THE END OF THE GOSPEL

The End of the Gospel. That’s where we are today. After a year of being in Mark’s gospel for the sermons, we come to the last 2 verses. It’s like the end of a story. If the gospels are the story of what Jesus did on earth, isn’t the end of the story Him going back up to heaven?

After going through Mark’s gospel, walking along with the disciples seeing all that Jesus did, we feel a little of what they felt. A little sad that you have come to the end. But we find out here that when you come to the end of the gospel it isn’t the end. Although the last word is “Amen,” nothing is over.

Sermon Text, St. Mark 16:19-20.

So then, after the Lord 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, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Lord,grant that Your Gospel may continue to preserve us in faith and bring us to Your heavenly joy. Amen.

Dear fellow redeemed in our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord Christ:

“After the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven.” It sure sounds like the end of a story. But it’s much more. This is the last thing Jesus did for our salvation. He actually went into heaven.

Jesus had left heaven as God; He returns as God and as true Man. He left heaven to win salvation for all; He returns, our salvation won. As Jesus is received into heaven, He isn’t traveling alone but blazing a trail. We go into heaven because He did. Heaven opens to Him and us. This is no “end.”

Then we hear: “And [He] sat down at the right hand of God.” Again, it sounds like the end of something; when we sit down it’s to stop doing. But Jesus isn’t sitting idle, since the very next words say the disciples “went out and preached everywhere, the Lord” – that’s Jesus – “working with them and [He Himself] confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”

See, nothing has ended! The action goes on and on. The disciples saw Jesus go up, He’s in heaven, but wait, at the same time He’s there as they preach, He’s doing it through them, and when they do “signs” – the miracles they perform to show that the Word they preach is from God, it’s true – whom, does Mark say, is doing it? Jesus Himself! Where is He? There with them!

Actually, what Mark does here is to cover the entire 28 chapters of the book of Acts – and beyond — in 1 verse. As Luke says, the gospel only tells what Jesus “began” to do, the book of Acts tells what He continued to do on earth through His people even though He had ascended to heaven. When Mark says “the Lord” – that’s Jesus – was “working with them,” it includes everything written in the book of Acts. But Mark isn’t just covering all that the apostles did, but beyond that, everything the New Testament Church does, everything in Church History down through the centuries to today.

Does this story ever end? Not until Jesus comes again. So the End of the Gospel, Jesus ascending to heaven, is certainly not the end. It’s just beginning.

This is where we come in. We read these words. One day about 65 A.D., somewhere in Rome, John Mark wrote down these words, the full picture of which nobody saw, for Jesus sitting at the right hand of God and working with the apostles was something no one could see. The Holy Spirit gave this to Mark.

Copies went out and were read in churches. Think of the millions of Bibles printed since then, all the people who’ve read these words! Every Ascension Day, I read these words, they’re put in the bulletin, eventually you throw it away.

You can throw away paper, but we don’t want to “throw this away.” The words – these words especially — aren’t just written on paper, they need to be written in you. Because though it’s the endof the gospel, it’s still the Gospel!

So we need to remember what – rather, who — the Gospel is for. It’s for sinners, people who have sins. The end of the gospel – Jesus’ ascension and sitting on the right hand of God – is an important part of the Gospel that we need to hear because of our sins, since it’s about actually going into heaven.

There’s no sin in heaven. You can’t go into heaven if you have any sins. That’s the message of the Law. James 2:10 says: “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” If you have even one sin, you can’t get into heaven. You need to have all the sins taken away. All the people who are in heaven are there because they had their sins taken away, all their guilt removed by Jesus’ sacrifice, and they got the benefit of it – they did not perish but have eternal life – through believing in Jesus.

You know you’ve had your sins taken away by Jesus. You know that He died for your sins, rose from the dead pronouncing you forgiven, and went up and into heaven so you can too. You hear the forgiveness of sins – which He won for you – spoken to you, and you know that by faith in Him you’re like the wise virgins who had the oil, and in the parable the oil is faith. You know that by believing in Him, when He comes you get to go in with Him to eternal life.

But perhaps you’re unsure whether you will really make it there. You know your faith isn’t perfect, Perhaps you wonder if you’ve sinned too much for Him to forgive everything. You know your sins. You know you fail to trust in God, you doubt God, you lose hope and you place your confidence in other things. You know what comes out of your mouth – cursing, complaining, insults and gossip. You know what your hands have done – laziness at work, hurting others, failing to help someone. You know what no one can see – jealous thoughts, resentment, staying angry, thinking the worst of people. These sins can stay with you. You’ve been forgiven, but they still follow you. It’s hard to keep them in the past.

You need the Gospel. Specifically you need to hear this about Jesus going into heaven, “sitting”not just at God’s right hand, but with you wherever you are, and working in You through the preaching of His Word, doing the miracle of faith.

Because this – the Gospel – is what still takes away all these sins. As many times as you struggle with these sins, that’s as often as you need to hear this. As long as you’re struggling with a death, seeming to never get over it, you need to hear this Gospel that says: be certain your loved one went into heaven through faith in Jesus. You don’t reach a point where you’ve heard it enough. Your old Adam will tell you that you know it well enough already. But it’s lying to you.

You need to hear this. You need to hear: you are going up and into heaven just like Jesus did, no matter what you’ve done, because He has taken away those sins. Whoever would keep you out of heaven has to keep Jesus out of heaven, and that didn’t happen, did it? Jesus went into heaven, so will you.

He’s still working with the preaching of His Word so that you hear and believe this. If you believe the Gospel it’s a sign that Jesus is doing this through His Holy Spirit, He’s right here with you. If you think your sins will drive Him away, they don’t. They bring Him closer for you to hear this, the Gospel, again and again.

That’s why Mark’s gospel ends with the word: “Amen.” It doesn’t mean “the end.” It means, “Yes, yes, it shall be so!” It’s about you going up and into heaven like Jesus did. Or about your believing loved one who died and went to heaven – “Yes, yes, it was most certainly true!”

“Amen” means “This is true!” Mark isn’t only writing “Amen” about Jesus going up and into heaven, he’s saying it about his entire gospel, so that when you hear, “Amen” – “Yes, it’s true,” – your response should be, “What’s true?”

The answer is to go back to the beginning of Mark’s gospel and start reading again, hearing all the things that are true, keep meeting Jesus, who is the Truth, who “came preaching the gospel,” it says in chapter 1, and He’s not done. He’s not done with you, He’s not done preaching the Gospel to you, forgiving your sins and saying: “Amen!” – “Yes, it’s true!” – to you.

Until He brings you to heaven. That’s the End of the Gospel for you. Or, it’s the end of hearingthe Gospel – because then you’ll have no more sins to be forgiven. It’ll be the beginning of fully living the Gospel, living the life the Gospel brings you into, where you have no sins and all you know is “Amen!” – It’s all true, everything He promised is true, it was all worth it. Amen!