Hope

And read verse 11 with me. You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. And in your right hand, there are pleasures forever. Father, I thank you for that beautiful message in that psalm, Lord. That prophecy of the resurrection, Lord. And you fulfilled it when you rose from the dead three days later. Lord, I thank you for the fact that we can dwell in your presence because you are a living Savior.

And so, Father, I just pray that your Holy Spirit would continue the work that you've begun here this morning as we sang your praises. Lord, I pray that your Spirit would continue to work in me. Lord, I pray that your Spirit would do your work in our hearts. Lord, your Word tells us that you are the God of all hope. And so, I pray that you, the God of all hope, would fill us with joy and peace in believing.

Lord, do that work in our hearts today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 16. Mark, chapter 16. We're going to depart from our usual study in the book of Matthew that we've been doing for a special message about the resurrection. I've been praying for the past few weeks about what I was supposed to do this morning.

And about a week or so ago in my devotions, I happened to be in this last chapter of the book of Mark. And as I was reading every now and then, the Lord just sort of lays it all out for me. And that was kind of what happened. God just gave me several points in this, and I thought, man, I know exactly what I'm supposed to do. As a matter of fact, that's what I'm supposed to do.

That's what I wrote in my journal that morning. Well, I know what I'm doing for Resurrection Sunday, because the Lord just laid it out. The title of the message this morning is Hope. Because I think hope is something that's lacking right now. So, I'm going to be a 14-year-old girl here for just a minute, okay? So, last Sunday, our dog died. And that was, it was very hard for us.

And it's the most, yeah, I think it's the most. It's the most. The only dog I've ever claimed as my own died a few years ago, and that was very hard for me. But this one was worse somehow. It was just different. And I think it's the culmination of a lot of loss over the last couple of years, all encapsulated in one tiny little furry body, right? And so, when I got that message, I got it in between the services, but I was a big boy.

I put my big boy pants on, and I held it together for second service. And then when we had to tell my girls that night, that's when we all just kind of lost it. So, all that to say, I come home on Tuesday. Tuesday, might have been Monday. Come home on Monday to let the dogs out, because we have two. Well, we had two. Now, we have one. Let the dogs out, and one of them wasn't there.

And I was like, well, that's a bummer. Where's the other dog? And I was just like, man, sometimes life on earth is a bummer, you know? Sometimes life on this earth is just, I don't like it, because I get tired of hardship and heartache all the time. And I thought, man, I just want to go home. And it's like... It's like the Lord just said, imagine what it's like to live without hope.

And I thought, man, that's really got to be bad. Because as a believer, I still live with this glorious hope, the hope that this is not it for me. And when I can say, man, I'm tired of life on this earth. I know I have something to look forward to that's beyond here, a home not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. I know I have that waiting for me. I can't imagine what it's like to live.

I can't imagine what it's like to live without that hope. And so, with what God kind of showed me in Mark chapter 16, plus the events of the last couple of weeks, I thought, man, is there any better time for us to look and say, man, we have hope. And so this morning, we want to look at Mark chapter 16. But before we do, I think it's important to build a little context for Mark chapter 16, so that we go into it with a little bit of knowledge.

In Mark chapter 14, if we were to go back and read it, we would see that what took place in Mark chapter 14 was both the betrayal and the arrest, the arrest of Jesus there in the garden. Judas had conspired with the religious leaders because the religious leaders had grown jealous of Jesus and his popularity. They had grown jealous of Jesus and the following that he had gained. And they really hated Jesus because he stood, just like we've been talking about on Sunday mornings, against their religious system with the truth of what God's word had to say.

And so, he conspired with them for that little bit of silver to betray his Lord. And so, that night... He conspired at that great feast that Jesus had with the disciples, that last feast that he had with them. He said, one of you is going to betray me. And it was Judas, and he said, what you do, do quickly. And so, they all went off to the garden together for Jesus to pray.

And it was while Jesus was there in the garden that he prayed, Lord, if there's any other way, then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And of course, Peter's falling asleep because he can't hold his business together. Jesus had already told Peter, hey, you're going to end up denying me three times. And Peter said, no, that's not true at all.

And then the religious leaders with some soldiers show up, and they arrest Jesus. They take him captive, and they take him, and they begin to put him on trial. And that's what we see take place in Mark chapter 15, is we see the trial of Jesus. As you see Jesus stand trial before the Sanhedrin, and they concoct charges against him, we then see Jesus stand trial before...

Before the Roman leaders, and they determine that what they'll do is crucify him, because that's what the people want them to do, and they feared an insurrection. Of course, before they made that decision to crucify him, they thought, perhaps we can pacify the people by simply punishing him. And that was when he bore those 39 stripes on his back, those 39 stripes that, may I say, most people don't survive. But he did, because God kept him alive in order to bear the cross.

full brunt of God's wrath upon sin. And once they found him not guilty, they said, what do we do with him now? And the crowd said, crucify him. And he said, can I crucify your king? And they said, we only have one king, and that's Caesar. And he knew he only had one choice, to follow the crowd. So that's what he did. And so the rest of what we see in Mark chapter 15 is we see the death of

Jesus there on the cross as he breathed his last and gave up the ghost. And he was laid, as we sang in that song, in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, completely left for dead. All of that took place on Good Friday. And then, of course, there was what I didn't realize was termed, although it makes sense to me, Silent Saturday, where they all sat back and said, what are we going to do now?

What are we going to do now? Because all of our hopes seem to have died. All of our hope seemed to be lost. Everything that we had put our faith in just seemed to have fallen apart right in front of our very eyes. What are we going to do? And all they knew to do was do what they'd done every day, go back to bed that night and wait till morning. And that brings

us to Mark chapter 16. Now, I'm going to read the entire chapter to us, and then I'm going to go back and I'm going to make some points. So look at Mark chapter 16, verse 1. It says, when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought spices so they might come and anoint him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

They were saying to one another, who will roll the stone away for us for the entrance of the tomb? Looking up, they saw the stone had been rolled away, though it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, wearing a white robe, and wearing a white robe, wearing a white robe, And they were amazed. And he said to them, don't be amazed.

You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. They went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had gripped them. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.

Now, after he had risen early on the first day of the week, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with him while they were mourning and weeping. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along.

On their way to the country, they went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. Afterward, he appeared to the 11 themselves as they were reclining at the table, and he reproached them for their unbelief and their hardness of heart because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized, shall be saved, but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

These signs will accompany those who believed in my name. They will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. They will pick up serpents. And if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. So then when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

And they went out and preached everywhere. While the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. It's quite a story, is it not? These ladies are on their way to the tomb. Remember, Jesus had been put into Joseph's tomb, and they would always seal that off with a stone. The part Mark leaves out is the fact that a guard of soldiers was placed there

because the religious leader said, listen, this deceiver said that he would come back to life. I think it's interesting that the religious leaders remembered that Jesus said, he would come back to life. But the ladies that went to go see him, the disciples, all of his followers did not remember that. Only the religious leaders remembered that part. They said, unless they come and steal his body and try to say he's risen from the dead,

let's put a guard of soldiers there. And so as these ladies show up, they kind of think, what are we going to do? Not only is there a guard of soldiers there, but we need to roll this stone away. But the good thing is, is that the stone had already been rolled away. You see, while Mark chapter 14 seemed like a chapter of defeat, while Mark chapter 15 seemed like a chapter of hopelessness,

Mark chapter 16 is what we would call the chapter of hope. Because while, as I mentioned the other night in my little podcast that I put out, while it seemed as though everything had fallen apart, the story of redemption had just fallen into place. But you see, the story of redemption would not be complete until Jesus rose from the dead. And so as I read this chapter, Mark chapter 16, this chapter of hope, there are three lessons in hope that stuck out to me.

And that's what we're going to spend our time talking about this morning, is these three lessons of hope. Number one, Jesus was victorious over death. Did you notice what it said when they showed up to the tomb? It says in verse 5 that entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed. And he said, Can you imagine being these ladies showing up at the tomb,

and the stones rolled away, and they think, well, that's odd. I wonder why the stones rolled away. And when they go in, there's just a young man clothed in white. Now, we know that this young man was an angel that was sitting there, waiting. To give them the message. You know, he was checking Facebook and trying to figure out when they were going to show up.

Like, surely these girls are going to show up at some time. Jesus said, people are going to show up. Because they didn't believe what I had to say. And finally, they show up, and there he is sitting at the right. What he's sitting at the right of would be the stone slab that they would have laid him on. Remember what they saw when he was sitting at the right of that stone slab?

They saw the wrappings that he would have been encased in there, as if he had disappeared. Like, they were in the same position, just simply deflated. And what was at the front of where he was sitting? Probably right next to where the angel was sitting. It was the napkin that would have covered Jesus' face. It was folded up, sitting right there. And right next to those wrappings and that napkin that was over Jesus' face,

sat this angel. Can you imagine what it was like walking in? And they walk in, and they say, they just looked amazed. And the angel says, listen, I know why you're here. You're here for Jesus, the Nazarene. Nazarene, I love how he referred to him, the one who was crucified. Lest there be any question as to whether or not Jesus actually died, he was the one who was crucified.

He said, he's not here because he's risen. Now go and tell everybody because he's going to meet you in Jerusalem, just like he said. You see, Jesus was victorious over death. There's some subheadings under this. There's a handful of them, actually. What does it mean that he was victorious over death? Why is that important to us? Well, according to Romans 1, verse 4, and I had them put some scriptures up here.

We may or may not turn to them. And if you don't have time to turn to them, or you're new at navigating your Bible, that's okay. Simply write them down or just take note of them mentally. In Romans 1, verse 4, it says that he was proved to be the Son of God with power when God raised him from the dead. You see, Jesus, being victorious over death, proved everything that he had been saying.

See, Jesus had made some really bold claims. He said, tear this temple down, and in three days, I'll raise it up again. And as you make some claims like that, those are things you kind of have to say are true. You kind of have to prove those out. Otherwise, it causes you to be a lunatic and a liar. And people don't take you very seriously. As a matter of fact, you're somewhat delusional at that point in time

if you say you can overcome death. But everything that Jesus said that he was, was proved absolutely. Absolutely to be true when God raised him from the dead, when he was victorious over death. The second thing that is amazing about the fact that he's victorious over death is that it means that my sins are really forgiven. This one, if you can, I'd like for you to turn to 1 Corinthians 15.

Over to your right, a few books. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, I would call the great chapter. Chapter on the resurrection and why it's so important. There were some who were denying that there was any kind of resurrection from the dead, that there was any kind of life after this. And he said, listen, that doesn't make any sense because if there's no resurrection, then Jesus isn't alive.

And if Jesus isn't alive, then our preaching is in vain. And if our preaching is in vain, then you are still in your sins. In other words, if Jesus was not victorious over death, then it means that his sacrifice that he said would be enough to cover sin was not actually enough. However, it was not the case. Pick up in verse 13. It said, But if there is no resurrection from the dead, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise. If, in fact, the dead are not raised, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is worthless, and you are still in your sins.

Those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men the most to be pitied. Ha, but wait. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection from the dead. You see, Christ has been raised from the dead,

which means that God approved of the sacrifice. He said that sacrifice is sufficient for the covering of sin. And since Jesus is victorious over death, that means Jesus is victorious over sin. Why? Because death is as a result of sin. Therefore, we know that we are no longer in our sins, our sins. Therefore, we know that we are no longer in our sins, our sins have been completely forgiven,

no longer held over our heads. The third thing that it means if Jesus is victorious over death is that it means that I have a living advocate with the Father. It means I have a living advocate with the Father. As a matter of fact, if you were to look over at the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, verse 25. Again, go to your right just a little bit. If you don't have time, that's fine.

Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25. And this is what it says. Hebrews 7, verse 25. Therefore, he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for him. The beautiful truth of the fact that Jesus is alive and was victorious over death means that you and I do not serve a dead Savior. We do not serve a dead God.

We serve a God who is sitting at the right hand of the Father who is constantly making intercession for us. That means that there is hope every single day of my life. That as I live this life, and sometimes I'm victorious and sometimes I fail, the Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for me. And it gives me hope every single day because I have a living advocate with the Father.

But then there's one other thing that's amazing about the fact that Jesus is victorious over death. It means that, death is not the end. It's only a change of address. Death is not the end. It's only a change of address. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15. I should have told you to hold your finger there. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

And I want you to look down at verse 54 of 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

It says, but when this perishable, meaning this body that I'm living in, will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God

who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Brothers and sisters, death for us is simply a change of address. You see, the moment that we breathe our last on this side of eternity, we breathe our first on the other side of eternity.

There's a lot of fear in death, and may I say, I deal with it a lot. And every time that fear begins to come up, I remind others as I remind myself, that Jesus overcame death. That it no longer holds us. It's no longer the fear that I face, because now I realize that death is simply the shedding of this body, so that I can put on my brand new body. You see, it tells us in the book of Romans

that in this body I groan. I groan not because I want to be unclothed, but because I want to be further clothed. That this mortality would put on immortality. That this perishable would put on the imperishable. And because Jesus, because Jesus is victorious over death, scripture calls him the first fruits of those who will be raised from the dead. That's why when you look in scripture

at the body that Jesus lived in after he was raised from the dead, it gives us a really good indication of the body that we will live in. It will no longer be bound by the physical things of this earth. It will no longer be bound by the pain of this earth. It will no longer be bound by the agony, the excruciating things of this earth. It will be completely set free.

And we will live in peace with God and we will live in peace with each other and we will live forever with our savior. You see, Jesus was victorious over death. And because Jesus is victorious over death, our lives have hope.

Number two, there is hope for the broken. There is hope for the broken. I took note of a handful of things. Go back to Mark chapter 16. I took note of a handful of things of broken people in Mark chapter 16. Maybe you noticed the same thing. You know the first thing I noticed? How many people didn't believe Jesus was alive? Even with eyewitness accounts. Why did the three ladies

or those handful of ladies show up at the tomb that morning? It wasn't because they wanted to be like, surprise, Jesus, we're here, right? Because they thought he was gonna be alive. No, why'd they show up? It said they'd bought spices. Remember, Jesus was buried in a hurry because it was the end of the, of the day and they wanted to get him off of the cross

before the Sabbath day so that they could celebrate the rest of Passover without this body hanging on the cross. And so he was buried in a hurry. So they didn't go through the proper process of burying him. Normally what they would have done is they would have embalmed him in spices and things like that so that the body wouldn't stink quite as bad and it was a way just to simply honor the dead.

So why did those ladies show up that morning? Well, they showed up that morning not because they were expecting to see a living savior but because they were expecting to see a cadaver. Because they were expecting to see a dead man. They were expecting to see a dead body that they could show a great deal of love and concern for by anointing it with the proper spices and giving it the proper burial.

You know why? Because even though Jesus said, I'm going to be crucified, but three days later I will rise again, all they heard was, I am going to be crucified. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Right? Because they didn't hear that part. Why? Because they didn't believe him. They didn't believe that that was what was gonna happen. I've always said, I think,

doubting Thomas gets a bad rap, right? Because he's the only one that ever gets the title doubting, right? He's the only guy that gets that name right in front of, or gets that title right in front of his name. We should be like all of the doubters because that's who they all were. Well, then the ladies show up to tell the disciples and they're like, he's alive.

And they're like, stop it. You guys are ridiculous. We were there when he died. No one comes back from that. They're like, we saw him. Whatever. But then did you notice there was a third time? It says that, let's see, where was it? It says, verse 12, after that he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.

And then they went and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. You know who those two other people were? If we were to look at Luke's account, we would find out that there were two disciples on the road to Emmaus and Jesus just happened to appear to them. And he says, hey kids, what's up? And they didn't recognize him, right? Because he's in his glorified body.

They didn't recognize him. And he's like, hey, what are you guys talking about? They're like, have you been living under a rock? Do you not have Fox News, right? Do you not know what's going on? Jesus, the guy that we'd all put our hope in was crucified today. And now we don't know what we're gonna do. And he's like, son of a gun, right? That's probably not what he said,

but that's what I think he said. And he's talking with them and walking with them. And he began at that point to show them how throughout all of the Old Testament it had been prophesied that this Jesus, Jesus would be crucified. Well, they get back to their home on that road. And as they get back to their home, they say, why don't you stay and eat with us? And he says, that's a great idea.

So they break bread and he blesses the bread. And as soon as he blesses the bread, their eyes were open and they're like, and then what happened to Jesus? Gone. He took off. And what those two disciples on the road to Emmaus do, they went running back to the disciples, right? They'd made that whole long trip and they're like, we gotta go tell his boys. He's alive.

And so they show up and they're like, guys, Jesus is alive. And they're like, would you stop telling stories? Would you stop making stuff up? Because they didn't believe. And you know what's amazing? It says that Jesus showed up. Now he did rebuke them for their unbelief as well he should have, because by the time that many people show up to tell you a story that people that you trust,

you should believe it by that point in time. But while he rebuked them for their unbelief, did you notice he didn't reject them? Did you notice Jesus wasn't like, and you're done now. You're not my disciples anymore. No. He rebuked them and then he commissioned them. Because Jesus uses broken people to go tell his story. But you know, those weren't the only broken people

that we read about in this chapter. Did you know who else I read about in this chapter? The very first person that he showed up to. Did you notice what it says? Verse nine. Now after he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared to, Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. Who's the first person he showed up to talk to? He shows up to this chick

who was so crazy at one point in time. She was so whacked out at one point in time that she was possessed by seven demons. Now what on earth do you do to open yourself up to that much demonic possession? I'll tell you what, it wasn't anything good. It wasn't because she was in Sunday school. It's because she was so, so broken by sin. And she was so oppressed,

possessed, and depressed by the enemy that her life seemed completely ruined and no one can help her. But there was one man who looked at her different than any other man had. You see, I would venture to say that every other man looked at her in a way to use her, but Jesus looked at her in a way to save her. And Jesus took that broken soul and he cast out those demons.

He got rid of all of that garbage in her life and he completely cleaned her up. And as he completely cleaned her up, she became his follower. And while she too had a hard time believing that this Jesus could be alive, she was still willing to stick around to the tomb. And Jesus went up to this formerly very broken woman who was broken first of all because of the things of the world and the possession of the enemy and now broken by her unbelief.

And Jesus very tenderly, he talked to her. You see, I believe it's John that gives us this account. I take that back. I think it's Matthew that gives us this account where Jesus shows up and she thinks that he's the gardener. She thinks he's the one that's tending the garden and she says, please, if you could just tell me where they've laid his body, if you just tell me where they've taken him,

I just want to go see my Lord. And Jesus just has one thing to her. Remember, he just goes, Mary. And there was a way that he said her name that was different than anybody else. It's probably the first clear word she'd ever heard in her life. Remember, because she had been possessed by seven demons. And when he cast those demons out of her, I bet the first thing he said to her was,

Mary. And in that same tone that she'd heard the day that she'd been set free, she heard the voice of Jesus again standing there in that garden through her tear-stained eyes, through her unbelieving heart, through her complete brokenness, she heard, Mary. And she knew exactly who it was. And he said, don't hold on to me right now. Go tell my disciples. Go tell them that I'm alive.

Because Jesus takes time with the broken, and there's great hope for those that are broken. But there's one more name, and I think it's the name that stuck out to me the most in this trail of broken lives that Jesus gave hope to in his resurrection. And that name, the name is Peter. Did you notice in verse six, excuse me, verse seven, that this was what the angel told the ladies to do.

He said, but go, tell his disciples and Peter, he's going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. If you're a person that likes to write in your Bible, that'd be an interesting one to maybe bracket because I think it's a really important phrase that's given to us. It's a really important phrase that's given to us. It's a really important phrase that's given to us.

It's a really important phrase that's given to us. Because remember what happened to Peter? I alluded to it a little bit at the beginning of the message. You see, Jesus was sitting around with his disciples and he said, here's the problem, boys. All of you are gonna be forced to run from me tonight. You're all gonna forsake me tonight. And Peter looked at the other guys and he goes,

I don't know about these guys, but I'm not going anywhere. And Jesus goes, Peter. And I think he kind of sighed like that because he knew what was coming. And he said, Peter, before the rooster crows, you'll have denied three times that you even know me. And of course, Peter goes, I don't know what you're talking about. And then Jesus was arrested. Peter started off by being a really brave guy.

Remember, he took the sword and was swinging it around and thank God he was sleepy because he only whacked off someone's ear and not their head. And then I think the greatest miracle of that whole section gets completely ignored oftentimes that Jesus goes, Peter, not the sword, not this time. This isn't why we're here. And then he picks the ear up and he puts it back on his head.

Can you imagine being the servant whose ear was taken off? He's just like, son of a gun. I think that phrase was used a lot more than we give a credit for. Anyway, so that takes place and everything seems to be going good. Peter's like, I told you, Jesus, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right there with you. So they take Jesus captive. They take him to trial and Peter kind of follows at a distance

and finds himself near. Where the Sanhedrin met, warming himself by a fire in the courtyard and then a young lady calls her a girl. She said, aren't you one of his disciples? And all of a sudden that fear washed over Peter. And he goes, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met the man before. He continued warming himself by that fire and somebody else came along and said,

you have a Galilean accent. Are you sure you're not one of his disciples? And he goes, I have no clue who you're talking about. I've never seen that man before. And of course, one more person comes along and says, I just know I've seen you with him. He curses and says, I don't know him. And as soon as he said, I don't know him, the rooster crowed. Remember what happened?

Jesus was walking out and he met eyes with Jesus and he goes, oh. He ran off and it says he wept bitterly. I think if there was anyone that was broken at this point in time, it was Peter. Because remember some of the things we've talked about in the book of Matthew, that Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father. I think those words were running through Peter's mind

as he just denied that he even knew Jesus and he's out weeping bitterly. And so Jesus makes sure that this angel knows. He goes, look, here's the deal. There's gonna be some ladies coming. This is what you need to tell them. You need to remind them of what I said and tell them, go tell my disciples and make sure that they include Peter. Because he's gonna need this.

Because he's broken right now. And friends, as somebody who understands more than anything in the world, what it's like to know I've let my savior down, to go, I'm broken. I have found myself putting my name in that exact same spot. Go tell my disciples and Ryan that I'm alive and that I'm not mad at them.

Maybe you can relate to that this morning. And perhaps you're looking at your life and going, man, if I was to describe my life in one word, the word would be broken. That's okay. Because what I see right here in this story of the resurrection, what I see right here in the story of what Jesus did, because he's alive, we can know that there is hope for all of us that are broken.

As a matter of fact, remember what we're told in the book of Isaiah when God said, thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy hill. With who? Those who are of a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart. You see, how can we ever have hope in our lives when the only place we can find hope is when we're completely broken?

See, I'm of the belief, according to everything that I read in scripture, that salvation is for only those who know how broken their lives are. Brothers and sisters, not only is there a broken heart, not only is Jesus victorious over death, but there is hope for the broken.

Number three, there's hope in the finished work of Christ. There is hope in the finished work of Christ. I've already talked some about this word, so I won't belabor it too much, but I think one of my more favorite verses in scripture is John chapter 19, verse 30. Just write it down. Yeah, reference it if you want to. We won't turn there because there's just three little words

that come to us out of John chapter 19, verse 30. It says, It is finished. It's that last thing that he cried from the cross. It's that last thing that he said before he gave up his spirit. You see, the reason why he said that is because that's exactly what had just taken place. The work of the cross was finished. But do you know what one of my other favorite verses is?

It comes to us. It's actually in Mark chapter 15, and so I want you to look over there real quick. Look at Mark chapter 15, and I want you to look at verses 37 and 38. It says, And Jesus uttered a loud cry, it is finished, and he breathed his last. And then look at what it says in verse 38. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now, that's a verse that if you don't know very much

about the Old Testament, you could breeze right by that and have no clue exactly what that means. But if you know very much about the Old Testament, if you know very much about the tabernacle and the way the temple was set up, then you have a really good understanding of why that verse is so powerful. You see, the tabernacle, and then on later the temple, was set up with three different areas. You had the outer courtyard where anybody could be.

Any of the Jewish people could be in that outer courtyard. And then there was an inner place, a place that you could come to that was the holy place. Only the priests could go in the holy place. And in the holy place dwelt the table of showbread, the candelabra, and the altar of incense was in this holy place. Only the priests could go in there. But separating where the altar of incense

and the Ark of the Covenant was, was this veil. And this veil was very thick. Depending on which commentary you read, you find that the veil was anywhere between four inches to 16 inches thick. And this veil separated, everything else from the tabernacle that certain people could go to at certain times, from the Ark of the Covenant. In the Ark of the Covenant,

on top of it sat this thing called the mercy seat. And this mercy seat was where the high priest would go once a year to sprinkle the blood of the atoning sacrifice on the mercy seat to make atonement for the people one more time. Now, when Jesus was crucified, what did he spill a great deal of? He spilled a great deal of his blood. Where was that blood then?

It had been taken, not physically, but very spiritually speaking, it was taken to that mercy seat and it was sprinkled on that mercy seat. And as it was sprinkled on that mercy seat, not only did God atone for the sins of the people for one more year, he did away with sin forever. And now anyone who comes to Jesus on the other side of that veil can have their sins sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. But you see, that veil was there to separate man from the presence of God.

Why? Because until sin was fully dealt with, man could never go into the presence of God. But when Jesus died once and for all and finished the work of atonement, he made a way for us to come boldly to the throne of grace. That's why God, in a very physical way, when Jesus cried out to Telestai, paid in full, it is finished, God said, that's right. And he tore the veil,

showing that we now, if our sins have been made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, can go directly to God. We don't have to go through a priest. We don't have to go through anyone else or anything else. We go directly to the presence of God. The book of Hebrews tells us that we can go boldly to the throne of grace. Why? Because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Because the work has been finished. Now all of those things are amazing and that's what took place to build up to this verse that I want to tell you about. In Mark chapter 16. So I want you to go to the end of Mark chapter 16 and I want you to look at verse 19 because this finished work of Christ is just so amazing. I want you to notice what it says. Verse 19.

So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Now, Mark is what we call the brief gospel. Okay? It does not give you as much detail as any other gospel account. Basically, Mark chapter 16 just covered over 40 days worth of material in one short little chapter, right? Because Jesus rose from the dead,

is with his disciples off and on for about 40 days, but on that 40th day, Jesus gathered all of his disciples and he went up on the mountain. And remember what happened while he was on the mountain? He gave them this commission to go into all the world to preach, teach, and make disciples. And as he gave them this commission, he stood there, and I kind of want to know how it went.

Was there sort of a, was it a, I don't know how he did it. I don't know how his hand motions looked, but all of a sudden, he starts ascending into heaven. And as he ascends into heaven, his disciples go,

and they watch him go all the way up. And did you notice what happened when he ascended into heaven? When he ascended into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of the Father. It's an interesting thought, isn't it? That Jesus, that Jesus goes to heaven and he's not pacing the floor right now. You know, isn't that kind of neat? Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father.

Why? Well, the answer is given to us in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 12. So go over there real quick.

Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 12.

Oh, what the hey, let's start in verse 11 for context's sake. Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 11, says this. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never save sins. Oh, but pay attention close. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. Why did Jesus sit down

at the right hand of God? Because all of his work was finished. You see, there was nothing else Jesus needed to do to make you and I righteous in his eyes. There was nothing else Jesus needed to do to finish our redemptive work because it was all completed at the cross. It was all finished at the cross. And brothers and sisters, we can rest in that finished work of Jesus Christ.

You see, once that work was completed and once you've put your faith in that finished work, there's not anything else that needs to be done in our lives. I don't need to make myself more holy. I don't need to try to make myself more lovable to God. I don't need to make myself more righteous in his eyes because quite frankly, scripture tells us that all of our good works are like filthy rags.

Which by the way, if you want a real clear picture of what that means, that word could be translated menstrual cloths. That's how God views our good works. So there's nothing we can do to be accepted in God's eyes. There's nothing that we can do to be good enough in him. As a matter of fact, sometimes when we try to do that, God's like, that's an offense to me

because I did it all at the cross. Now we rest in him. You see, that's the Sabbath day that you and I experience now. Is that every time we think, oh Lord, I hope I'm gonna be good enough, we remind ourselves, he says I already am. Not because of who I am, but because of what he did. I can find myself resting in the fact that though I am broken as far as the world is concerned,

I am whole as far as God is concerned. I may see all of the things that are wrong in my life, but when he looks at me, all he sees is the blood of Jesus Christ covering all of my sins. Therefore, when God sees me, God is pleased. God is pleased with who I am. God is pleased with the sacrifice that Jesus made for me. And now he looks at me with his heart so full of love.

No more wrath towards my sin. No more, no more anger towards the things that I've done wrong, but simply as having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, made brand new in him. And brothers and sisters, the work is finished. And I think that there's probably some folks here this morning that need to remind yourselves, the work is finished. But you know, there was one other thing,

and I gotta be honest, it occurred to me while we were singing this morning during worship, so I didn't have or put the verse up on the screen. Not only is the work finished in me in that God looks at me and he's completely pleased with me because of the blood of Jesus Christ, but something else occurred to me that as I live in this body, he will not stop loving me until I'm completely done, until he continues to fashion in me who he wants for me to be. God will continue loving me until I am perfected as far as this world is concerned. I want you to notice what it says.

Look over at Philippians chapter one. I know I've played Bible Olympics with you this morning. Please bear with me. Philippians chapter one. If you can't get there in time, no problem, I'll just read it to you. Philippians chapter one, verse six. Notice what it says. For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it

until the day I die. Until the day of Christ Jesus. See, I can rest in the finished work of Christ because not only is his redemptive work finished, but he promises to complete the sanctifying work that he's doing in my life right now. You say, I want to overcome these areas of sin. I want to overcome the areas of failure. I want to become a good dad. I want to become a good husband.

I want to become a good follower of Jesus Christ. I want to become a good servant of Jesus Christ. But sometimes I feel like I can't ever do that. Well, I have good news for you. It told us right here that his work will be completed because in the same way that his work of redemption is finished, his work of sanctification will be completed until the day we go home to be with him.

Amen. Brothers and sisters, today is a great day of hope. Now, I don't ever like to finish these things up without giving you a call to respond. And so, I want to speak really quickly as we close up here with two aspects of this call to respond. I always know that as I address a group of people, whether I know them or not, that the potential is there, that there's two different types of people

that sit in an audience. There are those who know Jesus and there are those who don't. And so, I want to address both of those as I give this call to respond. If you are someone who has never come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you've never invited him into your heart to come and cleanse you of your sin, then the way that you respond to this message of hope is to believe and receive the finished work that Jesus has done for you on the cross.

You see, that's what his disciples were to go out and tell, is tell them this message so that they too can believe and receive the message and they'll be saved. And so, if you're here this morning, then I want to tell you something. You need to believe and receive this message. And it's as simple as coming to Jesus and saying, Lord, I'm hopeless apart from you.

I'm broken apart from you. Would you come in to my life and be my Savior? Would you come in and make me whole again? And you can believe and receive this finished work that Jesus has done for you. And may I say, I should actually probably say there's three groups of people that are here this morning. Those who've never met Jesus, but within those that know Jesus,

I think that there are two groups. You see, there are those of us that know Jesus and we're still trying to make him love us. We're still trying to be good enough. And I bet you find something that happens all the time. I bet if you're trying to be good enough, you have found yourself failing. You know how I know that? Because saints for over 6,000 years have been finding themselves

failing.

And you've been saying, I just can't be good enough. I just seem to still struggle with sin. I just seem to still never quite find peace in Christ. It's because you too need to accept the finished work of the cross. You need to accept that all of those sins that you keep mulling over and over again in your mind, all those sins from your past that you keep replaying and saying,

oh, I did so wrong. How could I have let myself fall into that? Because you still have sinful flesh. That's how you let yourself fall into it. And it's time to take that sin and put it underneath the blood of Jesus because he did it a long time ago. He wants to restore you and make you brand new. He wants to restore you so that that will not be what you're defined as any longer.

But then there's this last group and that's those of us that know Jesus and we've put that sin under the blood of Jesus Christ and we have accepted the, wonderful gift that he's given to us. Brothers and sisters, we respond by taking the message to the world. Do you notice what he told his disciples to do? After he rebuked them and said, why didn't you guys believe me?

He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Now, there's an interesting thing if you look at this in the Greek because this seems like a command that you now need to go out and be a missionary in different parts of the world. But do you know how this is actually worded in the Greek? Go into all the world and as you go, preach the gospel to all creation.

You know what that means? See, that puts a little different spin on it, doesn't it? It means that everywhere I go, I'm gonna preach the gospel. It means that I don't have to find some special mission field to go to. I don't have to raise support and do all those kinds of things. There's nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't have to be what you do. You see, your workplace is a mission field.

The grocery store is a mission field. A coffee shop is the mission field. Walmart, Jesus knows is a mission field, right? Especially if you go after nine. Like, those people need Jesus. Everywhere you go is a mission field because as you go, you preach the gospel to all people. Now listen, sometimes you'll do it in a very verbal sort of way. I think sometimes we're content

with lifestyle missionary work, right? And I think that that's a beautiful thing that we should do. There's a saying that goes around that says everywhere you go, preach the gospel and if necessary, use words. Brothers and sisters, sometimes we got to use them words, right? Because you can't muster up enough peaceful look. You can't just be like, right? They'll just think you read a funny meme

or you really have to poop, right? Like something, they're gonna think something weird is going on with you. Sometimes you would have to use them words and tell some people about Jesus. Can I tell you about the fact that Jesus is alive? What are you talking about? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you. Eventually they'll walk away and that's okay. But sometimes they'll say,

but that's what I need to do. I need that in my life. May I say when that happens, there's nothing like it in the world. There is no greater miracle than a life that has been born again. No greater miracle. I don't care what physical thing. I don't care if you see somebody's leg grow back, somebody healed of cancer, whatever it is. Those miracles will never be as amazing

as a life that's been born again. Respond by taking this message into the world. I'm gonna invite the worship team to come on up and share one last song with us. I'm so glad that you've joined us here this morning. I'm glad that we can talk about this hope of Jesus Christ. And I'm glad that we have the opportunity to respond to what Jesus has done for us. But you know,

there honestly is probably one other form of response that we can take. I was listening to a teaching on worship the other day. It was an interesting, actually more of a conversation that several worship leaders were having. And they said, you know, I think sometimes we forget what worship is truly supposed to be. That worship is response to God. And this morning,

we have talked a lot about the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. We've talked about the fact that there's hope in death. There is hope for the broken. And there is hope that everything that Jesus did is the finished work for us on the cross. Brothers and sisters, now it's time to respond by pouring out your praise to the Lord. Amen? Let's all stand.

Father, we come before you and I just thank you for this wonderful group that's here this morning. And Lord, I thank you so much for who you are in our lives and what you've done for us. And Lord, I pray that the truth of your word would soak deep into our hearts as we leave this place today. And Father, as we sing this last song, that we would pour it out with everything in our spirit, Lord, as we respond to you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Be blessed. Make his face shine upon you. Be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face to you and keep you. His face shine upon you. Be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you. His face shine upon you. Be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you. May his presence go before you and beside you. All around you in your coming

and your going and your weeping and rejoicing. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. Generations and your children and their children. And the children go before you And behind you and beside you All around within you He is with you, He is with you

In the morning and the evening In your coming and your going In your weeping and rejoicing He is for you, He is for you Thank you, Lord Jesus. Father, we pray you just continue to bless this resurrection day, Lord, as we celebrate the work of the cross, the resurrection, you ascended on high at the right hand of the Father. We give you praise. Would you go before and strengthen, encourage us in our walk and our witness for you?

May people take notice that we spend time with you. In Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless you all. Have a good day. And a good week.