So Heavenly Minded We're No Earthly Good - 1 Peter 1:3-5 - March 21, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for March 21, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 1 Peter 1:3-5 So Heavenly Minded We’re No Earthly Good

Good morning! We are in 1 Peter this morning, verses 3-9, page 1014 in the pew Bibles.

When we first began our study in 1 Peter, we talked a little bit about the author’s intent, what was Peter’s intent in writing this letter to the elect exiles of the dispersion, those Jewish Christians living in modern-day Turkey.

We discovered, as is written in 1 Peter 5:12 that his intent was, to: exhort and declare the grace of God and to instruct the church to stand firm in it, and in verses 3-9 we can see that purpose at work.

Peter’s purpose was to encourage the church. They had experienced and were experiencing trials and difficulties, and even greater difficulties were on the horizon. Nero was the Emperor of Rome and soon persecuting the church would be a policy of the State.

And though we face trials and difficulties at times, being burned at the stake to light the Emperor’s banquets is a long ways off for us. But that doesn’t free us from the burden of discouragement.

If Peter’s original intent was to encourage the church, that purpose remains for this letter, to encourage the church.

Let’s pray.

I am a born and bred New Englander (despite what my accent may indicate). And as a true new Englander I am intimately aware of the concept of hope, especially when it comes to the weather.

It works something like this: I hope it warms up soon so this snow will melt… I hope it doesn’t get too hot this summer… I hope this humidity breaks soon… I hope we have snow for Christmas… I hope this snow melts soon…

It’s a vicious cycle of dying hope, a constant source of discouragement. 

But our text for this morning is not like that, it speaks of a living hope for our encouragement. Let’s look at it together.

3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

If Peter’s intent was to encourage the church, I can’t think of a more fitting text than this to accomplish that work. If you’re in the business of designing inspirational coffee mugs and calendars this should absolutely be a go-to text for you.

Peter begins with worship. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the One to be praised, He is worthy of praise. That is what is meant by the word, “blessed.” He is both the God of Jesus Christ and the Father of Jesus Christ. He is God to Jesus in His humanity, and He is Father to Jesus in His divinity, and He is worthy of praise.

The next phrase, according to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again…

“According to His great mercy,” 

This is the expression of the Father’s great kindness to us in our need. 

God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ caused us to be born again according to His great mercy, not that we deserved it or earned any good will from Him. This statement is a reminder that in our sinfulness we did not deserve to be born again but God showed great kindness to us in our great need and so He caused us to be born again.

Even the phrase, “born again,” is a great encouragement to us. It is a reminder that we have been changed from one thing to a completely different kind of thing.

Peter is remembering Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

What we were before was what Paul called in Ephesians 2:3, “children of wrath,” but according to God’s great mercy he caused us to be born again and now we are what 2 Corinthians 5:17calls, “a new creation.”

But He didn’t just cause us to be born again and then left to figure life out on our own or to cling to the empty and dying hopes of the world, left hoping that the weather is better tomorrow, According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope…

A living hope is a hope that is the opposite of the hopes of this dying world that simply seeks to make this life better for itself but still ends in death. Living hope has life in itself, it gives life, and has life as its object. That life is eternal life that is only available to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The living hope that God the Father has caused us to be born again into is not just hope for this life. A life of faith in Jesus is not just so we can have some crutch to lean on to get us through hard times with a dying, worldly hope that things will eventually get better.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 15:19, If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people to be most pitied.

Jesus did not die and rise to life simply to make this life easier, He didn’t do all that to make us better people. Jesus died and rose again to give us a living hope beyond this world and this life.

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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

I don’t know what kind of inheritance you have waiting for you here on earth, whether it’s houses or lands or money or a sweet Kubota tractor, or what you hope to leave behind to your children or grandchildren, but the inheritance that is kept in heaven for us who have faith in the Lord Jesus is not subject to the same forces as those things.

Houses, lands, money, and property is all temporary, it won’t last forever no matter how good a care you take of it. The stuff of this earth is all tainted by sin and its effects. Just as a valuable classic car will eventually rust way to nothing so will all these other earthly things but the inheritance that is kept in heaven is unfading.

JP Lange wrote, “While here below in the strange country of our pilgrimage all possessions are insecure, the inheritance above is in the surest custody, for it is in the almighty hand of God. As it has been designed and prepared for believers from everlasting, so it is perpetually kept; and believers, on the other hand, are kept for it, so that they can in no way lose it.”

That’s what Peter means when he says, [an inheritance] kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Our inheritance is kept by God in heaven, it is not subject to decay and death, it is untainted by sin and its effects, and it will forever retain its wonderful character. And the same God that keeps it, keeps us.

We are guarded by God’s power, shielded, protected by the garrison through faith. 

“Faith is the means in which salvation is procured and constantly kept up, acknowledging Jesus as Messiah and confidently surrendering to Him.”

It’s been said that, “It is God’s power that saves us from our enemies, and it is His patience that saves us from ourselves.”

So we are guarded by God’s power through faith, but what does it mean to be guarded for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time? Aren’t we already saved through faith in Jesus Christ?

Yes, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is no second salvation, there is only the completion of our salvation.

What Peter means by “the last time” is the return of Christ when this time will end, the age of the church will become the never-ending age of the Kingdom of God. Sin and death and the grave will be destroyed as will Satan and his demons. And we will take possession of our inheritance in God’s eternal kingdom.

Martin Luther wrote, “The inheritance to which you are ordained, has been acquired long since and prepared from the beginning of the world, but lies as yet concealed, covered and sealed; but in a short time, it will be opened in a moment and disclosed, so that we may see it.”

I had every intention of finishing this paragraph but I’m going to leave it there at verse five.

Brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as being so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. The thoughts of what awaits us at the return of Christ should encourage our hearts and lift our spirits, reminding us that this world is not our home, we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom and children of the Heavenly King. 

Next time we’ll look at how these thoughts should hold us up when we face difficulties in this life, but for now let’s beencouraged by these words…

3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  

Amen.

Key Words - 1 Peter 1:1-2 - March 14, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for March 14, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 1 Peter 1:1-2 Key Words

Good morning! Now it’s time to dig into 1 Peter! We are going to be looking at 1 Peter 1:1-2 this morning, page 1014 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we considered the original author, his original audience, and his intent in writing. Here in these verses all three are in view and Peter’s intent of comforting and encouraging the church is very clear. There is some very deep and rich theology in these two verses and we are going to focus on the key words of this brief text and examine their meanings and implications for us as Christians in hopes that Peter’s intent will be effective and we will be comforted and encouraged.

So let’s look at the text together.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Let’s pray.

So last week we talked about Peter, the author of this epistle, or letter. We walked with him through the Gospel of Mark and saw his boldness and brashness, we walked with him through his many failures. There is a huge difference between the Peter in the Gospels and the Peter we see here, and that is the Holy Spirit. But there was a subtle difference in how I referred to Peter and the others throughout our study in Mark and how Peter refers to himself in the opening line of this letter.

Do you know what it is?

Throughout the study in Mark I tried hard to consistently refer to Peter and the rest of the Twelve as “the disciples,” never, “the Apostles.” The reason being is that they weren’t Apostles yet.

So what’s the difference? Thanks for asking!

A disciple is a student, a learner. An Apostle is one who is sent and speaks on behalf of the sender Jesus Christ. Peter and the remaining ten disciples were made Apostles when Jesus gave them His Great Commission, based on His authority to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that He commanded.

Peter was no longer merely a disciple, he was an Apostle.

Last week we touched briefly on the original audience of this letter, its original recipients, the elect exiles of the dispersion. 

The word, “exiles,” has also been translated as, foreigners, pilgrims, and sojourners. This referred to Jewish Christians living outside of Israel. And though we may not be children of Abraham by our own blood, we can relate to this idea because we are children of Abraham by Christ’s blood and living as foreigners here in this world. God’s eternal kingdom is our home. Here and now, in this life and this world, we are just passing through.

It’s the sticky word, “elect,” that I want to focus on first. Who are the elect in a general sense, and what does it mean to be elect? 

First, who are the elect? In the New Testament, the elect are all those people who belong, or will belong, to the purified people of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible calls these people, “the church.” The world may have other ideas about what the church is, but as far as the Word of God is concerned, the church, the elect, are all those who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin and adoption into God’s family.

The sticky word, “elect,” is connected to the other sticky word, “foreknowledge.” 

To be elect means to be chosen, in this case, chosen by God for salvation and inclusion in the church.

JP Lange wrote, “The final cause of this election is free grace, its end salvation, and its condition penitent faith.”

This election by God has nothing to do with our own merits or our own worth, we weren’t elected because God needed what we had to offer as if He was cooking a cosmic stew. There are no conditions to our election, God chose us because He chose us, plain and simple.

This is the second of the five points of Calvinism, “unconditional election.”

And though our election is not based on what we bring to the table, it is also not random, it is according to God’s foreknowledge. Election and foreknowledge are indelibly linked.

Foreknowledge doesn’t simply mean that God knew beforehand, as our English word would imply, it means that God decided and decreed before we were created. As Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

 Jesus said in John 10:14, “I know my own and my own know me.”

Paul wrote in Romans 8:29-30, “ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

God the Father has a definite plan and we, those who believe in Him, are a part of it.

And that’s another beautiful part of these key words here in these opening verses, the comfort and encouragement that comes from the work of the Trininty.

It starts with the election and foreknowledge of God our Father, His plan.

Next, the sanctification of the Spirit.

What does, “sanctification,” mean? Sanctification is consecration, dedication to God, to be made holy, set apart. This is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit to put the Father’s choice and purpose in election into effect.

Hebrews 10:10 says, “…by [God’s] will we have been sanctified [been made holy, separated for God’s use] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

John Calvin put it beautifully, “[Sanctification is] the application of the merit of the Son to the soul by the gospel.”

We grow in our knowledge of and walk with Christ, we learn to trust Him more, we grow in wisdom and strength by the power of the Holy Spirit, but when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, when we turn from our sin and put our trust in Him, we are set apart from the rest of the world, we are dragged out of the muck and mire and our feet are set upon the rock. We are not of this world and we shouldn’t live as if we are. According to the foreknowledge of God the Father we are set apart as belonging to Him by the Holy Spirit.

Why were we set apart? For obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.

Here is the rest of the Trinity, Jesus, the eternal Son of God. 

We were chosen by God the Father according to His will and purpose, not according to our own merits, we were set apart from the world by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit and now we are led and instructed by Jesus Christ having been sprinkled by His blood.

There are two parts here for Jesus, two key words, obedience and sprinkling.

First, obedience, what does that mean? Here are the rules. Follow them. Is that it? Obedience is much richer than that, at least in this context.

Obedience consists of faith and flows from faith. Faith claims obedience as its fruit while faith itself is obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obedience means to believe the truth and perform the duties which it imposes on us.

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…” 

In our day it is much more popular to just say you love Jesus than to prove it by following His commandments. 

But the temptation also is to hyper-interpret Jesus’ commandments and make up rules to make absolute sure no one ever sins or has anything to do with this lost and dying world forcing the church to keep the instrument of their salvation private and clean behind glass.

Obedience to Christ demands the opposite, it consists of faith and flows from faith, by faith we submit to His authority and obey His instruction.

JP Lange wrote, “It is only by the obedience of faith and our firm purpose to subject ourselves to the claims of the Divine Law, that we are made partakers of the atoning virtue of the blood of Jesus.”

And that points to “the sprinkling with His blood.”

Peter is referring here to Moses at the foot of mount Sinai in Exodus 24, and his Jewish audience would understand that. In Leviticus the Lord instructed how the Ark and the altar and the lampstands and the holy instruments in the Temple were to be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice for purification, but only in Exodus 24 are the people themselves sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice.

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The blood of the covenant was not sprinkled on the people until they declared that they were ready to comply with the demands of the Divine Law. And now, in the New Covenant, it’s not Moses that applies the blood but the Holy Spirit when we declare that we are ready to comply with the demands of obedience to Jesus Christ.

And finally the last words, “may grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Grace: the free gift of God the Father, the gift of justification, of salvation, God’s unmerited favor. We didn’t earn it and we don’t deserve it. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Grace brings peace and peace testifies of grace.

Peace with God and in God.

Martin Luther wrote, “Peace is the favor of God which now begins in us but must work more and more and multiply unto death. If a man knows and believes in a gracious God, he has Him; his heart finds peace, and he fears neither the world nor the devil, for he knows that God, who controls all things, is his friend, and will deliver him from death, hell, and all calamity; therefore his confidence is full of peace and joy. This is what Peter desires for all believers; it is a right Christian salutation, with which all Christians should greet one another.”

So, to you, elect exiles in CrossRoads Church, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling with His blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Amen

1 Peter Introduction - March 7, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for March 7, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 1 Peter Introduction

Good morning! I’d like to thank Mr. Aron for bringing the message last week. It seemed appropriate to me to take a break after finishing our study in the Gospel of Mark, and I do so appreciate it when the Lord speaks through His people.

So we began studying the Gospel of Mark with our eyes on Peter. The scholars believe that Mark’s Gospel was Peter’s account of the earthly life and ministry of Jesus and now we are going to begin a study on works that we know for sure were written by Peter because his name is at the top of the page.

But first, let’s pray.

Peter’s first epistle starts on page 1014 in the pew Bibles.

Now as is appropriate at the beginning of any study of a particular book of the Bible, we need to consider who the author was, who the audience was, and what was that original author’s intent in writing and then we will take in the whole letter together.

Fortunately we don’t have to do a lot of digging to get to who the author was and who the audience was, it’s right there in verse 1, the intent however, is hiding all the way in the last chapter.

But I don’t want to go in that order. First I want to look at the audience.

Who was the audience? The elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Clear enough, right? Maybe not. The cities and regions mentioned here are all in the northern part of modern-day Turkey, that’s the easy part, and those in those regions that Peter is writing to he refers to as the elect exiles of the dispersion. 

What does he mean by “elect”? He explains that in verse two with the definition of election: “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling of His blood…”

These were believers in Jesus Christ, saved and sanctified by the foreknowledge of God just as every believer is, just as we are.

What does He mean by “exiles of the dispersion”? This is a reference to Jewish believers, those who had been dispersed, scattered from their homeland and now living as exiles in Northern Turkey. Peter is often referred to as the Apostle to the Jews just as Paul was referred to as the Apostle to the Gentiles. That doesn’t mean that Gentile believers are not included in the instruction and encouragement included in this letter, by the time this letter was written Jewish and Gentile believers were together in one holy church.

So what was Peter’s intent in writing this letter to the church in Turkey? Unlike the books of Luke and Acts where the author’s purpose is right there in the first few verses, in 1 Peter we have to skip all the way to chapter five, verse twelve to get it. Although as we read everything before chapter 5, verse 12, it will be fairly obvious. Either way, I’ll read it anyway.

I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

So what was Peter’s intent? To encourage the church to stand firm in the grace of God. As we’ll see as we go through the letter, it’s specifically to stand firm in the grace of God in the face of trials and persecutions. You will also hear a message of hope woven throughout the letter.

So there’s the audience and the author’s intent, but what about the author himself?

What comes to your mind when you think of the Apostle Peter?

Now we’ve just finished the Gospel of Mark and we learned a lot about Peter mostly about his failures. He was willing to jump out of the boat at night and walk on the water to Jesus but as soon as he started relying on himself to stay afloat he promptly sank, we saw him try to set up tents for Jesus and Moses and Elijah in order to set up a new kingdom on earth, but that didn’t work out either. He was brave enough to cut off Malchus’ ear in the garden to defend Jesus but lied to the slave girls about knowing Jesus. Peter has quite a story, but the Gospels only give us part of his story.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, and dictated to Silvanus, also known as Silas, the Apostle Peter wrote this epistle in the mid 60s AD from Babylon. This wasn’t a mystical type of symbolic Babylon, it was the real Babylon on the Euphrates River, which is modern-day Baghdad, Iraq.

Simon Peter, also known as Cephas, “the man of rock,” was the brother of Andrew, who was a disciple of John the Baptist. He was born in Bethsaida, but lived and worked in Capernaum as a fisherman. 

He is always named first in the four times in Scripture that the disciples are all named but that doesn’t make him superior to them or give him a higher rank, it simply displays that he had the dignity of being their spokesman. 

Peter did walk on water, he did witness the transfiguration of Jesus, he had his feet washed by Christ, he defended Jesus at His arrest, denied the Lord at His trial, yet he repented and was restored. 

He saw the empty tomb and the Risen Lord, he was charged by Jesus to feed His sheep, to feed His lambs, he pastored the church in Jerusalem for a time, tongues of fire fell on him and he preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost where over three thousand people were saved. 

He healed people in the Name of Jesus, he carried the gospel to Samaria and the coastal regions of the Mediterranean. 

He was the first to receive gentiles into Christ’s church after being instructed in a vision to call no one unclean who God has made clean. He defended the Gentile believers from the yoke of the Law and the necessity of circumcision to be saved. 

He was arrested by Herod Agrippa but was rescued by an angel, he preached the gospel throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bithynia, he also worked in the Parthan Empire, and finally in Rome where he cofounded the church with the Apostle Paul. 

In the fourteenth year of the reign of Emperor Nero, between 67 and 68 AD, Peter was martyred, crucified upside down.

There was a lot more to Peter than what we saw in the Gospel of Mark. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes! And now we have his words from thirty-plus years after Mark’s Gospel concluded.

So let’s read it and allow the Holy Spirit to be our interpreter. 

Read 1 Peter.

Close in Prayer.

Christ the Conqueror - Mark 16 - February 21, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for February 21, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 Mark 16 Christ the Conqueror

Good morning! We have reached the end of the Gospel of Mark! It has been a wonderful journey to walk along with Jesus and His disciples through this Gospel. Mark has painted a vivid and powerful picture of the life and ministry of Jesus on earth.

As I’ve said before, Mark most likely wrote this Gospel as a record of Peter’s perspective of Jesus’ earthly ministry. As such, he is careful to show… How can I put this politely… the humanity and frailty of the disciples.

Here in chapter 16 that humanity is on full display in the midst of history’s greatest event, the resurrection of Jesus. But in the midst of their unbelief Jesus Himself displays, for them and for us, the only solution to the problem of unbelief.

Let’s pray.

I want to take this chapter a chunk at a time instead of reading through the whole thing as they are neatly divided for us and each display the overwhelming problem of unbelief. 

Now before I read the text, I have to remind you that Jesus had told the disciples that He would be killed and raised from the dead at least three times recorded in Mark’s Gospel. In fact, He had told them specifically that He would be killed and IN THREE DAYS he would rise again.

Jesus was crucified Friday and was buried late Friday afternoon. He was in the tomb all day Saturday, and our text picks up after sunset Saturday briefly and into early Sunday morning.

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 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. 7 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.” 8 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.

Now let’s break this down.

Here we have three ladies, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Saturday night, once the Sabbath was over, remember that the Jewish Sabbath went from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday… Saturday night these ladies bought some perfumes and spices to anoint Jesus’ body early the next morning. Then, very early the next morning they set out for the tomb.

This tells me a few things about these ladies.

First, it tells me that these ladies loved Jesus. They wanted to honor Him with this act of love, anointing His body with fragrant oils and spices to mask the odor of decay. They were motivated by a great affection for the Lord Jesus.

Secondly, it tells me that they weren’t great at planning things out. The thought ahead and got the spices after the Sabbath was over Saturday night, but they hadn’t thought ahead to get help to roll away the stone. Mark is the only Gospel writer to point out this fact that they hadn’t thought about the stone.  But God worked it out, He always does.

It would be easy to stop there, to focus on the devotion of these women, to focus on the idea that if we are zealous for God and want to do good for Him that He will roll away the stone, that He will clear the obstacles from in front of us.

But to stop there would be to ignore the third glaring truth of these verses. These loving ladies believed that Jesus was still dead. 

They loved the Lord Jesus, they just didn’t believe what He said.

This is a sermon unto itself! Lots of us say we love the Lord, lots of us are eager to do things for Him, but how many of us are concerned with knowing His Word, and trusting what He said? 

These ladies who are known for their love and devotion displayed the sin of unbelief.

Yet even in their unbelief they had the wonderful privilege of seeing that stone rolled away and got to converse with angels.

4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 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. 7 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.” 

What were their instructions? Go tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.

And of course, like all good faithful, loving, devoted, followers of Jesus, they did exactly as they were instructed, right? Nope.

8 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.

Peter was mentioned here specifically and separate from the disciples not because of his greatness or preeminence among them but because of his failure. He was separated here because he denied the Lord and had yet to be restored, an account you can read in John 21.

Now, you may have a note in your Bible about the verses that follow, and why they are set apart as they are is a fascinating conversation, you can trust that these verses that follow are consistent with the rest of Scripture and are, in fact, canon, they are Scripture, they belong here and you can trust them.

9 [[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. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

This appearance to Mary Magdalene happened right after the group of ladies saw the angel and the empty tomb. She apparently lingered a little longer after the other ladies freaked out and took off.

What’s the most interesting is the reaction to her report of seeing Jesus alive. They wouldn’t believe it. The scholars say that this is most likely because in the First Century the testimony of a woman was not considered valid, and that may very well be the case, but the text literally says that they refused to believe her.

And why would they? Not because they just wouldn’t believe her because she was a woman, they obviously didn’t believe Jesus either, He told them that He would rise on the third day and here it was day three! Here’s Mary, whom they all know, reporting to see the risen Lord and they refuse to believe.

Mary wasn’t the only one that they refused to believe.

12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

This account of Jesus on the road to Emmaus is recorded in much greater detail in Luke’s Gospel. 

The women didn’t believe the angels, the disciples didn’t believe Mary, maybe now that there were two males, two official, legal witnesses they’ll believe that the Lord had risen? 

Nope, they didn’t believe them either.

The disciples had nothing, nothing but dashed hopes of the redemption of Israel, they were walled in on every side by barriers of unbelief.

They were afraid. They didn’t understand. They didn’t listen. They didn’t act. All because they didn’t believe.

They were all alone, mourning and weeping, and without Jesus in their unbelief.

Announcements of the angels, of the women, of the two disciples from Emmaus, were not enough to overcome their unbelief.

But do you know what was? Jesus.

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. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up 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.” 

19 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. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]

JP Lange wrote, “The circle of disciples becomes a believing church only when Jesus Himself reveals Himself personally in their midst. This, indeed, is the thought underlying the entire Gospel of Mark.”

We just can’t do it without Jesus.

Christ is the conqueror! 

He conquered sin by His death on the cross. He conquered death by rising from the dead. And He conquers unbelief by His presence.

He smashed all the barriers of unbelief that surrounded the disciples when He walked into the room. He commissioned them to no longer be disciples only but to be Apostles, ones who are sent, to preach the Good News to every creature, to the whole world. 

And He promised to be with them, to empower them to cast out demons, to preach in languages they didn’t know before, He promised to protect them from harm, and to heal the sick. 

He promised that these signs would accompany them and confirm their message as they preached the gospel, and He was true to His Word. 

On the Day of Pentecost He sent His Holy Spirit to fill all those who believed so that those who follow Jesus would never be walled in by barriers of unbelief because He will always be present with us by His Holy Spirit.

If you are left wondering, “How do I get that? How do I get in on that?” 

Jesus answered that Himself, 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Faith in Jesus is the only way, faith in Jesus is the only standard by which mankind will be judged. Baptism follows along as an outward sign, but it is only by faith that we can be saved.

And what is faith? FORSAKING ALL I TRUST HIM Amen.