of all, Mary Magdalene
loved much. She loved her savior much. If you look in verse nine here
in our text, it reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ had cast
seven devils out of her. Seven devils he had cast out
of Mary Magdalene. You know, the religious world,
for some reason, I've never been able to understand this, but
believe that she was a prostitute. I don't see where that is taught
in the word of God myself. But I do know that she was a
wicked woman in whom seven devils lived or resided and the Lord
Jesus cast them out of her. He said this when he was in the
house of Simon the Pharisee and that woman came in and washed
his feet, washed the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ with his
tears, with her tears. Remember Simon said, or he thought
within himself, why if he was a prophet, if he really were
a prophet, a man of God, he would know. What manner of woman that
is. He allows her to touch him. And
our Lord told that parable, didn't he? Of the two men. One owed 50 pence
and one owed 500 pence. Neither one could pay. Neither
one could pay anything. And that's the position and condition
of all men. By nature, we have nothing. We can do nothing. We are nothing
apart from Him, Christ. He must be everything. He is
all. And our Lord said this at the
end of that parable to Simon the Pharisee. He said, to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And conversely,
that's true. To whom much is forgiven, the
same loveth much. Mary Magdalene, seven demons
cast out of her. And we see in the Gospels how
much she loved him. She was last, she was with him
at the cross when he was crucified. She was with them when they buried
his body. And here she is first at the
tomb when it was allowed for her to come because the Sabbath
was ended. She's first. Wouldn't you agree? Think about this. Every child
of God here this morning, if you profess to be a child of
God, if you know him as your Lord and Savior, our Lord said,
to whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. Is there any child of God who
isn't forgiven much? Is there? Is there any child
of God, anyone who's truly one of God's children who isn't forgiven
much? We're forgiven all our sins. I've seen in books where men
have tried to compute the number of sins that a man might be guilty
of. Do it sometime and just take
an average and multiply it by 365 days in a year, in 10 years,
in a decade, in 20 years, in 30 years, in 40 years, in 50
years. How many? How many sins? I don't know how many, but I
know they're all forgiven. They're all forgiven. Not most
of them, but he forgives us all our trespasses. How we should
love him. That's the practical lesson,
how we should love him. Mary Magdalene, she should have
nothing on us. We've all been forgiven much.
And a second thing that I think is practical here, Mary Magdalene
did not allow her concern. Now she, she witnessed that stone
rolled on that, on that grave. She had known that from Friday
to here it is Sunday morning. She had known that all that time.
She could have just said, there's no need in going out there. There's
no way we can roll that stone away. We don't have anyone to
do that. We're not able to do that. But she didn't. She didn't. She went with the
intention that she was going to anoint the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I couldn't help but think in
Pilgrim's Progress of Pilgrim and those two lines, That road, that trail, or that
pathway, rather, is straight and narrow. Salvation. And yet he looked ahead and he
saw there's two lines, two lines on both sides, and I've got to
get by them. You know, a lot of people just
sit home and they see lines in the street. Lines in the street. I can't do that. I better not
attempt that. No use in me trying to attempt
that or do that. You see, Mary Magdalene, she
didn't see the lines. She looked past that. You know,
there's an old saying, day by day. We don't borrow from tomorrow,
or at least we shouldn't. Many times we do. I know we're
guilty of that. We borrow from problems and troubles
that we foresee. We think that, well, this is
going to happen. This is out in front of me. And
what am I going to do? And like these women, they were
concerned about something the Lord had already taken care of.
How many times do we fret and worry about things that never
even materialize? But in our minds, they seem so
big. They're lines. and we can't get
through them. But then Pilgrim found out, didn't
he, that the lines were chained. As long as he stayed in the middle
of the road, middle of that pathway, he was safe. And that's the way
it should be with us. Trust in the Lord and do good,
the scripture says. Lean not into thine own understanding,
but trust in the Lord, and verily thou shalt be fed. Well, here's
a second observation. The truth that God's children
are here given strong consolation. God's children are here at this
empty grave given strong consolation. Notice the words in our text
again, Mark chapter 16 and verse 6. What the angel said, be not
afraid, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, which, now notice this, which
was crucified, past tense. He was crucified, present tense,
he is risen. He was crucified, he is risen. In Romans chapter four, the apostle
Paul said, who was delivered for our offenses, that is, he
was crucified, not for his offenses. He had none of his own, but for
the sins of his people, which were imputed unto him, he was
crucified, but he was raised for our justification. He is
risen. I looked at those two pronouns
in that text in Romans 4, who was delivered for our offenses. He was crucified and was raised
for our justification. He was crucified, delivered for
our offenses, for our sins, but he was raised for our justification. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
was a representative person. He was a representative man.
He's the last Adam. The first Adam represented all
of his posterity, so the Lord Jesus Christ was a representative
man. He was a surety for all of God's
chosen people. All of those that the Father
chose and gave to him in that everlasting covenant of grace,
and he accepted us. He accepted us as his bride,
and his bride fell into sin. His bride and our father Adam
sinned and brought sin into this world. But the Lord Jesus Christ
was our sponsor. You know what a godfather is,
a godmother? You know these religious churches,
they have those have a godfather, they sprinkle a baby, and they
have a godfather or godmother. You know what that really means?
A sponsor. A godfather is a sponsor. A godmother
is a sponsor. They're going to be a sponsor
for this baby, for this child, to make sure that it lives and
is brought up in the faith. Let me tell you who is my sponsor. who is the sponsor of all of
God's children, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our sponsor. He's the one who stood in our
stead, became surety for us, and he's the one who paid the
price for our sins. Look with me in Romans 8. God's children are here given
Strong consolation. Sometimes Satan gets you down,
doesn't it? Sometimes the faith gets you
down. And sometimes Satan will whisper things in your ear and
you'll think it's your own self saying these things. And you get discouraged. You
couldn't be a child of God. No way. You? You? A child of God saved you? We have a strong, we're given
a strong consolation here. Christ was our sponsor, is our
sponsor. And in Romans chapter eight and
verses 33 and 34, the apostle said, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Now you may be sure of
these two truths. You can't question these two
truths. God will not demand payment twice. Now he just will not do
that. He will not demand payment twice. And if the Lord Jesus Christ
had not satisfied God, if His payment had not been sufficient
to satisfy the justice of God, His body would have already turned
to dust over there in Palestine somewhere. He would not have
been raised from the grave. No. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
all the demands of God's justice, of God's holy law. And we know
that because he was raised. You know, the gospel in the Old
Testament was preached in many different ways and types and
figures, but one of the ways the gospel was preached in the
Old Testament was through the cities of refuge. There were
six cities of refuge, and you know, you can use these six cities
of refuge as a contrast, or you can use them looking at the similarity. But the contrast, of course,
if we think about it, there were six cities of refuge. There's
only one refuge for sinners. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was only one crime that could could cause a person to
be accepted and saved in a city of refuge, but the Lord Jesus
Christ is a refuge for sinners who are guilty of many crimes,
of all kinds of crimes and sins and iniquities. But the similarity
is in this. You had to be in the city. You had to be in the city. If you lived way out here and
pulled on collar, you accidentally took the life of somebody. Maybe
you were cutting down a tree or something, and the axe head
came off the handle and hit somebody and took their life, and you
had to take off running. But once you entered, Once you
entered, you were safe. If it was accidental, you were
safe. But you had to be in the city. You couldn't be on your way.
The avenger of blood could avenge the blood of his kinsman if he
caught you in the way. But once you entered that city,
he couldn't touch you. And the same is true, my friends,
of God's justice. Once a person is in Christ, God's
justice is satisfied. It's satisfied. Can ask for no
more. Well, one last observation, and
that is this. The truth that God's children
are loved with an unbreakable love. Notice in verse seven,
the angel's words to the women, go tell his disciples and Peter. Those are the words of the angel.
But in the gospel of John, we read that the Lord Jesus Christ
spoke to Mary Magdalene and he said to her, go to my brethren
and say unto them, I send unto my father and your father and
to my God and your God. You know, when you read the gospels,
you find the Lord Jesus Christ referred to these 12 first as
his disciples. They were learners. And then
he called them friends because he revealed unto them what was
going to take place. But then lastly, he called them,
my brethren, my brethren, go and tell my brethren. Who's he calling his brothers?
Who's he calling his disciples here? Those who had forsaken
him, one who had denied him with oaths, Go and tell my brethren,
just a reminder that nothing, nothing is able to break the
love that God has for his people. Nothing, not death, life, angels,
principalities, powers, things present. Thanks to come height,
depth, nor any creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. May the Lord
bless his word to us here today. Number 63, let's sing hymn number
63.