And These Signs Will Accompany Those Who Believe

Introduction

I have found a friend in Jesus. He’s everything to me. He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. The lily of the valley. In him alone I see all I need to send and make me fully fall. In sorrow he’s my comfort in trouble, need my faith. He helped me every care on him to roll. He’s the lily of the valley.

He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. Oh yeah, all my free has taken and all my souls born. In temptation he’s my strong and mighty God. I have all for him forsaken, and all my idols born from my heart and now he keeps me by his power. Though all the will forsake me and take and give me sword through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal. He’s a lily of the valley, the right and morning star. He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. He will never leave me, nor yet forsake me here. While I give my faith into his blessing will help me, I’ve nothing now to fear. With him and he, my hungry soul shall then sweeping up to glory to see his blessed face where rivers of his life he’s available he’s the very sub ten thousand to my soul be seated please Mark Wolford dead at age forty four died of a rattlesnake bite you may have recalled this in the news two weeks ago it was two weeks ago today at an outdoor religious service in the state of West Virginia where 30 minutes into the service Mark Wolford sat down with the rattlesnake lying next to him which bit him in the thigh and he would die several hours later ultimately taken to a hospital where he would spend his final moments because of his belief that he was following the text of Mark chapter 16.

I want you to turn with me to that text in Mark chapter 16 and we’re gonna look at this context and at first, the verses 17 and 18, when Jesus said, and these signs will accompany those who have believed. In my name, they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will pick up serpents. And if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. About 25 attended this service, and as one news person who attended the service and reported about it, they didn’t seem to be greatly alarmed. They seemed unfazed by the event that took place two weeks ago. And what is interesting about the story of Mark Wolford is that his father died also in the same kind of a religious service 30 years ago in 1983 at the age of 39.

Here’s what Walford said to the Washington Post last year. I know it’s real.

And that if he didn’t believe he could do this, that he was therefore denying the power and that it was not real as a result. Now he had been bitten by poisonous snakes before at similar services. In fact, six years ago, he had been bitten by a copperhead, and Ralph Hood, who is a religion professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, saw this, and he said, you know, they want to be called serpent handlers, as a reflection of this passage. And Hood said that Mark Wolford wanted people to remember him as a Christian who was living his beliefs and being obedient. Serpent handling was only a small part of that, Ralph Hood said. He was trying to revitalize a strong tradition that doesn’t make a distinction between beliefs and practices.

Well, my beliefs about this passage are strong. I believe what these passages are saying, but that doesn’t mean in my practice in the 21st century that I’m going to be handling rattlesnakes or poisonous snakes in this pulpit. And I’ll have more to say about that as we go along. Hood added to this. What they’ll tell you is no one will get out of this alive. They’ll also tell you it’s not a question of how you live, it’s a question of how you die. This is how he would have wanted to die. I wish I could ask him about that now. If this is really the best way to exit this world. Well, what about this character, Mark Wolford? This made national news. First of all, tonight, I want to tell you what the issue is not.

1. What the Issue Is Not

The issue is not the power of God and his ability to cause these kinds of signs to be performed. Do I believe God has the power to pull off these signs? Absolutely so. And if God wanted that done today, he could have it done. It’s not an issue of his power. He has the ability to cast mountains into the sea. Jesus instructed the disciples. He has the power to destroy this globe and this universe, and one day he will. The issue is not the power of God and whether the power of God is real. And the issue is not whether or not believers actually did these things that Jesus talks about in Mark 16, 17 and 18, because I affirm to you that they did. Well, there’s not a lot of accounts of some of these things.

There is no account that I know of in the book of Acts, for instance, or anywhere in the New Testament of anyone drinking deadly poison. More on that in a moment.

Let me tell you what this is also not about, because this is also the charge that people like me will get. Well, it’s just your predisposition to reject this sort of thing, like speaking in tongues that this passage mentions. That’s not been your religious experience from the time that you were a little kid. You’ve bought into tradition, and therefore you reject this idea out of your religious tradition, not really because of what the scriptures say. I want to tell you when somebody throws that at my feet, whatever the issue is, that I only believe what I believe because of tradition, I get fired up on the inside. There are a lot of things that I used to believe that I no longer believe. I don’t hold to things merely because they are my religious tradition.

If somebody could show me in the scriptures that baptism was not necessary to salvation, and I came to the belief that they were right about that, I believe I would change. I wouldn’t be preaching that anymore. But I’ve left that open to audiences so many times. Show me. And I will change my belief. If that’s not what the scriptures are saying. And yet I believe more strongly than ever that baptism is essential in the salvation process. Just like I strongly believe that individuals did these things, but they are no longer doing them. I’ll tell you, it’d be really amazing if I could be bitten by a very poisonous snake. Hey, forget rattlesnakes. Let’s try a coral snake. Red and yellow will kill a fellow. That’s how you know a coral snake.

I was playing golf one time at Terrell Park in Beaumont, coming up on like the 16th hole, walking toward the green, and just right in front of me. Coral snake. Thankfully, they’re not really aggressive. You have to corner one and threaten them for them to really be on the attack, unlike some other snakes. I was just so glad that he slithered on his way. Well, let’s try a coral snake. Any snake would do. If we have these kinds of powers that Jesus talks about in Mark chapter 16, it doesn’t matter what the poisonous snake is. Or the poison that one would intake. The point is that if it’s a sign from God, you could drink three vials of poison. Three glasses full. A quart. And it wouldn’t kill you.

You could be bitten by a hundred snakes. And just like we talked about the serpent being lifted up in the wilderness, and God sent those poisonous snakes among them. If they looked at that standard, they would be healed. It’s the same kind of sign, isn’t it? It’s the same kind of miracle. They didn’t go to a doctor to be healed of those snakes. They responded in faith by looking at that sign that Moses erected for them to look at, and they were healed instantaneously as a result. So I want to tell you, these are not the issue in my rejection of what this passage teaches for our practice in the 21st century. It is not about the power of God. It’s not whether or not believers in the first century did so.

2. This Scripture in Mark 16 Is Misunderstood

And it’s not a result of my predisposition to reject these signs for our practice today. Well, what is this text saying? See, the real issue here is that this scripture in Mark 16, 17 and 18 is misunderstood. I think we need to look at the greater context of Mark 16 to demonstrate that Jesus is dealing with a problem of unbelief among his disciples when he was risen. Mary is told that he is not here. Go and tell his disciples, the angel says, and Peter is singled out because he’s the one who denied the Lord three times. Most probably that’s why he’s singled out here. God is not done using Peter. And tell them that you’ve seen me alive, or you’ve seen him alive. And so they come to Jesus.

They come to the disciples. She went and reported to those who had been with him. And when they heard, verse 11, that he was alive and had been seen by her. Look. They refused to believe it. Now, you might think the disciples automatically embraced the resurrection, but from Mark’s account, they struggled with it until Jesus appeared to them in the room. And then Thomas was not with them, and he said he wouldn’t believe until he sees the finger, sees the prince in his hands and in his feet. They all struggled with belief regarding the resurrection. I don’t know why, because Jesus kept telling them, I’m going to die and arise on the third day. He kept telling them that. It’s amazing how many times that appears, even in the gospel accounts.

I don’t know how many times he told them that.

But they were slow to get it. They refused to believe it. And after that, he appeared in different form to two of them while they were walking along their way to the country. And that’s recorded actually in Luke 24. The fellows whose hearts burned within them. And they went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. Okay, so we rejected Mary Magdalene, who says he’s risen. Now these two who said, We’ve seen him, he’s risen. And afterward, he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table, and he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. Because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen. And then he said, and you might know these verses go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

And notice what he says. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. It’s interesting in Luke’s account that he talks about preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But the quote that Mark uses is the quote that’s found only here where he says, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Now I know we use this verse a lot to talk about the necessity of baptism, and rightfully so. But the emphasis of Mark 16 and verse 16 is the belief that honts the baptism. And he’s been upbraiding them for their unbelief. And he says, now wait a minute. Here’s the message you’re going to preach. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. And we also talk about the end of that verse where it says, But he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

Well, it doesn’t say there, and this is the argument that some who reject baptism make. He who does not disbelieve, it doesn’t say, and is not baptized. And we’re quick to respond, how? If you don’t believe, you’re not going to be baptized. It’s not necessary to say, He who does not believe and is not baptized shall not be saved. If you don’t believe, you will not be baptized by faith. And so he doesn’t need to say that. And that’s a good argument, but I really think the issue still is the disbelief. The belief versus the disbelief in this context. And then he says, following that, and these signs will accompany those who have believed. Now you see, he’s again emphasizing the importance of belief. These signs will accompany those who have, and I remember now I had an underline there, who have believed.

In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them. They will lay on their hands on the sick and they will recover. So these miraculous signs will be performed by those who believe. Now, who are those people? Well, it’s a question to be raised. Is he saying that all believers, everyone who does what Mark 16 and verse 16 says, he who believes and is baptized, all believers will perform these signs. And that all believers will perform all of these signs. Every person who’s baptized in Christ will have the ability to pick up serpents. Drink deadly poison. Speak in tongues. And by the way, we read a lot more about people speaking in tongues than we do any others of those things listed in Mark 16, verses 17 and 18.

And like I said, early, there’s not any evidence in the scripture that anyone drank deadly poison, although there is a legend about a believer, a non-biblical source, that speaks of a believer who supposedly, reportedly drank deadly poison, and no harm came to him. Do you remember the sermon where I told you about that legend? Of course you don’t. I don’t expect you to remember Joseph Bar Sabbath, the one who was not chosen to be an apostle when Matthias was chosen in Acts chapter 1. The legend is about him that he did indeed drink deadly poison and no harm came to him. And so, but this obviously was not common. It’s not even reported in the book of Acts that anyone did that, but I believe that they did.

There’s a lot more emphasis on some of the other things in the book of Acts. So the question is this passage meant to say all believers and all believers of all time? So everyone who believes, not just in this generation, but every generation that ever lives, including the 21st century and people in West Virginia, that all believers of all time are going to be able to perform all of these gifts or some of these gifts. Isn’t that what this passage is saying? Well, even in regard to the serpent, the picking up of a poisonous snake, I only know of one example of that in the entire New Testament. And it’s a wonderful example in Acts 28, when Paul arrives in Malta on his journey to Rome, and he talks about the natives, and I have to read this passage.

The natives showed us extraordinary kindness, he says, for because of the rain that had set in because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, now be careful, kids, when you’re dealing with the sticks, trying to make a fire, that’s where you might come into contact. Somebody told me recently about picking up sticks and a snake was Jared. Jared has first hand experience with this. When you’re picking up sticks and there’s a snake.

Look, I’m going to tell you right now. This preacher doesn’t ever want this to happen to him. Under any circumstances. Now, if the Lord wants me to handle deadly serpents, I’m going to try to get out of it. But if I can, if it’s a necessity that I do that to go to heaven, I’m going to give it my best shot. Though I’m deathly afraid of those things. But here he is, a viper fastened to his hand. And when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, I love it, records their response. Undoubtedly, this man is a murderer. And though he’s been saved from the sea, justice is not going to allow him to live. However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

They were all bug-eyed at this point, I guarantee you, because it says, but they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time, they kept watching him. Nothing’s happening. We’ve seen this before. It’s instant death. Nobody lives through this. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their minds. And began to say that he was a God. Well, they had a lot to learn. And that’s perhaps one of the reasons why this sign occurs in their presence. You think they’re going to listen to this man now? I think they are. He’s got a connection with God to survive. He didn’t even swell up.

3. The Nature and Purpose of These Signs

Not only did he not die, these natives are impressed by this sign that occurs. So here’s the issue with Mark chapter 16, and especially with this rare occasion of the handling of a serpent. He really didn’t handle a serpent, but he was bitten by a poisonous one and did not die. Or the drinking of deadly poison. Again, some of these signs occurred more often than others, and it doesn’t seem that everyone had these signs or all of these signs. The issue really is the very nature and purpose of these miraculous signs. There are signs, but signs of what? I would suggest to you that the purpose of these signs is the issue here. They were to confirm in the midst of any other kind of objective data that this person spoke from God, that he was a representative from God.

You know, anybody could say, you know, well, I have a message from God. I’m God’s spokesman, and here’s what God said. But what if it wasn’t right? What if it was immoral? What if it actually contradicted what God said? Anyone could say, I have a message from God, and people still do, and some people still crazily believe them. As they say things that are not consistent with the scripture. But if you said, I had a message from God, how are you going to demonstrate that you indeed had a message from the Creator? You perform a miracle? Okay, that’s pretty good evidence. You don’t just see this kind of thing every day. I wonder when those snake handlers of our times were bit. Not everybody that gets bit by a poisonous snake dies incidentally.

But I wonder if there was any swelling up associated. What about some sickness that occurred with these poisonous bites? I don’t know, perhaps there’s somebody that has an immunity to poisonous snake bites, and they could do this all day long. But even if that was the case, I don’t believe it’s the miracle that we’re reading about, the sign that we’re reading about in Mark 16. Again, this is not an evidence of my lack of belief about the power that God has or can display. The issue is what were these signs intended to do and for how long? Obviously, these miracles have a divine source. And Paul talks about performing the signs of a true apostle. I don’t see every believer shaking off vipers into the fire, but I hear about the Apostle Paul doing it, and he talks in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 to the Corinthians in our study.

We’ve been talking about why he would say this. He said, I perform the signs of a true apostle. And so signs that were involved in the disciples disseminating God’s message would be very important. In Acts chapter 8, we learned that not even everybody had the ability to pass on these gifts, and that they did not receive them directly from heaven. Every believer. In Samaria, individuals believed and were baptized, and it says the Holy Spirit hadn’t fallen on any of them yet. Here Philip has done this preaching, brought individuals to the Lord, including Simon the sorcerer, and none of them could perform the miraculous signs that other believers did. It wasn’t just a matter of your baptized into Christ, and then you get these signs automatically.

What happens in Acts chapter 8? Philip, not the apostle, the one who was selected with Stephen in Acts chapter 6 to care for the widows. He was also one who preached, and he was preaching down in Samaria. These individuals believed and were baptized. The Holy Spirit hadn’t fallen on any of them yet, the text says. Notice that the baptism that took place there was obviously not Holy Spirit baptism administered directly from heaven. It had to be water baptism because it says the Holy Spirit had not descended upon any of them yet. Great passage to demonstrate. But the one baptism of Ephesians 4 and verse 5 is water baptism performed by Philip in Samaria, performed later in Acts chapter 8 by Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch. Here is water.

What does Henry mean to be baptized? Great chapter. It’s the only chapter I would use to deal with what is the baptism that saves in the New Testament. Is it water or Holy Spirit baptism? Now, the Holy Spirit is involved in baptism into Christ. But that’s another sermon. Now, Acts chapter 8. The Holy Spirit hadn’t fall on any of them. So what’d they do? They go down, they call down to Jerusalem. This could take some time to get word down to Jerusalem, and what do they do? Peter and John have to come up to Samaria. And what happens? They lay their hands on them. And they receive the Holy Spirit. They receive the ability to do these miraculous signs, which are going to be important because they don’t have a written copy of the new covenant like you and I do.

The word is still being revealed, which is one of the reasons why you’re going to read more about prophecy and speaking in tongues that have to do directly with revelation, then you’re going to hear about simply a sign of confirmation. Like the drinking of deadly poison or the handling of a serpent. Paul would later say in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 that such spiritual gifts were only temporary anyway. He says, these things, speaking in tongues, these signs are going to cease when that which is perfect is come. And because people want to believe that these kinds of miraculous signs are still occurring, they come up with some interesting notions about what the perfect is in 1 Corinthians 13. They want to relate that to the second coming of Jesus, so they want to keep these signs going now.

But the question is, how are we going to get the ability to do those without a real apostle to lay out of hands? Remember, Simon the Sorcerer wanted this ability when he saw what Peter and John could do with the laying on of hands, and he used to be one who did great magic, but it was nothing like this. I want this gift. I want to be able to do this. And what did Peter say? You have neither part nor lot in this matter. Why is that? Because he wasn’t an apostle. This wasn’t something he was going to be given the ability to do. And so the real issue is what is Jesus talking about? We said these signs will accompany those who believe. Is that everyone who believes for all time?

4. These Incidents Undermine Trust in the Bible

Or for this period of time. This special and unique period of time when the scripture, when the mind of God is going to be revealed in the first century to confirm that their message was of a divine source. Mark 16 is not talking about all believers for all time, but a limited number of believers for a limited time. Alright, one more point I want to make, and I’m done tonight about this incident. I want to talk to you about what I think the real tragedy of the story is that unfolded. The first thing that I want to mention here is that these incidents undermine people’s trust and confidence in the Bible. Here’s this guy who so strongly believes that this passage applies to him, and he goes and has this religious service, gets bit by the poisonous snake, and obviously it didn’t work.

No survival. That just gives people all the fuel that they need to say, see, there’s not any real power in what the Bible is saying anyway. Because of this false notion that this guy has about Mark 16, he helps to promote the idea, well, see, there’s not any real power associated with this. Because, look, he thought there was power in this. He was being obedient. You think this guy was genuine and sincere? Probably was. I mean, I don’t think he had a death wish. I think he really believed that if you follow Jesus that you would have this ability. It’s a misunderstanding of scripture. But in the process, this thing gets plastered on the news, and you say, Yeah, see, you really can’t trust the Bible.

Those things don’t really happen. They did happen. It’s not about God’s power to cause it. And if God wanted it to happen today, I guarantee you he could, and he would. And he would even use a scaredy cat like me. If need be. And if it was God’s will, bring me a gallon of the strychnine. And I’ll give it a go. But that’s not God’s will for us today. The message has been completely and finally revealed. We don’t need signs. We walk by faith, not by sight. So, let me tell you, there’s character involved in this whole story who really loves it when this thing hits the national news. And that’s the devil. He wants people to not believe in the scripture. He wants to further cement in some people’s minds that Christians are simply these misguided extremists who foolishly trust in the Bible.

5. Discontented With Simple New Testament Worship

There’s something else here that I find alarming. And that is that people are discontented with simple New Testament worship from the heart. I think people are looking for the sensation. They want something that’s all-inspiring and spine-jingling and spectacular. It’s the attitude of Naaman. When he came to the house of Elisha, he said, I thought the prophet was going to come out and wave his hand over the leper. He wanted some big mer some big great display. And Elisha didn’t even come out. He sent his servant out to tell him what to do. Go and wash the Jordan seven times. And so he was all mad and furious. Behold, I thought. And then his servant said, But if he’d have bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?

Sometimes the simplest of people have the wisest of answers. If he would have bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more? Just simply wash and be cleansed. Look, accept the simple solution. If it works, you’re going to be healed of leprosy. It’s an incurable disease at that time. And so Naaman comes to his senses, okay, simple, go wash seven times the Jordan. Cleanse. Just like the prophet said. We need to listen to God’s word, and when it says worship, sing, pray, preach, give, take of the Lord’s Supper. We need to be content with that instruction. We don’t need the spice it up, put it on a platform and rotate it attitude that Naaman had. And that’s what folks want today.

Let’s jazz it up a little bit. Oh, I use the word jazz. That’s an idea of a musical accompaniment. Oh, let’s have bands and concerts and let’s spice this thing up. Let’s appeal to the senses of man. Let’s act upon him in such a way that he’s stimulated. How about just being stimulated by the fact that you’re worshiping your creator and serving him the way he’s instructed you to serve him? I realize this is simple, and we’ve done it over and over and over again. We’ve sung songs again today, like we did last week and the week before that. But I’ll tell you, if you love God, you’ll find plenty of satisfaction and thrill and simple singing to the throne of your Maker. And we need to be content with that.

6. Drawing People by Wrong Means to Wrong Things

There’s a third thing that flows out of that. We need to be careful that we don’t buy into trying to draw people by wrong things. By wrong means to wrong things. To have some kind of sensational serpent handling. Oh, wonder what’s going to happen here. Well, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Somebody’s going to get bitten, they’re going to die. And that’s exactly what happened. Unnecessarily so, because of a misunderstanding of the scripture. Are we going to try to? Well, they didn’t draw a big number. They only had 25. I don’t know if it was worth it for all that. But are we going to try to make a carnal appeal to people? And that’s what this is a carnal appeal to people to attract them to the Lord.

But people just aren’t coming in large numbers. And I’ll just tell you, they never have.

And the Lord is not interested in just attracting people for attraction’s sake. And that’s why when those people who heard the very hard message that he preached in John chapter 6 about discipleship, and when he said, Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourselves. And it says, Many withdrew and would not follow him anymore. I’ve made this observation a hundred times and I’ll make it a hundred more. He did not say, Oh, please come back, come back, come back. He didn’t do that. Oh, he wasn’t happy that they walked away and turned themselves away from the living bread. The true manna of God. This obviously wasn’t the best thing for them. But he turned to his disciples and said, What?

Conclusion

Will you also go away? What about you? Do you have the right heart? And then Peter said, of course, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. While God wants everyone to be saved, and so do we. He does not wish to draw people by carnal methods who exalt the flesh over the spirit. Drawing people by wrong means to wrong things is pointless. He doesn’t want numbers for numbers’ sake. He has very real standards. And let me tell you something about his people. His people hear his voice and delight in his ways. In Psalm 37, we’re going to conclude with two passages in the Psalms, Psalm 37 and verse 4. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 40 and verse 8.

O my God, thy law is within my heart. May we be that kind of people who simply delight in doing what God has instructed us to do because we are sheep following the good shepherd. And may we be content with the kind of service to which he’s called us and to the kind of worship that he’s prescribed for us. And serve him in his way, that’s his people. If there’s someone in this audience tonight who’s not chosen to do that, if you’ve not done what does apply to every person in every place at every time, he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Not everybody picks up deadly poison and drinks it and lives as a sign. Not everybody handles serpents and is bit by poisonous snakes and survives as a result of the sign, but everyone who is saved is saved because he or she believes and is baptized.

And do you need to do that while there’s time and opportunity? Won’t you respond during the invitation song?

Only come for me for you and he shall save me.