Please take your Bibles at this time as we turn to Mark chapter 16. We're preaching through Mark in the evening services, and so for the Passion Week, I'm just sticking with Mark all the way. Mark is the what gospel? The Go Gospel. The Go Gospel. Full of action. Everywhere Mark records, Jesus is busy. He's active. He's working miracles. He's saving people. He's helping people. It's the Go Gospel. You read the book of Mark, you'll not be bored. You will not be bored. It's Action Jackson, and the Lord is busy all the time. And there's a lot of busyness here in Mark chapter 16. We're looking at verses 1 through 8. We'll read this text and we'll have prayer and dive into the message. Mark chapter 16, beginning in verse number 1. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. and very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher, for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid." Let us pray. Father, we thank you this morning for the tremendous remembrance the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask that you might embolden our hearts, strengthen us today as we consider some wonderful things about the resurrection of our Savior. And we ask that as we walk in this Pilgrim Pathway that we will walk in it with the confidence of Christ, knowing that Jesus died on the cross at Calvary, He shed His blood, He paid for our sin, and He rose again from the grave. May we walk in that confidence. We have no personal confidence to walk in. We can do nothing without You. So please impress upon all of our hearts here this morning that it is not us, it is you who works in and through us. And so I ask you, Holy Spirit, this morning to fill me right now for this message. I trust and depend in you to do that and to bring this message that we would see Jesus here today. We wanna see him high, lifted up, risen from the grave. I trust and depend. We all do. We thank you for what you will do this day. We thank you in Jesus' precious name. Amen. The resurrection of the great king, the king of kings and lord of lords. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact of history. It is not just something that we Christian believers believe. It is a fact of history. Jesus' resurrection has eternal significance. In his resurrection, Jesus defeated the power of death. Because he rose, we will rise with him. All who believe will come back to life. if they pass away on this earth. Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection. If you don't have the resurrection of Christ, you're done. Let's go home. Let's eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That's not the way it is. Jesus has risen from the dead. And since the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true, there are other things that are true as well. Number one, the truth is there is a God. There is a God, and Jesus is that God. The Bible is true. Heaven and hell are real places. And your response to the gospel will determine where you will spend eternity, either in heaven or ultimately in the lake of fire. I did a lot of studying for this message yesterday. As a matter of fact, I did all of it. And I was sitting in the office over here in the afternoon, and I was just really enjoying the study of the resurrection. I thought, you know what? I'm going to post something about the resurrection on Facebook. So I did. About 4, 4.30. About 8 o'clock, I was down here. I had been here for a good while in the evening, and I posted again. And you know what's interesting about posting on Facebook, especially if you're a Christian and you're putting something out there that's deep theologically and true and real, it's interesting who reads it and who likes it and who avoids it. You realize that when you go on Facebook and you post on there, you're telling people who you really are. You're revealing to them and the whole world who you are, what you believe, and what you stand for. Hey, why don't we use Facebook for Christ? How about that? Let's do that. I'm sure you've got unsaved friends there, and they need to hear about Jesus Christ. You can do that. Do it. Use it for the advantage of Christ. We have four points this morning. We're gonna be looking at the report of Mark's gospel. Secondly, the ridiculous hallucinations of man. Three, the real evidence for the resurrection. And four, the radical importance of the resurrection. First of all this morning, the report of Mark's gospel. We read in both accounts this morning, Matthew and Mark, that Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James. Interestingly, they were at the cross. Go across the page to chapter 15 and verse 40. There were also women looking on afar off among whom was Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, the less, and of Joses and Salome. They were at the cross, and not only that, they saw where Jesus was buried. Drop to chapter 15, verse 47, and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. Fact of history. They were at the cross. and they were at the grave when he was buried. They saw it. Keep that in mind when we get to the hallucinations of man in a few moments. The two Marys and Salome bought spices. They were going to go to the tomb and they were going to perfume the body of Christ as a last act of dedication. They loved him. They followed hard after him. Let me ask you this morning, how hard are you following after Christ? How hard are you going to follow after Christ tomorrow and the next day, the day after that? Will you be like these ladies? Early Sunday morning, they get up before sun up and they go to the tomb and they're concerned. There's a big stone there. and we surely cannot move it ourselves. Well, they get there and the stone's rolled away, surprise number one. They get there, it's already done. How many concerns do we have in our lives and Jesus already took care of it before we get there? Happens all the time, doesn't it? Jesus takes care of things. Then they go inside and they get surprise number two and surprise number three. They get inside there, and there are two angels. And Jesus is gone. Now in Mark, we read about one angel. You go to Luke 24 and John 20, there's the report there of the two angels. Mark just talks about one. Why? Because Mark is the go-gospel. He talks about what's happening. And what's happening in Mark is he's focusing on the one who's doing the speaking. And that's it. It's all about the action. And he says, don't get all excited, ladies. Just don't get all excited. Jesus is risen from the dead. Check out the place where they laid him. The one you saw crucified and the one that you saw buried has risen from the dead. The evidence is undeniable. The tomb is empty. The angel gives the ladies an assignment. He says, you need to go and start telling people the story. You need to go and start telling people the good news of the resurrection. I want you to start by telling Jesus' disciples, you know, the ones who abandoned him, the ones that are locked behind closed doors right now, scared out of their minds, and Peter. Don't forget him. You know, Jesus has all this planned out. It's always planned out. You know, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they always thought, we're gonna get him this time, we're gonna get him, we're gonna get him. Well, no, they were batting zero. They get kicked off the team so fast, And they never give up. They never quit. Understand that Jesus has every base covered. He even tells the angel what to say. This is what you're going to say, and he said it. And he says to tell them, Jesus is going to catch up with you in Galilee. as he said he would. Go back to the text, Mark 16 and verse 7. Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him. Look, as he said unto you, already told you, His disciples were not getting it yet. So what wonderful words fall from the lips of the angel. Words of grace, forgiveness, hope, words of promise. I mean, you thought he was dead. He's not dead, he is alive. Peter would breathe a sigh of relief. And the ladies, they start running. They're shocked, they're trembling, and they're not saying anything. Why? Because this is always man's response to the breaking in of God's power. Scared. What happened when Jesus came walking on the water in the storm? Scared. What happened when he delivered the demoniac fool of the legion of demons? Everybody was scared out of their minds. God came, God showed up, God showed his power. We also, the determination to go to the cross, again they're scared out of their minds. This is always man's response. Now Mark makes it very clear in his text, in his writing, that the followers of Christ were absolutely stunned, absolutely stunned at the news of the resurrection. I want to back up just for a moment, share a neat little thing with you about the tomb. And all the credit goes to my wife. She found this and she's telling them down there what I'm just going to tell you now. When the folks would sit around the table in Bible times, if they would wrinkle up their napkin and lay it on their plate, that meant I'm done, I'm gone, I'm not coming back. But if they took their napkin and they folded it up very nicely and put it on the table, it meant, I'm coming back. What did Jesus do with the napkin around his head in the tomb? Folded it up, left it real neat. I'm coming back. I'm not going. I'm coming back. What a beautiful, beautiful truth. Indeed, Jesus is coming again for all of us. Point number two, the ridiculous hallucinations of man. The ridiculous hallucinations of man. I want to go over some of these weird stories and theories that they made up to try and disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You may have heard some of these before. First, and there's more than I'm going to share out there, the swoon theory, the swoon theory. In other words, Jesus didn't really die, just went unconscious, you know, and he woke up and he pushed the stone out of the way and he ran out of there. Well, that's a hallucination of man, isn't it? A lady named Barbara Thiering says this, this is really nuts. Jesus was given snake poison to fake his death. He recovered, he married Mary Magdalene, and later he married Lydia and fathered several children. That's the definition of a hallucination right there. Then there is the literal hallucination theory that Jesus hypnotized his disciples. into believing that he appeared to them when he rose. And then there's the vision theory. The disciples saw visionary appearances of the risen Christ. Number five, the stolen body theory. We know this one is just really out there. While the soldiers slept, The disciples came and rolled away the stone and they stole his body so they could say that he rose from the dead. Now, anybody who knows anything about Roman soldier protocol knows they were not going to let that happen. We are not going to all be sleeping because we will lose our heads if this body is stolen. Crazy. The stolen body theory. Then there's the wrong tomb theory. Well, the ladies, they came and they went to the wrong tomb. And the disciples came and they went to the wrong, no, they were already there. They saw the tomb. They knew where he was buried. They did not miss that. Oh, this one's really nuts. Last one I'll share. The twin theory. Did you know that Jesus had an identical twin? Let's go back to December. We remember the birth of our Savior. Never read or saw anything about two babies in the manger, did you? No. Just, just crazy. Point number three, the real evidence for the resurrection. The real evidence for the resurrection. I'm going to run down a list of things that scholars all agree on. This really happened. This is the truth. You agree with this? We're not going to say that didn't happen. These are the things that virtually all scholars attest as historical facts of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus died on a Roman cross by crucifixion. It's a fact. Jesus was buried in a tomb close by. It's a fact. Jesus' death sent the disciples despondently behind locked doors, scared out of their minds. Truth. Jesus' tomb was discovered to be empty soon after his burial. The disciples experienced events that convinced them that Jesus had risen and is alive. Anyone who goes from scared to death behind closed doors to running all over the world and starting churches and preaching Christ and will die for Christ, except for John. He really did die, but not because he was martyred. Would you die for a lie? I don't think so. A lot of us would be scared to die for the truth. This is the truth. The disciples were radically transformed. They boldly witnessed, and they died for Christ. The message of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection became the heart of the gospel from day one. Over 2,000 years, the church has preached the same gospel message. Jesus came, he went to the cross, he died there, he shed his blood as payment for our sin, and he rose again from the grave. Do you believe that? That's the gospel, that's the good news. Will you believe it? And that will determine heaven and hell and ultimately the lake of fire. Truth, the gospel was preached in Jerusalem where these events all happened. The gospel of Jesus' death and resurrection was foundational to the birth of the church. That is undeniable. Sunday became the day of worship for the Christian in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, was an unbeliever as well as his other brothers and sisters. He was converted following a resurrection appearance by Jesus and became a leading person, a leader and authority in the church. Saul, the persecutor of the church, was converted by an appearance of the risen Christ. Now we'll go on and build on the historical truth that these scholars believe with 14 more evidences. Some of them will overlap, some will not. Number one is the failure of all the false theories. All those that I told you and many more. I did not give you the whole list. Just seven of them. They all have failed and they have been abandoned or revised. They had to come up with the revised standard version of the resurrection experience. Secondly was the radical change of the disciples. The radical change of the disciples. Three, the folded grave clothes. The folded grave clothes. Four, the women saw the empty tomb first. This wasn't a man thing. This was a lady thing. Ladies who knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ, they saw the empty tomb first. Five, we have the change in the day of worship to Sunday, from the Sabbath to Sunday. Six, there cannot be mass hallucinations. In other words, all the disciples could not have had this one big, wonderful hallucination. No. Hallucinations are personal, one person. Seven, we have all of the post-resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we have the 50-day interval between the resurrection and the bold proclamation of the gospel at Pentecost in Jerusalem. Nine, the inability of the Jewish leaders to disprove the resurrection. Boy, did they try. They did their best. They always did their best, but they failed every time. We have the unexpected nature of the resurrection by the disciples. Then we have the conversion of two skeptics, James and Paul, who was Saul. Twelve, we have the moral character of the eyewitnesses of the resurrection. And then we have the accepted character and claims of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And finally, we have reliable eyewitness documents recording the events of the cross and the resurrection. And point number four this morning, the radical importance of the resurrection. The radical importance of the resurrection. When I was teaching school, in Lebanon as Bible teacher, the curriculum had the events of the cross in this chapter and the events of the resurrection in this chapter. And I had the kids write a paper on the crucifixion. And one of the young ladies put a little note at the bottom of hers. She said, well, the biggest thing is the resurrection. She didn't know that was the next lesson. Here's the bottom line. You can't have the one without the other. You can't have a resurrection of Christ if he didn't die. He had to die. He had to shed his blood. He had to become the perfect sacrifice. Without that, you're done. You have to have both events. you have to have the death of the lamb. And in Jesus' case, you have to have the resurrection from the tomb. They are both so, so important. Radical importance of these events. In this case, the radical importance of the resurrection. Now, what does the resurrection do? It verifies the deity of Jesus Christ. It verifies the fact this is God. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. He is God. Nobody else did that. Ever. The resurrection also provides for our resurrection. Because He rose, we shall rise. He didn't rise, we're not either. It is by His power. The resurrection proves God's approval of His Son, Jesus. Proves His approval of His message, who He is, and what He said. You know, when we stand before Christ, all that matters is what He said. Believe on me. No man comes to the Father without me." Everybody's on their knees before Jesus Christ, suspended in air. There will be no excuses. There will no be talking your way out. You either believed or you didn't. It's done. It's sealed. It's forever. The resurrection of Jesus proves that God exists. The resurrection proves that there is victory over death. And Jesus did it. The sacrifice of Christ's blood on the cross and resurrection are both essential for the miracle of salvation. Gotta have it. You gotta have the blood. You have to have the resurrection. It is the gospel, the blood and the resurrection. It is the gospel. It is the good news. If you want to take someone to a passage of scripture that really bears out what the resurrection is all about, take them to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and read it. 1 Corinthians 15 begins by giving the gospel and then it gets into the nitty gritty of what all that means. Both the death of Christ and his resurrection are part of the definition of salvation, the definition of the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died. He shed his blood for our sins. He was buried and he rose again, all according to the scriptures. Jesus is indeed risen from the dead. shall we pray. Father, we thank you this morning that our Savior lives. Trust us this morning that these truths from scripture and truths from history will strengthen our hearts, cast away doubts, give us confidence to speak to people about salvation available through Jesus Christ. Father, time is short. May we become like the disciples were after the resurrection. Help us to be like them then. Help us to be great ambassadors, missionaries, witnessers, demonstrators of Jesus Christ and his great salvation. I want to bless all these who come to the house of the Lord today. for dedicating this time to you, for listening to the truths of the resurrection. And we ask that all of us will leave here strengthened, edified, ready to continue to serve you in even better and greater ways. And we give you all the glory for that. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.