With Signs Following

(Mark 16:14-18)

by Louis Bartet

After reading Mark 16:11-18 or the book of Acts, have you ever felt like a powerless Pentecostal?  This past Wednesday night I went home from our Bible Study depressed. I wrote to a friend, "Being a cessationist would be easier than being a powerless Pentecostal."  For days I've wrestled with questions like, what place do miracles have in contemporary Christianity?  Should we be living a miracle-a-minute Christian life? What meaning did the eleven associate with Mark 16:14-18, when Jesus spoke it?  Are Christians immune to snakebites?  Is the contemporary American Pentecostal Church powerless? Is the absence of miracles and healings due to a lack of faith? Why do foreign missionaries experience a spiritual power failure when preaching in American churches?  Why are genuine signs and wonders so rare in American Pentecostal churches?  I won't presume to know all the answers, but I believe that some of the answers are to be found in a careful exploration of our text.  There are three things I'd like you to notice with me: 1) The Sending; 2) The Signs; 3) The Setting.

 

I.          THE SENDING – "And He said to them, 'Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to all creation" (16:15).  Matthew records Jesus as saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (ethos), baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'  Amen."  (Matthew 28:19-20)

 

            A.            GO into the entire world.  This suggest the following

 

1. Purpose – Evangelism is not a matter of happenstance, but the product of purpose. 

2. Obedience – This was a command to be obeyed, not a suggestion.

3. Universal – Evangelism takes me beyond my neighborhood to the world.

4. Passion – We are not to go with a sense of guilt, but with a burning passion.

 

            B.            PREACH the Gospel

 

1.            What to do - Make a public proclamation.

2.            What to declare – The death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and its relevance to humankind.

 

C.        TO ALL creation – Luke's term, ktisei, suggests that we are to be preaching to those who have not heard or had an adequate witness.  Matthew's term, ethnay, imparts the idea that we are to go beyond our culture and society to other ethnic groups. 

 

II.         THE SIGNS

 

A.        Jesus listed, depending on how you group them, 5 signs that will follow believers.

 

1.            Deliverance – "In my name they shall cast out demons."

2.            Tongues – "They will speak with new tongues."

3.            Protection from harm – "They will take up serpents."

4.            Protection from harm – "If they drink any deadly thing, it will by no means hurt them."

5.            Healing – "They will place their hands on the sick, and the sick ones will get well."

 

B.        What is a sign?  It is a mark of authentication or a token by which anything is known or distinguished.   In the scriptures it usually suggests supernatural activity and points to something beyond itself.   

 

C.        They follow those who have believed (16:15,16) – The emphasis is on persons who have believed, not on faith itself.  Those who have believed are the gospelizers of verse 15 and the gospelized of verse 16.

 

            D.            The danger of signs.

 

1. Sign seeking is offensive to God.  Matt 12:39 (NIV) He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  (Also see Matthew 16:4.)

 

2. Signs in themselves prove nothing about the individual.  Matt 7:22 (NIV) Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'  Signs have nothing to do with the messenger.

 

III.        THE SETTING

 

A.            The disciples were having trouble believing that Jesus was alive. (Mk. 16:9-13)

 

Mark 16:9 (NASU) [Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. 12 After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13 They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.

 

            B.            It is to these faithless disciples that Jesus appears.

 

Mark 16:14 (NIV) Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

                       

1.            He rebuked them for their lack of faith – Please note that faith is associated with failure to believe the message.

2.            He rebuked them for their stubborn refusal to believe – Again, the emphasis is on their blatant refusal to believe the message.

 

C.        A lesson in context.  It is interesting to note that Jesus' disciples, the one's who would preach the Gospel, were having a difficult time believing that He was alive.  Jesus appears to them, confirms that He is alive, and commissions them to preach to others what they had trouble believing themselves.

 

            For me this is reminiscent of Moses.  (See Exodus 4:1-9.)  When Moses asked "What if they will not believe me," God gave Moses three signs that would confirm the message—1) the staff into a serpent; 2) the leprous hand; 3) water turned to blood. 

 

IV.            CONCLUSION

 

A.             SIGNS CONFIRM THE MESSAGE NOT THE MESSENGER.

            1.         Fruit confirms the messenger

Matt 7:16 (NIV) By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Matt 7:20 (NIV) Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

John 13:35 (NIV) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

2.            Signs confirm the message - Scripture indicates that signs, gifts, and miracles confirm the proclamation of the Gospel.

 

a. Jesus told His disciples "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves" (John 14:11).

b. Paul told the Hebrews "3how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?  After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will" (Hebrews 2:3-4).

c. Paul told the Thessalonians  "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake" (1Thess. 1:5).

 

 

B.            SIGNS, GIFTS, AND MIRACLES ARE CLOSELY LINKED TO EVANGELISM

                        1.            In the ministry of Jesus.

Matt 4:23 (NIV) Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Matt 9:35 (NIV) Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Acts 10:38 (KJV) "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him."  Please note the words "went about." 

 2. In the ministry of the early church.

Acts 8:4-8 (NASB) And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.  6And the multitudes with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.  7For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.  8And there was much rejoicing in that city.

Acts 4:29-30 – And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence^[1], 30while You extend Your hand to heal, and sings and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."

3. In contemporary ministry.  One of the big questions concerning miracles is, why don't we see the miracles that are being experienced by missionaries on the field?   Do missionaries lose something when the come home to America to minister?  We hear of dramatic miracles that are happening on the mission field, but these same missionaries are as mystified as we are that the miracles cease when they come to home.  Could it be that signs are for the confirmation of the Gospel?  Does God have to confirm the Gospel to us who already believe? 

 

 

It is as we "go" that He "comes" to confirm His word!

 

A powerful bulldozer sits in a field with its engine running.  The power is there, but no demand is being made on it.  Suddenly, the operator transfers the power of engine to the tracks and begins to move the iron giant he is riding toward a large pile of timber.  Upon making contact with the timber the dozer ceases to move forward.  The operator responds by increasing fuel to the engine and as that might diesel revs up the dozer once again begins to move forward.

 

As the church moves forward in evangelism and in so doing meets resistance, God seems to respond with mountain moving power in confirmation of His word.  God is not in the business of entertaining the troops.  He has, however, promised power to us to be witnesses!  I believe we encounter the power of Pentecost when we actively obey the GO of Jesus—"Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature!"

 

The "power" was given for the purpose of enabling witnesses.

"…you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you;

and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria,

and event to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

If we want to see God's power, then Spirit filled believers need to obey the "GO" of Jesus!

 

Like the Big-Bang, the book of ACTS moves further and further away from its center to the remote regions of the earth to confirm the preaching of the Gospel!

 

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit and its resultant power are not meant for ecclesiastical entertainment, but for effective evangelism.

 

Close

Scripture tells us that the miraculous flow of oil (2Kings 4:6) stopped when there were no more empty vessels. Miracles cease when evangelism ceases!  Where there is no need, there is no flow!  Evangelism places a demand on the mighty resources of heaven!!  The further we get away from evangelism the less we will see the genuine power of God.  Conversely, the more evangelistic we become, the more…

 

Prayer

Father, give us a burning passion for the lost and help us to be willing to reach them at any cost.  You've provided the message, now we yield ourselves as messengers and ask that you confirm your word with signs and wonders and miracles of healing.  Empower us, Holy Spirit, to be effective witnesses to our communities, our country, and the remotest parts of our world!