Rev D A Ross
Mark 16:15,16. And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Christ Jesus spoke these words after His resurrection and shortly before His ascension. There was no doubt about the reality of His resurrection. However, there was a gloomy response of unbelief on the part of His disciples.
1This is the address referred to in the previous article, given at the Mbuma Zending Meeting in April.
This unbelief brought a severe rebuke from Christ, especially as it was in the face of the many who testified to His resurrection. The rebuke of Christ is still given when sinners refuse to believe the preachers of the gospel, who do not believe those who testify to the person of Christ and the sufficiency and efficacy of His finished work.
I will now proceed to notice two points: (1.) The directive of Christ to preach the gospel. (2.) The response required from the hearers of the gospel.
1. The directive of Christ to preach the gospel. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” This directive contains one of the many doctrines of salvation stated in the Word of God. We may name a few that are germane to our text: heaven and hell, the day of judgement, man’s responsibility and accountability with regard to the gospel call. We may also mention man’s total depravity, his inability to bring about the radical change needed to fit him for heaven, his need of the new birth by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, there is the doctrine of the atonement for sin made by Christ, which is limited to the elect, yet sufficient for all, for whoever is willing to have it. Christ gave this directive to the disciples, and thus to the Church today: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”.
In Mark 1:1 we read, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It is evident from this verse, as well as from others throughout the Word of God, that the gospel is given by Christ Himself. So we see that the gospel, and the preaching of it, have the highest authority possible – the authority of Christ the Son of God, as well as the authority of God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. This is clear from the Scriptures.
Moreover, the gospel always lifts up and highlights Christ as the only Saviour of sinners. Recall what was said by Saul of Tarsus, who regarded himself as the chief of sinners: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim 1:15). The gospel then is all about Christ, a Saviour for lost sinners. The gospel is about this divine Person who is the Son of God and the Son of man, and who worked out salvation by satisfying divine justice: “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb 9:28).
Christ Himself preached the gospel incessantly to all kinds of sinners. He proclaimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (Jn 14:6). Christ proclaimed the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, religious and irreligious, rich and poor, self-righteous Pharisees and publicans and sinners. None were excluded.
Here in our text, Christ commits the gospel to His disciples, and commissions them to do as He did. He commands them: “Preach the gospel to every creature”. The Apostles, in obedience to Him, did just that – for example,
Peter to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles. As providence directed them, they did not hesitate to preach wherever, and to whoever, they were sent. The wonder is that the gospel has, since that time, spread throughout the world, and we are the happy recipients of this essential blessing, the gospel.
But let us remind ourselves what the word “gospel” means, namely, good news; that is, good news for sinners like ourselves. This is apparent from Luke 2:10,11, where we read that an angel came to the shepherds as they watched their flocks, saying, “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Then “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (vv 13,14).
It is evident also from this heavenly proclamation that gospel preaching was not to be limited to the Jews or any other group of people: it was to “be to all people”. So the Saviour directed His disciples to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”. It is news that is to be reported continuously. It is news to which no other news can compare. How great and good is the news, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”!
Now an anxious sinner may ask, Is this news really for me? Well, I ask you sinners who are anxious about death and eternity, What does this text say? It says clearly, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”. May you not rightly conclude: The gospel surely is as much for me as it is for my neighbour, as also for all to whom it is addressed?
2. The response required from the hearers of the gospel. We see from the text that the main response required by the Saviour is belief. He assures us that the person who believes will be saved, while the person who does not believe will be damned: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”.
Those who believe obviously believe the gospel of Christ – that is, they not only believe the reality that Christ Jesus is the Saviour, but they also believe in Him. They, in the exercise of faith, rely for salvation on the Person and finished work of Christ. They trust in Him – that through Him alone there is forgiveness of sin. Only by faith in Christ alone do they obtain justification, as well as adoption and sanctification. They are convinced of what Christ says about Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father, but by Me” (Jn 14:6). They are also convinced that it is necessary to believe, as the Saviour states, “He that believeth . . . shall be saved”. (Baptism is here added, evidently as a testifying to their believing.)
The text confronts us with the duty to believe in Christ. No excuses are permissible. Christ Jesus, as we see in Mark 16:14, reproved the disciples for
their unbelief, showing that He would not entertain any excuses for their unbelief in His resurrection. Rather He firmly rebuked them. Therefore it is our duty to believe the gospel. Only when a sinner believes does he have pardon, justification, adoption, sanctification and the hope of heaven at last. When we look at the other side of Christ’s statement, we see that where there is no believing, there is no pardon, no justification, no adoption, no sanctification, no heaven at last – only hell, eternal damnation. Truly, in our text, Christ assures us of the certainty of these matters: if we believe, we shall be saved – if we do not believe, we shall be damned.
Indeed the Word of God as a whole assures us of the great evil of not believing. See what 2 Thessalonians 1:8 says about the divine Judge: “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Note also Hebrews 4:2: “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”. Again, Revelation 21:8 refers to those sinners who at last will “have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”, among whom are specifically the “unbelieving”.
Those who are under the gospel, but are rejecting Christ Jesus, imagine their excuses will be acceptable before the great white throne on the Day of Judgement. They foolishly imagine they can challenge God. But when unbelievers will suffer damnation, they will remember, as never before, gospel commands to believe and gospel invitations to come to Christ. Such gospel calls as these will come to mind: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Is 55:6,7). They will have to cry out, Alas, I never did seek Him.
Christ, in effect, confirms this gospel directive from Isaiah when He says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek and ye shall find”. Paul, in preaching to the heathens in Athens, echoed and confirmed it: “God . . . now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). The solemn reality is that, in hell, these gospel directives will come to the minds of the lost and their consciences will loudly testify to their neglect of “so great salvation” as was to be had in Christ Jesus. This will make their suffering in hell many times more terrible than those who never heard the gospel.
Well, dear friends, we have reason to rejoice in our gospel privileges. The gospel in the Word of God says loudly to us: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” assuring us that multitudes were saved through believing. Think of Manasseh the murderer, Saul of Tarsus the persecutor, Mary
Magdalene who was possessed with devils, the adulterous woman of Samaria, Nicodemus the self-righteous teacher in the synagogue – all these and more. The vilest of hell-deserving sinners were “saved through faith”. Scripture also records the cases of backslidden believers who were brought again into communion with Christ their Saviour. So we are assured that “none perish that Him trust” (metrical Psalm 34:22).
This is the gospel which we in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland endeavour to preach, the gospel we live for and work for, the gospel we send to Africa, to the Jews, to Ukraine and other lands. It is to continue spreading abroad the gospel that we receive gifts of money from Holland. It is well worth living for this labour in the Lord to our last breath. And as we preach, we are deeply conscious that the success of the gospel lies in the power of God. We need the same blessing as those whom Peter refers to: “Them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven” (1 Pet 1:12).
Others who went before us, missionaries from Britain, Holland, Germany, America and other places, laboured in their own day. To this day there are those who continue to labour for the sake of the gospel, so that poor, lost, weary, hell-deserving sinners may, by the grace of God, obey the gospel call, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (Jn 1:36). And as was true in Christ’s time on earth, so it is now: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn 1:12,13).
We sincerely give our humble thanks to you, our Dutch friends, who have supported the work of the gospel in Africa over many years, through the educational and medical institutions; but we are especially indebted to you for directly contributing to the spreading of the gospel. Thank you.