Resurrection Of Christ

Read Philippians 3:10

A lot of this will be REVIEW tonight. I wasn’t here during our first ZOOM meeting and it sounds like you guys maybe went over the GOSPEL or Salvation, so I am sorry if I am little repetitive. know here at CALVARY CHAPEL we go BOOK BY BOOK verse by verse so I don’t want to just take a verse without CONTEXT . I want to focus on the RESURRECTION but let me have someone read (Philippians3:1-10).

I will put everything in context. READ

IN, Phil 3, which there were no chapter divisions in the original, Paul is WARNING the BROTHERS at Philippi against coming under LEGALISM.

THE IVP Bible background commentary says about 3:2,” The opponents here are not Jewish persecutors, who would be unlikely in Philippi, which had a very small Jewish community. Rather, they are like the traveling Jewish Christian teachers Paul had encountered in Galatia who want to circumcise Gentiles.”

THEN in 3:5,6 Paul tells them that he is a PHARISEE, a HEBREW of Hebrews, BLAMELESS in LAW KEEPING, yet he tells the brothers at Philippi that he has NO CONFIDENCE in his FLESH- In his OWN ABILITY to achieve the RIGHTEOUSNESS that is required to have a have a RELATIONSHIP with GOD, IN-CHRIST.

HE was telling them that NONE of his past ACHIEVEMENTS or practices, would GET him where he wanted to be which was in a right RELATIONSHIP with his CREATOR, and NOTHING in his past life COMPARED to KNOWING CHRIST and the POWER of His RESURRECTION. In the OLD TESTAMENT the most NOBLE effort was to “KNOW GOD”. Although all of his past actions were taken in an attempt to become closer to God, they FAILED him in every way.

IN, 3:8 he says, “I COUNT ALL things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”, which is to say, the COMPLETE and full KNOWLEDGE of the Lord CHRIST Jesus IS the ULTIMATE source of SATISFACTION and contentment.

In-Christ EVERY NEED is MET.

IN, 3:9 he establishes that when we are found In-Christ we are found there “through the faith of Christ” and not “of the law”, and when we are found in Christ through faith, His righteousness is imputed to our account. (2 Cor 5:21)” For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

I KNOW that we all UNDERSTAND what Paul is saying, BEWARE of people that try to PUT us UNDER LAW because the only way to ATTAIN the RIGHTEOUSNESS needed to be “In-Christ” and in a right relationship with God is by FAITH in Christ’s. Paul leaves no doubt how we are saved in (Ephesians 2:8a) he says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith;”, and the faith he is talking about is in particular three things-

a. Christ’s DEITY

b. Christ’s DEATH

c. Christ’s RESURRECTION

THE APOSTLE lays out the REQUIREMENTS for SALVATION in (Romans 10:9). “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (deity of Christ), and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead (death and resurrection), thou shalt be saved.”

NOW, focusing on vs 3:10 he says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

Paul knew the TANAKH, the HEBREW scriptures forwards and backwards and still the GREATEST thing PAUL COULD possibly DO with his LIFE was to KNOW MORE of CHRIST and to experience more of His RESURRECTION POWER because THAT IS the ONLY WAY TO “KNOW GOD”.

I PRAY this all the time,” That I may Know Him and the POWER OF HIS Resurrection”. I think a lot of the time we think that the Gospel is JUST for SALVATION and then we are to MOVE on to DEEPER study, but in (1 Cor 15:1) Paul tells us that it is BY the GOSPEL that WE STAND.

AND THEN IN, (1 Cor 3:11) HE tells us Christ is OUR FOUNDATION, AND we learn in (Eph 2:20) He is ALSO the CHIEF CORNERSTONE . Christ is the FIRST and the LAST, the BEGINNING and the END He is ALL in ALL. My point is we don’t get saved and move on. Jesus is the object of our hope, faith, and love

WE DON’T just get SAVED and then the RESURRECTION does NO GOOD anymore. Paul says, “I die daily” (1 Cor 15:31), so DAILY we have to take up our crosses (Luke 9:23), and SEE OURSELVES In-Christ being CRUCIFIED with HIM .

(GAL 2:20)“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

I know We ALONG with Paul CAN SAY, we Want EVERTHING Christ has GIVEN. WHICH means we need to DAILY WASH our MINDS with the washing of the water of the word (EPH 5:26),”that He might sanctify and cleanse her [Church] with the washing of water by the word”

Everyday we need to be WASHING our Fears, DOUBTS, and LOSSES in His Word, and we do this by MEDITATING on and CHEWING and chewing like a COW will with cud. ANYONE THAT GREW UP ON A FARM WILL KNOW CUD. They will CHEW and SWALLOW and BRING back up and CHEW some MORE.

We have to READ it and THINK about it and PRAY about it and REPEAT. AND PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! TAKE EVERYTHING to Him in PRAYER, AND ACCORDING TO Phil 4:7” the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

WE KNOW IF we SEEK the RISEN Christ, we will FIND Him. (Matthew 7:7),”Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

The CHRISTIAN faith LIVES and DIES with the of the RESURRECTION. The RESURRECTION is what SET’S Christianity APART from all OTHER world RELIGIONS.There are many people who accept Jesus of Nazareth as a good man, and a moral teacher but that is as far as most people are willing to take. THIS CAN'T BE TRUE LIKE CS LEWIS SAID,” HE IS EITHER A LUNATIC, LIAR OR LORD OF ALL ,BUT HE CANNOT BE JUST A GOOD MAN.”

THE JEWISH LEADERS KNEW WHAT HE CLAIMED BECAUSE Christ was CRUCIFIED as a BLASPHEMER; however, the Resurrection is God’s way AUTHENTICATING everything Jesus ever said or promised.

All the ALLEGATIONS of blasphemy an unjustified crucifixion, were MET by God the Father with the Resurrection, and Christ’s CLAIMS to be CREATOR God were totally VALIDATED. These claims are ALL OVER the BIBLE in (John 8:58) Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” This is a direct reference to (Exodus 3:14),” And God said unto Moses, I AM That I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

There is NO DOUBT that JESUS CLAIMED to be God Almighty and His RESURRECTION PROVES that EVERY single WORD He spoke was True. In, (Romans 1:3-4) Paul says,“ Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:”

So, God the Father has put His ROYAL STAMP of APPROVAL on everything Jesus of Nazareth ever said and did, by RAISING him from the SEAT and SEATING Him at His RIGHT hand far above all principality and power. The notes on the Faithlife study bible’s notes for this verse say, “Jesus proved His divine authority and established Himself as the expected Davidic Messiah through His resurrection from the dead.”

The Resurrection is the SINGLE greatest EVENT in human history. The cross was a TRIUMPH, not a FAILURE. Jesus LAID His life DOWN WILLINGLY for the sins of us all. Paul in(Romans 4:25) says,” who [Christ] was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

Ultimately, HIS ENEMIES didn’t DELIVER HIM over. HE GAVE UP His LIFE WILLINGLY in (John 10:15b ) we read,"I lay down my life for the sheep.”, and then in vs 18, “ No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

The FATHER DELIVERED Him to be crucified,( Acts 2:23),”Him [Christ], being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you [a]have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;”

So we see that the CROSS was NOT an AFTER thought, but has been God’s PLAN since THE “SEED OF WOMAN” in (Gen 3:15).

And THEN in (Revelation 3:8)we learn that the CROSS was the PLAN from the START of THINGS,” the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

God was NOT CAUGHT off guard.

Side note: Skeptical New Testament scholar Bart Erhman concedes, “Christ’s death on the cross is the single best documented fact of ancient history.”

(Galatians 1:11-24). Can someone please read this passage.

The Apostle Paul had an experience with the Resurrected Christ during his famous “Damascus road experience” (Acts 9). For the SAKE of ARGUMENT and not putting dates on it we will say Paul met the Risen Christ TWO to THREE years AFTER the CROSS. Paul was a very HOSTILE combatant to Christianity. He was on his way to PERSECUTE Christians when he was SAVED. For him to come up with the GOSPEL by revelation there is no way that could happen without supernatural help. Paul gets saved and goes to Damascus for THREE years by himself, and at the end of that he goes to Jerusalem to go over what he was preaching to make sure they were all on the same page.

(Galatians 2:7-9)Then 14 years later Paul went back to Jerusalem again and this time was just double checking that they all had the same thing. He met with Peter, John, and James the Lord’s brother and they gave Paul the Right HAND of fellowship. So whatever the Gospel Paul was preaching, it is the SAME GOSPEL that the rest of the Apostles were also preaching. They all believed in the experience they had had with the Risen Christ to the point of DYING FOR IT

What was it they were teaching?

Can someone read 1 Cor 15:1-8?

Ok, here in verse one Paul TELLS us that he is TALKING about the GOSPEL, and then in VS 3 HE POINTS US BACK TO ISAIAH 53 SUFFERING SERVANT PASSAGE, AND THEN he says, I GAVE to you what I also RECEIVED. This is the same Gospel Paul received in DAMASCUS and CONFIRMED by PETER, JAMES the Lords brother and JOHN which we read in GALATIANS. This passage is believed to be very early oral tradition. So to be sure this is that same Gospel that the early disciples preached. That CHRIST DIED for our sins, was BURIED and ROSE again on the third day. And then Paul LISTS over 500 EYE witlessness that were still alive. You WOULD NOT list these people by name because then people can go INVESTIGATE your CLAIMS.

The JEWISH leaders IMMEDIATELY MADE up a story about the body being stolen, to try and SAVE FACE. However, they inadvertently admitted to an empty tomb by doing so. There is a lot of great information out there that we won’t have time to go over tonight. I hope this C.V. ends and we can get back to the Chapel soon.

Just as a side note the Holman Quick Source Guide says,” archaeology has repeatedly and consistently confirmed the New Testament”, which I absolutely love to hear stuff like that.

All the Apostle's believed in and TAUGHT the SAME THREE THINGS when it cam to the GOSPEL; Deity, death, and Resurrection of Christ. There is A LOT MORE that CAN be said about this, but LET me say,HAD Christ DIED and NOT ROSE the disciples would have faded DISPIRITED into history. However, that is not what happened they SPRUND HOLY Sprit FILLED into the world, and BECAME FEARLESS because they knew DEATH COULD NO LONGER HOLD THEM.

PAUL PERSECUTED the Lord, and JAMES the Lord’s brother DID NOT believe Jesus was the MESSIAH, when He was still alive. In (John 7:5) we read,”Even His brothers did not believe in Him.”

It was ONLY AFTER the RESURRECTION, His brothers STARTED to worship Him as Messiah. I don’t know about you but I would probably do the same thing if my little brother told me he was God. I would think he was crazy, but if He truly appeared to me in His physically resurrected body, I guess I would have no choice but believe. I guess that is how James felt because in his letter vs 2:1 he called Jesus, “Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” That is certainly an about face. Going THINKING HE was a LUNATIC to BELIEVING His is the LORD of GLORY something MAJOR had to happen.

So we can have CONFIDENCE that men like the Apostle Paul who persecuted the Lord, and James His brother who thought He was crazy and all the other Apostle's except maybe John, all went to their DEATH proclaiming the LORD’S DEATH and Resurrection with conviction AFTER having an EXPERIENCE with the Risen Christ. Liars make poor martyrs.

And BECAUSE we know our Lord is Risen then we can know that when He said in (John 11:25) is true,“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

In Matthew 24:35 we READ,”Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”

Like John said last night, because He said it, we can TAKE it to the BANK.

In, (Philippians 3:12-14) he ADMITS, “12 Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

NO MATTER how we might MESS IT UP today or how we might MISS the MARK, let us forget those things, and keep relying by FAITH on His RESURRECTION power to sustain us because death has no hold on the believer. This week as you are going about your business keep your KEEP YOUR FAITH on HIM and HIS POWER and STAY in HIS WORD. We are just visitors ON THIS EARTH.

Because the MOST ALIVE we will ever feel is the SECOND we PASS from this realm to the next. I WILL END with (1 Cor 15:55-58), “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”