The first message carried of the resurrection had a special “addendum.” Tell Peter! Peter had openly and obviously failed the Lord but the message of the cross, the message proven by the resurrection is…,”Hey, I’m not through with you! Yes you failed but I am risen! It’s going to be a new day, a new life…”

Restoration is the very business of the cross! Where else is there forgiveness of sin? Where else is there reconnection and reconciliation between man and God? Where else can death be reversed…(because that’s what elimination of sin is)…where else can that be found? Nowhere! So the cross of Jesus alone is the only place of business and check this out…it’s the only one even open…why? Because He rose!

Mark Chapter 16 Verse 9

•Did you hear that? Out of whom He had cast 7 demons! Seven being the number of perfection and so look at it this way…Mary Magdalene, whom He had made perfectly clean…I love that because that’s what He does and has done in my life! Who knows how many demons had set up shop in me? I was conducting business day in and day out for darkness. Spreading decay and peddling depression…

•But He washed me, He cleansed me, and He sanctified me…called me out of this realm of ridiculousness and religion and lies and death and placed my feet upon solid rock…and that really is the key because the cleansed part, the washing part, you know what…I have to accept that by faith…I have to willfully receive God’s grace based upon His love and His promises…because I am still so manly, and not in a good way! HA!

•But my feet are set upon solid rock…and so even as I fail, even as I find myself so in the flesh and so unlike Him, so worried, so angry, so filled with wrath and aggression and impatience…and so often…He calls me His beloved, He calls me His own, He walks with Me, He restores me each day because each day I need it…I am perfect not in performance but rather perfect in position, firm upon a solid foundation…because of His sacrifice and His resurrection! I am perfectly clean…undeserved and humbled…and so I worship.

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 10 – 11

•A couple of things to note here. First notice, the message of provision from the cross was given to whom? Mary! “Woman behold your son,” speaking of John…Then, the empty tomb first discovered by whom? A group of four women! The first appearance of the risen Savior to whom? Mary Magdalene…a woman! And finally, the first account of the resurrection, the primary proclamation of the gospel (because without the resurrection there ain’t no good news!) look at this…carried by a woman!

•See a pattern? Me too! How the cross installs equality consistently in spite of cultural crud! Another pattern emerges as well in this word, “believe” which we will see repeated 7 times in the final statement of Mark…

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 12 – 13

•This is the account of the two that were walking on the road to Emmaus and He explained to them what had happened…the past 30+ years…the immaculate conception, the birth, the life, the crucifixion and the resurrection…and He did it by expounding upon the Old Testament and so these two get hyped and run to tell the rest of them but again…the rest did not believe!

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 14 – 15a

•Wow, see that? The Lord appears to them all and what does He address? Their unbelief and hardness of heart! Question…had they been perfect these last 3+ days? Was there not plenty to rebuke? He probably could have been there for hours rebuking them with a list…minute to minute even maybe…but He gets right to the point…the origin…the root…the reason for all of the sin in the first place…the reason why the strife continues…the reason why we not only don’t do more than is required but hardly even the minimum if that! Unbelief…pure and simple.

•This is the reason why growth is non-existent in our desire for the Word…in spiritual maturity and power…in our lives man…as we travel the same roads in the same circles and stay exactly as we are…which is not where we want to be most often…it’s not your circumstance, your age, your struggles, your WHATEVER….it’s much more simple than that…

•Unbelief…and check this out…this viscous cycle…unbelief in a nano-second turns to and is fed by hardness of heart!!! Man, that we would just have soft hearts…and change day by day…!

•And so notice the rebuke…alone and only for unbelief and hardness of heart…evil twins…but notice how long it lasts, and I love this! When we are hurt, angry, offended…we go the route of silence don’t we…waiting for an apology and even when it comes we can’t receive it…we have to heal…know what, at least a portion of that, maybe all of it…is carnal….sinful…because look at this, one breath Jesus delivers the correction, the next breath…”Go!”

•Represent Me! Carry My cause! Immediate is the restoration, instant is the reconciliation and urgent is the recruitment! And the same goes for us with the Lord and the same should go for us with others if our hearts are softened and we believe Him!

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 15 – 16

•Baptism is a work. Period. Something we do. Lemme prove it. God cannot be baptized for us and I cannot be baptized for you. You do it. Only you. Therefore it is your work. Now the Bible is clear in several places that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works lest anyone could or should boast and so this scripture…we must read it in the context of all of scripture!

•Baptism is a public act of disobedience to the flesh, to the world, to sensual reason and rationale and it is a public act of obedience to the Spirit. So read this as such, “Whoever believes will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Simple as that because when folks ask who you are, the correct answer is not your name…it is what you do…and what you don’t do…and so the Siamese twin of belief…is obedience…it is the first fruit of belief…

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 17 – 18

•Man context and order are so important here! So important! People have gotten hurt and led far astray by groups, movements, and teachers who twist the scriptures to fit into their own ideas forsaking the totality of scripture including context and order!

•First, these admonitions were given by Jesus in the context of them going into all the world and preaching the gospel! This is not the recipe for circus church! Putting on a show…but rather Jesus is saying that as you go….you will encounter demons…so…cast them out! You will miraculously learn different languages. You will remove pests and you will encounter even folks desiring to poison you but I will protect you…GO and HEAL!

•And so context but also order! “And these things will FOLLOW those who believe.” Therefore the primary key is what…the primary sign is what…believe! And the fruit? Obedience! Yes you’re getting it!!

Mark Chapter 16 Verse 19

•You don’t sit when there’s work left to do, right? Well then what does this mean? The work is finished! All by Jesus!

Mark Chapter 16 Verse 20

•Again notice what is primary? The preaching of the Word! It’s first and foremost. Why? Because the Lord will confirm the truth of the Word with signs and wonders but the signs followed…not preceded. Any time the signs are put up front and the big deal is made over the signs rather than the giving of the gospel message then God’s order is being reversed!

And so the final pattern of Mark’s gospel closes. A pattern that began in Chapter 15 and carries even to today. An order, a pattern, a plan, a story…your story!

That the Savior gave His life, the sin separation between God and man now bridged by a Mediator, Jesus the Christ…proven and solidified (solid rock) eternally through the resurrection bringing restoration and equality to all mankind…life as it was intended…in consciousness and constant communion…communication with our Creator which is initiated, strengthened, fed…and surging through what? 7 times in verses 9-20 as Mark closes his gospel, as Peter reflects on what has transpired in his heart…7 times…through belief! And then we go…

And He goes with us…and Mark says, “Amen.” Feels like there’s more doesn’t it…because there is. The story continues in Mark, in Peter, in me and in you…in each of us! As God works and confirms and accompanies and leads…the pattern is clear, the call is hand carried by God Himself to you today…that He did it all, He paid it all, just so you and I can be made free, made alive, and made to surge! If we would un-harden our hearts man…and believe Him! We will be all we were meant to be…and all that we ourselves desire to be!