Mark 16:16

"Whoever believes," and this alone is not enough, but also "is baptized," for whoever has believed but has not been baptized and still remains a catechumen, that one is not yet saved.

It goes on: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. For it is not enough to believe, for he who believeth and is not baptized, but is a catechumen, has not yet attained to perfect salvation.

(2.) " If they believe not, if they receive not the record God gives concerning his Son, they cannot expect any other way of salvation, but must inevitably perish; they shall be damned, by the sentence of a despised gospel, added to that of a broken law." And even this is gospel, it is good news, that nothing else but unbelief shall damn men, which is a sin against the remedy.

He that believeth,....

He that believeth - He that credits this Gospel as a revelation from God: and is baptized - takes upon him the profession of it, obliging himself to walk according to its precepts: he shall be saved - redeemed from sin here, and brought at last to the enjoyment of my eternal glory. But he that believeth not, shall be damned - because he rejects the only provision that could be effectual to his soul’s salvation.

We ought to notice, firstly, in these verses, the parting commission which our Lord gives to His apostles . He is addressing them for the last time. He marks out their work until He comes again, in words of wide and deep significance, "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The Lord Jesus would have us know that all the world needs the Gospel. In every quarter of the globe man is the same, sinful, corrupt, and alienated from God.

BEFORE our Lord gave His disciples this commission He addressed them in tones of serious rebuke. You will observe that appearing unto the Eleven as they ate meat, "He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." So honorable an estimation did He set upon testimony—so marked a censure did He pronounce upon those who neglected it! The reprimand they received on such an occasion may well serve as a caution to us for unbelief unfits the Christian for service.

IF our congregations were what they ought to be, it would be a very simple matter to preach, for a sermon would then only need to be like the orders given by a commanding officer to his troops—short, sharp, plain, clear, distinct! Our hearers would not need illustrations and metaphors—they would simply ask to be told what they must do to be saved—and the more plainly they could be told, the better pleased would they be.

We ought to notice, firstly, in these verses, the parting commission which our Lord gives to His apostles . He is addressing them for the last time. He marks out their work until He comes again, in words of wide and deep significance, "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The Lord Jesus would have us know that all the world needs the Gospel. In every quarter of the globe man is the same, sinful, corrupt, and alienated from God. Civilized or uncivilized, in China, or in Africa, he is by nature everywhere the same — without knowledge, without holiness, without faith, and without love. Wherever we see a child of Adam, whatever be his color, we see one whose heart is wicked, and who needs the blood of Christ, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, and reconciliation with God. The Lord Jesus would have us know that the salvation of the Gospel is to be offered freely to all mankind. The glad tidings that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," and that "Christ has died for the ungodly," is to be proclaimed freely "to every creature." We are not justified in making any exception in the proclamation. We have no warrant for limiting the offer to the elect. We come short of the fullness of Christ's words, and take away from the breadth of His sayings, if we shrink from telling any one, "God is full of love to you, Christ is willing to save you." "Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22:17.) Let us see in these words of Christ, the strongest argument in favor of missionary work, both at home and abroad. Remembering these words, let us be unwearied in trying to do good to the souls of all mankind. If we cannot go to the heathen in China and India, let us seek to enlighten the darkness which we shall easily find within reach of our own door.

IN the preceding verse our Lord Jesus Christ gives us some little insight into the natural character of the apostles whom he selected to be the first ministers of the Word. They were evidently men of like passions with us, and needed to be rebuked even as we do.

IN the preceding verse our Lord Jesus Christ gives us some little insight into the natural character of the apostles whom he selected to be the first ministers of the Word. They were evidently men of like passions with us, and needed to be rebuked even as we do. On the occasion when our Lord sent forth the eleven to preach the gospel to every creature, he “appeared unto them as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen;” from which we may surely gather that to peach the Word, the Lord was pleased to choose imperfect men; men, too, who of themselves were very weak in the grace of faith in which it was most important that they should excel. Faith is the conquering grace, and is of all things the main requisite in the preacher of the Word; and yet the honoured men who were chosen to be the leaders of the divine crusade needed a rebuke concerning their unbelief. Why was this? Why, my brethren, because the Lord has ordained evermore that we should have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. If you should find a perfect minister, then might the praise and honour of his usefulness accrue to man; but God is frequently pleased to select for eminent usefulness men evidently honest and sincere, but who have some manifest infirmity by which all the glory is cast off from them and laid upon Himself, and upon Himself alone. Let it never be supposed that we who are God’s ministers either excuse our faults or pretend to perfection. We labour to walk in holiness, but we cannot claim to be all that we wish to be. We do not base the claims of God’s truth upon the spotlessness of our characters, but upon the fact that it comes from him.

BEFORE our Lord gave His disciples this commission He addressed them in tones of serious rebuke. You will observe that appearing unto the Eleven as they ate meat, "He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." So honorable an estimation did He set upon testimony—so marked a censure did He pronounce upon those who neglected it! The reprimand they received on such an occasion may well serve as a caution to us for unbelief unfits the Christian for service. It is in proportion to our personal faith in the Gospel that we become competent witnesses for the teaching of it to others. Each one of us who would get credit for sincerity must say with David, "I believed, therefore have I spoken," or else a need of faith of ourselves will effectually deprive our speech of all its power over our fellow men. There can be little doubt that one reason why Christianity is not so aggressive now as it once was and exerts not everywhere the influence it had in Apostolic times is the feebleness of our faith in Christ as compared with the full assurance of faith exercised by the men of those days. In vain you hide a timid heart behind a modest face, when the attitude we should show and the living force that should constrain us is a bold reliance upon the power of the Holy Spirit and a deep conviction of the might of the Truth of God which we are taught to deliver. Brethren, if there is to be a revival of religion it must begin at home! Our own souls must first of all be filled with holy faith and burning enthusiasm and then shall we be strong to do exploits and to win provinces for the scepter of King Jesus. Having thus made a note upon the context, I want you to refer to a parallel passage in Matthew.

IF our congregations were what they ought to be, it would be a very simple matter to preach, for a sermon would then only need to be like the orders given by a commanding officer to his troops—short, sharp, plain, clear, distinct! Our hearers would not need illustrations and metaphors—they would simply ask to be told what they must do to be saved—and the more plainly they could be told, the better pleased would they be. I am going to try, this evening, to preach that kind of sermon, sinking the preacher into the teller of good news, plainly speaking of the way of salvation. If you want to be saved, listen to my message. If you do not care for salvation, yet, perhaps, while you hear it, you may be set a-longing, and God may bless you. My text is preceded and followed by other important words, "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned." The Gospel, then, is for "every creature." Wherever there is a man, woman, or child—an intelligent creature—the Gospel is to be preached to such a person. You who are gathered tonight are clearly within that description and, therefore, the Gospel is to be preached to you. But if we are commanded to preach it, it is implied that you are commanded to hear it! To hear it without attention—to hear it without resolving to obey it—will be useless work. Hear it, therefore, as I desire to preach it, remembering that Christ stands here to hear me preach and to mark how you accept the message from Himself that I am to deliver. This Gospel is sent to every creature because every creature needs it. Whether the creature knows it or not, he is lost—lost by nature and lost by practice, too—so much lost that he cannot save himself! He needs to be saved.

He that believeth - That is, believeth the gospel. “He who credits it to be true, and acts as if it were true.” This is the whole of faith. Man is a sinner. He should act on the belief of this truth and repent. There is a God. Man should believe it, and fear and love him, and seek his favor. The Lord Jesus died to save him. To have faith in him is to believe that this is true, and to act accordingly; that is, to trust him, to rely on him, to love him, to feel that we have no merit, and to cast our all upon him. There is a heaven and a hell. To believe this is to credit the account and act as if it were true - to seek the one and avoid the other. We are to die. To believe this is to act as if this were so; to be in readiness for it, and to expect it daily and hourly. In one word, faith is feeling and acting as if there were a God, a Saviour, a heaven, a hell; as if we were sinners and must die; as if we deserved eternal death and were in danger of it; and, in view of all, casting our eternal interests on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. To do this is to be a Christian: not to do it is to be an infidel. Is baptized - Is initiated into the church by the application of water, as significant that he is a sinner, and needs the purifying influences of the Holy Spirit. It is worthy of remark that Jesus has made “baptism” of so much importance. He did not say, indeed, that a man could not be saved without baptism, but he has strongly implied that where this is neglected “knowing it to be a command of the Saviour,” it endangers the salvation of the soul. Faith and baptism are the beginnings of a Christian life: the one the beginning of piety in the soul, the other of its manifestation before men or of a profession, of religion. Every man endangers his eternal interest by being ashamed of Christ before men. […]