And if you had your Bibles, if you would, please, let's take them out together. Turning to the gospel, according to Mark, Mark's Gospel, Chapter 16. Mark's Gospel, Chapter 16, as we are continuing in our exposition of the gospel of Mark, we find our place here, the last chapter of this wonderful chronicle of the historical Jesus and the ministry he had while on this earth. What I'd like to do this morning is begin by reading the text of Scripture, and I'd like to read the entirety of chapter 16. We're actually only going to be looking this morning at the first eight verses for our exposition, but for the sake of continuity, I'd like to begin by reading the chapter in total. So Mark chapter 16 and beginning with verse one. Here is the account. The resurrection of Jesus says when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him 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? Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. He said to them, do not be alarmed. You see Jesus of Nazareth. who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. Go tell his disciples and Peter, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. They went out and fled from the tomb and trembling and astonishment had seized them. They said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. Now, when he arose 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. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After these things, he appeared in another form to two of them. as they were walking into the country. They went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. 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. And he said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel whole creation, whoever believes that is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up servants, serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick. and they will recover. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. They went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. Let's now join together before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we bow before you now as we come to your Word. And Father, as we consider this record of the resurrection of Jesus, we acknowledge that it is the very triumph and victory of our faith that we have a living Savior who rose on the third day, just as he said, and has now ascended the very right hand of the Father. Lord, as we come before Your Word today, we pray that You would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to believe, a constitution committed that we would obey what You have declared and believe the truths that are found in Your Word. Help us, Lord, to be assisted by Your Spirit. Help us, Father, that we would have a readiness of heart a humility of constitution and a spirit of obedience seeking to follow in the ways of Jesus. Father, it is our prayer today that if there are those here apart from Christ. That by your mercy and by your grace, they might be brought to a place to see their sin for what it is and run to Christ as the only sufficient Savior. that they might be added to your church and your kingdom. Father, may that be for Your honor and for Your glory alone. And we ask this in Christ's holy name, Amen. The very familiar and famous Reformed preacher, John Blanchard, said this about the resurrection of Christ. He said, quote, The resurrection of Jesus demands Not only our applause, but our allegiance. Not only our compliments, but our capitulation. The pivotal truth of the Bible is that Jesus Christ not only came and died, was buried in a tomb, but rose on the third day. That He is a risen Savior. And as we come here to this sixteenth chapter, we have for us this record in Mark's gospel of his resurrection. And what I'd like to do in our introduction this morning is, first of all, just show you the basic breakdown of this chapter. Verses 1 all the way down through verse 20, and then we'll look at the first eight verses this morning. We have in this chapter, first of all, verses one through four, the arrival of the women to the tomb. It was early that Easter Sunday morning, that resurrection Sunday, that they went to the tomb and discovered there the reality that Jesus was not there. Then, verses five down through verse eight, we have the appearance of this angel. And of course, as we will look at this morning, the message the angel shared with those women that they were to accomplish. Then you have, at least perhaps some of you have in your Bibles, a little bracketed notation. How many of you have that in your Bible? A bracketed notation. My Bible says this. Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16 verses 9 through 20. That is the remainder of this chapter. Some of you may also have in your Bible a notation, perhaps at the bottom or somewhere else, that there are other words found in other manuscripts that are found in some of the testimony of scriptural texts not recorded here in this place. Then you have verses 9 down through verse 14, the actual appearance of the Savior. And of course, we read here of the appearances he had. Three different appearances are recorded for us in this statement. Then we have verses 15 down through verse 18, the assignment given to the apostles. It is a form of what we would call the Great Commission. Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. And of course, there are those words of verses 17 and 18 about those accompanying signs of the apostles. And exactly what does that mean? And are they authentic? And did Jesus really say those things? And that's something we will take up in our subsequent studies. And then verses 19 and 20, we have the ascension of the Lord. The ascension of the Lord. So we have here in verses 19 and 20 that record in Mark, according to our passage of his ascension back to the father. And of course, we know the the chronology of Jesus ministry after his resurrection. We know that he was on the earth for 40 days. And so what we have here in Mark, according to this text before us, is a very compacted statement, a compressed statement of his ministry until his ascension that is recorded in the last two verses. His session back to the right hand of the Father. Well, as we look at this text this morning, as I said, we are going to be looking today at the first eight verses. And then we're going to consider This issue in our study next Lord's Day concerning some of the textual questions of this passage. Why is it that we have in many versions this bracketed statement that in some manuscripts, some of the earliest ones, we don't have these verses recorded? Why is that so? What is the explanation? What are we dealing with here in this passage? Then we'll look at what the words actually say in the subsequent study. But if you would please, for this morning's study, let's turn back to chapter 16, verse one and consider in these first eight verses, first of all, the arrival of the women. The arrival of the women versus one and two, we read of their work, it says, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. First thing I want you to notice here in this passage in verse number one, that it says the very first line of verse number one, when the Sabbath was passed. Jesus, of course, had been in the tomb and it was not until after the Sabbath was passed that they went to the tomb to do this work they sought to do. This tells us, first of all, congregation, that these women observed the Sabbath rest and knowing very well the practice and the activity and the teachings of Jesus, This suggests to us very clearly that number one, Jesus always observed the Sabbath. Number two, it tells us that Jesus never taught anything about the abrogation of the Sabbath. For if Jesus had said the Sabbath will be abolished, then why were they observing it in this situation? Why would they even care to observe it if Jesus had nullified the fact that God's people must have a one day rest in seven. So this suggests to us very clearly, not only did they observe the Sabbath, but Jesus never abolished the Sabbath. He never taught against the Sabbath. And of course, it is a reminder that this day of the Sabbath rest was going to change in light of the reality of this very occasion. Just as God gave to His people in the old covenant a one day rest in seven. The very word Sabbath, it doesn't mean Saturday and it doesn't mean seven. It means rest. It means ceasing And it was from the very order of creation in that ordinance that God's people be given a one day in seven rest. Now, in the original creation, That rest was on the seventh day. God having created in six days, there was that rest on the seventh day. And that, of course, a commemoration of God's creation there at the beginning. God's people needed and need a rest. And that was instituted by that creation ordinance. So when we come to the New Testament, we see that same need for a rest. And here are these women. They observed the Sabbath. They never heard Jesus say anything against the need for a rest one day in seven. And yet the new creation of the new ordinance of the resurrection is that the day has changed, hasn't it? And now it is the first day of the week. commemorating not the old creation, but commemorating the new creation, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we observe that one day rest in seven. Now on Sunday, the Lord's Day, that rest still perpetuated to this very day. These women, they observed that Sabbath because they understood that Jesus affirmed the need of that cessation of rest and that need of a one day in seven to cease from worldly concerns. Secondly, note, if you will, in verse number one, what it was they were doing in their work. It says that they bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Now, you will recall, of course, in our exposition last Lord's Day, when we talked about the burial of Jesus in the tomb, we talked about how that there was this fine linen cloth that was used as burial cloth Jesus' body was wrapped in this cloth and there was various perfumes, fragrances, spices which were used in that cloth in Jesus being put initially into the tomb. So why is it these women now are going back to the tomb and bringing spices to do what seemingly had already been done? Well, the reason for that is that in the process of the decomposition of the body, There was a need to reapply those spices because of the stench, quite frankly, of a decaying corpse. As we said last time, there was not any practice of embalming by the Jews. Now, the Egyptians practiced the form of embalming, but the Jews didn't do that. And so there was a need to go back to the tomb and to reapply the spices simply as a matter of practical custom and necessity. This is what they were doing. This is where they were going. And so it says, verse two, very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. So we see their work. Notice in verse number three, their worry, their worry, it says, and when They were saying they were saying one to another or to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the two. Now, this is an interesting verse. We'll talk more about it later. Only Mark shares this interesting inner dialogue among the women. None of the other gospel narrative shares this. He shares that they had a concern as they made their way to the tomb. They were going to do a very practical thing to anoint the body of Jesus. They had bought the spices. They were on their way. And yet, even as they were going, they talked among themselves and said, there's a concern. There's an impediment. There's a problem before us. There's that big boulder, that rock that is covering the tomb. What are we going to do about that? So we see their work. We see their worry. Now notice in verse number four, we note their statement here about what happened. It says they looked up and they saw that a stone, the stone had been rolled back and was very large. This concern that they had was a concern that was ill founded. For the stone had been rolled back, this large stone that they themselves could not by any means roll back. And yet it had already been rolled back. Now, notice, if you will, verses five through eight, moving from the arrival of the women to the appearance of this angel. We are told about the man in verse number five, it says, entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed. I was very careful what the details give us here. It says there was a young man on the right side dressed with a white robe and they were alarmed. Yet, congregation, we want to compare. And if you would please, let's look at the other gospel narratives as we fill out a little bit more of what's going on here. Turn with me over to Matthew. Matthew's account for in Matthew's account, we have more information, of course, found in Chapter 28, the very end of the gospel narrative in Matthew, Chapter 28. We have here much more description of the appearance of this man. Matthew, chapter 28, beginning in verse one, it says now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb 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. Now here we are given information about how that stone got rolled away. Notice in verse three, his appearance, his appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you see Jesus who was crucified. Now, here we are told in Matthew's account very clearly that this man was not simply a young man, was he? He was an angel, an angelic messenger. We are told about his appearance that not only did he have a white robe, but it says that his appearance was like lightning, a brightness that was just literally blinding and incredible. The lightning appearance and again, clothing that was white, white as snow in its purity. Well, we know by this description here that this is an angel, even if we were not told in verse number five that it is in fact an angel that we're dealing with here. And indeed, if you'll turn over to Acts chapter one, We have this same picture confirmed for us at Jesus ascension. Just kind of comparing Scripture with Scripture here, seeing very clearly the identity of this quote, young man, as described by Mark in Acts chapter one, verses nine through eleven. After Jesus ascended back into heaven, we have these words, verse number nine. This is when he had said these things as they were looking on. He was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in. And here's the phrase white robes, just like we read a moment ago in Mark's gospel, white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in light or same way as you saw him go into heaven. So here we have confirmation that when the Bible speaks sometimes of men in white robes, it's not literally men, but angels. Now, one final place, if you'll turn over to Luke and let's just look at Luke's account, because there's one more detail that we need to consider. In Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, we want to look again at the first five verses. This is, of course, Luke's account of the resurrection. It says, But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared, And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did not find the body of Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men noticed the phrase here, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to him, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee. So now as we compare these different accounts, we compare the account in Matthew, Mark and Luke, we find out that there was not just one man in a white robe. in appearance that was of lightning and appearance of clothing that was white as snow. But we are told here that it was this dazzling apparel. And actually, there were two, not one angel congregation. Why do I point all of this out to you this morning? Well, it is because there are some critics of the Bible who will compare these different verses and they'll say, aha, you see there. The Bible contradicts itself. In Mark, it talks about one man. And yet in Luke, it clearly speaks of two angels. So you see there, the Bible has errors in it and you don't need to trust it. With congregation, we would not fall into that lie of the devil, would we? We understand that when the Scriptures present the details of the narrative of Jesus' life, Often there are different, yet complementary facts about Jesus' ministry that you get the full picture of when you look at all the different accounts of the four Gospels. The four Gospel narratives present us with four different perspectives on the account. As someone has said, it's like you have a car accident at an intersection. And you have people on each corner of the intersection. And as they describe the wreck, each of them describes that collision from the perspective of what they saw from their angle. And so you have the four gospel narratives presenting to us the whole picture brought together, giving us a composite understanding of the ministry of Jesus. No, quite simply, the reason that Matthew and Mark only speak of one and not two angels is because in their narrative, they are focusing upon the angel who actually spoke to the woman. The other one apparently remaining silent while in Luke's accounts. The two are mentioned while we know from the other narratives it was one who did the talking and the one that was of concern in the narratives of Matthew and of Mark. So there is no contradiction. There is no need for harmonizing. There is no errors among these various accounts. We can trust our Bible. Amen. Now, turning back to Mark's gospel. We see here this man and we see here in this account how he is described and we know by looking at Scripture that he was in fact an angel and there were in fact two angels, one of the two having the speaking role in this narrative. Secondly, note the message of this angel. Verses six and seven says 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. Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him just as He told you." Four things I want to share with you by way of the message of this angel. Number one, the angel spoke a word of comfort. A word of comfort in verse number six. Do not be alarmed. This surely would have been an alarming situation. Just beholding these angels and the appearance of this lightning, blazing, dazzling white appearance of them would have been a troubling thing. It would have put you on edge. And so the first word of this angel ministering the very grace and mercy of the Lord was a word of comfort to them. Don't be afraid. Don't fear. All is well. God is in control. There is no need for you to be concerned. Secondly, there was a word of clarification. Verse number six. Here, this angel declares, you seek Jesus. He knew exactly what they were doing. Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, he has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. That's the third word he spoke. See the place where they laid him. A word of consideration. He says, don't just take my word for it. See with your own eyes. Allow your own eyeballs to be witnesses to the reality. The body is not present. He is not here. You seek after him, but he is gone. He has risen. And finally, that word of command in verse number seven, but go tell his disciples and Peter that he was going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. So you have this word of comfort, this word of clarification, consideration and word of command. Go, go and tell the disciples. Finally, notice in verse number eight, we have the amazement that is recorded. It says 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. So we have here their amazement, having encountered an empty tomb, a rolled back rock and having encountered this angel. In fact, two of them and the appearance that they had and the words that they spoke and the reality of Jesus not being there. It was an overwhelming thing, and it says trembling and astonishment had seized them. They were emotional. They were thunderstruck. They were shaken to the very core for what they had encountered. Obviously, as we'll look at next week, you have beginning here in verse number nine, those verses which is bracketed from the rest of this. And so we'll consider next week if verse eight is the ending of this chapter, we have to explain the abrupt, unusual and strange ending that would be found if that were so. But we have here the last words of verse number eight. They said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. And that is the end of verse eight. Congregation, as we look at this passage before us this morning, this is a familiar story to most of us. We know the story. We know the message of resurrection Sunday. And yet, what do we take from this passage this morning? Let me share with you just four lines of application. Number one, we consider from this passage the disciples loving Christ even in a time of much sadness and difficulty and, yes, discouragement. I find it very interesting that as we read this narrative, we read of these women nevertheless seeking to serve and honor and show their love and loyalty, affection and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeking to go and anoint that body. because it needed to be done. And while it may have seemed to be rather mundane and trivial to others, it was service to their Savior. And they sought to do that. Again, it's interesting how, as we noted in the account of the crucifixion, the men had all scattered, hadn't they? And it was the women who remained, save John Mark. And here we read that it was the women still serving still devoted, still affectionately seeking to do what they could for the Savior, even if it was just to anoint His body, having already been put in the tomb. Congregation, this kind of boldness and loyalty and loving commitment is greatly commended in this passage by its very recorded account. We are to take from this the reality that these women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Salome and the others, as you compare the narrative, there were four women that we believe they were devoted and they sacrificially gave of themselves, even though this was an unpleasant, yes, difficult circumstance. I can only imagine how discouraged they may have been. I can only imagine how downhearted the circumstances of the previous days had brought to them. And yet, in their sorrow and sadness, they nevertheless were serving the Lord. Congregation, that is exactly what God would call all of us to have, to serve the Lord regardless of the circumstances around us. We need to ask ourselves the question, do we have such love to Christ that these women had on Resurrection Sunday? Are we the kind of believers that are fickle with our faith, that waver in the slightest bit of a weight of frowning providence? Has us shaking our hands to heaven and doubting God's goodness and providence? Here they were serving the Lord, even though the circumstances were surely difficult. Secondly, if you'll notice again, back up in verse number three, we have recorded for us what I would call a needless fear about the future. It says they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb. They had a concern. Remember, I said a moment ago, Only Mark records this interesting dialogue among the women. They were devoted. They were committed. They were submitted to Christ. They sought to honor him with loyal affection. And yet they had this needless fear about the circumstances before them. They were concerned about this issue of this stone and who will roll it away from them. Certainly not the men, because the men were nowhere to be found, sadly. And so they were concerned about what they would encounter and how they would accomplish that which they had sought out to do. We must say this. We, as God's people, are called to plan for the future. We are called to be responsible in our preparation and looking forward in terms of our service and work and really in every area of responsibility we have in our lives. But whenever we look into the future with a kind of anxiety or worry, or you might use the terminology needless fear. At that point, we are sinning against the Lord. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4, 6, Do not be anxious about anything. These women, as many commentators have suggested, they did have, it seems, an anxiety about what they would encounter. And we should never doubt God's ability to provide and sustain and do as he has said in his word. In fact, turn with me over, if you will, to Romans chapter eight. I just want to remind us of a precious Bible verse in this regard. just speaking practically about our walk with the Lord. And as we look to the future and we. We struggle with with providence and and with what we have encountering our path. Paul says in Romans 828, this verse that I'm sure many of us here have memorized, I'm sure Paul says that we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. I want you to notice this precious statement. It is a reassurance of God's continued care, provision, sustaining and His presence in every circumstance of our walk this side of glory. The Apostle Paul, notice how he phrases this in verse 28. He says, and we know. He didn't say, and we think that all things work together for good. Or, and we wish all things to work together for good. Paul says, as an absolute certainty, we know that for those who love God All things work together for good. What a blessed promise that is. Whatever we encounter in the future, whatever circumstance that may befall us, we must believe what the Scriptures say. And so we ask ourselves the question as we we think about this, this detail around Resurrection Sunday and and about having a kind of needless fear about the future. What kind of things concern us as God's people? What kind of things consume and preoccupy our minds? What kind of things get us to wringing our hands and doubting God's Word and promises? We know, congregation, that the devil is always active and he is always diligent and he's always trying to bring us down. But we must remember that God indeed causes all things to work together for good. We can rest in this. There's no need to ever fret about the future. Amen. We have confidence, not in ourselves, not even in others. We have confidence in the Lord and in his word. that He is on His throne, He is dispensing His rule, and we can rest in that reality whatever the future may hold. As someone has said, I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. Amen? And with that, we can rest. If you would, turning back to Mark chapter 16, We see here in this account not only the loving, honoring, serving example of these women and not only the example here that we should not have a kind of needless fear about the future, but rather have faith in God. Number three, look at verse number seven. We note here the hope that is stated for believers who even sin greatly. The hope that is found here for sinners who even sin greatly. Look at verse number seven. The angel said to these women, go tell his disciples. And then notice the next two words. And Peter, what an interesting word phrase. Go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. You know, the truth of the matter is, go tell his disciples that really would have included Peter, wouldn't it? And yet what we have here is a statement of grace and encouragement and restoration for Peter. It was Peter who had denied his Lord three times. It was Peter who had denied his Lord with an oath and with cursing. If you know something about your Bible, you know how serious that is. And yet, here was Peter who had greatly sinned. And yet, we have in the very message of this angel, not a word of condemnation, but a word of encouragement. Go, tell his disciples. And Peter! Tell Peter! Tell Peter he will meet with Him Congregation, this is a great assurance of God's mercy. Amen. I am very thankful for the individual named Peter in the Bible, because he was a great saint, but he was also a great sinner. And it is a wonderful assurance that God will not cast out his own, even when they greatly sin against him. The Lord will not take his own and throw him under the bus, to use modern terminology. How often Christians treat other Christians that way. And yet the Lord will not do that because he is a loving God and it is all of grace and it is not about any merited favor that anyone has. And so we see here this expression of mercy and grace and love. Go tell His disciples and Peter. Tell Him that He is going before you to Galilee. What a blessing that is for us as God's people today. Finally, if you'll notice in verse number six, we note by way of application This statement here, which is the very foundation of our faith. He said to them, do not be alarmed. You see, Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, he has risen. He has risen. Congregation, that is the message that draws us here today. Amen. It is the very foundation of our faith. If Christ is not risen, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, then our preaching is profitless, our serving is in vain, that we still are under the domain of the devil and sin, and there is no hope for us. But praise be to God. We read in verse number six, He has risen. And because He has risen, we too have life. in him. Congregation, that is the message of Resurrection Sunday. Christ lives and therefore his salvation truly saves. His identity is clearly put forth as the Son of God and our resurrection is secure because as he rose from the dead, those in Jesus will likewise be risen. at the resurrection. Let's bow together in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we consider your word today, we are grateful for the great truth of the resurrection of our Savior. Thank you, Father, that we can rest in him. And we thank you, O God, for the assurance of your mercy and grace and love. We pray that we would be a people like those ladies there on Resurrection Sunday, their sincere love and devotion, their commitment to the Savior, even in difficult times, unwavering in their desire to serve Jesus. May we be like them. And may we look to the future not with needless fear, not with fretting, but with faith, knowing that you are sovereign and you're in control and we rest in you. Father, if there are those apart from Christ today here in this place, we pray that you would, by your grace and mercy, draw them to the risen Savior, that they might indeed find Him, one who saves from sin. Father, we thank you for that reality. We pray all of this now in Christ's holy name. Amen.