It has been our policy to preach through the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, for many, many years now, even long before we officially became The Beach Fellowship. I started preaching through the New Testament way back in the day when we were Christian Surfers meeting at Salt Pond. And so today is a special day, because today is the day when I finish preaching through the entire New Testament. I haven’t figured out exactly how many years it has taken me, but it’s about 15 or 16 years. Along the way we also preached through Genesis, the Psalms, most of 1 and 2 Samuel, Daniel, and a few of the minor prophets. We have preached through Ephesians twice now, and starting next week, we will begin a second tour through the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings.

So it is amazing, really, that God has given me the opportunity to preach through the New Testament, and that I stand here today after 16 years, still doing what we started out doing all those years ago. However, let me say in clarification that preaching through the Bible is not just some academic exercise that helps us to feel superior to other churches which don’t study the Bible. We preach the Bible because we believe it is the inspired Word of God, which is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, and that it’s doctrines equips the church with everything necessary for life and godliness.

Mark began this book by calling it a gospel, in ch.1 vs 1. He now concludes it, in chapter 16, with the Lord Jesus sending His disciples out to preach this very gospel in vs 15. And we stand before you today preaching this same gospel, as evidence of the power of the gospel, and the eternal purpose of the gospel.

The gospel simply means the good news of Jesus Christ. That Jesus was God, revealed in the flesh, who came to bear our sins, to be our substitute, that He was crucified, buried and rose again, and now lives to make intercession for us, and to be with us in HIs Spirit, until He returns even as He was taken up, to claim His church as His bride. That is the gospel, and those who have believed it, and accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord, have been born again to a new life in Him.

There is a move today in Christianity that no longer really preaches the gospel. They may sound like they still espouse faith in God, but they are teaching a new gospel, which Paul says is not really the gospel at all. They eliminate all the thorny doctrines like sin and hell and judgment, and just talk about love, which has been reduced to some kind of sentimental euphemism for embracing diversity. I read recently about a new kind of Christianity that is becoming popular in Colorado, and the traditional church has been replaced by coffee shops and craft beer infused get togethers to talk about social issues. That’s not the gospel.

The royal wedding this weekend was yet another example of the popularity of the social gospel. The Episcopal priest speaking at the wedding was given kudos by the left leaning media for his embracing, socially unifying message of love, which quoted from all sorts of liberal sources, but avoided the true message of the gospel. Listen, love means that God sent Jesus to be tortured and beaten and nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. In spite of what the bishop said that we need to love ourselves, the first and foremost commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And the only way we can know how to do that, is if we preach His word faithfully, and obey His word. Jesus said if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. We will keep His word.

Now last week we looked at the first eight verses of chapter 16 concerning the resurrection. And some of you might notice in your Bible version that the remainder of the chapter is set apart in some way, and there may be notes which say that the following verses are not found in the oldest known manuscripts. Many Biblical scholars have debated for centuries as to whether or not these verses were actually penned by Mark, or were appended at a later date by various editors.

I am not a Biblical scholar, nor a Greek language expert. And there are men on both sides of the aisle that I look up to who take opposing views concerning these last eight verses. However, I feel a certain reluctance to discount a passage of scripture on the basis of most modern criticisms. I would tend to think that though there may be problems with this text from certain perspectives such as style or terms used, or older copies versus less older copies, yet I would tend to believe that God has intended these verses to be included in Mark as accurate and reliable.

It is true that the oldest copies of the Greek manuscripts do not contain these twelve verses, but it is also true that the overwhelming majority of the Greek manuscripts that we have today do contain these verses. And it is also true that two of the earliest church fathers, writing from the beginning of the second century, quote from this passage. So it is clear that, from the very beginning, the church has accepted these twelve verses as authentic, even though there is some dispute today that they may not have come from the hand of Mark.

My personal opinion is that it’s likely that Mark’s original letter continued after verse 8. Ending at vs8 would be an odd way to end a book, and it’s at odds with the way the other gospel writers ended their books. But probably something happened to the end of the original manuscript, and the early church fathers wrote a summary of what Mark had written as a way to finish off the book. It’s also a good possibility that these last 8 verses are original to Mark, but there were other verses that were interspersed in this passage which were lost for some reason or another. And so what we have sounds a bit disjointed, and seems different stylistically, but it may be due to the fact that some connecting verses were lost.

Irregardless, many very early Christian writers refer to this passage in their writings, such as Papias, AD100, Justin Martyr, AD 151, Irenaus, AD 180, Hippolytus, AD 190, Vincentius and Augustine also wrote concerning this passage in the around AD 200-250. This shows that the early Christians knew about this passage in the Gospel of Mark and accepted it as genuine.

So we are going to accept it as genuine, as something that the early church accepted as the gospel, and now let’s move on and look at what it says. There are three divisions of this passage; the first verses, 9-14, deal with the basis of apostolic belief; verses 15 and 16 deal with the commission of apostolic preaching; and the final verses 16-20, deal with the confirmation of the apostolic witness.

Let’s look first at the basis of apostolic belief. In vs 11, Mark emphasizes that initially the apostles, when told of Mary Magdalene’s experience, did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. You will remember at the beginning of the chapter how the women had come to the tomb early in the morning, at the first light of dawn, and found the stone rolled away and saw the angel. The angel told them that Jesus was not there, but He had risen. But they did not see Jesus then.

According to John’s gospel, Mary Magdalene had gone ahead of the others and, seeing the empty tomb, she ran to tell Peter and John immediately. Evidently she did not hear the angel’s explanation. Peter and John both ran to the tomb. Peter went inside and saw the grave clothes lying there still wrapped as though they were around a body, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was folded and placed aside. This convinced Peter and John that indeed Jesus was risen, but they still had not seen him.

Mary Magdalene returned more slowly to the tomb and as she stood weeping in the garden she saw what she thought was the gardener, she asked him where they had laid the body of Jesus. Jesus spoke her name and she then recognized Jesus. This was the first appearance of the risen Lord to a disciple. He came first to Mary Magdalene. She ran and told the other disciples. But Mark tells us that when Mary told them that Jesus was alive and that she had actually seen him, they did not believe it.

In vs12, Jesus appears to two other disciples on the road to Emmaus. “After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.” Notice that Jesus appeared to them in a different form. He disguised Himself to them in some way. Luke 24 tells that as they walked along with Him discussing the things that had recently happened concerning His crucifixion and resurrection, He began with Moses and the prophets and showed them from the scriptures all the things that referred to Messiah. Later as they sat at table with him and saw his hands as he broke bread, they recognized their crucified Lord. Then He disappeared.

These two disciples came back to Jerusalem immediately and told the eleven what they had seen, but, in Verse 14, Mark says the eleven did not believe them. “Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.”

It’s interesting that the disciples are having such a hard time believing that Jesus had risen from the dead. They don’t really even want to believe other eyewitnesses. And yet that is exactly what their own ministry would be founded on. They were eyewitnesses to HIs majesty, to His miracles, and they would be eyewitnesses to His resurrection and ascension, and so it would be incumbent upon the hearers of the gospel to believe their eyewitness testimony. Yet they themselves were slow to believe.

Jesus himself expected the eleven to believe before they saw him. He wanted and expected them to believe the reports of the eyewitnesses who had seen him. They were trustworthy persons and were reporting what they themselves had actually experienced, and that should have been enough to convince these disciples that Jesus was risen from the dead. So concerned is Jesus about this that He rebukes them. Even as He did in the days of His ministry, so now, He, as their living, risen Lord, rebukes them for their unbelief. He takes them to task because they refused to believe those who had seen Him. You can see the importance Jesus attributes to this matter of believing eyewitnesses.

Because that is what one of the pillars our faith is to be founded upon; the testimony of credible witnesses. Paul wrote later that 500 people saw the risen Jesus at one time. We have reliable testimony. The apostles were reliable witnesses, and we are required to believe their testimony. When we have adequate, trustworthy witnesses who report to us what they have seen, we are expected to respond with belief. These men saw the risen Lord. They were granted a privilege that we are not granted; but nevertheless, our faith can rest upon solid foundation. Even though we have not seen him, we believe because of the eyewitness accounts recorded in the word. And as Jesus would tell doubting Thomas later who persisted in disbelief, those who do not see and believe will receive a greater blessing. John 20:29 “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Next, let’s look at the apostolic commission starting in vs15. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” Notice that there are two main points in the command which Jesus gives here. “Go” and “preach.” Just as the Savior seeks and saves those that are lost, so are we to seek the lost. To go into the highways and byways and invite the lost into the kingdom of God. To go into our neighborhoods, our communities and preach the gospel. To go to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel. Not all of us are called to be pastors, or missionaries, or as in this case, apostles, but we are called to be ambassadors to a lost world, to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. Preaching is proclaiming the good news, the news of Christ’s life and death and resurrection through which believing we are saved, converted, changed, and we receive eternal life.

The good news is that the power of evil in your life and mine can be broken! Sin no longer controls us and ruins and robs us of life. The bondage of sin is broken by the power of the resurrection of Jesus. The living Lord Himself lives within us and imparts to our life the power of Christ. This is the good news, and this is the gospel we are to preach. That is what Scripture calls being saved. That is why Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

Notice the order there. Belief comes first, baptism follows. Believing is the means of justification, we are justified by faith, which is believing, trusting in the Lord to save. Then baptism is the evidence of salvation, being obedient to what the Lord says. What Jesus means is that belief ought to be real, and the reality of that inward belief is demonstrated by the outward action of baptism. Only that belief that changes us and converts us is real saving faith, and the way that we can demonstrate it is by being baptized. In other words, belief is action, not just an intellectual exercise. It changes your life, and as Jesus was raised to life, so we die to sin and are raised to new life in Him which results in righteousness. That is what baptism symbolizes, new life after dying to sin.

Maybe some of you here today may have never liked the word saved. But what it means is that we are hopeless and helpless, drowning in our sins and the condemnation of that sin, and the good news is that Jesus Christ has come to rescue us, save us. The late RC Sproul said, “God doesn’t just throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea, and pulls a corpse from the bottom, takes him up on the bank, breathes into him the breath of life and makes him alive.” Being saved is being delivered from death, but also being changed from a life held captive to sin, to a new life through the power of Christ in us.

Knowing the unbelief that would face these apostles as they testified to the gospel, the Lord now goes on to give them certain signs which will accompany and encourage them in preaching the gospel. This climate of unbelief is the setting in which Jesus promises these signs in verse 17, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; If they pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Now of all the verses in this passage that are problematic, from my perspective these are the most problematic. And I think it really comes from a popular misunderstanding that what Jesus is saying is that all future believers will experience these signs. But I think that the context of the passage indicates that Jesus is saying the apostles will exhibit these signs, as a testimony to their witness. These signs were testimony to the authenticity of the apostles’ message. God would confirm their word by signs and wonders. And Paul speaks of that in Second Corinthians 12:12: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” Hebrews says the same thing; Heb. 2:3-4 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

These, then, are the signs of an apostle. They were authenticating signs to accompany those who first went out with the gospel into an unbelieving and hostile world. Consequently, I believe that these apostolic sign gifts expired with the apostles. The word of God which they have spoken has all the authentication that it needs. It has stood the test of time. It has stood the test of thousands of critics through the centuries. But even more importantly, it has changed millions of lives. It has proven to be powerful to save millions and millions of people through the centuries. And furthermore, scripture authenticates scripture. The scriptures authenticate themselves as you study it and read it. You find it proves itself over and over. There is no more need for signs and wonders to authenticate new revelation. The revelation is complete, and it is in our hands as the Holy Scriptures, the word of God, which was given to us through the agency of the apostles.

So what were these signs? Well, they would cast out demons. We see evidence in the scripture that the apostles did this before the ascension of Christ, as well as after Pentecost. They will speak with new tongues. This was a sign that was fulfilled at Pentecost as everyone heard the gospel in their own language. And it continued for a time as the gospel reached the Gentiles. Peter, preaching at Pentecost, says that the new tongues were a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28, “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.” Peter says in Acts 2:15-16 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel.” So that was fulfilled at Pentecost. It’s not something that is prophesied for the end of the age as is often taught. It was a sign of an apostle.

Furthermore, the disciples would have power to survive physical attacks upon their lives. Bitten by a poisonous serpent, they would not die. If they accidentally drank poison, they would not die. They would have power to survive, that the gospel might go out. This would be one of the authenticating signs given to them. You remember that Paul endured a snake bite when shipwrecked on an island, and he did not die. And consequently, he was able to share the gospel with the people there. He survived stoning, and also he survived being thrown to the lions. Peter was released from prison. So God was able to providentially protect the apostles until their mission was finished here on earth.

The fourth sign is power to heal, to lay hands upon the sick, and they will recover. Acts records many examples of the apostles being able to heal the sick and even raise the dead. Again, this was to authenticate their message as being from God.

So God gave these authenticating signs to the apostles as confirmation of the word that they were preaching. And the last paragraph tells us that after the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, the apostles confirmed the power of the gospel by going throughout the world preaching the gospel and God working through them in establishing not only the scriptures, but the universal church. As Ephesians 2:19 says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

So Mark closes this gospel of his with the Lord ascending into heaven, living as Lord in the midst of his church, directing its events, planning its strategy, carrying it unto the farthest reaches of the world. And the apostles, scattered throughout the known world of that day, preached this good news, their witness being confirmed by these great signs. They thus laid the foundation of the great building that Paul calls the church, the body of Christ, that has grown through all the centuries since.

Listen, the gospel has been preached to you today, just as it was 2000 years ago. As Isaiah the prophet spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” You can receive the good news, believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ, and be saved, receive new life, abundant life. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is able to remake you, and make you into a child of God, if you will just repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I trust that you will trust Him today, and call upon Him to save you. The Lord is mighty to save all who come to Him in faith.