1 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:08,560 I welcome you today to the final installment in our study of the 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,560 Gospel of Mark. It's been a wonderful two years 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,160 journey through this book together. 4 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,360 And so now I call you and I invite you to come with me to 5 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:20,400 Mark chapter 16, beginning in verse 9. 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:28,040 Mark 16, beginning in verse 9. Today's message is going to be 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:33,760 quite different than other sermons that we have heard from 8 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,200 this series in Mark. And I hope you're convinced of 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,560 this already, that this ministry is committed to preaching the 10 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,680 whole counsel of God. And that pursuit looks like us 11 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,320 looking at every verse in the Scriptures and seeking to 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,360 explain and expound on what it has to convey. 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,560 But this afternoon, we're not going to so much expound on the 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,720 final verses of the gospel Mark, as much as we are going to 15 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,200 discuss a commentary about these verses. 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,640 And the reason for this is because there is a marginal note 17 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:15,040 that is found in most English translations of the New 18 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,160 Testament, usually located immediately after verse 8. 19 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:22,320 And I want you to see it with me because there's a disclaimer 20 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:25,480 similar to what we find in the ESV, and we can turn there now 21 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,480 to read it together. You see it in brackets there in 22 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,720 your Bibles. Some of the earliest manuscripts 23 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:37,200 do not include 16 verses, 9 to 20. 24 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,560 Now, it's very likely that you have encountered this in your 25 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:46,600 personal reading, and it's equally likely that it troubled 26 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:51,600 you when you did. And my desire is to help ease 27 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,320 any troubles through this sermon. 28 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,960 And I'm also aware that this message, though that is the 29 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,520 goal, can be a little bit overwhelming. 30 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,560 It might be overwhelming to hear some of these names and the 31 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,440 research and the history and the quotations, but there's so many 32 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:12,800 things I can say about a sermon like this. 33 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,120 One of them is it's necessary, right? 34 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,640 Could have easily come to this point in our gospel study of 35 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:24,320 Mark and skipped over it to avoid dealing with the scholarly 36 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:30,280 aspect of the Bible. And it's necessarily, 37 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,040 necessarily also because when it comes to attack on your faith, 38 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,000 it boils down to the Bible. Because this is where we get 39 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,520 everything from. This is where we understand our 40 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,400 salvation, where we understand our practice, where we 41 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,160 understand the nature of God and Our Calling and our mission as 42 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,880 the church. And so we have to, we have to be 43 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,760 serious students of the Bible and be willing to explore 44 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:58,000 certain elements of the behind the scenes aspect of our Bibles. 45 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,480 And that's what we're going to do today. 46 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:02,040 We're going to do an overview of it. 47 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,200 And my desire in planning and praying for this was to make it 48 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,520 as simple as possible so that you don't feel overwhelmed in 49 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,120 the process, but at the same time to not make it so simple 50 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,360 where it lacks genuine substance. 51 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,320 I wanted to be true substance so that you can arrive to clear and 52 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,960 concrete conclusions about the veracity of the Bible, about the 53 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,800 reliability of the Bible. And so understand that this is 54 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,640 probably going to be less than an hour unless the Holy Spirit 55 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,760 desires to do something else. And beyond that. 56 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,080 But know that in preparation for this, there have been hours upon 57 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:46,120 hours upon hours of comparison examination, fact checking to 58 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,080 bring it to this point, to make it digestible. 59 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,800 And so this is more than just a message for one particular 60 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,440 Sunday. My desire and my plan really was 61 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,080 that because of the technology that we have in our age that 62 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,280 this would be recorded, which I pray that it would be in 63 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,960 preserved and that you can revisit this whenever you need 64 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:05,480 to see. You might be sitting here now 65 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,880 hearing what I'm about this to teach and think, OK, that might 66 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:10,800 be nice, but I don't know how this is helpful to me. 67 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,520 But if you engage with people who are skeptics or who might 68 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,079 challenge your faith, I assure you that what you're going to 69 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:23,120 hear today is going to be extremely helpful, extremely 70 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,320 beneficial. And so the real goal of this is 71 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,120 that you would be emboldened in your faith and that you would be 72 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,400 more confident that what you're holding in your hands is in fact 73 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,400 God's infallible inherent word, that this is his revelation from 74 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,160 heaven for you and I and for all creation. 75 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,880 But before we try to make sense of this alarming insertion, I 76 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,240 want to begin by laying the groundwork for the truthfulness 77 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:52,320 of the Bible. As I said, the Bible that you 78 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,400 and I have, your copy of God's Word, as long as it's a faithful 79 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,120 translation, is in fact God's Word. 80 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,640 And we have both internal and external evidence that make that 81 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,680 emphatically clear that how these ancient writings were 82 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,480 passed down throughout the centuries, and they in fact are 83 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,480 God's truth. And the transmission of these 84 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,280 truths have been gloriously preserved. 85 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,200 And they were penned, yes, by human authors, but human authors 86 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,240 who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to communicate these 87 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,960 things as a permanent witness for all generations. 88 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:36,320 And the safeguarding of God's truth throughout time is a 89 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,400 testimony and is a declaration that God himself makes in His 90 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,760 word. So I know I told you to turn to 91 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,160 Mark 69. It's because I want you to see 92 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,920 that disclaimer. But now I ask you to turn to 93 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,640 Psalm chapter 12, beginning in verse 6. 94 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,640 The psalmist says by the Holy Spirit, the words of the Lord 95 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:01,280 are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the 96 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:07,560 ground, purified 7 times. You, O Lord, will keep them. 97 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,920 You will guard us from this generation forever. 98 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,560 You see what the Holy Spirit is saying through David. 99 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:21,520 David is not only acknowledging that God's word is reliable, you 100 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,880 have that #7 there, right? The number of perfection. 101 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:29,240 God's word has been purified. In other words, it is undeniably 102 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,040 reliable. He also, though at the same time 103 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:37,280 celebrates God's ability to preserve that purified word. 104 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:39,480 Isn't that what He says here at the end? 105 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:41,920 He says, yes, it's purified 7 times. 106 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,840 But in verse 7, you, O Lord, will keep them. 107 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,400 You will keep them. So not only have you granted 108 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,160 revelation to mankind that can be relied on, but You've also 109 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,040 kept them for mankind for every age and every generation. 110 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,800 So we have the purity of God's Word, but also the preservation 111 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,680 of God's Word. And history testifies of God's 112 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,000 providential hand that has indeed preserved his word until 113 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,480 2024, and it will be preserved until the return of Jesus 114 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,320 Christ. Despite unfavorable 115 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,040 circumstances and natural conditions, despite fierce 116 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,960 persecution, literary criticism, archaeological discoveries, 117 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:27,400 philosophical assaults, and scientific claims, the Bible has 118 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,240 endured and risen above all scrutiny, all scrutiny. 119 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:36,240 And I would like to offer a few points on the history of how 120 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:42,200 your Bible came about, how my Bible came about in a very short 121 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,880 frame of time. This subject deserves weeks and 122 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:49,960 weeks of study, but I'm going to try to cram it in and and one 123 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,200 Sunday service for you to at least leave satisfied and 124 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,640 curious enough to explore this further, only to make your 125 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,080 confidence that much more concrete. 126 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,760 The Bible didn't start with the You Version app on your phone, 127 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:05,680 and you know that. I hope. 128 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,240 I hope we all know that. No, it was originally written on 129 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,680 papyri and parchment, scrolls and codices. 130 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:14,440 Codices. Another word for books. 131 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,760 So when you hear me reference in this next 45 minutes the word 132 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:23,280 codex, all that means is book. So papyrus, parchment, scrolls, 133 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:29,080 codexes, codices, and they were all manually, manually copied by 134 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,520 scribes. So when you hear the word 135 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,880 manuscript, all that means is something that has been written 136 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:38,080 down by hand, man. That's all it means, manuscript, 137 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,480 something that's been penned down by hand, specifically by a 138 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,920 scribe. And so we have that 139 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,000 understanding of the origination of the Bible. 140 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,200 The New Testament was primarily written in Greek, though some of 141 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,160 it is Aramaic, and we've studied those Aramaic verses in the 142 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,320 Gospel, Mark itself. And the Old Testament is 143 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,600 primarily in Hebrew, though there are some parts of the book 144 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,240 of Daniel and the book of Ezra that are Aramaic as well. 145 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:08,120 Now the original manuscripts, the autographs, meaning the 146 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:12,120 things that these actual authors wrote down, we don't have any of 147 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,080 it. That being said, and there's 148 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,600 there's reasons why we don't have them, good reasons to, but 149 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,280 I can't get into that at this moment. 150 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:27,720 What we do have though, are very early manuscript copies of the 151 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,800 originals. And when you look into that, you 152 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,160 realize that the biblical evidence with manuscripts is 153 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,520 unparalleled, unparalleled in comparison to any other ancient 154 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:43,920 document, both in terms of the number of manuscripts that we 155 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,920 have and also the time gap between the original writings 156 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,720 and those copies of the original writings. 157 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,600 And so I want to consider some of the highlights by way of 158 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,560 comparison of how the Bible stands out. 159 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,480 It's this race of evidence and reliability in terms of 160 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,960 historical documents. The Bible is in first place, 161 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,560 always has been, always will be, and everybody else is far 162 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:13,800 behind. So I want you to 1st consider 163 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:19,040 the number of manuscripts that we have concerning the Bible, 164 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,560 namely the New Testament. So in the New Testament we have 165 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:27,360 in the Greek language alone around 5800 manuscripts. 166 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,360 Now when you consider the Latin, the Syriac, the Coptic, the 167 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:35,960 Ethiopic, and the Armenian manuscripts, it brings the total 168 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,520 of New Testament manuscripts to around 25,000. 169 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,240 Now this makes a New Testament the most attested ancient 170 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,520 document in terms of manuscript evidence available the most. 171 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,720 And that is again confirmed when you compare with other 172 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:55,000 historical pieces that you've probably studied in high school 173 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,360 and college that nobody seems to debate about that nobody seems 174 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,920 to push up against. These things that I'm about to 175 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,640 bring up as way of example pale in comparison to the mountain of 176 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:06,480 evidence that we have in the Bible. 177 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:11,240 Have you read Homer's Iliad, one of the most well preserved works 178 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,480 of ancient literature? It's an epic Greek poem. 179 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:20,920 We have around 1800 surviving manuscripts of Homer's Iliad, 180 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:24,640 which is impressive, but when you compare it to 25,800 181 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:30,000 manuscripts, what about Caesar's Gallic Wars? 182 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,480 Manuscript evidence for Caesar's work is much more limited, with 183 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:37,480 only about 10 surviving manuscripts. 184 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,000 There are recent discoveries that might add to that number, 185 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:44,240 but for the longest time, 10 surviving manuscripts. 186 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,920 The earliest manuscript dating to around 900 years after its 187 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:54,200 original composition. Pastor this is Histories and 188 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,400 Annals. It's considered some of the most 189 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:03,200 reliable sources to Roman history, and we have only two 190 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,320 manuscripts, one from the 9th century, one from the 11th 191 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:11,280 century. And that we can go on and on and 192 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,560 on about these things that people study, that scholars 193 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:16,520 praise. But what we can conclude based 194 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,720 on the Bible in comparison, the fact that it was so widespread 195 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,560 in terms of the languages in the regions means that the early 196 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:28,480 Christian community really believed in their message and 197 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,040 they really wanted the world to know about it. 198 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:35,880 And when you compare these manuscripts, there are numerous 199 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:41,120 variations, none of them discrediting the doctrines of 200 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,880 our faith. And if you read any of those 201 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,000 main scripts, if you if you compiled the Bible based on any 202 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,640 of those, you're going to come to the same core messages that 203 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:54,640 you have in your Bible today. And so that says something about 204 00:12:55,280 --> 00:13:00,240 not just the attitude of the church concerning the Bible, but 205 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,680 also God's miraculous preservation of protection of 206 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:06,560 those manuscripts. It speaks about it. 207 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:11,840 You can't deny it. But that's just the amount. 208 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,240 Consider the dating of these New Testament manuscripts. 209 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,520 The earliest fragment, I say fragment piece of a New 210 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:25,280 Testament manuscript is the John Ryland's Papyrus, otherwise 211 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:33,400 known as P52, and this fragment dates to 125 AD. 212 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:40,680 Listen only 30 to 40 years after the original Gospel of John was 213 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:44,600 penned. And what you find there in P52 214 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,400 is that on the front you have some verses of John 18, and on 215 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,080 the back you have verses of John 18. 216 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,640 In the latter part, verses 37 to 38, whereas the front is 31 to 217 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,080 33. Now, when it comes to the 218 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:59,360 complete New Testament, talking about the whole library of the 219 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:03,520 New Testament, you have two manuscripts. 220 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,720 There are codexes. The first is called Codex 221 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:12,120 Sinocatis and the other is Codex Vaticanus, and they are dated to 222 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,400 the 4th century, meaning around 300 to 350 AD, just a few 223 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:18,320 centuries after the New Testament was originally 224 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,840 written. You have entire complete 225 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:25,360 libraries of it. That's fascinating, and we're 226 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,120 going to come back to those two specific manuscripts shortly. 227 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:30,960 When it comes to Mark 16, trying to understand it, let's compare 228 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:32,520 it to other historical documents. 229 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:34,640 I reference Homer's Iliad, right? 230 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:41,840 The surviving manuscripts date from 9:00 to 10th century AD, 231 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,600 and they're from the Byzantine family, and they represent a 232 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,040 significant gap. You know what the gap is for 233 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:49,480 Homer's Iliad? 1200 years from its original 234 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:55,120 writing. 1200 years. The earliest manuscript of 235 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:00,080 Plato's Timius dates around 900 AD, about again, 1200 years 236 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,560 after he wrote it, which was in the 4th century BC. 237 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:05,440 You've heard of Plato. I'm sure you've heard of 238 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,040 Aristotle's works. Like Plato. 239 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:11,680 The discoveries of his manuscripts were around the 9th 240 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,280 century AD, but his original writings were in the 4th century 241 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,680 BC. So you're talking about leaps of 242 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:22,920 centuries over 1000 years. And yet we honor these things, 243 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:24,880 we praise these things being preserved. 244 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,880 Yet the Bible gets more criticism than anything else. 245 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,800 But any honest scholar or student can see that this is 246 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,680 staggering. This is overwhelming. 247 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:38,640 So we talked briefly about the amount of manuscripts. 248 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:39,960 We talked briefly about the dating. 249 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,480 But let's talk about the accuracy of these manuscripts. 250 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:44,880 Now, I touched a lot about the New Testament manuscript. 251 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,360 Let me make a brief comment about the Old Testament. 252 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:51,280 One of the most significant discoveries of our Old Testament 253 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:57,160 were the dead ski scrolls discovered in 1947 in The Cave 254 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,520 some caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea. 255 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,960 What you have with these Dead Sea Scrolls is marvelous. 256 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:09,120 You have almost every book of the Old Testament that date from 257 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:16,080 2:50 BC to 100 AD, and what they showed is the remarkable, almost 258 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:21,320 fanatical work of the scribes who wrote down these copies. 259 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:23,920 You've probably heard this before, that there were some 260 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,840 scribes who are believed to have so treated the transmission of 261 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,120 Old Testament Hebrew scriptures with a sacredness that they 262 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:35,080 would write one letter in the Hebrew and then we go take a 263 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,120 bath, come back and write the next letter. 264 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,400 They would go back and take a bath, write the next letter. 265 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,720 That's how much some of these crimes scribes esteem the 266 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,880 writings of these Old Testament books. 267 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,560 And the pristine work is seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 268 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,000 One of the most significant discoveries is what is known as 269 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:58,160 the Isaiah scroll. The code for that is one QISA or 270 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:02,000 ESA, short for Isaiah. And with these codes like P52, 271 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,119 1QA, like what's that all about? Usually those codes, all they're 272 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,440 doing is they're giving an abbreviation of maybe where it 273 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:10,480 was found or the the timing of it. 274 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:15,280 And SO1Q speaks of one of the caves in Qumran, and it 275 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,319 contained the Isaiah Scrolls, the book of Isaiah, and it's 276 00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:21,760 captivated scholars and serious students of the Bible. 277 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,280 Why? Because it is a nearly complete 278 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,240 manuscript of the book of Isaiah that you have in your Bible 279 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,720 today. Can you imagine that? 280 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:34,200 So something that is dated centuries before the time of 281 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,720 Christ has been discovered. And when they compared it to 282 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,640 modern English translations, it's almost word for word. 283 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,320 This is an incredibly important discovery because it closely 284 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,160 lines what we have, and it demonstrates the accuracy with 285 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,800 which the Hebrew Bible was copied over the centuries. 286 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:55,600 So let me summarize this briefly. 287 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,720 We possess 10s of thousands of manuscript copies of the Bible, 288 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:06,760 ranging from the 1st to the 15th century AD for the New Testament 289 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:13,000 and from the 4th century BC to the 15th century AD for the Old 290 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,240 Testament. So for New Testament, we have 291 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,600 manuscripts from the 1st century to the 15th century Old 292 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:20,520 Testament. We have manuscripts from the 4th 293 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:24,600 century BC to the 15th century AD. 294 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,400 And these manuscripts, yes, if we're honest, they do contain 295 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,440 some variations, but they're all minor. 296 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,480 They don't compromise the validity, the the accuracy, the 297 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,360 essence of the Christian message. 298 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:41,440 It's untouched. And if you didn't know, there is 299 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:46,400 an entire academic field dedicated to discovering these 300 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,560 things and to assessing the most accurate version of the original 301 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,760 text. This academic discipline is 302 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:56,960 called textual criticism. Textual criticism is a science, 303 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,440 and as a science that seeks to establish the correct text of an 304 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,480 ancient document and listen, it's a it's applied both to 305 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,040 secular works and to sacred works. 306 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,320 So the same rules and the same methodologies apply. 307 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:13,840 And generally what happens with a textual critic, those who are 308 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,480 a part of that kind of discipline, is that they they 309 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:20,920 study the transmission of these copies and they compare them and 310 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,760 examine them in their variations. 311 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,000 And there are different methodologies, different schools 312 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,680 of thought that try to assess which one is most reliable, 313 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,200 which one can be rejected or questioned, and what other ones 314 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,720 can be more trusted. And it's important to 315 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,240 acknowledge that there are different methods. 316 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,440 I can't get into the different methods now, although we could. 317 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,200 But I want to bring it up to you because it helps us when we come 318 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,560 to our Bibles. Just knowing that there are 319 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,840 different methods helps us come to our Bibles and understand why 320 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,440 there are certain passages that are handled differently by 321 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,920 certain scholars. And that's where we are now led 322 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,160 to when it comes to Mark 16, verse 9, when you read in 323 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,760 brackets that some of the earliest manuscripts do not 324 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,120 contain chapter 16, verses 9 to 20. 325 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:09,280 And that's why I want to explain to you how the longer ending of 326 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,800 Mark is put into question by some of these scholars. 327 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:18,160 And, and this again, is a subject that requires hours upon 328 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:20,480 hours to just really scratch the surface. 329 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,880 My goal again today. It's not to make you drink out 330 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,960 of a fire hose. It's to have enough for you to 331 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,680 understand the general grasp of this conversation, for you to 332 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,240 feel satisfied, but also for you to be encouraged to potentially 333 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:35,800 consider it further for yourself. 334 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,280 So when it comes to those questioning the latter portion 335 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:43,160 of the Gospel of Mark, there are two main arguments that people 336 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:48,040 make that scholars make. And the first one is is obvious 337 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,400 because it's in the Bible that some of the earliest manuscripts 338 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,320 don't contain it. Now remember how I referenced 339 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,640 you to complete New Testament manuscripts that are highly 340 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,480 prized and praised? That is what these scholars are 341 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,080 referring to when it comes to this disclaimer at the end here 342 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,880 of Mark chapter 16. The argument is simple. 343 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,240 Those are some of the earliest there. 344 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,280 In fact, they are the earliest manuscripts that we have to the 345 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,560 New Testament. And both of those omit verses 9 346 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,000 to verses 20. And there is another smaller 347 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,440 manuscript that also doesn't contain the longer ending a 348 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,360 mark, but it's not as significant as the other two. 349 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:28,920 Nevertheless, we will include that in the count of manuscripts 350 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,120 that don't include those final verses. 351 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,440 So that that's really the argument is, well, look, if we 352 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,680 have these manuscripts and they date the closest to the original 353 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,880 time when they were written, then we have every reason to 354 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,600 question it. And that's where you have one 355 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,440 school of thought among scholars that's saying the older the 356 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,760 better, the older, the more confident we can be about what 357 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,360 was there and then in the original time in the original 358 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:57,840 writings. But here's what's so interesting 359 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,960 of all our Greek manuscripts, You have to listen very 360 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:09,520 carefully to this. We have close to 1650 that do 361 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,840 contain what I will call the longer ending of Mark. 362 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:19,560 So you have just over 1500 Greek manuscripts that do have verses 363 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:25,360 9 to 20, whereas in comparison you have three that omit it. 364 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,960 So what do we do with that? Well, if you do it in terms of 365 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:36,600 percentage, it means that 99.8% of the existing Greek 366 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,360 manuscripts that we have contain the longer ending of Mark. 367 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,360 Now, for some scholars, that doesn't matter because remember, 368 00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:46,040 they have that kind of conviction, the older the 369 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,200 better. It's not about about the 370 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,960 majority of the text. It's more about the age of the 371 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:54,040 text. But at the same time, those 372 00:22:54,040 --> 00:23:00,280 scholars who advocate the earlier manuscripts, you can 373 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,680 tell that they're reluctant. They're reluctant to completely 374 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:05,200 exclude the longer ending of Mark. 375 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:06,720 Do you know how I know they are reluctant? 376 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,200 Because they include as a footnote in your Bible. 377 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,880 So they're hesitant because you can't deny the fact that there 378 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,320 is so much in terms of historicity and copies of 379 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,360 manuscript that do contain it. What are you going to do with 380 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:23,000 that? So there's a struggling there. 381 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,920 There's a wrestling there. Now there are some who are bold 382 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:29,440 enough to say it's not inspired Scripture, like you should not 383 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,440 treat it as you would mark 16, one to seven or any other part 384 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,400 of the Bible. You should treat it as maybe 385 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,600 like an apocryphal book or some kind of history book that might 386 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,560 shed some light on the Bible. But you shouldn't treat verses 9 387 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:47,280 to 20 as Scripture. Others more hesitant and they'll 388 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,840 say, OK, look, it's undeniable. It's there. 389 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:52,440 It's there in terms of the majority manuscript. 390 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,880 So let's let's put it in in our English transition. 391 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:57,920 Let people know that it's not part of the earliest ones 392 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,560 though, and they're satisfied in that. 393 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,680 And that's why if you have like a new King James Version, if 394 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,120 you're a person who reads the new King James and you come to 395 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:09,760 that same place in Mark 16 verse 9, they're a little bit more 396 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,920 transparent and a little bit more accurate in their 397 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,320 disclaimer of those verses. Let me quote it to you from the 398 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:19,840 New King James marginal note, verses 9 to 20 are bracketed in 399 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,840 NU as not in the original text. And this is what the new King 400 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,720 James says they are lacking in Codex Sinochatis and Codis 401 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,080 Vaticanus, although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark 402 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,200 contain them. So they're being a little bit 403 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,480 more transparent, the new King James, whereas other ones, 404 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,600 including the ESC will say some of the earliest manuscripts 405 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,000 don't include them. And people kind of they get 406 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,080 intimidated by that or even concerned. 407 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:52,000 So then for those scholars who who don't think that the longer 408 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,920 ending in Mark belongs there or it's not autographed by Mark or 409 00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,280 is not part of the original text, what's their theory about 410 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,520 the longer ending then? Because again, you can't deny 411 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:05,160 all the manuscripts that do have them. 412 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,600 Those manuscripts, the 1650 that do have them, they date later 413 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,760 than the CODIS Vaticanus and CODIS Sinaticus, right? 414 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,880 So here's the theory of those who think that that's not those 415 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:16,560 verses are not part of the original. 416 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:21,480 They were added by scribes. They were added by scribes. 417 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,280 And why would scribes add verses 90, verse 20? 418 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,280 Because if you don't add them, the gospel mark ends in Mark 16, 419 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,400 verse 8. So let's read verse 8. 420 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:35,680 Let's read it from verse 6 to get context. 421 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,560 And he said to them, do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of 422 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,000 Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen, He is not here. 423 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,560 See the place where they laid him. 424 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,720 But go tell his disciples and Peter that He is going before 425 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,480 you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as 426 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,840 he told you. And they went out and fled from 427 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,440 the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them. 428 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,080 And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. 429 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:07,560 The book closes. So the theory is this, the 430 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,560 Gospel can't end this way. There's no way that the last 431 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:13,960 thought that Mark wants to convey in his Gospel account is 432 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:19,680 that the women were terrified. And so the idea is scribe saw 433 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,960 this and they go, I think we need to add to this. 434 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,760 And they borrowed from Luke and they borrowed from Matthew and 435 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,440 they borrowed from John. And so some claim that the 436 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,800 addition here, the insertion, are just a kind of a compilation 437 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,800 of concluding thoughts from the other Gospel accounts. 438 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,920 So that's the theory for those who believe that those verses 439 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,240 are omitted. But external manuscript evidence 440 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,320 is not the only argument proponents of the shorter ending 441 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,200 make. There's a second major one. 442 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,320 It's internal saying. What do you mean? 443 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,120 Well, again, when you go back to Mark 16/9 to 20, what you'll 444 00:26:58,120 --> 00:27:00,920 discover here, not so much in the English as much as in the 445 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,800 Greek, is that this is the claim. 446 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:09,480 It reads differently than Mark's previous writings in the 447 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,720 previous chapters and verses. So they'll make arguments like 448 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,680 there are words in verses 9 to 20 that Mark never uses in the 449 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,040 Gospel account. And and you can imagine how this 450 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,760 is highly debated and contested among scholars. 451 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,120 And the reason why is because there are other long portions of 452 00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:30,400 Mark where Mark uses Greek words for the first time too. 453 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:31,920 But we don't discount them either, do we? 454 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,280 So there's back and forth here, but the main points is this from 455 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,560 verse 8 to verse 9, it's kind of a clunky transition. 456 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:41,400 So this is what they'll say, right? 457 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,040 So look at verse 8 again, they were afraid and they look at 458 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,200 verse 9. Now when he arose early on the 459 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,800 first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary 460 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,520 Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 461 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,280 So they say that's kind of an awkward transition. 462 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,880 You're almost like reintroducing the resurrection and you're 463 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,000 reintroducing Mary Magdalene, though she's already been 464 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,240 introduced to us. So this is the claims of people 465 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:02,920 are I'm just, I'm just relaying it. 466 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:07,160 And so though, again, nitpick on certain things and bring out 467 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:13,280 certain words and ideas and flow of thought, and the argument is 468 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:15,720 it seems to be different. It seems to be added. 469 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:20,160 It seems to be maybe somebody who worked in it and try to 470 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,880 complete it. Now, I don't want to get into 471 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,600 every single debate about why some believe this and why some 472 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:31,240 believe that. I just want to give you the two 473 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:32,920 main arguments. Like if you talk to scholars, 474 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,680 they're going to tell you those are the two main arguments. 475 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,400 There's an external point terms of the early manuscripts not 476 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:39,520 having it and internal that you know. 477 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,240 Let me show you here how I think Mark's words at the end don't 478 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,120 match his his consistent tone of voice throughout. 479 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:50,840 You might be wondering where I stand on this issue, and that's 480 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:52,960 why I want to provide an overview of why I personally 481 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,080 believe that the longer ending of Mark should be included, 482 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,840 should be included in our Bibles and recognized as authentic. 483 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:09,040 I have three points, Three points to why I believe verses 9 484 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,200 to 20 is something that we should honor and recognize as 485 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,040 Holy Scripture. The first one is the manuscript 486 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,320 evidence. Now, I already told you about 487 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:23,920 how the majority, 99.8% of Greek manuscripts contain it, but I'm 488 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,920 not going to make that simple argument that there's more. 489 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:30,240 So it's better scholars, some scholars who also believe in the 490 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,680 longer ending have done a wonderful job examining CODIS 491 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,840 Vaticanus and CODIS Sign Atticus, and they've made pretty 492 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:43,040 convincing cases that those who penned those manuscripts were 493 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,920 aware of the longer ending, but they didn't include it for 494 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:51,080 speculative reasons. So I mean, this isn't, this is a 495 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:52,680 sermon, this isn't a presentation, this isn't a 496 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,080 class. But if you, if you want to go 497 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,760 home, Google Codex Vaticanus specifically, and what you'll 498 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,120 discover is at the ending of Mark in that parchment, that 499 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,280 page of his book, they're empty columns. 500 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,640 Now, what's unique about those empty columns is they're foreign 501 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,400 to every other book in the New Testament. 502 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:16,360 So the argument is, why does CODIS Vaticanus leave empty 503 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:22,680 columns right after verse 8? And some scholars believe, look, 504 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:27,560 you can actually fit if you if you pen Mark's writings based on 505 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:31,280 that copy of the manuscript, the same way you can fit Mark 16/9 506 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:33,200 to 20 perfectly in those empty columns. 507 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:40,280 So we don't really know why some, again, speculate, but 508 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,880 there is sufficient evidence that's just one argument to make 509 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,160 that even within those early manuscripts there, they were at 510 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,920 least aware that there was a longer version out there. 511 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:56,640 And so I would say manuscript evidence beyond that point #2 512 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:01,080 and this to me is one of the most convincing points, is that 513 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:05,920 it was widely referenced, recognized, and circulated in 514 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,040 the early church. I'm talking about the last part, 515 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:13,960 verses 9 to 20 and Mark 16. So the oldest manuscripts date 516 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,600 from the what, 4th century Codis, Vaticanus, the Codican 517 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:17,960 Atticus? I don't know how many times I'd 518 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,240 be able to say that without tripping over my words, so bear 519 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,040 with me. So the the earliest Newton 520 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,120 complete New Testament mainstream, those two, which are 521 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,560 fascinating discoveries, they omit them, but they are not the 522 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:36,120 oldest historical pieces of evidence that reference the 523 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,920 ending of Mark. So you have what is called 524 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:44,240 patristic evidence, Patristic fathers, Church fathers. 525 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:48,880 Those church fathers are recognized as the disciples of 526 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,360 the disciples that we read of in the New Testament, right? 527 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,720 And their disciples. When you read some of these 528 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,800 church fathers, what you will discover is that they reference 529 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:05,360 Mark 16/9 to 20. You're talking about 2nd 530 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:10,400 century, so at least a century before those two codexes. 531 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,280 You have church fathers that reference and make allusions to 532 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,840 the longer ending of Mark. One of them is Iranians. 533 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,440 Let me quote them to you, who wrote in his third book called 534 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:32,880 Against Heresies between year one 74189, at least a century 535 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,520 before Vaticanus was produced. And he wrote this quote also 536 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:38,920 towards the conclusion of his gospel. 537 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:43,280 Mark says so then after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was 538 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,720 received up into heaven and sits on the right hand of God. 539 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,320 This is an illusion and a reference to Mark 6920, 540 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,720 specifically Mark 16 verse 19. We're told that he ascended and 541 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:58,680 he was seated at the right hand of God. 542 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,280 You have another 2nd century writer by the name of Justin 543 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:07,120 Martyr who wrote in his writings called the First Apology using 544 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:11,840 Mark 1620. You have Tation, another 2nd 545 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:15,480 century writer who was a pupil a student of Justin Martyr who 546 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,400 includes the longer ending a Mark in his work Dietassaron. 547 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,360 Dietassaron was an ancient writing where Tation sought to 548 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,120 bring all four gospel accounts and merge them into a 549 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,720 chronological text, and when he brought that together, he 550 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,360 actually included Mark 16/9 to 20. 551 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,520 Another known text, and excuse me if I butchered these, is 552 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,360 called Apustula Apostolorum, which was written before the 553 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:45,520 year 150, providing yet another a fourth witness by making an 554 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:46,880 allusion to the longer ending of Mark. 555 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:51,160 So right there I'm providing you 4 witnesses to the longer ending 556 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:57,040 of Mark in the 2nd century. This is important because that 557 00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,480 means that the longer ending of Mark was being circulated in the 558 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,520 church and recognized as authoritative. 559 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,840 OK, it's not found in the earliest complete New Testament 560 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:08,400 manuscripts, but it's found among these early Christians. 561 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,800 And I can go on and on to mention the support of patristic 562 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,400 works in the two hundreds and three hundreds and four 563 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:19,320 hundreds. But one of the most interesting 564 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:21,679 ones that I want to bring up to you is actually from a non 565 00:34:21,679 --> 00:34:26,040 Christian. You actually had a Roman 566 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:31,960 philosopher by the name of hierarchies who quoted the 567 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:36,320 longer ending of Mark chapter 16, verses 9 to 20 as a part of 568 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,639 his critique of Christianity in the early 4th century. 569 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,120 And the conclusion there is that he actually made a comment about 570 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,639 where we're going to read in a moment how Christians can drink 571 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:51,239 poison and nothing will happen. And the case that he makes in 572 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,520 his critique as well, then OK, let's have Christians drink 573 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,520 their let's have their leaders drink poison and see if what 574 00:34:55,679 --> 00:34:59,200 their Bible says is true. You know what's funny is that 575 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,600 even in modern day debate among Muslims, Muslims make that same 576 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,920 argument. Oh, if your Bible is true, your 577 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:08,160 Bible says that on the Mark 16 to drink poison and you'll 578 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:09,720 survive. So here's some poison, drink it. 579 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,240 That's nothing new. That came back from the 4th 580 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:15,640 century. So you have a listen. 581 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:16,720 There's the point I'm trying to make though. 582 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:20,480 You have a non Christian who critiqued Christianity who made 583 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,560 a reference to the ending of Mark that scholars today believe 584 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:27,160 should be omitted, but in fact was recognized apparently by the 585 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:28,840 early church for him to make that reference. 586 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,280 Does that make sense? I hope so. 587 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:34,920 Now if you want more of this, if you want more meat, if you want 588 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,160 to sink your teeth even deeper, you come see me after the 589 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,080 service and I could provide some resources. 590 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:42,120 But here's my final reason, brief reason. 591 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,240 Again, this is just overview. This is just overview I'm giving 592 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:46,880 you. I talked to you about manuscript 593 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,520 evidence, not just the amount, but even within the earliest 594 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:51,920 ones that omit it, you can make a case that they were at least 595 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:56,120 aware of the ending of Mark. We have early Church Falk even 596 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,040 before those earliest complete New Testament manuscripts. 597 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,040 And lastly, this is this is a pretty practical, it's 598 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,000 theological, but it's practical. The final reason why I believe 599 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,920 it should be included is because what it teaches is completely 600 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:09,200 consistent with the New Testament. 601 00:36:11,720 --> 00:36:13,400 There's nothing out of place there. 602 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,360 There's nothing that shatters our faith. 603 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,840 There's nothing there that contradicts the tenants of our 604 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,880 belief system. So why don't we read it? 605 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:28,840 Let's begin in verse 9 down to verse 20. 606 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,600 Mark 16/9 went. Now when he rose early on the 607 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,720 first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary 608 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,280 Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 609 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:44,120 She went and told those who had been with him as they mourn and 610 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:45,960 wept. But when they heard that he was 611 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,520 alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. 612 00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:52,520 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them 613 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,920 as they were walking into the country, and they went back and 614 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:57,680 told the rest, but they did not believe them. 615 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,760 Afterward he appeared to the 11 themselves as they were 616 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,000 reclining a table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief 617 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:08,000 and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who 618 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,280 saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, Go into all 619 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:14,920 the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 620 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,400 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does 621 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,360 not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany 622 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,720 those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons, they 623 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:27,840 will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with their 624 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,600 hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt 625 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:32,280 them. They will lay their hands on the 626 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,560 sick, and they will recover. So then the Lord Jesus, after he 627 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,480 had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the 628 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,000 right hand of God. And they went out and preached 629 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,200 everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed 630 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,360 the message by accompanying science. 631 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:53,400 Now, if you've read the Gospels before the entirety of the 632 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,920 Gospel accounts, then a lot of what Mark says in those verses 633 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,000 echoes, right? I mean, if you review it, then 634 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:04,680 you'll know that, for example, when you come here to verse 10, 635 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:06,720 she went and told those who had been with him as they mourn and 636 00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:08,600 wept. You'll find that in Matthew and 637 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,680 John, right? And we also see the skepticism 638 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,920 in verse 11 of the disciples. They would not believe it. 639 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,240 Look at verse 12. And after these things, he 640 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:18,880 appeared in another form to two of them, and they were walking 641 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:19,840 into the country. Where's that? 642 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:24,480 Found the end of Luke with those two who are walking to Emmaus. 643 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:29,280 And at first when the disciples heard their report, they also 644 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,720 were skeptical. We read here that the Lord 645 00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:35,680 appeared to the 11 themselves and He rebuked them for the 646 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,720 unbelief and hardness of heart. We see Him do that in other 647 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:42,360 gospels as well, where He gently rebukes them, verse 15, where He 648 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,200 tells to go unto all the world. Do we not see that in Matthew? 649 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:50,880 Now where things get interesting is about these signs, these 650 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,560 signs, and what Jesus says immediately preceding these 651 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:55,480 signs. So that's where I wanted to 652 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,520 spend some time. Look at verse 16. 653 00:38:58,240 --> 00:39:01,160 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does 654 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:08,400 not believe will be condemned. So how do we make sense of this? 655 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:12,120 Because it's a verse like this and a verse 1718 where we read 656 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:16,240 these signs that has caused some people to be skeptical even 657 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:23,360 before these manuscript debates. In other words, some people that 658 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,800 believe these verses shall be omitted, they don't say it 659 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,560 outright, but when you read their arguments, they show that 660 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:34,560 they actually have a preconceived bias already. 661 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:41,600 They already have this difficulty grasping and applying 662 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:43,960 these truths. And so when it came to this 663 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,800 debate, it just made a way for them to put into question. 664 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:53,120 It was almost like, OK, I'm more willing to question these verses 665 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:57,120 because I already think that this is problematic and this is 666 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,880 strange for Christian Christianity to begin with. 667 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:08,320 But what seems to be problematic and uncomfortable is in fact 668 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,880 consistent. It's a very dangerous practice 669 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,040 to look at parts of the Bible that may disturb you, make you 670 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:17,560 uncomfortable and put into question because of your bias. 671 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,640 Very dangerous, right? It doesn't matter if you're if 672 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:23,120 you're a scholar and if you have the whole alphabet beside your 673 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,680 name, that doesn't matter. But it's amazing how some of 674 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:30,960 these guys reveal themselves. But I want to make the case 675 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:34,000 again that this is something that we see in our bibles #1 676 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:36,280 whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does 677 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,480 not believe will be condemned. So you have some people who 678 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,640 advocate that this promotes baptismal regeneration. 679 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:44,120 In other words, if you're going to be saved, you need to get 680 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:46,760 baptized. Why? 681 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:49,440 Because he says here, whoever believes and is baptized will be 682 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,120 saved. But here's what's interesting. 683 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:58,560 And remember this whenever you study the Bible, when you and I 684 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:02,560 ever come to a verse that seems to vary or challenge a biblical 685 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,520 doctrine that is consistent throughout the Bible, you never 686 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:07,920 make a doctrine from an isolated text. 687 00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:11,120 Never. And this is not just something 688 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:12,560 that we see in Mark 16, is it not? 689 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,520 There are other places in the Bible where when you read it 690 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:19,320 alone, it seems to is that saying what I think it says. 691 00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:24,640 So what's our discipline? That you take a verse and you 692 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,240 compare it to the rest of Scripture that you you bring 693 00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:30,000 into account the entirety of the Bible to bring you to a 694 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:32,600 conclusion, not from one verse or two verses, but the whole 695 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:36,200 library of divine revelation before you come to a conclusion. 696 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:42,360 What holds more weight? This is lined up with other very 697 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,280 clear passages. Does does this verse support 698 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,960 baptismal regeneration based on what others have to say about it 699 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:51,840 in the Bible? So we we can't just take one 700 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,160 verse and make a whole theological dogma out of it. 701 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,840 You have to make the practice of looking at the entirety of the 702 00:41:57,840 --> 00:41:59,520 Bible. That's not just true for Mark 703 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:02,320 1616, that's true for any verse in the Bible. 704 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:05,520 So that's the first thing, right? 705 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,880 And let me mention even some clues within Mark 1616. 706 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:11,000 Notice it says whoever believes that is baptized will be saved, 707 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,080 but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 708 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,600 So in the positive believe and be baptized, you will be saved. 709 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:20,200 But in the negative, if you don't believe, you will not be 710 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:21,880 saved. Why didn't you say if you don't 711 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,720 believe and don't get baptized? So all this really takes is 712 00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:27,600 context and careful reading of our Bibles. 713 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,240 So this is that's just one internal clue. 714 00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:32,440 We haven't even explored the neighboring text. 715 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,680 So First things first, whenever you see something that seems to 716 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,560 be challenging, it seems to even be contradictory or paradoxal, 717 00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:42,120 always take into account the entirety of the Bible before you 718 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,440 come to any conclusions. And that's certainly the case 719 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:50,560 here from Mark 1616. But it's the next verse, the 720 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,720 exciting, juicy stuff that people really want to talk 721 00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:58,800 about. And these signs will accompany 722 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,000 those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons. 723 00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:04,840 They will speak in new tongues, they will pick up serpents with 724 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,920 their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not 725 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:09,800 hurt them. They will lay their hands on the 726 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,440 sick and they will recover. Can I ask you a simple question? 727 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:18,720 Do you see these signs following the disciples after Jesus 728 00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:20,600 ascended to heaven? Simple question. 729 00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:24,640 You don't have to be a scholar. Yes, we do see them casting out 730 00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:26,640 demons. Do we speak see them speaking in 731 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:28,760 new tongues? Yes, you do see them speaking in 732 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:32,400 new tongues. Do you even see them interacting 733 00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:34,080 with snakes? Not like the crazy people on 734 00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:37,720 YouTube, the snake handling services, I'm not talking about 735 00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:40,320 that. But there is one account in Acts 736 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:43,880 28 when Paul was in the island called Malta, and as he was 737 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:46,960 feeding the fire with dry sticks, a snake came out and bit 738 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:48,200 his hand. And what happened? 739 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:50,880 Did he collapse? No, he survived and it opened a 740 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:52,920 way for the people in Malta to hear the gospel. 741 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,200 It was a sign. Now the thing that stands out of 742 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,120 all these signs is what? The drinking of any deadly 743 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,960 poison, right? We don't see that necessarily 744 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:07,120 and a specific account or narrative in the New Testament. 745 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,680 But here's the point that I want to make primarily is that this 746 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,200 is this is a overall message that the Lord is trying to 747 00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:16,320 convey. Yes, he's being specific. 748 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:19,600 You can't deny that, but there's a context that we have to honor 749 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:22,920 here. So let me give you a personal 750 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:24,280 experience. Many, many, many, many years 751 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:28,000 ago, right? I mentioned the debates with 752 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,080 Muslims and how they bring up this particular versus a 753 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:33,440 challenge to Christians. I remember the first time I came 754 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:36,960 across a debate on this issue. It was just a general debate 755 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,480 about the reliability of the Bible, the historicity of the 756 00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:41,520 Bible. Again, it was just something 757 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:43,000 that was in passing. I didn't even watch the whole 758 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:44,200 thing. I just came to the end in the 759 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,760 closing remarks, and I remember seeing one of these Muslim 760 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:50,440 imams. And the crowd was filled with 761 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:53,520 other Muslims looking at this kind of sheepish, I believe, 762 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:55,520 scholarly man who was a Christian. 763 00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,200 And he literally pulled out a bottle of poison. 764 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,600 And he looked at this man and he says, your Bible says this. 765 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,920 And he quoted Mark 1617 to 18. So why don't you prove to us 766 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,320 right here, right now that your Bible is true and drink this 767 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,200 poison. And the crowd began to cheer. 768 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:12,720 And this man just gently received the bottle. 769 00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:15,160 And he stood up quietly. And you know what he did? 770 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:19,520 I remember so vividly. He began to explain the case of 771 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,640 how verses 9 to 20 are omitted from the earliest manuscripts 772 00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:26,040 and it was just really being drowned out by the crowd. 773 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:33,400 You, you don't have to make that argument if you just properly 774 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:35,760 interpret what Mark is saying here. 775 00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,840 So I remember I freshly saved, didn't know a thing about what I 776 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:43,200 just presented to you in the past half an hour, 45 minutes, 777 00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:46,640 didn't know one thing. I just came back to my Bible, 778 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:48,520 maybe look at different versions. 779 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:51,680 And here's what I read. And this is, this is even more 780 00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:53,520 clear if you have the new King James and the King James. 781 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,680 Look again at verse 17 and these signs and I'll quoted to you in 782 00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:57,720 the new King James and King James. 783 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:01,040 And these signs will follow those who believe. 784 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:05,240 And remember this, this specific thought raced through my mind. 785 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,720 It says that these signs will follow those who believe, not 786 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:10,880 that these believers will follow such signs. 787 00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:14,160 Right there, there, just right there. 788 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:21,640 And then it dawned on me to challenge a promise of God. 789 00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:27,600 It's called testing God. And that same kind of logic and 790 00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,680 argumentation and challenge is no different than Satan himself 791 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:33,720 who told Jesus what in the wilderness. 792 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:37,160 He quoted Psalm 91 concerning angelic protection. 793 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,080 He says, why don't you jump off the temple and see if this is 794 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,160 true? Do not test the Lord your God. 795 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:49,360 So to take a verse like this and to entertain the idea that we 796 00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:52,760 should try to see if God will come through in a miraculous way 797 00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:56,160 because the Bible presents the possibility of his promise of 798 00:46:56,160 --> 00:47:02,920 coming through for us is Antichrist. 1-2 Look at the 799 00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:06,600 context. Is the context here for us in a 800 00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:09,720 service to come together and pull out snakes out of a box and 801 00:47:09,720 --> 00:47:12,880 share some Kool-aid and see if we're all going to be OK? 802 00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:15,720 No. The context is world 803 00:47:15,720 --> 00:47:19,080 evangelization. The context is world missions. 804 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:23,120 The context is you disciples who invade foreign areas that have 805 00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:24,840 never heard the truth, never seen the light. 806 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:29,680 When you go, you can know that I will empower you in a special 807 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,320 way and I will protect you in a special way. 808 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:34,680 That's exactly what Mark is saying here. 809 00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:38,520 I'm with you and I'm going to tell you some of the ways I'm 810 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:42,840 going to be with you, that I'm going to see you working for my 811 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:44,480 namesake and I will work with you. 812 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,400 Look at verse 20. And they went out and preached 813 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:52,200 everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the 814 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:57,720 message by accompanying science. So this is not about us chasing 815 00:47:57,720 --> 00:48:01,120 snakes and chasing poison and going to debates or coming to 816 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:03,360 services and saying the Lord said we can do this, let's do 817 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:04,840 this. This is about a group of people 818 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,760 who are going into very dangerous and hostile territory. 819 00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:10,880 And as they go preaching the message, the Lord promised, I'm 820 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:14,000 going to be with you, I'm going to empower you, and I'm going to 821 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,160 protect you. And now that doesn't mean that 822 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:19,240 this is going to be signs that can be performed on demand or 823 00:48:19,240 --> 00:48:22,560 going to be consistent without any other option because these 824 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:28,240 same disciples would be martyred and they would be subject to the 825 00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:31,880 elements. This is something that we teach 826 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:34,400 in this church, that as long as you are walking in the will of 827 00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:38,520 God and as long as you are living for His name's sake, you 828 00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:41,960 are in essence immortal until he calls you home. 829 00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:44,440 As long as you're not foolish and as long as you're not living 830 00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,520 in sin, as long as you're abiding by the truth, the Lord 831 00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:51,280 will empower you and the Lord will protect you until the end. 832 00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:54,480 That's the essence of what Mark is saying here at the end. 833 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,480 And so I remember realizing that early in my walk. 834 00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:02,160 This is say that we will follow these signs says that they will 835 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,520 follow us. And I don't determine when they 836 00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:06,840 follow me. My job is simply to do what 837 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,040 these disciples were called to do and let's preach the word. 838 00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:12,520 And if God wants to empower me in a special way so that he can 839 00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:16,040 confirm that message, so be it. And if unknown to me, I'm in a 840 00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:19,720 dangerous place and I'm serving the Lord and there's an attack, 841 00:49:19,720 --> 00:49:22,440 whether through natural elements or through my persecutors, I'm 842 00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,080 going to trust that God's going to protect me. 843 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:26,600 And if he doesn't protect, it means my mission is done on a 844 00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:30,960 going home. So when you properly interpret 845 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:35,120 it, you see that there's a different understanding here. 846 00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:41,960 Now this is not my habit to quote church fathers and talk 847 00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:45,320 about manuscripts. It's it's my joy to preach what 848 00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:49,520 the Bible has to say. But we have to continue with the 849 00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:52,400 service. So let me just bring to you one 850 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,320 thought that blessed me from the ending of Mark, because I'm 851 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,320 going to share it to you because I believe it is God's 852 00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,640 authoritative word. Notice verse 20. 853 00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:05,200 And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked 854 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,640 with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. 855 00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:09,920 You've been with us since the beginning of Mark. 856 00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,320 And you heard throughout the Gospel of Mark that Mark seeks 857 00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:17,520 to portray the Lord Jesus Christ in a certain way in comparison 858 00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:21,160 to the other gospel accounts. Mark seeks to portray Jesus 859 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:23,920 Christ of Nazareth as the perfect servant of God. 860 00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:27,200 Remember. And what I find so fitting and 861 00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:31,760 so appropriate is that when you come to the last verse of the 862 00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:35,280 Gospel of Mark, what do you find the Lord Jesus Christ doing? 863 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:42,040 Working. He's working, He's still 864 00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:46,640 serving, but this time he's serving with the servants of God 865 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:51,040 to advance his Kingdom. So if you want to talk about 866 00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:55,680 thematic consistency, if you want to talk about whether this 867 00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:59,960 last part coincides and works with the rest of it, I argue 868 00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:02,000 that's just one example of how it does. 869 00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:05,040 Because throughout Mark, we're seeing Jesus working, serving, 870 00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:07,560 using his hands, less parables, more miracles. 871 00:51:08,240 --> 00:51:11,440 And now when you come to the final thought, the last snapshot 872 00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:14,200 of Christ that we get even in his resurrection as a in his 873 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:18,560 ascension, he's doing what working, working with his 874 00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:22,040 servants to advance his message. A message that is believed on 875 00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:25,240 today, a message that still saves, a message that is true 876 00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:29,000 and will always be true. Do you believe the gospel of 877 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,360 Jesus Christ? Because what we're about to 878 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,520 partake in together is for those who have put their trust in this 879 00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:39,600 message, it is reliable. It's undeniable. 880 00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:43,120 Yes, there's historical proof behind it. 881 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:49,360 Yes, it eclipses any other history, historical document, 882 00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:51,560 historical asserts, and historical event. 883 00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:54,080 And God has done that in His Providence. 884 00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:56,440 But not just Providence. This gospel has power. 885 00:51:57,240 --> 00:52:00,480 It has power. It has power to save you from 886 00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:03,600 the power of sin. It has the power to eliminate 887 00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:06,280 the penalty of sin. And the way in which you 888 00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:10,760 experience what is yes, historically recognized and and 889 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:13,920 found in documents, especially in our Bibles, is when you 890 00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:16,720 believe it by faith. You see, no matter how much 891 00:52:16,720 --> 00:52:18,760 evidence you're given, you're going to come to a place where 892 00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:20,160 you have to take a leap of faith. 893 00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:22,680 And if you think that's foreign or that's a cop out, you do it 894 00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:27,520 with almost everything in life. When it comes to looking back at 895 00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:31,360 the past, history, the books you love, the documentaries that you 896 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:34,760 watch, the with all those things, you were giving an 897 00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:37,880 element of faith. You're taking a leap of trust. 898 00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:40,440 I'm trusting those who have put this together to say this is 899 00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:42,320 what happened before my lifetime. 900 00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:48,360 But more than manuscripts, more than church fathers, anything 901 00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:50,320 else, though, those are a poor man. 902 00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:51,880 Those are paramount. We don't have blind faith. 903 00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,320 The testimonies of lies that have been transformed by this 904 00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:59,400 message, it's incredible. And I want you to have that 905 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:01,920 testimony. And again, the way you have that 906 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:05,800 testimony is when you repent and believe or you realize that 907 00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:09,080 there is a man who whose name Jesus Christ, He was from 908 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:11,480 Nazareth, but he was unlike any other man. 909 00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:16,480 He was perfect. You couldn't document his a sin 910 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:19,200 and his word and his action, his deeds and his reactions. 911 00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:22,840 The Bible testifies that he was internally pure, incorruptible. 912 00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:26,840 Even his accusers at his trial were fumbling and stumbling, 913 00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:28,720 trying to find something to bring against him. 914 00:53:30,240 --> 00:53:33,000 But he was not a martyr. He was not a victim at the hands 915 00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:35,440 of cruel people. He voluntarily laid down his 916 00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:38,160 life. He laid down his life because 917 00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:41,960 understanding our humanity, our sinfulness, and our bankruptcy 918 00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:44,840 before God, it would require a sacrifice. 919 00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:49,240 A sacrifice that would please God and His justice, and that 920 00:53:49,240 --> 00:53:51,760 would be able to be applicable to all men of all time. 921 00:53:52,680 --> 00:53:55,800 And the only way that one person could cover the sins of all 922 00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:59,240 humanity from past, present and future, if that person was 923 00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:04,440 eternal, if he suspended and superseded time, if he was above 924 00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:07,120 all of those things and yet became a man so that he can 925 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:09,720 mediate on behalf of humanity. This is the uniqueness of the 926 00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:14,560 person of Jesus Christ. There is none like Him and what 927 00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:16,920 the Bible demands is that you realize that He is unique, that 928 00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:20,000 He is fully God, fully man, truly God, truly man. 929 00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:22,600 But it wasn't just a stunt. It wasn't just a three-year 930 00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:25,240 visit in the earth. It was a mission. 931 00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:29,880 A mission to bring you out of the muck and mire and pull you 932 00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:33,960 out of the place where you will receive the wrath of God, apart 933 00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:37,760 from Christ. So let me just let me just speak 934 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:40,760 plain and clear. Have you at any point made a 935 00:54:40,760 --> 00:54:43,640 conscious decision that you understood what Jesus Christ of 936 00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:46,480 Nazareth did for you and that you accepted as a free gift? 937 00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:50,480 Have you ever done that? If you've never done that, I say 938 00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:53,120 this in love. You stand condemned before God. 939 00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:55,920 You do. Every sin that you've ever 940 00:54:55,920 --> 00:54:58,760 committed will be brought up on that final day, and you'll have 941 00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:03,280 to pay with eternal punishment. But at the same time, if you 942 00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:06,160 realize that God and His love for you, he will never 943 00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:09,160 compromise His justice. He'll never, ever, ever diminish 944 00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:13,000 His Holiness, but at the same time, His love is just as 945 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:16,040 fierce. And if you recognize, yes, His 946 00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:18,760 Holiness, but also His love that he wants to rescue from his 947 00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:22,000 wrath, rescue from eternal punishment, and he drank the 948 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:26,200 wrath of God himself, why would you deny it? 949 00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:30,560 And why wouldn't you accept the forgiveness that Christ offers 950 00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,440 you? And everything that you've ever 951 00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:35,240 done, everything that you've ever committed, will be washed 952 00:55:35,240 --> 00:55:39,080 clean, and you will not stand wondering if you will have 953 00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:42,200 eternal life. You can stand confident that you 954 00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:45,720 have been forgiven for all your sins and that God will keep you 955 00:55:45,720 --> 00:55:48,560 and He will preserve you, and He will walk with you in this life 956 00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:51,360 until He brings you home into His presence forever. 957 00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:53,560 That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 958 00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:58,120 And why we do this is because we're about to line up now and 959 00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,960 take these emblems, a piece of bread and a cup with the fruit 960 00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:04,440 of the vine to remember. It's not because of what I've 961 00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:06,560 done. It's not because what I perform, 962 00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:08,400 It's not because of my righteousness that I'm safe. 963 00:56:08,400 --> 00:56:10,080 It's because of what He's done in His body. 964 00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:12,800 It's because he shed His blood that I am forgiven. 965 00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:16,120 I have eternal life because of what He's done in his flesh and 966 00:56:16,120 --> 00:56:19,800 what He's done in His sacrifice. We have come to celebrate our 967 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:23,600 redemption in Jesus Christ. But this table is reserved only 968 00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:25,480 for those who believe in that message that I just preached. 969 00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,320 And so if you're a person here visiting, we're so glad that 970 00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,280 you're here. But I respectfully ask that you 971 00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:32,320 observe and don't don't participate. 972 00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,760 This is an ordinance that's only been given to the church and 973 00:56:35,760 --> 00:56:37,560 believer. If you do believe in this 974 00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:40,000 message, but your walk is not consistent with that message, 975 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:42,640 consciously you're living in a way where you're justifying sin. 976 00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:46,280 You would please your master more if you pause today and you 977 00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:48,800 reflected and repented than if you partook of this. 978 00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:52,320 And so I'm going to ask us to just pause now. 979 00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:54,520 And we're going to do this in a moment that praising can come 980 00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:56,640 up. But when it comes to this table, 981 00:56:56,640 --> 00:56:58,360 we're called to look in different places. 982 00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:04,240 One, we're supposed to look at Christ, Remember what he's done. 983 00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:09,240 Two, we're supposed to look at one another and remember that we 984 00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:11,240 are one body like this bread symbolizes. 985 00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:18,160 So if there's any friction, any unresolved issues, you please 986 00:57:18,160 --> 00:57:23,000 more, you please God more by reconciling than of eating or at 987 00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:24,560 least reconciling before you eat. 988 00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:28,560 And lastly, you look within, possibly examine yourself, 989 00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:31,320 right? And so look to the Lord, look to 990 00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:33,160 one another. Now look within and take this 991 00:57:33,160 --> 00:57:37,720 time to say, Lord, is my practice matching my profession. 992 00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:43,480 Lord, help me live for you. Help me live the way you called 993 00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:46,200 me to live and help me rest in your truth. 994 00:57:46,200 --> 00:57:49,080 Help me please You also, knowing that you've finished this for me 995 00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:51,960 and that I walk from grace, not for grace. 996 00:57:52,520 --> 00:57:55,680 So just in silence. I encourage you to, if you need 997 00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:58,640 to bow your head, examine your heart. 998 00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:00,760 We're going to sing and then we're going to eat.