Confidence in the Word of the Risen Savior

Sunday Service - Mar 14th (English)

Text: Mark 16:9-20

Main idea: The message of the gospels and the history of the church clearly shows us that we can only root our deepest confidence in the risen Lord and the enduring power of his Word, not in our own accomplishments, success or plans.

Outline:
We have total confidence that the text of the Bible has been accurately preserved.
We have total confidence that from its earliest days, the church had a firm foundation in the true story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
The early church drew its boldness and confidence from the risen Lord in the midst of hatred and persecution

Cross references:
Matthew 18:20
John 20:24-29
Matthew 28:16-20
1 Corinthians 10:12

Application:
Dig to the bottom of your heart to see - Where does your deepest confidence truly lie?
Take a careful look at the Bible you hold. Do you fully appreciate the power of the story that has brought that Bible into your hands? Let this story distill into your heart a DEEP confidence in the accuracy and power of this book.
When you consider the Bible, do you see it as just a book? Or do you see that behind this book stands the living power of the risen Jesus? Do you believe that this Savior is alive today, working to confirm his Word among his people, as he did from the earliest days of the church?
Are you aware of how much you have failed Jesus? What do you do with your sense of failure? Do you welcome it as a continual reminder to hate sin and to walk in the confidence of the risen Lord?

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Read text (Mark 16:9-20)

We have reached the end of the gospel of Mark. For me this has been a totally transformative journey. It has given me an opportunity to come face to face with the person of Jesus in a way that I have never done before.

Before we dive into the issues of our passage today, I wanted to pose a question for us - Where do you get your source of boldness or confidence, both for your life and faith?
The challenge for us is that most often, even in our faith, we want to draw our ultimate confidence and strength from our own spiritual stability, our purity, our performance, as well as the spiritual stability of those we look up to and admire.
Now, just to be clear, it is good to be encouraged by your progress in the faith. It is good to be encouraged by your peers and mentors. It is good to look up to heroes in the faith. And yet, it is very important that we place our true confidence and source of power in the Word of God and in the testimony of the risen Savior.
As we look at this last section of Mark I want to unpack this idea a bit more.
As many of you have heard, there is a lot of questions about this portion of your Bible. Many modern translations have double brackets around it and have a note that says it's not part of the oldest copies of the New Testament that we have.
When we hear of such things, it can be deeply unsettling to us. It seems to cast doubt on the accuracy of the Bible and our ability to trust it.
I will start by jumping right to the deep end of the pool by saying that we can be pretty certain that Mark 16:9-20 is was NOT written by Mark and was not part of the original ending of Mark.
Does this make me have less confidence in the Bible? No. Actually the opposite.
What do we know about the Bible, and the NT in specific? How much confidence can we have in the accuracy of its words?
We have total confidence that the text of the Bible has been accurately preserved.
Prepare to think here! This takes us into some very important information about our confidence in the Bible. You can access all my outlines and facts in the church app when the sermon is posted!
This next 10 minutes is going to be a mini lesson on where the Bible comes from and is ESSENTIAL for you to have in your back pocket when people make statements like, "Who really knows?? The Bible has been changed so many times..."
The Bible was is mostly written in two ancient languages: the OT in Hebrew and NT in Greek.
If we want to know the accuracy of the text we need to ask three questions:
How many copies do we have?
How old are the copies?
How many difference or errors do we have in this copies?
The answers to these questions are very simple and powerfully encouraging.
How many copies do we have?
Nearly 6,000 copies
No other ancient text has anything CLOSE to this many copies. The average for things like Caesars writings or the histories of Rome are around 10-12 copies.
How old are the copies?
The NT was written between 45-100 AD
The oldest copy we have is from 130 AD
Thousands of copies from the 200 and 300's
How much difference or errors do we have in these copies?
95% of the errors of unintentional scribal errors that are easily identified
5% of remaining errors are very easily corrected by looking at the rest of the manuscripts and comparing.
Side-note - NT scribes are one of the most under-appreciated people groups in church history!!
So how do we know that Mark 16:9-20 was not original? (this is just SOME of the data)
The earliest manuscripts (copies of the Greek New Testament) do not have it
Numerous church fathers and early christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen shows no awareness of the existence of the longer ending
Mary is mentioned, others are ignored.
Mary is presented as a new comer (as if we don't know which Mary is being spoken of)
No mention of Peter or Galilee (spoken by the angel just a verse earlier
The transition between vs. 8-9 is very awkward, especially in the greek because the subject of verse 8 is the women and the subject of verse 9 abruptly switches to assuming Jesus to be the subject
Verses 9-20 have a totally different style and structure of language.
18 totally new words never before used in Mark
Many of the manuscripts that do have it include it also have scribal notes and marks indicating that its an addition
Existence of ANOTHER shorter ending
The shorter ending usually occurs in the above witnesses between v. 8 and vv. 9–20, and reads as follows: “They announced briefly to those around Peter all the things they had been commanded. And after these things also Jesus himself sent through them from east to west the holy and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.”
Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark. Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.
All of these things and more point very clearly to the fact that this section was not originally written by Mark.
This comes from a very clear and obvious confidence BECAUSE the evidence for the original is so clear. In the small few passages that are like this, it is clear it's not original. ALSO it does not include or question any of our foundational christian beliefs.
What is it? And why have we left it in?
We have total confidence that from its earliest days, the church had a firm foundation in the true story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
Although it is pretty clearly not written by Mark and does not stand on the same level, it has been preserved as a witness of the early church and is part of the historical tradition that we inherit.

This added segment tells us some important things about the history of the that are immensely encouraging to our faith.
When we look closely at this passage, we see that is a collage of testimony that is drawing directly on the writings of other New Testament authors about the story of the resurrection.



What is interesting about this is that very early on in the history there were already fake gospels circulating, seeking to tell a different story of Jesus. When we look at this addition, we see that very early in the church, there is a clear vision of which New Testament writers are to be trusted, and which ones are not.
This short section, is in many ways a summary of the churches clear confidence in the full story of Jesus, against all the false stories that were competing for their attention.
“the decision by the LE’s [longer ending’s] author that the end of Mark was deficient [was] only possible at a time when the four Gospels had been collected and compared with one another” (Kelhoffer, Miracle and Mission, 15)
Even before the full Bible was officially assembled, we see the Spirit of God at work in the church to clarify and guide the church in the confidence of the truth.
Its interesting because this additional passage is in some ways evidence of the fact that verse 20 was taking place - the Lord was working from the earliest days of the church to communicate a clear message of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
This is so clear that early readers of Mark felt the need to add to the end, to complete the story, to make sure that everyone knows the full message of the risen Jesus that they so clearly knew to be true.
Mark 16:20
" And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs."
Matthew 18:20
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

We have total confidence that the text of the Bible has been accurately preserved.
We have total confidence that from its earliest days, the church had a firm foundation in the true story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
As we look at the historical witness of these two points we need to see here the powerful example of God at work in his church to preserve and communicate his word. This deepens our confidence as we see that there are CLEAR answers to some of the biggest questions that people bring against the Bible.
This passage is like a commentary note to us from the earliest believers that they had total confidence in the REAL message of Jesus apart from all the fakes that were circulating around them. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the ONLY gospels that were regarded as unique and true authority for the church.
The early church drew its boldness and confidence from the risen Lord in the midst of hatred and persecution
Notice the emphasis here:
"14 Later he appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen. 15 Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”
19 So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs."
We have a strong tendency to put our confidence and faith in strong leaders, in amazing experiences, in our stories and our statistics.
Notice how this text shows us that from the earliest days, in the midst of intense cultural pressures, the early christians knew that they BEST leaders were actually very weak on their own. They were a band of frightened men.
Jesus is the one who comes to rebuke them and Jesus is the one who promise to them strength and protection on their mission. Notice that this text DOES NOT say that all christians are immune to snake bites and poison, etc. It says that they signs will accompany his church as it goes forward.
They do not have power to produce these signs or control them. It's just something that will take place and when it does, it's a reminder that the Lord is with, he is guiding, he is leading, HE is your confidence.
John 20 gives us this clear picture of Jesus challenging the unbelief of Thomas -
"24 But Thomas (called “Twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”
But (Thomas) said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”
28 Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”"
Matthew 28:16-20
16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Notice how these gospel writers are all agreed in presenting the disciples as imperfect, weak and doubting through this season of life.
The disciples are frequently misplaced their confidence. They were confident in themselves. They were confident in their ideas of what Jesus should be. And their false confidence failed them in this time of crisis.
Jesus walks into the middle of that failure and calls them to follow him once again. Why? Because failed disciples actually make very good witnesses to the power of Jesus.
We often get this idea that the most confident christians are the ones that never fail, the ones that always have it figured out.
That is totally false. There is no such a thing as a follower of Jesus who has not failed. There are only those who UNDERSTAND that they have failed, and those who deny it and plunge deeper into sin.
1 Cor. 10:12
"...whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall."
Truly confident christians, ones who are following Jesus in joy and strength, are christians who are totally aware of their total weakness and failure.
Failed disciples make the best witnesses because have a deep and personal sense of how precious God's forgiveness and grace really is. They know they are forgiven much. They know they are not worthy to be called disciples. They know every breath of faith comes only through the Holy Spirit who is in them.
As we look at this addition to Mark, see this clear conviction, not just in the gospel writers themselves, but in the witness of the early church - their power was not the apostles, not miracles, not signs - but the fact that Jesus is ALIVE, he is seated on his throne, HE is the one who is WITH them to take this message to the world.
They are weak. But HE is strong within them.
Application questions:
Dig to the bottom of your heart to see - Where does your deepest confidence truly lie?
Take a careful look at the Bible you hold. Do you fully appreciate the power of the story that has brought that Bible into your hands? Let this story distill into your heart a DEEP confidence in the accuracy and power of this book.
When you consider the Bible, do you see it as just a book? Or do you see that behind this book stands the living power of the risen Jesus? Do you believe that this Savior is alive today, working to confirm his Word among his people, as he did from the earliest days of the church?
Are you aware of how much you have failed Jesus? What do you do with your sense of failure? Do you welcome it as a continual reminder to hate sin and to walk in the confidence of the risen Lord?