The Beginning of the End
Notes
Transcript
We are here, the end of Mark. I titled this message The beginning of the end, because their is a transition taking place.
We are here, the end of Mark. I titled this message The beginning of the end, because their is a transition taking place.
A transition from Jesus’ physical ministry on earth, to the continuation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being preached by his followers. His followers are to continue preaching the good news about Jesus until the end.
Now if you are a Bible student, or even just a person with good observation skills, you will notice that this portion of Mark is in brackets, or there is a note between vs 8 and 9, or there is a foot note in your Bible that says “[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]”
You may have wondered what does that mean, well tonight, we are all going to meet at Mike Smith’s house so Alfredo can explain it to us. I am just kidding.
I thought of just passing this by and moving straight to the text, but many of you know me now and you know I am not one that likes to pass things over. So lets see if we can bring some clarity to this and then if you have further questions, you can talk about it among your D-Groups or ask us for more information.
I. Inspired, Inerrant & Infallible
I. Inspired, Inerrant & Infallible
Three words every follower of Jesus should know concerning the Bible, the 3 “I’s”, Inspiration, Infallible, Inerrant.
We as Christians believe the Bible is inspired by God. Which means that God supernaturally used human authors to pen the scriptures, the word the New Testament uses in Timothy literally means “God breathed”. God revealed his message in such a way that the men were writing what God wants his people to know. If you go the Fellowship Bible Church website or read the confession of faith in your membership book you will read
God has, by His Spirit, graciously disclosed Himself through men in human words. We believe He has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which both record and reveal His saving work in the world.
The Bible is a collection of books inspired by God. The confession of faith goes on to say,
These writings alone constitute the verbally “God-breathed” Word of God, which is infallible, authoritative, inerrant, utterly without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of His will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks.
Which means if God breathed on human authors to write the words pertaining to life and godliness, this supernatural act would have to be infallible. What does the infallability of scripture mean?
Infallibility has to do with possibilities, and it means that the Word of God is incapable of erring. I can produce inerrant documents and other things and yet still retain the possibility of erring. Before anyone scores 100 percent on a test, it is possible that they might miss one of the answers. When the Lord inspired the authors of Scripture, however, He worked so as to make it impossible for them to affirm error in the completed product.
Which leads us to our next I, which is inerrancy.
Inerrancy means that the Bible does not affirm any errors. The Bible does not endorse anything untrue. When it tells history, it tells us what actually happened. It may report on what a person said when he told a lie to someone else, but it does not endorse the lie. It is merely giving an accurate report of what the liar said. Where it speaks to science, it does not contradict God's revelation in the natural world. The Bible is truthful and has no errors at all in the original manuscripts (the autographa) that the prophets and Apostles actually wrote.
Here in lies the problem, we do not have in our possession any of these original manuscripts, we have copies. Through the process of textual criticism, we can recover the original wording of the manuscripts with a high degree of certainty. A textual critic wants to know how many manuscripts do we have, so we can compare them and they want to know the date of the manuscripts, the closer the date to the events, the more reliable they will be. This may alarm you, or make you nervous, or cause you to think “then do we really have what God intended for us to have?”
I would say, absolutely, yes. You may think, “how do you know?” I am glad you asked. Here is a list of ancient texts, written around the time the Bible was being written (show slide)
As you can see we have 7 copies of Plato’s writing, we have 10 copies of Julius Caesar’s writing, Homer’s the Iliad, we have 643 copies. Now we do not sit and think, Did Plato really say that? How do we know this is actually Julius Caesar’s words? How do we know Homer wrote the Iliad and it wasn’t Homer Simpson? Now I know I am being funny here, there is no one who doubts these ancient texts, but I just want you to see how the Bible compares to the ancient texts. How many manuscripts, copies of the the originals do you think we have?
In the Greek language we have 5826 fragmented or complete portions of the NT. 5826, which surpasses any ancient text by far. Not only that, the earliest manuscript we have is called P52 and it is dated AD 130 less than 100 years after the events they record But yet the NT is the only one we sit and think, did the Paul really write this? When you move outside the Greek language, there are more than 18,130 copies whole or fragmented of the NT text in other languages. When you compare these manuscripts there are no major errors that impact any essential doctrines. What you have is maybe mispelled word, a word with a missing letter, but because they have so many copies, they can compare and contrast.
When we get to Mark 16:9-20, the Bible translators have decided to let us know, that this portion is not in the earliest manuscripts that we have, but it is in the later manuscripts. Now it is not to say it was not around, Irenous, who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John quotes Mark 16:19 in one of his writings around 150 AD. Which is pretty amazing.
Inspiration, Infallibility & Inerrancy, those are 3 words vital to the doctrine of Scripture and you can be confident that the Bible is inspired, infallible and inerrant and preserved for us. We can be confident that the Bible is our source of truth and gives us what we need pertaining to life and godliness. Everything we need to know about having a relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus and how to live in light of the Gospel living is in this book.
II. The Resurrection Is the Fuel Which Bolsters Our Faith
II. The Resurrection Is the Fuel Which Bolsters Our Faith
What happens when you through lighter fluid on the lit charcoal in your grill?
The Resurrection is the fuel which bolsters our faith.
In Mark 16:9-11
Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
When Mary went to the tomb with the other women, and the angel told them that Jesus was alive, what did she do? She went and told the disciples, why? That is what the angel told her to do but why did she obey?
Then we are told when she shared the news with the disciples, they did not believe. Interesting. Let’s keep reading
After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
We are told more about this account in Luke 24, where a man appears to two people on the road to Emmaus and they are telling the man about all that has happened and they tell them about the news the women shared and that they went to the tomb and it was empty and didn’t see Jesus, and struggled to believe.
What does the man say to these two men? Luke 24:25-27
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
We learn that the man is the resurrected Jesus and he gives these men the greatest Bible study ever. But noticed his rebuke, Luke 24:25
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
We have one more account to talk about Mark 16:14
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
Jesus appears to the rest and rebukes them for their unbelief, hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him. Church the news the Jesus rose from the dead is the greatest news ever. The resurrection should be the fuel that bolsters our faith. This is what Jesus is telling his followers. You should believe because it is true and Jesus rebukes his followers for not believing the reports.
Fellowship Espanol, do not be surprised when you share the good news of Jesus Christ with people, that they don’t believe. Some of the disciples didn’t even believe that Jesus could rise from the dead after experiencing such a horrible death, but you know what? JESUS IS ALIVE, and the fact that he is alive should be the fuel that bolsters your faith.
Listen to what Paul says 1 Corinthians 15:17-22
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.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But in fact Christ has been raised! Church Jesus is alive and because Jesus is alive those who repent from their sins and believe in the Jesus life death and resurrection we have life.
III. The Resurrection should be the fuel which bolsters our missions.
III. The Resurrection should be the fuel which bolsters our missions.
After Jesus rebukes them for their unbelief and hardness of heart what does he do?
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Jesus sends them on mission once they move from unbelief to belief. Jesus tells them to GO. Go and Proclaim the Gospel into all the world. The Resurrection Should Be The Fuel That Bolsters Our Missions.
Why Go? Why Proclaim? The passage tells us
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Some people use this text to preach that you need to be baptized to be saved, but the Bible is pretty clear through out the New Testament we are saved by grace through faith. Jesus only. I also think it is clear in this passage too. It says whoever believes and is baptized will be saved but what does the next phrase say “ whoever does not believe and baptized will be condemned” is that what your Bible says? No it says whoever does not believe is condemned.
This is why we go and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, because through Adam, sin and death entered the world and we stand condemned before God, your unbelieving family, friends, neighbors, strangers, the 3.8 billion people across the world who have no one to share the Gospel with them are condemned and they are going to hell unless people go and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them and God opens their eyes and calls them to the truth.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
The Resurrection should be the fuel that bolsters our missions, because Jesus lived and died and He is alive and because he is alive the world needs to know how they can move from death to life, from condemned to set free, from sinner to saint, from stranger to friend, from an orphan to a son. Only the Gospel can do that because Jesus is alive!
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 16:9.
