Gtcotr/ss041722
The world is filled with people who love and forgive, and hope and share, who laugh and play, and who learn and grow. The world is filled with moms and dads who care about their families and who go to work and keep house, make money and who prepare meals, buy clothes, and tie shoes day after day.
People
all around us are good people with only a few bad actors who are bent on
fulfilling some personal goal or perhaps the rare evil-minded menace possessed
by devils and committed to destroying peace and torturing people. But take away
the bad, loud, angry, small-minded zealot crusaders, and we are left good
people who simply want to:
·
Make
a living
·
Raise
a family
· Live in peace.
This is why God so loved the world. The world is filled with wonderful people. People for whom Christ died. Jesus is in love with the people of this world, and He gave His life in hopes of having an eternal relationship with each one of them. Believe me, God will one day deal with all of the evil of this world, but His hopes are that people will repent and be saved from the world before He finishes with this world.
Not only are the lost in need of having their eyes opened to all God is willing to do in their lives, but also many who are already Born-Again Believers in Jesus, yet need to have their eyes opened as well. Even the faithful need faith.
This morning I would like to talk to you who are faithful to Jesus … faithful, and in need of faith.
Mark 16 NLT
1 ¶ Saturday evening, when
the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went
out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body.
2 Very early on Sunday
morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
3 On the way they were asking
each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the
tomb?”
4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
It seems they were a bit surprised. The stone was their new and biggest obstacle. These ladies were faithful … however, they had no faith. It wasn’t that they did not know what Jesus said, it was that they had not believed it. Let’s look back and see what Jesus told them to expect.
Matthew 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 17 NKJV
22 ¶ Now while they were
staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed
into the hands of men,
23 “and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.
Matthew 20 NKJV
17 ¶ Now Jesus, going up to
Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,
18 “Behold, we are going up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to
the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19 “and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”
It
seems to me there should have been a whole crowd of people waiting at the tomb
that morning. Where were the disciples?
·
Some
were hold up in a room behind locked doors because they were confused and
afraid.
·
Others
were headed back home and without hope.
·
Still
others were grieving in disbelief that their dreams were shattered.
· These ladies were faithfully continuing to work and serve yet they did not believe what Jesus said.
All of them faithful … but none with faith!
Even the Pharisees and Romans had some amount of faith …
Matthew 27 NKJV
62 On the next day, which
followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered
together to Pilate,
63 saying, “Sir, we remember,
while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will
rise.’
64 “Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”
There were more unbelievers at the tomb that morning than there were believers. Angels and unbelievers dominated the scene.
Luke 24 NKJV
6 “He is not here, but is
risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
7 “saying, ‘The Son of Man
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third
day rise again.’ ”
8 And they remembered His words.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus …
Luke 24:21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.
The
morning was filled with faithful people who had no faith.
·
The
fearful
·
The
disappointed
·
The
grieving
· These were all faithful people with no faith
Back to our text for today:
Mark 16:4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
The faithful who had no faith were just doing what faithful people do when they are afraid, disappointed, grieving, have lost hope, and can’t imagine how the Word could still work.
Mark 9 NKJV
23 Jesus said to him, “If you
can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Conclusion:
The stone (Obstacle) is already rolled aside!
1.
The
lost need to be saved.
2.
The
saved need to have faith.
3.
Call
out to Jesus, “Lord, help my unbelief!”
