The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Mark 16:9-20the disputed ending of Mark, examined verse by verse throughout the sermon
9 Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11 When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved.
12 After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country.
13 They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.
14 Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19 So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
20 They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
God did not send his son to judge the world but that the world might be saved through belief
17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
Peter calls the crowd to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
in Christ you are circumcised and buried with him in baptism
9 For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,
10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Noah and the ark used as a type of baptism, which is an appeal to God for a good conscience
20 who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
people from cities around Jerusalem brought sick and those tormented by unclean spirits and all were healed
16 The multitude also came together from the cities around Jerusalem, bringing sick people, and those who were tormented by unclean spirits: and they were all healed.
Paul shipwrecked on Malta, a viper fastened on his hand but he suffered no harm
3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.”
5 However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed.
6 But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
the seventy-two return saying demons are subject to them; Jesus says he gave them authority over snakes and scorpions and to rejoice their names are written in heaven
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
18 He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
20 Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Jesus tells disciples they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes and they will be his witnesses; he is lifted up and a cloud takes him
7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
two men in white tell the disciples Jesus will return in the same way they watched him go
11 who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”
run with endurance looking to Jesus who endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God
1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Christ exalted at the right hand of God poured out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.
the woman caught in adultery, noted as the other disputed passage not found in the two oldest manuscripts
53 Everyone went to his own house,
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,
4 they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”
6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.
10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was a careful walk through the end of Mark's Gospel, specifically the bracketed passage Mark 16:9-20. Pastor Carl used it as an opportunity to explain what textual criticism is, why certain passages carry brackets in modern Bible translations, and why that should increase rather than shake a reader's confidence in Scripture.
What was said
The brackets around Mark 16:9-20 in some Bible translations had come up in a previous week's message on the history of the Bible in English, and Pastor Carl wanted to address them directly rather than leave anyone troubled. He explained that the church has never had one secret council quietly removing verses. The real story is that scholars comparing thousands of manuscript copies found that two passages, this ending of Mark and the account of the woman caught in adultery in John 7-8, were absent from the two oldest complete manuscripts discovered in the 1880s.
He traced the two main Greek textual traditions: the Textus Receptus, assembled by Erasmus in 1516 and the basis for translations from Luther's German Bible through the King James, and the critical text, which emerged in 1881 and underlies most modern translations. The difference between them amounts to those two stories and a handful of words or spellings that would fit on half a page at twelve-point type. The reason Pastor Carl uses the New American Standard himself is that it keeps the disputed passage in the flow of the text while marking it with brackets, inviting the reader to hold it with open hands rather than either discarding it or ignoring the question.
He then read through Mark 16:9-20 and cross-referenced each claim in it against the rest of Scripture. The appearance to Mary Magdalene matches Luke. The disciples' refusal to believe the women matches both Luke and the pattern shown throughout the resurrection accounts. The great commission in these verses lines up with Matthew 28. He worked through the more difficult lines one at a time, including the statement that belief and baptism together bring salvation, pointing to the thief on the cross and John's repeated insistence that belief is the hinge, while also showing that Acts and the epistles consistently picture baptism as a normal, expected step of obedience following faith.
The list of signs that would accompany believers drew the most careful handling. Pastor Carl found scriptural confirmation for each one: casting out demons in Acts 5, speaking in tongues at Pentecost, and laying hands on the sick in Acts 3. For the serpent passage he went to Acts 28, where Paul shook off a viper on Malta without harm, and to Jesus sending out the seventy-two with authority over serpents and scorpions. He was direct that building a theology of snake handling around this text is dangerous and misreads what the passage is actually pointing to, which is God's protection of his messengers in carrying out his purposes.
He closed the textual portion by noting that the ascension described at the end of Mark is confirmed in Luke and Acts, and that the session of Christ seated at the right hand of God runs through Hebrews, Colossians, and the account of Stephen's stoning in Acts 7. His overall point was that a person who encounters brackets in their Bible and then goes looking will find that the rest of Scripture keeps showing up to confirm what is written there. The brackets are an invitation to look, not a reason to lose confidence in what God has preserved.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Carl spent time explaining textual criticism and why some passages appear in brackets in our Bibles. How does understanding that process affect your confidence in the Bible you hold in your hands?
The sermon walked through the differences between the Textus Receptus and the critical text, and noted that the practical difference comes down to two stories. Were you aware of this debate before today, and how have you handled it when you have encountered bracketed passages in your Bible?
Well, good morning, everybody. Glad to see you this morning. It's a little gloomy out today, but what do you say we we fill up this place with praise? God inhabits the praise of his people. Would you stand with me?
Maybe some of you grew up, singing the the Lord's Prayer in church. I'd like to ask you, would you sing it with me? Father, let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as is heaven right here in our hearts.
Father, let your come. Father, let your will be done. And earth as in heaven right here in
my heart. Let's sing that again. Father, let your
kingdom come. Father, let your will be done. And earth as in heaven right here in my heart. Give us this day. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us. Forgive us as we forgive the ones you sin against us. Forgive them. Lead us not into temptation, but the little rest from the evil one. Let your kingdom come.
Father, let your kingdom come. Father, let your will be done. And earth as in heaven, right here in my heart. Father, let your kingdom us from the evil one. Let your kingdom come.
It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. All yours. Yours forever and ever.
The kingdom is yours. Father, let your kingdom come. Oh, father, let your kingdom come. Father, let your will be done. And earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
Father, let your kingdom come. Father, let your will be done. And earth as in heaven,
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. One of them is for Preston. The clicker is nowhere to be found up here.
That's my fault. So there are announcements.
I could start with one. And that is Awana. So there's a couple of things. First, a leaders, Awana leaders, right after church today, so at 12:30, there's an appreciation lunch for you. So we would love for you to join us for that.
Iwana leaders 12:30 lunch. Felix in Guadalupe will be serving food, and they're making posole. So that's pretty good. And then also, Iwana tomorrow, last one. That's the celebration, end of year celebration where we recognize leaders and we give awards to kids and the Grand Prix race.
So that is tomorrow. Mike, do you have an announcement?
I would have an announcement. Yes. My name is Mike Demetrius. I work with youth here in the Valley, and I'm so thankful for some things that are going on. Carl just mentioned one, the AWANA program.
The AWANA program almost didn't advance three years ago, and we're so thankful to have just completed another year. Tomorrow night's the races. If you wanna come out and just cheer some kids on and watch them lose their mind and excitement right here in this room at 06:00, come have some pizza and just watch kids celebrate that have worked so hard studying God's word and just being poured into by their leaders. So that's tomorrow night. I also wanna recognize we started a community wide high school youth group.
It's it's a place where high schoolers can come and ask tough questions and deal with tough topics. And one of the things that we've been looking at is how do you pick a church? How do you find a church? And we started a church hop. So we're gonna go to each church in the valley and see kinda what's a fit for students.
And we've asked some of our students to come today. Would you guys be willing to stand up? I just wanna recognize and applaud these students because they are living out their faith to the best of their ability in a community that's very, very hard to live that out in. I'm so thankful that they have each other, and I'm thankful that they show up putting one foot in front of the other, doing their best to live out their faith. So please be praying for the youth in this valley.
This group, a high school group, we meet on Thursday nights. And like I said, we just tackle tough topics and and work through faith together. So please be praying for them. That's all I got.
Thank you. Perfect. Glad you all both had that. This was in my office right where I left it. So not the Booth's problem.
We are always looking for volunteers to handle a connect hour. Connect hour is between our two services. About 10:00 down the hall, there'll be refreshments, and somebody sets those out. Somebody sets that up. Church pays for the goods, but if y'all would kind of man the battle stations, that is down the hall.
(307) 690-3892 is Addie Hare's number. She's the coordinator for that. It's good. There's a study going on at lunchtime on Thursdays in the fellowship hall. It's been so good.
So we are in first Peter, second chapter of first Peter right now, and going through that together. Don't let that sandwich picture imply there will be lunch. If you want a sandwich, bring it with you. It's great. But it is fun and it's it's growing steady.
Slow growth is good. So that's that's happening. Our vacation Bible school this year is coming up June 24 through the twenty seventh. Pre k through sixth grade, you can sign up online or there's an actual sheet of paper out there, you can sign up a kid or volunteer. The decorating meeting was last week.
Pod luck for Jean Dimash. You all might not know Jean in this service. Some of you do, some of you don't. She is 96 years old. She's been living here for thirty plus years with her daughter Joan, and Joan moved out to Bellingham, Washington recently, a year ago.
And the the fear was that Joan just wouldn't be able to handle it out there, and she'd be wanting to come back home. And Jean realized that she can't handle it here without Joan, so she's going out to join her. And so this is gonna be great. Great reunion. It's gonna be sad for us, but a good move for her.
Friday, May 17, we're getting together in the fellowship hall to celebrate Jean DeMarsh. No gifts, please. Today, between services, there'll be a vote for constitutional changes. There are copies out there in the vestibule if you'd like to do that. That's happening today.
A church cleanup is happening in a couple of weeks. So Saturday, May 18, 9AM to 1PM, many hands make for light work. We will find something for any skill level that shows up. We promise. So there's the ad for that.
May 18, nine to one. We'll also provide lunch. And I think that's it. Anybody have anything else? There's Membership.
The membership. Covenant as members. I'm going to invite up Dale, and Cindy and Todd and Laura and Deb Hill. If she's here, she usually comes to the second service. Alright.
Now, you all have seen these folks around for some time now, but they have taken the step to commit to be members of the church. And so I'm gonna actually pass the microphone and let you say a little something if you'd like to. You wanna start,
Bill? Sure. Kira, Kenny, and Kyle. Jonathan's not here. Thanks for having us.
We love you all and we're just thrilled to be a part of this church family. Some of our old friends are here, and you're thinking, aren't the Setons been going for twenty two years
to the church? And so
we have. We're just ones to not jump on a decision too quickly. We gotta we gotta pray about these things. But I think what I think what motivated us is just the things that the church and Ray does for the community, most recently with the Krauss', but over many years. So Ray, good job.
We love you guys and appreciate your work.
That's sweet, Todd. Thank you. So in the Covenant's members, can I just ask you all kind of collectively right here? Have you personally trusted in Jesus Christ as your savior believing that he died and rose from the dead for your sins? Yes.
Yes. Alright. Do you believe that God is leading you into joining first b as evidence of your desire to grow in the grace of Christ and in our love and and service for his glory? Alright. Do you recognize the authority of scripture?
Well, that's something that comes up a lot. Right? Do you recognize the authority of scripture in your life to help you to endeavor to live by Jesus' example? Scripture is helpful. Yep.
As members together in this body, what we will do Can I get an amen after this? Alright? What we will do is we will endeavor to open our hearts to minister to you, but we also will endeavor to allow you to serve us collectively. We'll endeavor to grow in faithfulness to one another as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. If you believe that, would you stand up and say, amen.
Amen. Thank you very much. Now you're already standing for the song. Good. Thank you and we love all of y'all.
Thankful for you.
Come all you sinners. Come find his mercy. Come to the table. He will satisfy. Taste of his goodness, find what you're looking for.
God so loved the world. For God so loved the world that he your failures and your addictions come lay them down at the foot of cross. Jesus is waiting there. Oh, God. Whom all blessings flow.
Praise him. Praise him for the wonders of his love. Let's sing that again. I'm walking in freedom for God so love God so love an invitation to bring on. Bring all your failures.
Bring your addictions. Come lay them down at the foot of the cross. Jesus is waiting. God, so thou hasten the world.
Thank you for this very, very real invitation to all of us to simply come to you. Come as we are. But Lord, you are in the business of transforming our lives. That we come to you and then there is transformation. That as we turn, as we turn from sin, as we repent, as we turn from sin and turn to you, God, real transformation happens from the inside out.
Thank you, God, for the gift of your son to make it so. Thank you, Lord, for the Holy Spirit to make it so. Thank you that you are the well that doesn't run dry. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
I stand amazed. I stand amazed in the praises of Jesus the Nazareth. I wonder how we could love me. I'm life. Better than you, lord.
There's nothing better than you, lord. There's nothing better you. I'm not afraid to show you my weakness, my failures and flaws. Lord, you've seen them all, but you still call me friends. He's the God of the mountain.
He's the God of the here's what he does. You turn mourning to dead sea. You give beauty for our shears. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one you can.
You turn grace into guardians. You turn bones Oh, there's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing. And I don't think is better than you.
And you can have a seat here for a moment. And this is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the the ushers to come on forward. And thank you for being attentive right back there so much. Ray, may I ask you to pray before we we Sure. Sing this next song.
God, we thank you. Overwhelmed by your presence, Lord, in here this morning. In your word, always. God almighty, in our hearts, it's it's amazing and astounding and just wonderful to know you. Lord, would you help us to help others to know you?
Would you show us the direction that you would have us go, Lord? Literally, which direction would you have us go? We wait for your spiritual direction as we are walking the path that you've put us on. In Jesus name, I pray that you would allow us to see when we need to redirect. Allow us to see when we need to to turn around.
In Jesus name, Lord, I pray that we would begin to understand and see what is going on around us. Lord, we ask for your superintendent presence and your help. We ask that you would build us up, that you would strengthen our faith, that you would give us solid ground upon which to walk, and Lord that you would that you would establish that path in front of us. We can see your word. It's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Lord, would you use it to do your will in our lives, through our lives, in this community, and to the very uttermost parts. Lord God almighty, I'm praying, for your sustaining strength. In Jesus name, we ask your blessing. May we do your will and your way. Amen.
You're not a stand apart. I'm a candy sandal clay. And you make all things a work together for my future and for my good. Make all things work together for your glory and for your day. And there's a healing light just beyond the clouds.
Though I walk through fire, I see clearly now that I know nothing has been wasted. If you don't understand, you're over not understanding. I'm a canvas and a fan. And you make all things work together for my future and for my good. And you make all things work together for your glory and for your name.
And when I die, and Lord reminded me I'm wonderfully made. You're an artist Santa Potter. I'm a canvas and a clay. And I know nothing has been wasted. No failure or mistakes.
You're an artist Santa Potter. I'm a canvas and clay. And you make all things work together for my future and for my good. And you make all things
Amen. And it is time for children's church downstairs. That made some space. If anybody in the back wants to come up front, you can. I know everybody knows that, but they don't do it anyway.
Alright. A few weeks ago a few weeks ago, I said I've kinda finished the New Testament. The week before that, I put up the Harmony of the Gospels and I kinda marked out the last section of Mark. Mark sixteen nine through 20, I've marked out. It has brackets around it.
Now, I said at the time, I don't know. I don't know if it belongs in there. And some of your Bibles, if you flip to Mark 16, it's gonna end at verse eight. Others of you, it'll go nope, it goes on nine through 20. And I thought, don't want for anybody ever to lose faith in the Bible they're holding in their hands.
So part of the reason we did the history of the Bible in English last week at length was because of that. I want to give you greater confidence that the Bible that you have in your hands is the word of God and there's no doubt about it. These brackets up here might cause somebody to say, I don't like that. If he's able to protect every jot and tittle, if nothing is ever going to fade away, how did this get in there if it's not supposed to be in there? Well, it's complicated.
It's a long story. It's something every seminary student has to deal with at some point. And for the last twelve years going through the New Testament, I have pretended that you all were a seminary class, and I presented the word the way that my professors presented it to me. And I'm going to keep on doing that in stuff like this. So those brackets are there.
What's up with the brackets? Those are there to say that some of the ancient texts do not have this portion. Some. Not all. So this piece right here, nine through 20, double brackets in the new American Standard Version.
I use the new American Standard Version. It's in there, but it's bracketed. So the brackets say, there is a question here. When you hit them, you go, wait a second. Now, there are lots of different ways that a copyist might try their best.
If you gave a classroom I said last week, if I told you all to write down Philippians right now, and then I took them all back up, there would be variants, I guarantee you. Some of you all can't spell. Right? That's that's one of them. Most of the variant readings that we have, if you're doing textual criticism is what this is about.
Textual criticism. Now we are here in this age, digital age, information age, and an archaeological age where we are still exploring these areas and still finding fragments and pieces, parchments, vellum, some papyri, usually in fragments. But we do not have the original autographs, the ones that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John actually put ink on paper, Paul. We don't have those original autographs but we do have thousands and thousands of copies and they are in agreement. By and large, they are in agreement.
Now, last week when I was going through, I mentioned the Textus Receptus. I mentioned it in passing. I didn't have time. I ran out of time way before I stopped. I mentioned the Textus Receptus.
That is what the Greek New Testament that was assembled by Desiderius Erasmus came to be known as. This is the received text that we believe is the best that we have going in 1516. It's right around the time of the Reformation. It was a compilation of the best texts that we have in 1516. And so the Textus Receptus is what that came to be known as.
The majority text is the majority of the manuscript evidence that we have and of early printed documents that we have agrees with the Textus Receptus. 99.6% the same. There are a couple of spelling variations here and there, but it doesn't change any point of theology. It doesn't leave out any major text. Occasionally, it will add a couple of words.
Usually, it's a word like lamb and it'll say, of God. So but it's somewhere else in the Bible and a scribe, well meaning scribe as they write oh, I know this part. They get ahead of themselves a little bit, they put two extra words. It's somewhere else in the Bible, signified, clarified, doctrinally sound good, but putting it right there, original text may or may not have had it. Now, two thousand years later, we're trying to decide critically what should be in there and what should not be in there.
The critical text came out in 1881. And when I was going over this last year, eight I mean, last week, feels like a year ago. When I was going over the critical text, I mean, when I was going over it last week, I was going through the versions of the Bible and what year they came out. So the Textus Receptus 1516, the Greek New Testament, Erasmus' edition. He had access to a lot of great mostly Byzantine mostly Byzantine texts.
And this is what he based his 1516 translation on. Martin Luther made his German translation based on the Textus Receptus. Tyndale made his on the Textus Receptus. Coverdale, slight variation of Tyndale, Textus Receptus. Matthew's Bible, he had some unfortunate marginal notes.
That one didn't last long. The great Bible, remember the one that had to be chained to the pulpits because it was so huge and people were stealing them because it was so good? Also, Textus Receptus. Geneva Bible, the Bible of the puritans 1560 and the revision of 1599, both off of Textus Receptus. The Bishops Bible too, not a great translation.
The Douay Rheims came after that to fix the Bishops Bible, but it's not based on the Textus Receptus. It was based on the Latin Vulgate. You weren't here last week, oh my goodness. I'll get the scripture, I promise. King James comes out in 1611, and it would be the major version of the Bible, the authorized, technically the third authorized by the by the royalty in England.
It would be the major one for the next three hundred and fifty years. Now Young's literal in 1862, around the time of the civil war, Young's literal translation, he wanted for everyone, the layman, to have in their hand a literal translation of what it was saying. Now literal translations are not the best translations. It's very wooden, but you'll hear me use it if I ever say y l t, that's the Young's literal translation. Sometimes I think it's helpful to give a little insight.
I like it, but it's next to unreadable. It's very much in the Greek word order. It just sounds like gobbledygook. But it is word for word. Then the New King James came out in 1982 and you see I have a little n t next to that.
The New Testament in the New King James uses the Texas Receptus. Okay. The critical text, basically everything since 1881. So all of the new or modern translations, and the reason that I share this information at all is because a lot of y'all are on TikTok and Instagram, and you're seeing little bite sized pieces of information, misinformation, propaganda. You all know fear motivates people.
And if you open up, I don't have any of them, I wouldn't want to alert you to any of them you already know about. But they'll say,
do you know that there were 16 verses that are left out of all the modern translations of the Bible? Who is it that's trying to
It's so super scary. Usually with dark music, Really, really scary stuff, and then they're like, oh, it's been taken away. They've taken this away. Well, the major difference between the Textus Receptus and the Critical Text is this. Textus Receptus has a lot, a lot of manuscript evidence and it has a lot of printed evidence and it has a lot of early, but not the earliest.
And so the critical text set about deciding how to what should be in and what should be out. They're saying if it's been left out. Complete bibles are a fairly recent thing where we carry all of them at once. This is interesting. So before Tanya and I moved to Mexico, was working on a house in Shiloh, Georgia.
And as I'm working on the house, I I saw a list that was kind of funny. It was a ladies Bible study from the late fifties and early sixties. And it was a long list of names of the people and pieces of the Bible that they had. Because they had for this Bible study one Bible between them and they loaned out to each other. But there was somebody like Brad Yates who was keeping the list.
There was some administrator, gift of helps, gift of administration person and they were keeping a list of who had what part of the Bible. So to have a complete set of the old and new testament together in one place, In the eighteen eighties, they found two, two different places, but one of them was found in the Vatican, and one of them was found at the foot of Mount Sinai, both protected by church, both protected for a long time. And those two texts in eighteen eighties became the reason why the critical text came into being. Now the critical text has been revised itself from greater scholarship. Remember last week, said every translator said, if there's greater scholarship out there, I want for it to be as close to God's word as possible.
Well, the critical text takes that shorter is better because they think that a scribe is more likely to gloss something by adding words than taking them away. And that older is better. Now older is not necessarily better. So there is a debate and please, don't go into this full force. Right?
Textual criticism has textus receptus pitted against critical text and people fight over this. The difference is one story in John and this last disputed portion of Mark. And that, I'm going to go over in just a minute. We're getting to Mark. The one story in John is John seven fifty three to eight eleven, the woman caught in adultery.
I love that story. I want to hold on to that story. Brackets are no brackets. I'm fine with that story. I love it.
I think that it shows the heart of Jesus in a pericope, something that can be cut around, a little story. The problem is that those two oldest texts didn't have that story in it. They didn't have everything in it anyway. They were missing pieces like they were trading them out for the Bible study, but it was close to whole. And the other one was this ending of Mark.
Now, the other ending of Mark, my first glance at it, I saw, wow, the grammar is very different in English. And when I looked at it in Greek, went, very different. But as I've talked, as I'm reasoning, as I'm looking through, as I'm talking to a couple of folks here who I know are Texas receptus people, which is great, I saw a little bit of new insight and thought, Alder, if you decide at the outset, the rules are like this. Shorter is better, older is better. We're taking the shorter reading, we're taking the older text.
Then we've done carbon dating and whatnot on them. We know which ones are older. So they're going to be left out. The reason I use the new American standard myself is because it leaves it in the text with the flow. It just puts brackets around it.
So the bracket should cause me to say, this one, let me hold on loosely here. See if it's confirmed in other places in scripture, that's the way I think, and see what's going on. So the majority text is really a modified version of the Textus Receptus. The critical text felt that the Alexandrian type was better than the Byzantine type because they had older witnesses. Witnesses are the manuscripts themselves.
So it's a long story to say. The difference is two stories. They're still in there. You can still find them. Pray.
Humbly before scripture, see what God has to teach you from those two stories. Maybe, maybe not. I'm sorry. I'm not going to nail it down for you. Alright?
That's it. I do want to show you though from this. Textual criticism is something is a very very very deep dive. I want for you not to think that it is something done under
the cover of darkness at the Council of Nyceum three twenty five
because that's the way they do on those baiting sort of reels and TikToks. That's not what happened. Everybody agrees on all this stuff except for those two stories and an occasional word or spelling. And the spellings and words would take up half of one eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper at 12 type. Okay?
It's not that many. And the two stories are in there. In the New American Standard, it has it in brackets. In the NIV and ESV, they have an asterisk usually and a footnote at the bottom containing the story. Some of them say it's at the end of the Bible as an addendum.
So usually in the modern text, it acknowledges that. I just want you to know that. Okay? Are we good enough with a history lesson right now that we're done? Okay.
Good. Let's go into this. So this is Mark Mark sixteen nine through 20. One of the things that we know from tradition is that Mark's gospel was Peter's story. Mark writing it down.
The very end, the grammar changes fairly grammatically. It's not unusual for someone to change and do the to to sign their letter basically. They have the secretary do it and then they write a little note at the bottom. So some people contend Peter himself wrote the last bit. Grammar is a little rough, sounds like a fisherman.
Anyway, now after he had risen early on the first day of the week. Oh, wait a second. Matthew says same thing. After the Sabbath has begun to dawn on the first day of the week. So yeah, that's good.
True. We go on. Not that we're judging whether it ought to be in here or not, but just see. It's an agreement. He first appeared to Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven demons.
Luke tells us, Mary was of that group of ladies who was called Magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out. He saw her first. That actually by the way is in Luke eight. That Luke eight, that is saying, how Jesus and his disciples were able to just go and minister. It says, he began going around from one city and village to another proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.
The 12 were with him and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Mary called Magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means. Missionary support. Wow.
Right there in Luke. She went and she reported to those who had been with him while they were mourning and weeping. I imagine they were mourning and weeping on that Sunday after that Friday crucifixion. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. Sounds just like a bunch of guys, doesn't it?
Luke says the same thing, but these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe the women. Now after that, he appeared in a different form. We were struggling in Luke to say, why would these guys didn't why didn't they recognize him? Did Jesus shave? Did he have on, you know, a funny hat?
He appeared in a different form to two of them who are walking along on their way to the country. Saying it like this leads some people to believe that this ending was added so that they could say, well, this is the reason that those two guys didn't recognize him because he was in a different form. So this looks like to some people it might be a gloss. Right? This is to help it make sense.
Unintentional, to I mean, intentional, maybe. Intentional is what it says. That's why I underline. The two of them, that's the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They went away, they reported it to the rest, and they didn't believe them either.
So that's from the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Mark agrees with Luke on that. Later, he appeared to the 11 disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table. You all remember that story from the other gospels. He reprimanded them.
Wait a second. I don't remember a strong reprimand. It was more like, go ahead Thomas, touch and see. But he reprimanded them for their unbelief and their hardness of heart because, well, because they had not believed the ones who had seen him and that he had risen from the dead. Okay.
Not included in the others, but certainly believable because they didn't believe him. Believe them. And he said to them, y'all go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. That sounds like Matthew 28, doesn't it? All authority has been given to me.
Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the father, son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I've commanded you. Behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. That's the great commission in Matthew. This is the great commission in Mark. Sounds good.
The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved. Oh, I can see a little bit of consternation already because the one who has believed no problem there, preacher. I'll stand on that. But when it says and has been baptized, that one's a little suspect, isn't it? Alright.
Let's let's scour. The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved, but the one who has not believed will be condemned. We know from John that it is about belief. He says it over and over and over and over again. John writes this at the end of the first century after Mark has already been written.
There's no doubt about it. John seems to have gone around and thought if there was some confusion about things, I want to clear it up. God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not judged is saved. The one who does not believe has been judged already because he's not believed in the name of the only son of God.
Now, and has been baptized is one of those, it's a hanging point unless your denominational background is of a handful, Church of Christ, a few others, where baptismal regeneration is a part of it. And then you want to hold on to Mark sixteen nine through 20 because it agrees with you. Well, let's look the rest of the Bible. The thief on the cross I think would disagree. Right?
Because he was not baptized and he's in paradise. So there. Acts two thirty eight to 40. So this is right after the moment of Pentecost, speaking in tongues, whole day of Pentecost event. Peter said to them, repent.
Repent. Sorry. Repent each of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Repent and be baptized, he says, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, for all who are far away, as many as the Lord will call to himself.
And with many other words, he solemnly testified, that's preaching, and kept on urging them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Repent and be baptized. Colossians two, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, that's Jesus. And in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over every ruler and authority. In him you are also circumcised with circumcision performed without hands and the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism.
These are the Church of Christ verses. Right? This is what this is where you would go to. It is the norm to believe and be baptized. It is.
But we have a couple of different places that say, he got him. Right there. It was not followed up. It's a step of obedience. Every time that we baptize a child or an adult here, I ask them what is the significance and meaning of what it is that you're doing.
And most of them without too much prompting will say it is an outward sign of something that has already happened inside. First Peter. This is one of the weirdest passages in the New Testament, it's in there. I'm gonna just say, take the blinders off and see it all. When the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark in which a few, that is eight persons were brought safely through the water.
And corresponding to that, now that I'm thinking about that, baptism now saves you. Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, not that way. He he hedges it himself. Baptism's not the removal of flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. It's a step of obedience out of believing that Christ has saved you.
Through the resurrection of Christ, we say, buried with Christ, raised to walk in newness of life. Who's at the right hand of God? We'll get to that in a minute. Having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him. Acts 22, when Paul's telling his story about being blinded on the road to Damascus.
This is not the story itself, it's him telling the story later. Certain man Ananias, he was devout, he was there and when Paul was blinded, he was taken to him and Ananias says to him, the God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, Saul, and to see the righteous one directly, Jesus, and to hear a message from his mouth for you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and what you have heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized. I had never thought about Paul being baptized.
But this is called Saul got baptized. He came up Paul. Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins by calling on his name. So it's about the calling on. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But I want you to hold on to some things loosely and go, boy, don't like that. I'm just cutting that out of my Bible. Wait a second. Put some brackets around for a while at least, you know. These signs will accompany those who have believed.
Now here comes a list. In my name, they will cast out demons. Now we do do we see that in scripture? Do we see it? In Acts five, the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick or tormented with unclean spirits, they were all being healed.
That sounds like Jesus. But it's in Acts, so it's his believers that are doing this. Two, they will speak with new tongues. Do we see that in scripture? Acts two.
Yeah. I love there's a certain version. I I couldn't I didn't find it. I could have found it. I didn't find That says, and they were confused because they understood.
Ain't that great? At Pentecost, when they knew those guys were from Galilee, they're used to hearing that accent. And they they started speaking with tongues, other languages. And they all understood. Let me just read it.
When the day of Pentecost come, they were all together in one place and suddenly, noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them distributing themselves in a tongue, rested on each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit that began to speak in different tongues, languages as the spirit was giving them the ability to speak out. Okay. So that's a fulfillment of what Jesus had said.
They'll pick up serpents. Oh, boy. I wanted to bring a burlap bag and put my bunny in it, and just have it sitting up here on stage just to see y'all's face when I got to this port right here. They will pick up serpents and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them. If you build your theology around this, it's really really problematic.
But if we look at scripture, that's what I'm trying to do here. If we look at scripture in Acts 28, Paul is shipwrecked. And when he's shipwrecked, he washes up on the shore of Malta and then he's going in to build a fire, the natives are around. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks to warm up after he had been in the ocean for a night and a day, laid him out on the fire, a viper, a serpent came out because of the heat fastened itself on his hand. And when the native saw the creature hanging from his hand, it had a good hold.
They began saying to one another, well, undoubtedly, this man is a murderer because he was being taken on this ship and the shipwrecked. And he's saved from the shipwreck, saved from the sea, but justice has not allowed him to live. However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire. He suffered no harm. And now they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly fall down dead because that's what happens when you get snake bit.
But after that, they waited a long time and it seemed nothing unusual to happen, so people are so fickle. They thought he's a murderer, then they thought he was going to get gonna die but didn't, and then they changed their minds and began to say he was a god. Wow. None of those things were the case, but God had a message for him to carry to Rome and he was gonna be the one that carried it. And so, he got away from that.
So, is it anywhere else? Yeah. When Jesus sent out the 72, he sent them out to do ministry and he had given them the authority to do ministry and when they went out, they came back saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. I was there.
Behold, I have given you authority to walk on snakes and scorpions and authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing will injure you. Basically, he's saying, you are going to be able to go about my purpose and nothing's going to harm you until you have fulfilled that purpose. Nevertheless, don't rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice just that your names are recorded in heaven. There's a whole lot of interesting passages in the Bible where you just go, wow, forgot about that one. That's interesting.
If you look always around those interesting ones, there's something really important, either just before or just after. And that last line right there, want to include. It's not that these miracles are so amazing that that's why you should be rejoicing. It is that your names are written in the lamb's book of life. Oh, this is one other personal example of a snake bite that didn't go as badly as it could have.
My wife's not here right now. Tanya got bit on a mission trip by a yellow bearded snake in Central America. Yeah. That's nuts. I don't recommend.
Zero out of 10. Would not recommend. No big deal. She was not harmed. We did go to the hospital.
We did go through antivenom. We did lots of other stuff. This is not a snake handling preacher, I promise. I know the accent might sound like it, but I'm looking in the Bible first and then I do have a personal story on that one. And they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
Do we ever see this in scripture? And grasping him by the right hand. This is from Acts three. I love this story. Acts three and four, there's a beggar at the gate and he's asking for money and Peter and John walking by having none, he said, silver and gold, we do not have but what we do have we'll give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, Nazarene.
And grasping him by the hand, laying on hands, he picks him up, raised him up and immediately, his feet and his ankles were strengthened and leaping up, he stood and he began to walk. Enter the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and they began to praise God. Now, don't have any problem finding this stuff in scripture. The one line though that does cause us some pause is it says, these signs will accompany those who have believed.
There are whole denominations who base their theology on that. And that's dangerous. It's dangerous. It's dangerous if you're in a little rural church and somebody brings snakes to the church and test your faith by handing them out, Lord have mercy. These signs will accompany those who have believed.
Now those who had believed at that point were the disciples. When Jesus was talking to them, those who have believed will, and they did. And we saw that. Now, again, I'm just going to lay it out there just like it is. In the New American Standard, it puts it there for you to judge.
In humility, please don't pick up any snakes. Please don't pick up any snakes. Please don't drink any poison thing. Please don't. That's dangerous and it's not what the passage is saying at all.
It's pointing to a time in the Bible that is recorded of those things coming to pass. The one, the drinking any poison thing is not recorded in scripture, but it is recorded in tradition that someone offered to John poison. And he did not know it was poison and he did not die from it. He did not imbibe poison on purpose. That would be silly.
Do not do that. Okay? So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven. That's the ascension from Mark, from Luke. And he led them out as far as Bethany.
He lifted up his hand. He blessed them. While he was blessing them, he parted from them. He was carried up into heaven. In Acts, Luke tells the story twice in volume one and in volume two.
In volume two, he says, it's not for you to know the periods of time or the appointed times which the father has set by his own authority. To the question, is this the time you're going restore Israel? They still weren't getting it. Political stuff. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
We've already seen in Acts two that that happened. You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and far as the remotest part of the earth. And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were watching and a cloud took him up out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. And they said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky?
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you will come in the same way as you've watched him go. He sat down at the right hand of God. This one's all over the place. Hebrews 10, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time. He is the eternal lamb of God who has offered a sacrifice that cannot be replaced.
He sat down at the right hand of God in Hebrews 12. Since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding, let's rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us. Let's run with endurance the race that is set before us looking only at Jesus, the originator and the perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame and he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. If you ever been to a Presbyterian Church of America, they don't just talk about the the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, but they also about his session where he has finished the work and he sits down. I love that.
Colossians three, therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep on seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Therefore, since he has been exalted at the right hand of God and has received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out this which you both see and hear at that day of Pentecost experience. Acts seven. Acts seven. Oh, when he said in Acts one, you're going be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria.
Right? He says this and then they clump up in Jerusalem until when? The stoning of Stephen. When Stephen was stoned, that scattered them out. And at this place, after Stephen's glorious speech about all of the things leading up to this event, while they were stoning him.
When they heard this, they were infuriated. They began gnashing their teeth at him, but he being full of the Holy Spirit looked intently into heaven, saw the glory of God and saw Jesus in his session standing up at the right hand of God. And he said, behold, I see the heavens opened, the son of man standing at the right hand of God. And they went out and they preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. This little band of disciples has turned into the worldwide church.
Christ built up his church. That's what he promised to do. Acts one through 28 covers that pretty well. I think when we go back to scripture, that's where we're going. But that's the last little portion and the textual criticism portion too.
Now, would you pray with me? I'm gonna ask the ushers to come forward. Lord, the first part of this sermon was more academic than spiritual, I think. But I pray that we would have humility before the text of scripture. I pray Lord that we would have an openness to you.
What you said on the evening of the last supper, you said, Lord, that this was your body and your blood that was given for us voluntarily. Lord, we ask you to bless this time when we distribute this little representative sample, this cracker and a plastic little thing of grape juice. Lord, I pray that you would move among us and in our hearts, that you would draw us close, that we would take in all that you have said, and we take seriously what you have asked. In Jesus name, we ask your blessing on the elements as we distribute. Amen.
And every high and stormy day, my crew rolled within the bay. I stood He shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I there and him be found. Rest in his righteousness alone, fall as to stand before love. Christ alone, cornerstone.
Christ alone, cornerstone we made strong in the savior's love through the storm. He is
On the same evening that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and after he had blessed it and given thanks, he said to his disciples there and his voice still rings through their word, his word to us. And he said, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat. Take it in and do it in remembrance of me. Thank you Jesus for walking out into in perfect submission, the father's will by his spirit.
Lord, we're asking for that same spirit to guide us into your truth and to walk your path and to lead others in the way. In Jesus name, we pray. Ask your blessing on this cup. Amen.
There's a place where mercy reigns and never dies. There's a place where streams of grains flow deep in the quiet. And all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. At the and my sins are washed white. I go all year.
I go all year, Jesus. There's a place where sin and shame are power. At the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you.
We're your love and red, and my sins washed white. I hold you. I hold you, Jesus.
In the same manner that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup. For them it's a common cup, most likely. And for us, it is these little individual servings. But what we're saying right here is that we are taking in collectively the sacrifice of Jesus. Thank you for the innocent blood that was shed.
The same way that he took the cup he took the bread he took the cup after supper and he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, drink it in, do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Paul says that every time that we do this, we recall the death of Christ as a covering for sin. Would you stand with me? We'll close with one more song from the band.
Our father everlasting, the old creating one, God almighty. Through your Holy Spirit, conceiving Christ the son. Jesus our savior.
Let's sing what we believe.
I believe in God our father. I believe in Christ the son. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the resurrection that we will rise I believe the Holy Spirit. Our God is three and one.
I believe in the resurrection that we will rise again. For I believe in the name of
Lord, I ask your blessing on all the assembled crowd here, every family they represent, and I pray that you would carry your good gospel in their hearts so full, Lord, that it would flow out of their mouths and into every action that they take. In Jesus' name, we pray that you would do that for us. Amen.
