140-104 The Power of Christ's Resurrection
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Philippians 3:10
Philippians 3:10
Two things are required of us (we’re told): death and taxes (one of those is due tomorrow).
In the 20th C 188 million people died from war and oppression. The influenza epidemic of 1918-19 killed an estimated 30-50 million people and several more million died b/c of typhus in eastern Europe.
COVID-19 deaths to date 6.2 million worldwide (nobody knows how accurate that is—since it is one thing to die from covid; another thing to die having covid).
There’s an industry geared toward giving people “hope” (false hope). Its called cryonics. There are organizations that will freeze your body upon death in hopes that at some future time, science and medicine will be able to revive you and cure you from whatever brought about your death.
This sort of fanciful thinking is spurred on by science fiction. Cryonics worked for Han Solo and Captain America so why not for us. Dennis Kowalski, the president of the Cryonics Institute, a non-profit based in Michigan and one of a handful of companies worldwide offering this service says that we love sci-fi and have optimism. That optimism is important, because cryonic preservation and reanimation is “100 percent not possible today.”
So, there’s that! It seems as though the apostle Paul knew what he was talking about when he says “death reigns” and it is the last enemy.
Death is the product of a plague even more horrific and widespread than all of those I mentioned a moment ago…Ralph Venning “the plague of plagues”—sin. It is 100% fatal. It is the reason mankind invests fortunes to stave off death (hoping to find that fountain of youth). It is our experience that all will die.
Now, I’m not being calloused but simply reflecting on our common experience—death is real and our loved ones die—we too will die (should the Lord postpone His return). This is God’s judgment on sin
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There’s always been a longing for the afterlife. Solomon expressed why...
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5029 Socrates’ Uncertainty
Four hundred years before the birth of Christ, Socrates, the renowned Greek Philosopher, drank the poison hemlock and lay down to die.
“Shall we live again?” his friends asked. The dying philosopher could only reply, “I hope so, but no man can know.”
It is this longing that makes the reason (for us) today to be so precious to those who know its power. I read moments ago—one of the accounts of the resurrection of LJC (all 4 gospels).
There is power in the resurrection.
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
That word “power” is dunamis (power, might, strength, force, capability, ability).
In 1867 Alfred Nobel (Nobel prizes named after him) he patented what he called “Nobel’s blasting powder” nitroglycerin combined with black powder, that when mixed with diatomaceous earth it became stabile and could be transported. Looking for a new name he settled on a word from Gk—dunamis meaning “power” calling it dynamite.
When you think of dynamite you tend to think of its destructive power. That’s not the idea of the Gk—but a dynamic (active, forceful) power.
That dynamic power of Christ’s resurrection is manifest in many ways. This morning I’d like highlight 3 ways this power is revealed:
I. The Past
I. The Past
Paul wanted to know the full, comprehensive power of God that is manifest in the resurrection of LJC. None of the 9 NT authors doubted the historical fact that JC rose from the dead.
A. The Demonstration of Power
A. The Demonstration of Power
Involvement of the Trinity
Involvement of the Trinity
We’ve been studying the creation account as we began a study of Genesis and discovered how all 3 members of the Trinity (Father, Son, HS) were intimately involved in the creation of all things. The same is true when it comes to the resurrection of JC.
The Father raised Jesus
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Peter cites this passage in his Pentecost sermon in Act 2:24-32.
“When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. “But God raised Him from the dead;
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
The Son Raised Himself
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
The HS Raised Jesus
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Now these appear to be contradictions but there is no such thing when it comes to the workings of the Triune God. We can accept (as did the writers of the NT) that Jesus was raised.
Appearances of Jesus
Appearances of Jesus
But if that doesn’t convince you—perhaps the multitudes of people to whom Jesus appeared after His resurrection will suffice.
1 Cor 15:3-8;
Every single appearance of LJC is authoritatively written—which effectively refutes every theory that has been offered to suggest something other than actual resurrection happened:
Stolen Body (Mt 28:11-15)
Substitute (Jesus was hiding while Judas or Simon Magus etc took His place)
Swoon theory (resuscitation)
Passover plot (RC Sproul Jr. “1965 by Hugh Schonfield (The Passover Plot). He said Jesus purposely provoked His crucifixion, which He survived with the help of drugged vinegar from conspirators Judas and Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus’ goal was to dupe His disciples into believing that He was raised to eternal life”
Phantom (only appeared to be raised—only spiritual resurrection)
Vision—the disciples suffered from hallucinations (but they all had the same one…)
B. The Dynamic Force of Power
B. The Dynamic Force of Power
It is not only the resurrection of Jesus that was accomplished thru the working of this power. But God has promised
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
Mt 27:52-53;
This is technically connected to the crucifixion and the miracle that happened at the earthquake when tombs of those who previously died were opened…bodies of saints...
God promised resurrection and salvation of Israel:
“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. “Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.
Many saints who believed under the Old Covenant—God selectively raised many of them (not all). It is however after Jesus’ resurrection on the 3rd day that they came out of their tombs and entered Jerusalem.
I can only imagine what people must have thought about that testimony for those who trust in Christ will also be raised:
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
This power was at work in the past in a very dynamic, forceful way.
II. The Present
II. The Present
Today, the power of Christ’s resurrection is demonstrated every time the sinner puts his/her trust in the LJC for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
It is the universal truth that as a result of original sin (Adam & Eve) that all humans are born sinners and are in the condition of spiritual death.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
The only way to remedy that condition is to impart new life.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Rom 6:2-11;
Paul understood there was not power in the law (to bring about justification—to declare righteous)
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
He also knew there was no power in his flesh (in himself) to overcome his condition of sin or even offer himself in service to God.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
There was one power that could accomplish what the law could not do, or any sinner could do—the power of the life of JC (manifest in resurrection). For the believer there is such a significant change/radical transformation at the moment when you are saved…)
Died to Sin (vs 2) sin’s domination is broken
Baptized into Christ (expressing spiritual union with JC)
Baptized into Christ’s death—His death is your death (death to the old self)
Buried with Christ—proof of death is burial
Raised with Christ (4b-5)
This resurrection is the demonstration of the power and glory of God who raised Jesus from the dead. Where His resurrection was physical ours (at the moment of salvation) is spiritual. And it brings total transformation of newness:
New heart (Ezek 36:26)
New spirit (Ezek 18:31)
New song (Ps 40:3)
New name (Rev 2:17)
New creation (2 Cor 5:17)
New self (Eph 4:24)
Resurrection brings a new way of living in that the old person is crucified (vv 8-11).
“I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.
The admonition is followed up then in Rom 6:12-14.
It is the power of Christ’s resurrection that:
Enables you to defeat temptation
Enables you to endure trials
Enables you to live a holy life
Enables you to boldly proclaim the gospel
Enables you to faithfully and fruitfully serve Christ
That is power is at work in every believer. In fact, it is the surest evidence that Xty is true and that the most important event in all of human history (death and resurrection) is true. The transformation that takes place in those who put their faith in JC is the demonstration of this present power at work in those who believe.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
III. The Future
III. The Future
There is coming a day in the future (though no person can know which day)—a day when the power of the resurrection will again be on display in those who died a physical death.
The context of Phil 3:10 to the end of the chapter explains...
That transformation can only happen once resurrection of the saints takes place.
The OT speaks of that:
Ezek 37 12-13;
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Jesus speaks of that day:
John 5:24-29;
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
This concerns those who “fall asleep in Christ”—this is the Xn, the believer.
But even those who have died without Christ (they have rejected the Son of God) will too be raised from their tombs but eternity for them looks terrifyingly different—raised to a “resurrection of judgment.”
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Friends, the resurrection of JC is proof of the power of God to bring life where there is death. Jesus died (for sins; as a substitute). His burial was proof that He had died. And God brought Him back to life—to live forevermore.
It is that power that imparts new life to anyone who believes on the LJC.
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
There could never be disappointment for those who trust in Christ.
Jesus told Martha:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
If you believe this today…the power of Christ’s resurrection will become manifest in your life…to partake of this…repent, believe.
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
That’s the power of Christ’s resurrection. It has a future glory with it:
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
