[0:00] We will read it again. So take your Bibles and go with me to the Gospel according to Mark. It was well planned. So thank you for that. I did not plan that, but thank you for the well planning of it.
[0:11] As the Lord orchestrated things together. So you've already seen seven of my verses. But that's okay. Because repetition is good. So we will be finishing up the Gospel according to Mark this morning.
[0:23] It has been a journey as we've made our way through it. So people always ask me when I finish a book, Pastor, where are we going next? So that's a great question. That's a question I put to the Lord and just wait patiently.
[0:36] So I have some leanings, but those aren't my leanings. So I'm trusting that the Lord will tell me before next Sunday, right? And we'll have a direction of where we're going. But no, it is a joy to be bound to text and for the Lord to build disciplines of study.
[0:52] All I can tell you is this morning we're finishing the Gospel of Mark. This evening, if the Lord allows us to permit and be together again, we will look at Job chapter 7.
[1:04] And thus far I know. So that's where we're at now. And that's where I'm bound to stay to. But it is a joy. We will read the entire chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
[1:16] And I have to kind of give this little asterisk beside that. That means I will read the 20 verses that are commonly found in your chapter of Mark 16.
[1:27] And now I say that because some of you are scratching. I say, well, sure, Pastor, that's the entire chapter. Well, it is. In your translations, most of the ancient, well, at least the oldest manuscripts found of the Gospel of Mark and rather abruptly at verse 8.
[1:45] And so I will touch on that in just a moment. I told you this when we got into the Gospel of Mark that it would be interesting when we got to the end. And that we would have to deal with it as we faced it head on.
[1:56] Because we want to be people who think through the matters of faith, not those who blindly accept them. We're not casting doubt or discord as we consider these matters.
[2:06] But we will look at them intellectually and we'll look at them thoughtfully as the people of the Lord seeking to hear a word from the Lord. But for the time being, we will read verses 1 through 20. And then we will look at the text together as we go from there.
[2:20] So if you are physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in Mark 16. And we'll go down to verse 20.
[2:31] When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Siloam brought spices so that they might come and anoint him.
[2:42] Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?
[2:53] Looking up, the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right wearing a white robe, and they were amazed.
[3:05] And he said to them, do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid him.
[3:16] But go tell his disciples and Peter. He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them.
[3:29] And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now after he had risen early on the first day of the week, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with him while they were mourning and weeping.
[3:44] And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.
[3:56] They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. Afterward, he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. And he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen.
[4:13] 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.
[4:25] These signs will accompany those who have believed. In my name they will cast out demons, and they will speak with new tongues, and they will pick up serpents. And if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them.
[4:36] They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
[4:46] And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We are thankful for the opportunity of gathering together.
[5:00] Thank you for your word. And we pray now that as we have read it, seen it, and heard it. Oh, Father, that you would speak to us, for we do not come to it as lifeless words on a page, but we come to it as a living, breathing, and active word of God.
[5:15] And we ask that it would have its way within our being, that it would penetrate to the depth of our core, that it would conform and mold and shape us to be more and more like you. Lord Jesus, would you draw us to yourself closer than we have ever been.
[5:30] And may we walk in sweet harmony and fellowship with you and with those around us as we make our way through this life. We ask that you be glorified and honored in our time now, and we ask it all in Jesus' name.
[5:41] Amen. You may be seated. Amen. There was a pastor friend of mine who was visiting another church, and he was sitting on the front pew with his wife.
[5:56] He was scheduled to preach a series of meetings there. And as he was sitting there with his wife beside him, maybe this is why my wife never accompanies me to the front pew.
[6:07] I don't know. He was sitting there with his wife beside him. A couple of the elders of that church got up and made their way to the back. She leaned over and asked and said, where are they going? He said, oh, they're going back there to get the sack.
[6:19] And she said, what's in the sack? He said, the snakes. This is a snake handling service. And she got up and ran out of the sanctuary because she was not going to be a part of that. If there was a text in which we could do the snake handling service, it is this one.
[6:32] But I would caution you on basing your theology upon any one portion of scripture, especially basing that theology and your entirety of your doctrine upon the ending of the gospel of Mark.
[6:45] Now, I say that, and I can use the snakes and the snake handling service rather loosely. And in this fellowship, we would all say, yes, that's astounding. But unfortunately, much doctrine and much theology have been based upon the final ending of the gospel of Mark in which we are rather uncertain of.
[7:03] Baptismal regeneration is one of those in that you must be baptized to be truly saved. We find that here recorded in Mark 16, 16.
[7:14] We will address that in just a moment. But as I have said, if you are reading, depending upon your translation, if you are reading King James, New King James, then it reads rather fluently and you just read through it.
[7:27] If you have one of the newer translations, you will find that starting in verse 9, it is bracketed. And it is bracketed until you get to the end of verse 20. And often, at the end of verse 20, there is another italicized bracketed portion, which is referred to as the shorter ending that you can find there too.
[7:44] If there is one portion of the gospels which brings with it some obscurity and some questioning, it is the ending of Mark. For when the ancient manuscripts were discovered and the oldest manuscripts were found, it was found that Mark 16 ended rather abruptly at verse 8.
[8:02] But the newer manuscripts included the remainder of verses 9 through 20, with the exception of a few that had a shorter ending. And so the question would be, where does Mark end?
[8:15] And what is truly the word of God? Even the early church fathers. And by the early church fathers, I mean the church fathers of the 100s and 200s, would end, consider the ending of Mark's authentically in verse 8.
[8:30] And that the remainder of it was scribal additions. Now I want to say this. Nothing found in verses 9 through 20, which we have read, is anti-biblical or extra-biblical.
[8:43] It is really a condensation of the things that we saw happening with the spread and the proclamation of the gospel. That is, it does not contradict anything else in scripture.
[8:54] We do see those being bitten by snakes and unharmed. Namely, we see Paul picking up sticks on the island of Malta, trying to build a fire and a snake coming out and clinging to him, and he cast it off and nothing happens to him.
[9:06] We do see historically people drinking poisonous matters, and it has no effect upon them. But what we cannot do is build a doctrine upon those matters. So we do not do this to cast doubt.
[9:19] We do this to speak with certainty and to be people who have a reason for our faith. And we can take, if we're going to just be transparent about it, we can take just the first eight verses of this text and find the application which resonates through the remainder of this text as well.
[9:37] We do not have to go beyond verse 8 to find the application and the truth that it contains, but it is a truth that is repeated in the following verses that are found in your scripture.
[9:49] Now, I say all of this because we want to be sure that we approach it accurately. And we want to be sure that we do not come to it really unintelligently, but that we are individuals who can think through the Spirit of God what the Word of God is telling us.
[10:06] We do not want to contort nor twist scripture and make it say something that it's not. By the way, this is a good place for me to say, never, ever build your biblical doctrine upon a single verse taken out of context anywhere that is lifted off of the pages of scripture and building all of your belief and faith upon that.
[10:27] Rather, read that text within the greater context of the book and then within the grander context of the entirety of scripture. Scripture does not contradict itself.
[10:38] So if you find a verse that seems to be out of place, be sure to put it in its place in the Word of God and let the Word of God reconcile it with itself. And that's a good way to handle interpretation.
[10:50] Don't read a verse and say, I wonder what that means and start digging around on, I used to say in books, but now you can go on your phone or on the internet or wherever you want to go. I still like digging in books. Digging through books or online and find out what people think about this verse.
[11:03] Find what the Word of God says as it relates to the subject covered in this verse and then find your doctrine from there, okay? But what we see here before us, of course, is the resurrected Savior.
[11:16] And it is more than that. It is a resurrected hope. It is the reality in which we live in today. For at the death of Christ, we have the forgiveness and the redemption of our sins.
[11:28] At the death of Christ, we have the atonement and the restoration in this life and in this life alone. And without the resurrection, there is no hope beyond that.
[11:39] It is the sacrificial lamb on the day of atonement in the law in the Old Testament, which would bring a cleansing and a renewing and a restoration of the nation for that day and in that period and in that time until they would do it again the next year.
[11:56] It is that reality in which Job lived. And when we study the book of Job, we see that he was continuously consecrating his children and continuously setting his mind upon the Lord.
[12:06] But one reality that we have noticed, and we will notice it even more tonight with Job, is Job is failing to see the hope beyond the grave. He will eventually have his eyes enlightened to it, but we know that he is before Christ.
[12:21] He is before the cross. He is before the resurrection. At the cross, we find our redemption. At the cross, we find our forgiveness.
[12:32] But we do not find our hope until we come to the tomb, and the tomb is empty. If Christ has died for us, praise be to God, the lamb has been slain, and he has been slain for our sins.
[12:46] And so therefore, in this life, never lose that. The cross of Christ declares that you are clean today. I mean, you are forgiven today.
[12:57] The cross is not about eternity. The empty tomb is about eternity. The cross says, your sins have been atoned now. And we are living as if there will be a day when we are forgiven.
[13:07] There will be a day when we are restored. There will be a day when we are redeemed. Friend, you are redeemed now by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus says, there is no death for those who have believed in me.
[13:19] They have passed out of death and into everlasting life. It is a present reality. And it is a reality that we need to continuously apply to our life.
[13:30] You say, well, pastor, sometimes I feel like though I may be redeemed and renewed, I still mess up. And I say, well, join the crowd. So do we all. And that is the continuous need.
[13:42] May we never ever get over grace. Because grace declares that I am forgiven today. Grace declares that I am good today. Grace declares that I am worthy today.
[13:54] But the empty tomb says there is hope for tomorrow. The grace and the cross takes care of today. But the tomb takes care of tomorrow. For if the man is still in the tomb, I may be okay today.
[14:07] But what hope can you give me for tomorrow? Hiroshi Miyamura is not a name that resonates with many of you. Unless you are from a small town in New Mexico.
[14:19] And unless you have read much history. You will know that Hiroshi Miyamura, commonly referred to as Hershey, because many people could not say his first name, is one of the few Japanese Americans that was given the Medal of Honor while he was still alive.
[14:34] He was endowed with the Medal of Honor after he was released from a POW camp in Korea, which he had spent over two and a half years. After taking his stand as a machine gunist and the leader of his squadron of the 442 in Korea, he stood valiantly.
[14:49] And the last report around him said that he was surrounded by the enemy, greatly outnumbered, under heavy fire, and no one knew what had happened to him. I will spare you the details of what all took place, and you can read that yourself, but you will know that he is taken captive.
[15:04] And two and a half years later, he is released of what it was called the Great Exchange from the China POW camp in which he was held. He made a comment when he got out. He said, those that lived, and there were very few of them, from the march to the POW camp, though he was greatly wounded with shrapnel all in his body, and those who endured the harsh rations of the POW camp, were those who had something worth living about.
[15:31] Those who were holding on to hope. He said, it was the ones who had no family at home, no wife to get back to, no one waiting on them. Those could not hold on.
[15:43] They could not endure. But for those who had someone waiting on them, those who had a reason, those who had some hope, those are the ones who could endure almost anything.
[15:54] Friend, in Christ, we have hope. And we have it because the tomb is empty. And it's a resurrected hope. It's not a dead hope. It's not a dying hope.
[16:05] It's a hope that is alive and waits on us on the other side. It is a hope that causes us to endure all things. We introduce to this hope here in Mark 16.
[16:16] It tells us that as that day began to dawn, there was an uncertainty before those who went ahead. You have seen it twice now, that the ladies who went, it says, so when the Sabbath was over, that is, when the first opportunity came for them to return to the tomb, when the Sabbath was over, very early on the morning, as the day began to dawn, for the Sabbath ended with the first ray of sunlight that penetrated the darkness of the sky, as soon as they could, those ladies who just a few days before had stood and watched his body being lain in that tomb, those ladies that it tells us in Mark 15, by name, knew the exact place.
[16:58] Don't let anyone tell you they went to the wrong place. Those who had been there before started their journey, more than likely from Bethany. They were marching several miles to get there. And they were on their way to a place that they knew about, but it was a time of uncertainty.
[17:13] Over and over again, Jesus had said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again. These are women who had traveled with him. We know that. These are women who had ministered to him. We know that.
[17:25] These are women that we are thankful for, for they are there. These are the few who stayed behind when the disciples all abandoned and fled. These had beheld the place, and now they're on that way back.
[17:36] And it says that they had bought spices to prepare his body for the burial. We've looked at this kind of tongue-in-cheek, but we know that it's true that they had seen how, it tells us in the other gospel accounts, they had seen how Nicodemus and Joseph had prepared his body in haste, and they wanted to do it properly.
[17:56] They wanted to do it right, and they wanted to do it in a manner worthy. Now, the Jewish people are not in the habit, never were in the habit of that time, in balming bodies. So the preparation of the body with the spices was really, I mean, for no better way of saying it, was just to kind of put down the stench of the decaying of the body.
[18:16] And so they had purchased the spices and the aromatics that would help to cover the stench, still uncertain about how they were going to handle this.
[18:27] And as they were on their way, it says in the text, and they were wondering who's going to move the stone. Now, they didn't know anything about the end of Matthew. They didn't know that there was a Roman guard put upon the tomb.
[18:41] They didn't know there was a seal with a stamp placed upon the tomb. They didn't know any of that because that happened after they left. But they knew there was a big stone in the way. They knew there was a huge rock that was between them and what they were intending to do.
[18:57] There was an uncertainty about what would they find when they got there. What kind of mess did Joseph and Nicodemus leave behind? And then who's going to help us remove this stone?
[19:08] For this is a massive stone. It is one that would have been fit into a trench on a hillside. And when the wedge was pulled out, it would have rolled down. And it would have settled in this trench that is there, this massive stone that was for the purpose of sealing the tomb.
[19:25] And the uncertainty loomed before them for they did not know what to expect and they did not know who was going to help them and they had no idea how they could do what they were intending to do, that is, to prepare his body for death.
[19:38] And there had to be a greater uncertainty for the days ahead for the one they had followed, the one they had served, the one they had longed for was dead and in a tomb. And they knew he was dead.
[19:50] It's no swoon theory. It's no, you know, kind of halfway dead, halfway alive theory. No, he is dead, dead, man. I mean, he is stone cold dead. They've pierced his side and blood and water have come out by the way of medical declaration of the reality of his death.
[20:07] So many things that testify to the reality of what has transpired. And the uncertainty of the days was before them, but praise be to God they had the boldness to go even in the midst of uncertainty.
[20:18] We know from the text that those others were in the room mourning and weeping and wailing for their two were living in a moment of uncertainty.
[20:29] What do you do when you've left your fishing business, your tax collector's table, when you've left it all to follow a man who's now been crucified by the Romans? Listen, Matthew is not going to go back and work for the Roman Empire and collect taxes anymore.
[20:43] He can't do it. The Romans have just crucified the one he's followed. Peter and James and John and Andrew, they're probably the laughing stock for they've left their fathers behind.
[20:56] What do you do? What do you do when you put all of your hope and you're in the midst of an uncertainty so we dare not wag our heads and say, oh, those foolish disciples, they're just gathering around mourning and weeping.
[21:08] Look at the uncertainty before them. For if in this life Christ has not been risen and we have believed in him, Paul says what? If he is not raised, then we are of most men most foolish.
[21:24] If Christ is our hope in this life alone, then that hope ends when he's laid in the tomb if there is no resurrection of the dead. Look at the uncertainty before them, friend.
[21:38] Do you know that those who do not know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? I don't mean those who have not heard about Jesus. I mean those who do not know him. They do not know that Jesus is alive.
[21:48] They are living in uncertainty. Uncertainty is the only thing you can grasp if you do not know the hope of the eternal Savior.
[21:58] If you have hoped in this life only and if all you're hoping for is what you can get in this world and it all falls apart in a moment and it can and it all crumbles in your hand and it does, then what certainty do you have for the future?
[22:18] The uncertainty before them and the uncertainty before men. But now notice the reality that met them. They were going forward in uncertainty but praise God they were met with the reality when they got there.
[22:33] It says looking up. Isn't it astounding? Everywhere in scripture we read anytime someone's looking unto God they're always looking up. By the way, you never look down on God.
[22:43] You're always looking up to Him. Anywhere you went to Jerusalem you were always going up to Jerusalem. Even if you were coming from the north you were going up to Jerusalem. You would go up there.
[22:53] You always went up. So there's always the imagery of going up into the presence of God. They're walking to the empty tomb and they're looking up into the empty tomb and looking up they notice the stone was already rolled away.
[23:05] Here the first matter of uncertainty has been taken care of by someone else. The first uncertainty is what are we going to do about that rock? And the reality that met them was the rock was already moved.
[23:18] Now the wording I love that we find in the other gospel accounts is the word we get dynamite. It is that the big stone had been blown away from the opening of the tomb.
[23:31] It was literally cast up the hill. And it was cast a great distance away from the opening. It's not just that it was cracked open. It had been completely removed for that which hindered them from seeing the reality that awaited them had been removed much like when Christ tore the veil of the temple from top to bottom.
[23:50] The hindrance to the presence of the resurrected Savior had been removed. Now I am of the opinion and I hope you are too that he who can walk through locked doors and pass through time and space unabated did not need for the stone to be moved so he could walk out.
[24:08] The creator can pass through creation anytime he wants to. If he can walk on the waves of the sea and pass through the locked doors, there is no need to remove the stone. The stone wasn't moved for him.
[24:19] The stone was moved for us. It's so that we could see the reality that already existed on the inside. The veil wasn't torn so that the glory of God could reside within it.
[24:30] The veil was torn so that the Shekinah glory of God could be beheld by the people of God. That which had been veiled now had been opened up to a reality. And going in, it tells us in our text, what they expected to find was a dead man hastily wrapped in cloths and hastily anointed with spices.
[24:48] And going in, they didn't find grave cloths. They found them, but they were folded up and laying to the side. What they found was a young man sitting in radiant garments. They found the glory of a created being that is an angel.
[25:02] It does not tell us in Mark that it was an angel, but we know that it is an angel. We noted from the other gospel accounts and the description given to this individual here is definitely of angelic being.
[25:12] So what they expected to find filled with death was filled with radiant life. That which was to be darkness now was radiated by the presence of a greater being. We notice that at the coming of Christ at his birth, it was heralded by his angels.
[25:30] And now at the resurrection of Christ, it is heralded by his angels. His messengers who have a reality to declare that what you expected is not here.
[25:44] And now this reality before them changes everything. They are astounded and astonished. And it says, do not be amazed. You ever thought about that phrase there? Do not be amazed because he's not here.
[25:58] Now, if there was a time where we ought to be amazed is when we walk into a tomb that we knew the dead Jesus was setting just three days before. That's amazing. But scripture says, do not be amazed.
[26:13] Why? Well, we shouldn't be amazed when God does what he says he's going to do. Why are the people of God always amazed when God keeps his word?
[26:23] I'm reminded when Peter's in prison in the book of Acts and they're having a prayer meeting there in the city and they're praying that Peter would be released from prison and then Peter knocks on the door because the angel let him out of the prison walls and the servant girl says, Peter's at the door and everybody says, there's no way Peter's at the door.
[26:39] Well, weren't they just praying for it? Weren't they just asking for Peter's release? And they say, oh, she's lying. She's out of her mind and Peter's knocking on the door and he has to keep knocking on the door. And he comes in, they're amazed.
[26:51] Why? Because God answered their prayers. I believe the angels of heaven tell us to quit being amazed when God does what he says he's going to do. We ought to be more amazed when we're waiting on God to do what he said he's going to do.
[27:06] Friend, know what the word of God says and I'm not telling us that we ought to test God but let's hold God to his word for he does not say things unless he means it and he says what he means and means what he says.
[27:18] That's the way we say it at our house and if he has said it, he meant it and say, God, I believe your word and I believe you're going to do it and I'm more amazed if he doesn't do it than I am if he does it.
[27:33] What is astounding to us? It's just common workings for the angels of heaven. Do not be amazed. He told you he was going to be raised. He is not here for he is risen just as he said.
[27:47] You know why I believe the people of God are so amazed? For they don't know or remember what he has said. And if we'll just pay attention and listen, maybe we won't be so amazed, maybe we will be expectant and we won't live in uncertainty.
[28:08] That's not a pride thing, that's a preparation thing. So we see the reality that awaited them. And now that this reality has been confirmed, there is a charge given to them.
[28:23] Notice the charge. He is not here. He has been raised just as he said. Now here's the charge. Go and tell his disciples and Peter.
[28:34] Go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee and you will see him there. And it tells us in our text in verse 8, so they left the tomb and they went away in astonishment and fear and did not tell anyone for the fear that overtook them.
[28:52] And it is right there. And we're going, well wait a minute, what happened? Why did this happen? And now we need to address why would he end it right there before we get into this charge. There's two common theories.
[29:04] One is that somewhere along the line historically a page from Mark's gospel was ripped out and it contained the few verses that were at the end.
[29:17] Now that doesn't seem to be true because it was written upon a scroll and if you rip the scroll then you damage the entirety of it. It's not like there was a page missing, a leaf didn't just fall out of the book, his was written upon a scroll.
[29:29] Some say that he was interrupted but if it's the word of God written by the man of God, empowered by the spirit of God then there had to be a holy interruption to stop it. Some say that he was writing in haste.
[29:44] I like the thought that he is writing to a Gentile, fast paced, short attention audience and he wants to leave them longing for more. Searching and trying to find out.
[29:57] Mark knew he was writing the first gospel account. He also knew that Paul was preaching and writing. He also knew the answer could be found and he was whetting their appetite not coercing nor forcing nor persuading anyone but wanting them to find it.
[30:12] But what happened to this man? When we went through our eight essentials here during the Sunday school hour we addressed some heavy topics and we didn't go in depth in any of them but you know what I have found?
[30:25] I have had more questions asked to me about church history than in any other time of my pastoral ministry. Why? Because I whet the appetite and I touched on the subject just a little bit.
[30:36] People say well I'm going to go read a little bit about that. I say well good that's kind of what I wanted or you name it any of those eight topics people wanted to know more. Why? Because they heard enough to give them a sample.
[30:49] And Mark is telling them it's not what they anticipated. It's not what they expected. The tomb was empty. They had news to share and they left to go fulfill their charge.
[31:02] What is found in verses 9 through 20 to me are not written in the same manner of Mark's writing. And at best it seems to be a compilation of the ending of the other three gospel accounts and a combination of what happened historically among the believers as they fulfilled that charge.
[31:24] It does not do us any harm to look upon it and say well is it real? Because these things really did happen. Because the charge given to the ladies is the same charge given to the disciples. We call it the great commission.
[31:36] Go and tell. See the charge is this. Go. That means you have to be in the active sense of doing something. It's the great commission. The go is as you are going.
[31:47] As you are moving about your day to day business. But it is a movement of intentionality. You do not go without intentionally going. You do not look up and say oh well I just went somewhere.
[31:58] No. You make a decisive moment to do that. I ask questions all the time. Why did you do that? I don't know. Well yes you do. You know why you did it because you intentionally did it. So it is to go to be intentional about this reality and to tell that is have something to say and they have something to say and it is the truth that has just been disclosed to them.
[32:19] Jesus is not dead. He is alive. Now for the women their charge was to go and tell his disciples those that are mourning and weeping and distraught and Peter because he would be restored and he would be the one that Christ has prayed for that he would refresh and renew his brethren.
[32:35] There is the restoration that takes place at the end of the gospel of John. But here the charge is simple. Go. Be intentional. Tell. Tell the thing. Talk about it. Do it. It is astounding this past week.
[32:47] Two times I read in different places and heard it spoken once others that faith is passed on to children in the greatest way. Do you know how it is passed along to children? People have asked me how can I ensure the kids come to faith or how do I know how do I pray for them or pray for them.
[33:03] Faith is not passed to the next generation by the programs of the church so those programs are important. That is not the leading cause. Faith is not passed on to the next generation because of the involvement of school system.
[33:17] It is not a school thing. The greatest telling of whether or not the next generation will come to faith is the conversations that happen around the dinner table and what takes place on the day to day activity.
[33:35] For we cannot professionalize Deuteronomy 6. And it is a charge to go and tell. It is amazing, isn't it? The greatest telltale factor of whether the next generation will get it is if the charge given to the followers of Christ is being lived out.
[33:52] Now is it a guarantee? No. Why? Because the charge is not go and persuade or go and force or go and make. It is to go and tell.
[34:04] That's the responsibility, my friend. Don't carry a weight that is not yours to carry. It is the Holy Spirit that brings conviction in he and he alone. No one comes to the Father lest he be drawn to the Father.
[34:17] But it is our charge to proclaim it. We need to tell it. Give the Spirit something to work with. Right? Give him something. Now he can use creation, he can use nature, he can use dreams and revelations, but the Spirit would love to use the discourse coming out of the Word of God's people.
[34:34] It is the greatest instrument in his arsenal. It is something that is inseparable from the reality for how can they believe unless they hear and how can they hear unless they hear the preaching and how can they preach unless they've been sent.
[34:46] Christ sends us. He gives us a charge. Go. Be intentional. Talk about it on a daily basis in your daily activity. Have the discussions.
[34:59] See what transpires. Give the Spirit the tools to use to break the heart. It is not you that is going to break the heart. It is not you that is going to break the will. It is not you that is going to persuade the individual, but it is you and I who have been charged with the going and telling.
[35:14] And for those who do know, make disciples. Teach them a little bit more. Take them a little further. Just because they believe don't mean we need to quit talking about it by the way.
[35:26] Just because they know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior doesn't mean we stop. It is a charge that is ongoing until we meet him where he has called us to be because Christ goes before you here in context in Galilee and he will meet you there.
[35:38] Friend, he hasn't went before us to Galilee. He's went before us into eternity. And until we meet him there, we are to go and tell. Just be talking about it over and over.
[35:52] May it be the daily discourse of our life. May it bring glory and honor to him as we keep the charge. Why? For we have a resurrected hope. There's something to hold on to and it's nothing in this world.
[36:07] but it's the one who's gone before us and he's waiting until we meet him there. May we be those who keep the charge.
[36:18] Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for your word and I thank you for the word of God as it is spoken to our hearts and minds. We pray, oh Father, that you would help us to take a hold of it into our hearts and Lord, that it would capture our attention and may we draw closer to you in each and every way every single day.
[36:43] We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.