Please take out your copy of God's Word.
Turn to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 16.
!
We have been for quite some time in our verse-by-verse exposition of Mark's Gospel account in the Passion Week,
this final week of Jesus' life.
In fact, since the beginning of chapter 11, Mark is accounting this,
which Clay started out for us on September 7th of last year.
We've been working our way through it.
We've seen the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem on Monday.
Yes, you heard me correctly.
Palm Monday.
The cleansing of the temple on Tuesday.
The teaching and confrontations with Jesus on Wednesday.
The prophecy and Last Supper on Thursday.
And then the betrayal, arrest, the six various trials,
the suffering, the crucifixion, and burial on Friday.
And we haven't talked about it at all because it wasn't in our text,
but there is also the silence of Saturday.
There is a rather famous motto of the Protestant Reformation,
which is in Latin, of course,
which is post tenebrous lux,
which means after darkness, light.
And they meant it in various ways.
They were coming out of what would have been called the Dark Ages,
separating from, reforming Catholicism.
But they also meant it for what Christ has done in the world.
The darkness of sin being pierced by His sacrifice on the cross.
And certainly today, we have much to celebrate in that.
After the darkness of Christ's suffering, crucifixion, and burial,
we have the light of the resurrection.
And today we get to look at that.
What a glorious thing to do in chapter 16, verses 1-8.
This is likely the end of Mark's narrative.
Some of your translations may not include a verse 9-20,
although most do, but we'll put it in brackets
and give some explanation to the fact that
very few of the early manuscripts contain verses 9-20.
Most scholars agree that verses 9-20 were not in the original text.
And there's much contention about whether or not
our ending, verse 8, is in fact Mark's intended ending or not.
We have to use verses 9-20 with a great deal of caution.
Certainly, denominational practice should not be formed on those verses.
And I will say to you today, I'm thankful that this is my closing of Mark's gospel account.
But we are going to look at verses 9-20,
and Clay is going to pick up that gauntlet and tackle that for us next week.
Likely mostly to talk about bibliography and how it is we arrive at
what is the scripture and what isn't the scripture.
So, for our kind of study proper,
this will be the closing of Mark's gospel account.
For fun, I looked back.
We began our sermon series through Mark's gospel account
on September 22nd of 2013.
That's 81 Sundays ago.
I can't say with certainty that we've done anywhere near that many sermons.
I know we've taken a couple of breaks, at least four for sure, this past February.
But we've been at this for quite some time.
And what a wonderful, glorious way to end it now with the resurrection.
I'm so very thankful for this text of Scripture, Mark's gospel account.
And so very thankful for the opportunity to preach it to you over this past year and a half.
Because in so many ways, my heart has been rent in two as we've studied Mark together.
It has been pierced and divided.
It has been impressed upon me the high cost of discipleship
and the subsequent glories thereof.
The beautiful nature of following Christ,
that it's going to mean suffering in this world, but glory beyond.
Mark's purpose for writing of this narrative has been so carefully applied to my being
by the transforming work of the Spirit of God.
And I hope that this has been true for you as well.
If you're a guest with us, I know you haven't heard all of this.
But for those of you who have been here regularly,
I really hope that Mark's gospel account has worked in you in the way that it's worked in me.
And if you are a guest with us this morning, I hope this closing will do the same.
So let's read together.
Mark 16, verses 1-8.
When the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Siloam brought spices,
so they might go and anoint Him.
And very early on the first day of the week,
when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
And they were saying to one another,
Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?
And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back.
It was very large.
And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,
dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
And he said to them,
Do not be alarmed.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has risen.
He is not here.
See the place where they laid Him?
But go tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee.
There you will see Him, just as He told you.
And they went out and fled from the tomb,
for trembling and astonishment had seized them.
And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
This is God's Word to us.
It was written for His glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises
and obey its commands.
Now, this morning, I do not wish to play the apologist
compounding for you the facts concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Although there are many,
and I would encourage you, if you are a skeptic to any degree,
to take a good look at them.
This morning, by faith,
I and I hope you accept the reality of such an event,
this resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So much hangs on the historic veracity as we will soon see.
But for the skeptic this morning,
let me read just a short quote from Charles Spurgeon,
the Prince of Preachers, who said,
the resurrection is a fact better attested
than any event recorded in any history,
whether ancient or modern.
And I hope for the skeptic in you that may allow your mind to rest enough,
give some assumption to the reality of this event
to see what it is that has been made possible by it.
Let's notice together a few things before we get into the doctrine of the resurrection.
Let's notice a few things about Mark's telling of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If you look at the synoptics as well as John,
there's a lot of variance in the tellings.
And so, let's look at Mark's account,
and I'll pull together some of the others for you as well.
And we notice first,
the women that go when the Sabbath was passed.
To begin with,
we need to be clearly thinking about the amount of days that have passed
since Jesus was crucified.
And for some, this becomes problematic
because He was crucified on Friday,
and He was resurrected on Sunday,
which from our estimation is only two days.
But He has predicted over and over again
that after three days, He would rise.
So just as a note to you,
you must know that the Jews would have counted as a part of a day,
a full day.
So Friday would have been day number one
when He was laid in the tomb.
Saturday day number two.
The end of Saturday would have been sundown on Saturday.
Sunday begins,
and it's on this day that He's resurrected.
And so three days,
and He is risen.
So it's when the Sabbath has passed.
Saturday, the day of rest.
It would seem that the women were unable to properly adorn His body,
able to take the spices that would have been given.
Not that He would have been embalmed the way
the pharaohs of old would have been embalmed in Egypt,
but it was a process they went through,
a way of preserving the body a little bit longer,
mostly to show honor to the one who was being buried.
There was a great deal of rush
about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
making sure that He was dead and put in the tomb
before sundown on Friday when the Sabbath began
and the Jews could do no work at that time.
And so it would seem that He wasn't properly embalmed at that time.
And so when the Sabbath is over,
they have gone,
they have bought these spices,
and now they're coming to anoint Him.
Very early, verse 2 says,
on the first day of the week.
And Mark, as he's so glossary sometimes,
includes very few details,
in this case wants us to be sure to know
that it's when the sun had risen.
It's early, early morning on Sunday.
And they go to the tomb,
and they're not very prepared,
I'll have you note,
when they go to the tomb,
because on their way to the tomb,
they're wondering how in the world
they're going to even access the body of Christ.
This very large stone, Mark tells us,
has been rolled in front of the tomb.
And they say,
who will roll away the stone for us?
But when they get there, verse 4,
they see that the stone has already been rolled back.
Mark doesn't give us much else.
It leaves a lot to be assumed on our part.
But Matthew records in 28, verse 2 of his Gospel account,
And behold, there was a great earthquake,
for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone.
And sat on it.
So God Himself sent a messenger
to roll away the stone
to prepare for them to come and see
that their Savior was, in fact, risen.
It's very significant that it's women that go,
and they're the first ones to see this,
and that all of the accounts record
that this is the case.
For two reasons.
First, they were witnesses to His life.
You can see that in chapter 15, verse 41 of Mark.
To His death.
Chapter 15, verse 40.
To His burial.
Chapter 15, verse 47.
And now, His resurrection.
These women have been given privy
to see all of these events together.
It's as if it taps it all off.
That their testimony might be able to carry across
all of the major events of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
His life, death, burial, and now His resurrection.
Secondly, they're women.
Significant.
The significance of the women is that they are women.
And to us, this isn't very telling,
but certainly, in this day, it would have been.
Let me read you a little bit from Sinclair Ferguson's commentary on Mark.
He writes,
Mark tells us that it was the women
who first discovered the empty tomb
and who heard the first announcement of the resurrection.
To our 20th century Western minds,
that may seem unremarkable.
But in the context of first century Palestine,
it was highly significant.
For women were often treated as second-class citizens.
Their testimony would be inadmissible in a court of law.
As witnesses, they had no standing.
No one who wanted to fabricate a convincing account
of the resurrection in first century Palestine
would have dreamed of doing it in this way.
These were not the witnesses for this day.
They did not carry with them the credibility
to speak to this.
So if someone were simply making this up,
they would not have included this detail about the women.
Later, we see in John's account
that John and Peter go and see the empty tomb.
This is where they would have begun
if they weren't committed
to sharing the whole story with their readers.
There's a great deal of beauty in the Gospel
and this extension of God to women of this day
that they might be the first witnesses
of such an event.
To just kind of cap that off for you,
Josephus, who's a Jewish historian,
in his book entitled Antiquities of the Jews said,
But let not the testimony of women be admitted
on account of the levity and boldness of their sex.
And ladies, I don't know if that's offensive to you or not,
but there certainly is a degree of both things
which we love about you.
And we see that they enter the tomb in verse 5.
I'm trying to backpedal off that, but I can't.
So we will move on.
In verse 5, we see that they enter the tomb.
They see a young man sitting on the right side.
Very little detail again from Mark.
A young man seated on the right,
dressed in a white robe,
and they are alarmed.
Who is this man?
Why should they be alarmed?
Again, Matthew's account gives us a bit more detail
in chapter 28, verses 3 and 4.
Matthew writes,
His appearance was like lightning
and his clothing white as snow.
And for fear of him,
the guards trembled and became like dead men.
They passed out is what that means.
This is a phrasing that would have been used in this day.
So presumably, the women,
when they show up to the tomb,
they're not alone.
There's this man sitting there
who's like lightning,
but also the guards are passed out on the ground
because he was such a fearful sight.
And he says to them,
as so many angelic appearances start in this way,
do not be alarmed.
Do not be alarmed.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth
who was crucified.
And then this most wonderful,
most emphatic statement,
He has risen.
He is not here.
Listen to the same telling from Luke 24,
verses 6 and 7.
Luke records,
He is not here,
but has risen.
Remember how He told you
while He was still in Galilee
that the Son of Man
must be delivered in the hands of sinful men
and be crucified
and on the third day rise.
So in Luke's account,
this angel gives to them
a remembrance of the things that Jesus said.
And they're saying to them,
the things that Jesus has said
would come to pass,
have.
Do not be alarmed.
He told you this would happen.
And He does it a number of times
in Mark's account.
Mark 8, 31,
9, 31,
and 10,
33-34.
If you've been here,
we've gone through those
and repeated them a number of times.
Let me read to you
just Mark 9, 31,
where Jesus says,
the Son of Man
is going to be delivered
into the hands of men
and they will kill Him.
And when He is killed,
after three days,
He will rise.
So,
the previous prophecy
has already come to pass.
Jesus has been delivered
into the hands of men
and they have killed Him.
And now,
it's fulfilled
that after three days,
He has risen.
And the angel gives a command to them,
but go.
Do not be alarmed.
This thing has happened
that's supposed to come to happen.
Verse 7,
but go.
Tell His disciples and Peter
that He is going before you
to Galilee.
There you see Him
just as He told you.
But just as He told you
is found in Mark 14, 28.
It's a little detail
that's easy to miss,
but Jesus says,
but after I am raised up,
I will go before you
to Galilee.
We'll go back
to the place of preparation,
the place in which
He gathered up the disciples,
the place where most
of His ministry took place.
Kind of the home turf
is where they would gather together
once again
before Jesus finally ascends
and sends them on their mission
to establish the church
and to change the world.
But they leave.
Mark's record is very brief
at this point.
They leave the tomb.
They flee from it.
And for trembling and astonishment,
they say nothing to anyone,
for they were afraid.
We have noted on a number of occasions
Mark's particular way
in which he records the failures
of those who were close to Jesus,
pressing at us all through
his Gospel account
to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but showing all along
how very difficult
and challenging
this is.
We know of Mark's life
that he deserted
Paul and Barnabas.
Paul wanted nothing
to do with him after that.
In fact,
that was the conflict
that called Paul and Barnabas
to part ways.
And Barnabas wanted
to take his cousin,
John Mark,
along with him
on this next stage
of their journey.
And Paul wanted nothing
to do with the deserter.
But we get to see later on
in multiple texts
that now this Mark
is now serving alongside
and likely imprisoned
with Paul
in a number of places.
He himself
has been this
restored deserter.
We see it to be true
of Peter
and the way in which
he tells Peter's story.
And we know that
Peter is restored.
And he seems to do it again here.
He seems to hang the ladies out
that they didn't do
what they were asked to do
by the angel of the Lord,
at least not
in his telling.
In other tellings,
we see that they do go
and they do share
with the disciples.
But at this moment in time,
they say nothing
because they are so
very afraid.
And it would seem
that this is the way
that Mark concludes
his Gospel account
of the life, death,
and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
So we should take some time.
We would do well
to reflect upon
the doctrine
of the resurrection
or the things
that are possible
because of
the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
So,
you had your exegesis
now for your doctrine.
Firstly,
Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our regeneration.
Now, regeneration
is an act of God
in which we are given
new spiritual life.
to borrow the language
of John 3,
to be born again.
In John 3,
Jesus says
that we must
be born again
to see
the kingdom of God.
That our
image-bearing
capacity
has been spoiled
by sin.
By very nature,
we are not acceptable
to God.
And so we must be
born again.
We must be
made new
to be found acceptable
and to be part
of His kingdom.
We're once not
a people,
but we need to be
made a people.
We're not citizens.
We need to be
citizens
of the kingdom of God.
And this requires
regeneration.
Ezekiel 36,
26 and 27,
the Lord says this,
and I will give you
a new heart
and a new spirit
I will put within you
and I will remove
the heart of stone
from your flesh
and give you
a heart of flesh.
And I will put
My Spirit within you
and cause you
to walk in My statutes
and be careful
to obey My rules.
This is regeneration.
And what He's doing
in such beautiful language
is saying that our hearts
apart from Christ,
apart from His intervening work
in our lives,
are hearts of stone,
cold,
hard,
against the things
of God.
But He will take that
out of us
and He will put in us
a heart of flesh,
a heart that beats
for Him.
He will make us new.
He will give us
His Spirit
and cause us,
move us
to keep His statutes
and to obey
all of His rules.
And the text there
gives us a clue.
How is it that God
works this change in us?
What is the means
by which He accomplishes
this work?
John 3.8 says
that regeneration
is a work
of the Holy Spirit.
It's one of the great works
that God accomplishes
by that part of the Trinity
known as
the Holy Spirit.
John 3.8 says
the wind blows
where it wishes
and you hear it sound,
but you do not know
where it comes from
or where it goes.
So it is with everyone
who is born
of the Spirit.
So Jesus' resurrection
is incredibly important to us
because He made a promise
to the apostles
to send the Spirit
to them.
He needed to be alive.
He had said all these things
to them.
What a sad, sad day
for them
from their perspective,
from their side of the cross.
His death was
because all of the things
He had said
would come to pass
had yet to.
How is it possible
that He would do the things
He said He was going to do
if He's dead
and buried
and in a tomb?
John 16.7 says,
Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth.
It is to your advantage
that I go away.
For if I do not go away,
the Helper,
He's referring to the Holy Spirit
there,
will not come to you.
But if I go,
I will send Him to you.
Jesus is telling His disciples
before His death
that His death, burial,
resurrection,
and ascension
is necessary
that the Spirit of God
would come.
I have at many points
in my life
wished that Jesus
would be here now
with us.
Of course,
I long for His second coming
when He'll finish His work.
But in the meantime,
wishing that He
would be here with us.
But He says
it's to our advantage
that He goes away.
We have a better thing.
It's better to be a Christian now,
to have new hearts
and the Spirit of God
working within us,
than to have walked with Him
in those days.
That's hard for me
to get my mind around.
It's something to certainly
meditate upon.
It's a better thing
to have the resurrected
and ascended Jesus Christ
and been granted
the promised Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 1.3
helps tie this thought together.
Peter writes,
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to His great mercy,
He has caused us
to be born again
to a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
Now, Peter sees
that this was a necessary thing.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ
must have taken place
in order to guarantee
our regeneration.
So that was firstly.
Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our regeneration.
Secondly,
Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our justification.
Now, justification
justification is
the right legal standing
before God.
Justification is
the opposite
of condemnation.
To state it in the negative,
to be justified
before God
is to not be guilty
of the sins
that are ours,
that ultimately belong to us,
that we own,
is to have those dismissed,
stricken from the record.
That's to state it in
the negative.
And I don't mean
in a bad way.
Right?
Stated in the positive,
to be justified
is to be declared
righteous.
In the perfect life
and death,
suffering,
death,
and resurrection
of Jesus Christ,
we have given to us
both
the effect of Jesus'
passive
and His active obedience.
His passive obedience
being the suffering
of His life
and His death.
His active obedience
being all of the righteousness
that He exhibited
before
in His living.
Right?
That we're not just found
neutral before God,
having our sins dismissed,
but that we're found
righteous before God
because we have
Christ's righteousness.
Christ's propitiation says,
thank you,
He appeased God's wrath
with His death.
Right?
Christ's propitiation says
He appeased God's wrath
when His death,
the wrath that was due us,
we have failed
in every way
to keep God's moral law.
If you're not found
in Christ today,
please know that
this is true of you.
It's true of all of us.
The great meta-narrative
of humanity
is that we all have sinned
and we all fall short
of the glory of God.
There is none righteous.
No, not one.
We have all failed
to meet His standard.
It's impossible to do so
because of our sin nature.
So there is infinite wrath
due to us.
But because of Christ's sacrifice,
because Christ took the wrath
of God on our behalf,
we have been given
a dismissal note for that.
1 John 2.2 says,
He is the propitiation
for our sins
and not for ours only,
but also for the sins
of the whole world.
So Christ's propitiation,
He appeased God's wrath
with His death.
Christ's imputation,
we are granted
His righteousness.
Romans 10.4,
For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness
to everyone who believes.
It doesn't mean
that there's not a standard
we are still to live to.
This is not cheap grace.
Grace is costly
in that it requires your life.
That we are meant
to pursue God
with all that we have.
We are still meant
to fulfill the moral law of God,
but when we fail
and we will,
we still have His righteousness.
We get to wear it.
I get to put it on
as a cloak.
And as I endeavor
by God's grace
to live to His righteous standard,
my failures are covered
by His goodness to me
in Christ.
Romans 4.22-25,
after a rather lengthy discourse
about Abraham's faith
in God's promise,
says this,
That is why his faith
was counted to him
as righteousness.
We're talking about Abraham.
But the words
that was counted to him
were not written
for his sake alone,
but for ours also.
It will be counted to us
who believe in Him
who raised from the dead
Jesus our Lord,
who was delivered up
for our trespasses
and raised
for our justification.
You see Paul
wrapping those ideas together.
Us being given
our justification.
Our sins dismissed.
Us taking on
the righteousness of Christ
because of the One
who raised Jesus
from the dead.
So Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our regeneration.
Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our justification.
And thirdly,
Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our resurrection bodies.
This is a bit briefer point,
but an equally glorious one.
Jesus was the first recipient
of a new body.
This transformed state.
You know,
there are other men
who had been resurrected.
Take Nicodemus
as the example for that.
But 1 Corinthians 15.20
says,
but in fact,
Christ has been raised
from the dead.
The first fruits
of those
who have fallen asleep.
So He's the beginning
of something.
The first fruits.
He's the beginning
of this new type
of transformed body.
And we will be recipients
of the same type of body
which will have
no more disease,
sickness,
suffering,
death.
There's much conjecture
about exactly what this
will look like.
I have absolutely no idea.
I'm going to guess
maybe my 18-year-old self.
I'm going to go back
to that
because life hurt
a lot less
in those days.
Take my 18-year-old self
and take out type 1 diabetes
and that I think
might be my resurrected state.
We don't really know,
but we know that we will have
transformed bodies,
that they will be without
all the suffering
and the disease
and the sickness of the world
and that they will not die.
So to say that Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our resurrection bodies
is to say that we will live
with Him forever.
Praise God.
1 Corinthians 15.42
Paul says,
So it is with the resurrection
of the dead.
What is sown
is perishable.
He's using this analogy
of the way that seeds
bring forth something else.
The way a seed goes
into the ground
and it dies,
but then it brings forth
a different type
of vegetable or fruit.
What is sown
is perishable.
What is raised
is imperishable.
So Jesus' resurrection
is the guarantee
of our regeneration,
our justification,
and our resurrection bodies.
We have been changed by God,
made righteous in His sight,
and will live with Him forever
because Jesus lived
the perfect life.
He died to bear our sin,
and He was raised
to glory.
So what?
What do we do
with these types of doctrines?
I hope firstly,
not as a point of application,
but I hope firstly
that those kinds of truths
just warm your heart.
That you're just given
cause to celebrate
who God is to us
in the personal work
of Jesus Christ.
That you want to exalt His name
because of what He's done
on your behalf.
It really should be enough.
But all the same,
Jesus' resurrection,
as I mentioned before,
supplies to us
the Holy Spirit.
Let me read to you again
John 16, 7.
Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth,
it is to your advantage
that I go away.
For if I do not go away,
the Helper will not come to you.
But if I go,
I will send Him to you.
All of us
who have placed our faith
in Jesus Christ
are given the gift
of the Holy Spirit.
We have Him.
He abides within us.
And I know that's trippy
to think about.
But He does.
All the same.
We are given Him
as a seal
and as a helper.
So firstly,
Jesus' resurrection
supplies by the Holy Spirit
the surety
of your salvation.
the sure knowledge
of your justification
before God
and your eternal state
of your future
resurrection body.
I think it would be good
if you turned with me
to 1 Corinthians 15.
The classic resurrection chapter.
Some people might try
to not preach a sermon
on Easter Sunday
using 1 Corinthians 15.
It's rather difficult to do.
It would seem that a number
of the Corinthian believers
or otherwise
those that were part
of the church
believe that it is not possible
that a person
could be raised
from the dead.
And Paul is addressing that
here in chapter 15
in such a wonderful way.
Let's begin
at verse 1 and 2.
Now I'd remind you,
brothers,
of the gospel
I preach to you
which you received
in which you stand
and by which you are being saved
if you hold fast
to the word
I preach to you
unless you believed
in vain.
So let's just note
he's saying,
now it reminds you
of the gospel I preach
by which you are being saved.
And then he goes on
to elaborate
in the rest of the chapter
about this gospel
he preached.
What is it that he had come
and preached to them?
Earlier on
in the book of 1 Corinthians
he said,
I came and I knew
nothing among you
except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.
Which includes
the resurrection.
He elaborates on that
later on in that chapter.
So 1 Corinthians 15.12-19.
Now if Christ is proclaimed
as raised from the dead,
how can some of you say
that there is no resurrection
of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection
of the dead,
then not even Christ
has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is in vain
and your faith is in vain.
We are even found
to be misrepresenting God
because we testified
about God
that He raised Christ
whom He did not raise
if it is true
that the dead are not raised.
Are you tracking his logic
through that?
For if the dead are not raised,
not even Christ
has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised,
your faith is futile
and you are still
in your sins.
Then those also
who have fallen asleep
in Christ have perished.
If in Christ we have hope
in this life only,
we are of all people
most to be pitied.
So the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
by the Spirit
gives us this surety
of our salvation.
If it didn't happen,
we are fools.
We are absolute fools.
What are you doing
with this mourning
if Jesus Christ
has not been raised
from the dead?
Go do something else
because this is a waste
of your time.
That's stated in the negative.
We are fools
if Christ has not been raised.
Don't leave.
I'm thankful
that He has been.
Stated in the positive,
we have not believed
in vain
because He,
in fact,
has been raised.
We are not fools.
We are wise
for having believed
this thing.
2 Corinthians 1.22 says,
God has also put
His seal on us
and given us
His Spirit
in our hearts
as a guarantee
of these sure realities
that we may be found in Him.
So Jesus' resurrection
supplies by the Holy Spirit
the surety of our salvation
and secondly,
the power
for your sanctification.
The power
for your sanctification.
Let me draw your mind
back to the doctrine
that the resurrection
guarantees
your regeneration.
The power for that
comes from the resurrection.
Your regeneration.
That you have been changed.
That you have been made
a new creation.
The term sanctification
has two elements to it.
One is that
once we are found
in Christ,
we have been set apart.
We have been
sanctified.
We have been
separated in status.
We are a new type
of individual.
But it also carries with it
this element
that we are still
in the process
of being made
into those people
for the glory of God.
That all throughout
our lives
we will be made
in greater and greater degree
more like Christ.
So this is the type
I'm talking about.
That power
for our sanctification.
We have been made new.
Therefore,
we have the ability
to proceed
to strive
after righteousness.
After all,
Paul says in Philippians 1.6
and I'm sure of this,
that he who began
a good work in you
will bring it to completion
at the day
of Jesus Christ.
God has saved us
and God will
perfect us.
Romans 8.11
Paul writes,
that the Spirit of Him
who raised Jesus
from the dead
dwells in you.
He who raised Christ Jesus
from the dead
will also give life
to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit
who dwells in you.
We have been given
the Spirit of God
that we might live
to God.
And there are far too many
people today
who profess
the name of Christ
and there's zero
evidence of it
in their life.
None whatsoever.
What does Jesus say
about vines
that don't bear fruit?
They'll be trimmed away
and thrown
into the fire.
A good tree
bears good fruit.
It is necessary
that having been saved,
the evidence of this
is that we live
for God.
And the Spirit
gives us the power
to do so.
It gives us the power
to resist sin.
Beloved,
we do not have
to sin
any longer.
We've been set free
from it.
We're no longer
slaves to it.
Romans 6, 9-11.
We know that Christ
being raised
from the dead
will never die again.
Death no longer
has dominion
over Him.
For the death
He died,
He died to sin
once for all.
But the life
He lives,
He lives
to God.
You see this?
He died a death
to sin.
Now,
being raised,
He lives to God.
Verse 11,
so you also
must consider
yourselves
dead to sin
and alive to God
in Christ Jesus.
You have been given
the ability
to keep God's standard
now.
Will you?
It's not likely.
But you can
and you should.
We've also been given
the power by the Spirit
to be obedient.
to not only do
the things
that we're not
supposed to do,
but to do the things
that we are
supposed to do.
Paul again,
Colossians 3,
1 and 2.
If then
you have been
raised with Christ,
seek the things
that are above
where Christ is,
seated at the right
hand of God.
Set your minds
on things that are above,
not on things
that are on earth.
We have been given
the ability
in Christ
by His Spirit
because of
the resurrection
to live
in this way.
Beloved,
there is such a
great mission
set before us
as the people of God.
The exaltation of God,
declaring the supremacy
of Christ
in all things
to all peoples.
We've been given
the power to do this,
to resist sin,
to be obedient to this.
To be the disciples
that Mark is calling us
to be all
throughout the text.
To give up
all things
for the sake
of Jesus Christ
and the gospel
of the kingdom
of God.
I'll repeat to you
the motto
of the Reformers
post-Tenebrous Lux.
They meant it
certainly for their
reform from Catholicism
coming out of
the dark ages,
the wonderful
translations of
Bibles that were
taking place.
So much light
in that sense.
They meant it
also in terms
of the way
in which a dark
heart is turned
to God
that the light
of the gospel
would penetrate it.
And I would say
to you this morning
that this very same
motto should be
true of us
today.
That those ways
in which we have
not pursued God
in light
of the glorious
truth of the
resurrection
of Jesus Christ,
we should allow
the light of the
gospel to penetrate
those dark places
in our hearts
as well.
If you don't
know Christ,
your fate is
eternal damnation.
And you need to
hear that.
You need to be
warned of the
judgment that is
to come.
God is a good,
loving God.
He's also a just,
condemning God.
He has a standard
that none of us
have held
and we must
have Christ's
righteousness
on the day
of judgment.
So please,
I plead with you,
if you have not
placed your faith
in Christ,
allow the light
of the gospel
to dawn in your
hearts for the
first time
this day.
The call of the
gospel is not
to walk an aisle
and repeat after me.
The call of the
gospel is to
repent,
turn from your
sin,
and believe
in the person
and work.
His life,
death,
burial,
resurrection,
ascension of
Jesus Christ.
Let's pray together.
Amen.