Published: August 18, 2024 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: Gospel of Mark - Part 113 | Scripture: Mark 16:15-18
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we don't know where Jesus spoke these words U many of the um manuscripts apparently put verses 14 and 15 together as if Jesus is still in the room where
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the disciples were eating s reclining at table verse 14 says and gave them this Commission in verse
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15 Perhaps it is the same scene that Matthew relates in Matthew 28 on the mountain in Galilee where and
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Matthew quite frankly um gives a more eloquent and eloquent and Powerful presentation of Jesus Great
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Commission many who call it the Magna Carta of Carta of discipleship Luke records at greater length the words of Jesus spoken in
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Jerusalem and then leads the disciples to Bethany where he is he ascends John in verse in chapter 20
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gives a short section on Jesus bestowing on his disciples uh receiving the Holy Spirit but then we have another chapter John 21 where he en encounters the
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disciples and particularly Peter and so not sure that there were three times when Jesus gave this
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commission or whether this is all the same as Matthew 28 but what I see here is that Mark is not concentrating on the
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appearances and on the disciples but he's concentrating on what Jesus said the the the the words that he gives to them and it's as
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if Mark has come full circle in his gospel because remember in chapter one verse one he says the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God
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and here he says to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation the gospel is the Glad news of
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Salvation it's the substance of our saving faith saving faith but we should not read it as if it said
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quote the gospel preached and taught by Jesus Christ as if that was the subject I think if we get anything out
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of the Book of Mark that in relaying to us Jesus person his teaching his
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teaching his works and then his death burial and resurrection and now his commission that Marcus telling us the
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good it is the good news concerning Jesus Christ not what he said but it is
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he who is the subject of the Gospel the beginning of his Messianic office and yet what is implied here by Mark is that this is the beginning
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this is this is the starting point but in Jesus saying yes but in saying the word beginning it implies there is a
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continuation the sending of the holy spirit is to come the work of building the kingdom of God is coming the the formation and the filling up of the body
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of Christ the church is to come so I I think again Mark's idea of the beginning of the gospel and here we see yes this is just the beginning and now the
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kingdom has kingdom has come and he is giving the commission to those to preach the kingdom of God the work that he outlines for
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Christ's disciples is given for them until he comes I believe that it is for all disciples all disciples go into all the world and preach the
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gospel to all creation and just like we have understood in Matthew the going is not really the best
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translation go sounds like definitive instruction but literally it would be having gone or while going remember what
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was about to happen Luke tells us that in the book of Acts he says you're going to be scattered from Jerusalem and Judea and to the uttermost parts of the earth
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they're about to go and he's saying having gone while you are going while you are on the way preach the gospel to all creation
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the whole world of mankind is understood here the world of people that you will encounter but the script scripture tells
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us what those people are like people lost in lost in sin people who are enemies of God people
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without knowledge people without faith people without Holiness people without
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love or Paul can say it better than I can in Ephesians 2 people quote Living in the lust of their flesh indulging the desires of the Flesh and of the mind and are by Nature
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children of Wrath separate from Christ strangers to the covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the
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world that was the world and is the world that Jesus sends his disciples into and having gone they are to preach the
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gospel it goes back to the very again very beginning of Mark chap 1 we see John the John the Baptist he's seen in the wilderness but what is he doing he's PR preaching a
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baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins and he says all the country was coming to him to be baptized confessing their sins this is
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the method this is the mode of how the kingdom will be preached preed and the kingdom will be made
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known and I believe not all do but I believe it is a universal offer of Grace but certainly not a universal
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salvation the writer lensky writes all are to hear this gospel for the Divine Purpose that they are all to believe that is the purpose for the preaching they are to believe but he says no preaching except
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to lead to believing and no believing except by except by preaching seems as if he Echoes Paul in Romans chapter 10 how then are they to
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call on him in whom they have not believed there are people without him how are they to hear how are they to believe in him who they whom they have not heard and how
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are they to hear without a preacher but how are they to preach unless they are sent just that as as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who
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bring good news of good things this is the commission while going having gone we are to preach we
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are to Proclaim Christ we are to Proclaim him not simply a message about him but to Proclaim him his person his works his
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glory but the there are terms there are terms of terms of this gospel message the gospel is sealed with a promise he who has believed and has been baptized shall be
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saved the Salvation as I can see it in the scripture has two parts there are two aspects and the Salvation is once for
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all time there is a rescue and deliverance from Sin from Mortal danger of death and eternal judgment there is
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that rescue but there is also Faith there's a trust a confidence of the heart that rests on the gospel there's an eternal
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an eternal security and again Paul reminds us in that passage of Romans 10 so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of
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Christ but here we see the importance of baptism as part of Faith sure some are baptized in
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water but the question is have they been washed in the blood of Christ are they
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Believers my thought is that baptism cannot mean anything to them if they are not in not in Christ that no benefits of baptism can derive to them from that
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washing but we do not there despise the ordinance it is appointed by Christ himself and it's far from being simply a public confession of Faith one of the
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commentators said it's is a it's just like in a in a wedding where you put on the wedding ring it's that syb Sy that you are now married and I would say no
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no no that's not what I see in scripture the the water itself holds no power to convey Grace upon an individual and yet
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it is an ordinance given by Christ it is an act that is sacramental the Lord has commanded it
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and we believe that in that act that he seals the believer in the Blessed Union with
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himself I can't explain how that happens and yet it is yes a mystery and yet it cannot be
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just a public confession that's how most baptisms are come and see somebody being baptized and celebrate with them that they are a Believer and I think that's important for the body of Christ to
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celebrate with them and to be to acknowledge that that to to see what what God has
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done but I think it's much more than that and I think again In this passage where we see and again Mark is criticized that he he's doing everything with kind of a
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staccato punch that it's not a narrative but this kind of resume of things he's gone immediately from the resurrection to the disciples being up braided
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because they didn't believe and now he's talking about the power of that Resurrection listen to what Peter writes later and he's he's talking about the
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the proclamation of Christ he also died for sins once for all that just for the unjust but he he says that the patience of God was kept
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waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the Ark in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the water and he says and corresponding to
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this a as the antitype to this baptism now saves you not the removal of dirt from the flesh but an appeal to God for a good conscience
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through the resurrection of Jesus Christ see he he's saying we we saw the type those Sav through the water but somehow again mysteriously and powerfully and
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yet wonderfully through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and and I think Mark makes that almost immediate connection and and Peter perhaps relaying this to
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Mark is saying I I now see it I I now see how people are conveyed and and the power of this baptism this Union with
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Christ so there is an an absolute necessity of faith in Christ for salvation he says he who has disbelieved shall be condemned they have heard the gospel message and yet they do not receive it
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with faith and he says they are eternally lost there is a certainty here of God's judgment on those who die in their
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unbelief he who has dis believe shall be condemned it's a verdict a verdict of condemnation pronounced upon them an eternal hell awaits them now to be sure nothing is said
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about those who have never heard the gospel of those who never get to believe or disbelieve I don't think that Mark IT
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addresses that In this passage God Alone knows their fate but what is stated it is not a lack of being baptized it is a
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lack of faith that is fatal and yet he brings them together John the Baptist brought them together
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be baptized for the remission of sins for the confession of sins and I would say that any believer who would not obey Christ and
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be baptized is in a kind of self deception as regards his own
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faith but there are Promises to the commission he calls them signs and these signs will accompany those who have believed there are signs he doesn't use the word
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Miracles or power works or wonders he uses the word signs signs point to something signs in the
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scriptures point to something greater than the thing indicated a sign makes a revelation it makes a revelation by a deed and not merely by
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words the signs were a seal of the apostolic credentials proving their authenticity the authenticity and genuiness of their message preached
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exhibiting that the Risen Christ was with them and working through them because he says and these signs will accompany those have who have believed
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in my name they will do these things on my authority in connection with the Revelation that is that you give about me that has been seen in
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me you will do these things
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wondering what about the snakes what about the poison what are
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signs AB Bruce wrote this and he divided them into them into sections the signs and some of you latinists will have to help me here he says signs physical charism and theurgic
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Powers well thic powers are performing Miracles he says these take place taking place of the spiritual presence of the
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exalted Lord the casting out of devils and speaking with tongues and healing the sick well that's a sign of the apostolic age and then the taking up of venomous
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serpents and drinking deadly poison he says quote seem to introduce us into the Twilight of apocryphal
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story if you were to look up anything about snake handling preachers uh as I did the very first headline article that came up on Google
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was South Carolina is the go-to place to get your venomous SE serpents apparently South Carolina does not have a lot of rules regarding
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selling buying and selling venomous selling venomous reptiles and so the preachers generally
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Southern preachers and apparently Appalachia is the hot bed of snake handling preaching they come to South Carolina because you can go to a wildlife show
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and just step up to the table and hand over your cash and you can take home some venomous
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serpents and you can imagine after some of those articles all the comments about what they did and how that might happen one of the men who was
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a snake handle I don't think he was in South Carolina I think it was in Alabama was highlighted in a GE National Geographic documentary and documentary and came became kind of a cult uh had a cult
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following because of his handling of the snakes that is until one Sunday he was bit and he refused medical treatment and he
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died one of the comments was well we see the snake handlers snake handling preachers but where are the poison drinking preachers well most of them are probably
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dead but remember there are southern preachers so some of them probably consider drinking poison as the same as having to drink unsweet
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tea the point I would like to make is what was the original purpose of these signs the age of the Apostles we already see has included many of these things in Acts chapter 2
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the the disciples speak with other tongues they able to hear foreign tongues and understand
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them but I think the point and the purpose of these things was that Jesus knew the struggles they would face in the world they would face ridicule they would face persecution
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they would face threats of all kinds and they would face well just bad old
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paganism what we see in First Corinthians is that they were not a common thing but they were used in cases as the Holy Spirit saw
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fit they were not given to turn the men who preached into showmen to abuse to abuse them which is what I think we see if you were to look at any of these videos or
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the National Geographic documentary I guess what I would say is this way he did not send them out to cast out
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demons he did not send them out to perform Miracles he did not send them out to hold up snakes in church he sent them out to preach the gospel and yet he
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sent them out with protection this whole thing of the serpents in in Luke 10 he gave them authority to tread upon serpents it the
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context there seems to be that serpents and Vipers were a metaphor to to help them understand these were evil things this was any evil that
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would come upon them and he was protecting them from these things again not as showman not as
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charlatans but as signs that they were sent by him and what we see in the book of Acts is a is a fulfillment of these things in the age
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of their usefulness in establishing the church and yet that age ended but the church is never without God God's Aid and his
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protection and when the attesting powers were no longer needed when the scriptures were written and proclaimed they were sufficient to stand
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as signs and credentials and these signs ceased but isn't one of the most amazing signs that there are
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people in the world two Millennia later who have whose lives have been powerfully and wonderfully Changed by the preaching of
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the word so how then was the preaching to reach every person through the New Testament through the preaching of every man who preaches and teaches the word of
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God using the scriptures to preach the good news of Jesus Christ the son of God and the kingdom that is at hand or as powerfully written by the
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Apostle Paul he said to them my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your
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faith would not rest on the wisdom of mankind but on the power of God let us
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pray our heavenly father we do ask ask again that you would help us in our understanding that we would meditate upon these things and began to see more
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clearly not just the words about but more clearly see Jesus his Jesus his power his works his love his grace and
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the power of his resurrection and so we asked that you would do these things again in the building up of your church for your glory and honor in Christ's name we pray
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amen would you please rise for the benediction from first Peter in this section where he talks
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about the Cornerstone that has become a stumbling block and a rock of offense to those obedient to the word he adds these words but you are a chosen race a royal
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priesthood a holy nation a people for God's Own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light for once you were not a
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people but now you are the people of God you had not received Mercy but now you have received Mercy amen