Knowing The Power of Jesus Christ's Resurrection

We all know that the state of our country is in pretty bad shape, isn't it? And there is a great decline in the country, in the United States of America in which we.

Live.

We see our freedoms being taken away a little bit at a time. But can I say this? The problem in America is not political. The problem in America is spiritual. And that's what we're going to talk about today.

The sins of the church, as George Whitefield said, is far more of an offense to God than the sins of the country. And it's the sins of the church that offends God. The church, the state of the church is in decline spiritually.

I know that sounds negative, but it's reality. We see a great spiritual decline.

There's a delusion.

A lot of people can blame the devil all they want to, but if you read the scriptures very carefully, that delusion is sent from God. God sends a delusion. And it's a judgment. And tie it in. You see that in 2 Thessalonians.

And you can tie it in to Romans. But Romans chapter 1, and you can tie that in that God gives them up. It's like he releases his hand. And all he has to do is move his hand away. And the land will corrupt itself.

And that's where we are.

The land is corrupting itself. There's a delusion that God has sent. And as negative as that may sound, but that's the truth. The problem, if you look around, is we have too many people. And the churches, mind you, I'm speaking to the church, that has a form of godliness.

And no power thereof.

The Power of the Resurrection and the Need for New Birth

Now what power is he talking about?

The power of the resurrection.

There is no resurrection power.

Why?

Because people are not born again. That's the problem. People are not repentant of their sins. And not until we come face to face with who we are, who we really are before God and our sin, we will not know anything or nothing of God.

The only way we can know God is to first know that we have sinned and who we are and how.

Corrupt we are.

And that is why God has given us this wonderful book right here. The Law and the Gospel. The Law reveals our sin. It gives the knowledge of sin.

Beloved, how often do you hear sermons today on the holiness of God or the law of God?

Or how short that we come from God's perfect law.

You don't hear that.

No.

You got too many people, other preachers, not born again, preaching another gospel,.

Another Christ.

The gospel is not right and people are hearing wrong views of God because they are not hearing the scriptures.

They are not hearing the scriptures.

You know, I happen to turn, I'm not naming what it is, but I happen to turn some preaching on this past week. It was Resurrection Sunday. A lot was said. There was a couple of good preachers, but most of the preachers I was hearing was telling.

Stories.

People sitting back just laughing, enjoying it. And I understand that there's a time to give illustrations and stories, but I'm talking about, I listened for quite a bit of time of this resurrection camp meeting and all I heard was just storytelling.

There was no, thus saith the Lord.

There was no word of God being expounded.

And you know, if you're not telling people, thus saith the Lord, what are you telling.

Them?

You're telling them, you know, doesn't it say, what didn't Paul say, that in the last days people will have itching ears? And Paul tells Timothy, preach the word, preach the word. And the duty of the pastor is not to tell stories.

He's to preach the word. He's to feed the flock of God. So in saying that, I want to do my utmost by God's help to give you the word of the Lord this morning and give you God's word. This is just to be a skim over, but we're going to look at, on this Resurrection Sunday, the power of the resurrection.

That's what we need. We need the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The church needs the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So in saying that, please turn with me to the little epistle of Philippians, this as you turn to chapter 3.

It's a wonderful epistle. It's a small epistle. Paul wrote some small epistles, but they're packed full of truth. They pack a wallop of big punch, in other words, somebody would say. It's one of Paul's prison epistles, his prison of letters.

He wrote this in a dungeon, in a jail. It's known as the epistle of joy. The traditional view is that this book of Philippians here is, along with other prison epistles, which are Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, was written during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, which took place around 60 A .D. to 62 A .D.

So you have the time period there. And I'd like to draw your attention to verse 7 through 11. Verse 7 through 11. This is the Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul as he writes this himself in prison, in a dungeon.

He's in chains. And this turns out to be one of the most wonderful epistles that he has ever written. Verse 7 through 11, hear the word of the living God. For whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake.

Of Christ.

More than that, more than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

Verse 10, 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. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask God's blessing upon our time of study and worship within this hour.

Father, your Son said, without me you can do nothing. Lord, we recognize that without Jesus we can do nothing. So Lord, I pray, help us within this hour, Lord, give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, give us understanding, give us a mind to understand and a heart to perceive.

And Father, may not one of us leave here the same way we came. Oh, that we may see Jesus. Oh, that we may see Jesus, Christ crucified, risen from the dead. That is our prayer this morning for your glory and your honor.

In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. Well, beginning in verse 7, the Apostle Paul makes a great renunciation. There's a renunciation here and he gives us his own, what I call, profit and loss statement. If you're in accounting, this is exactly what he's referring to.

There's accounting words here and he speaks of it as, whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. The Greek word for gain, again, it's an accounting term that means profit.

The Greek word for loss also is an accounting term which is used to describe a business.

Loss.

So you got, he speaks of profit and loss. What was lost, what he has gained. So here, he gives us this accounting term used to describe a business loss and a gain. On one side, he lists the things that have been gained to him.

If you look at verse 4 through 6 in chapter 3, he tells us what that is. He says, although myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more.

Now he's using sarcasm here. But listen to what he says, but he's being very truthful. Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, and as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

Now this is a man that persecuted the church of God, and this is what his pedigree used.

To be.

It's interesting, he speaks of these things, and at one time Paul, who at that time when he was a Pharisee was known as Saul, had confidence in the flesh. This is what religious people do. They have confidence in the flesh, that's what actually it is.

It's all externalism.

There's nothing internal here.

There's no transformation here. It's just all external, but it can be a great deal of externalism, but it's all of the flesh. And as he says here, it's confidence in the flesh.

That's what religion is.

It's confidence in the flesh. And this was his religion. His external achievements, that he could attain eternal life on the basis of his circumcision, which was a big deal to Jewish people, of being separated.

His pedigree, his credentials, he had a lot of them. His good works, all that he did because he was just a Pharisee. He did it for show. He did it out of the wrong motives. Being holy for the wrong reasons.

I'm sure Paul was the first one in the temple, many times, teaching as a Pharisee. It is said that when a Pharisee was born, or there was within a family of a Pharisee, a Pharisee would pass to even the baby that they would deem to be a Pharisee when it grows up.

They would place a scroll in that baby's hand and literally put honey on it. And the baby would suck the honey. And scripture speaks about the word, thy word, thy law is sweeter than honey. And they would begin their Pharisaical life as studying the law, the Mosaic law.

Strictly, even from a child, a baby such as that, a strict Pharisee, Paul said he was. Matter of fact, he said he was a Pharisee, some translations, a Pharisee of Pharisees. But he was definitely a Pharisee, which was one of the most, in our day, would be a theologian.

He would be a theologian and would know a great deal. He was trained as a teacher, a rabbi, to teach the word of the law of God. That's the word of God in that time period. And again, when Paul speaks of the flesh, he's not referring to this outward flesh in the sense.

He's talking about man's unredeemed nature. The nature that's fallen. That's what he's referring to here. The unredeemed nature, his own ability and achievements apart from God. Now, you have a lot of people like this in the churches today.

That like to brag on their abilities, their talents, their giftedness and their achievements.

But is it with God or is it apart from God?

And I submit to you, if there's a lot of pride, I assure you, it's apart from God. And it breeds pride. It breeds pride. God resists the proud. God resists the proud. But He gives more grace to the humble.

And then the apostle Paul refers to the other side. And this is what he says in one single word. I've suffered the loss of all things and counted but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. In one word, Christ.

That's the word and that's the person who he's referring to. The things that were gained to him, he now counts as loss for Christ. For Christ, gladly. He's not trying to say, oh, I've lost something wonderful to gain Christ.

No, actually all that I had was a rubbish heap to gain what is most precious. That's what he's saying. Once he considered his circumcision, his pedigree, his position, his good work supposedly, his good works to be an advantage to him in the pursuit of salvation,.

He cast them away.

He cast them away. And the only thing that mattered to him was Jesus Christ. And this is what really matters to the true Christian. It's the person and works of Jesus Christ. Jesus to be more beautiful.

Jesus to be more lovelier. Jesus was everything to him. He was all in all to him. And all things he refers to as all those religious good works that amounted to absolutely nothing when compared to the infinite wonderful glories and value and treasure that's found in Jesus Christ.

Nothing compares to it. And when we come to meet Jesus face to face, nothing in this world will ever, ever seem wonderful again because Christ has taken preeminence. He has become the first love of our lives as believers.

Now keep in mind, the Jews placed their confidence in being circumcised. They spoke of being the descendants of Abraham quite often. When Jesus had discussions with the Jewish people, the Jews always bragged on their father Abraham.

They were the descendants of Abraham. They bragged about it. And that's when Jesus said, if you were of Abraham's seed, you would do the works of Abraham. In other words, faith and belief and being justified by faith and by what they did and believed on.

And James talks about that as well. And also the Jewish people in performing external ceremonies and duties of the Mosaic Law. Beloved, that was a big deal to the Jewish people. A very big deal. And it still is today.

And this is why, if you think of it, or should I say, Jesus witnessed to another Pharisee. And we find this account in John chapter 3. This Pharisee, by the name of Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night. He was a Pharisee.

And the Bible says he was a ruler of the Jews. He comes to Jesus by night. And, you know, actually what he's doing here, he flatters Jesus with a statement about the signs and the wonders. Listen to what it says in John 3.

A rabbi, he says, Master, we know, we know, speaking of the Jews, that you have come from God as a teacher. For no one could do these things. These what? Things mentioned, these signs, these miracles.

These miracles that you do unless God is with them. Jesus answered immediately. Jesus didn't say, oh, thank you very much, Nicodemus. It's God, my Father, that, and rightly so, He could have said that, that gives these miracles and points to Him.

No, He didn't say that. But by the Spirit of God and by Jesus doing exactly what the Father always told Him to, and He did those things exactly what the Father, Jesus points them to this. He says, Jesus answered and says to them, Truly, truly, and in the Greek and Arabic, I should say, Amen, Amen, Jesus gives His amens right before He makes a statement because He is the way, the truth, and the life.

And then He says, I say to you, I say to you, Nicodemus, it's you that is very religious, unless one is born again. The meaning, born from above. Born of God, born by the Spirit of God. He cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now, that was Jesus' reply when the Pharisee came to Him and just saying, well, you've got to come from God because these miracles follow and these signs and wonders follow you. But Jesus said, basically, what He's saying, the most important miracle is for you to be born again.

You must have a new heart. You must have a transformation. There's something that must take place within you, Nicodemus. So Nicodemus, like Paul the Apostle, in that time period, very few came to Christ.

Very few were born of the Spirit of God. I heard this from Pastor John MacArthur when he was preaching on this text. And he said, in that time period, there was over 6 ,000 Pharisees in Jesus' day. There's only two that you can find in Scripture that really came to Jesus.

And we know this about Nicodemus at the latter part because he was there with Joseph of Arimathea at the burial of Jesus. So Nicodemus was there and he was a transformed man. So Nicodemus did come to faith in Christ of believing who Jesus really was,.

The Messiah, the Son of the living God.

And then, of course, you know the Apostle Paul and his conversion on the road to Damascus. When Jesus appeared to him right in midday and knocking him off his horse, he comes down and he falls down on the ground as Saul of Tarsus.

And Jesus says to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? In other words, he was persecuting Christ because he was persecuting the believers. And the believers were one with Christ, one in union. So there was a transformation, the beginning of a transformation of Saul of Tarsus.

And it changed him so much, he changed his name from Saul to Paul. But he was one of the elite religious men of that day that ever lived. Very few Pharisees came to believe on Jesus. And you know this, just like in our day, some of the hardest people that I have found, just to be true, being in the church all my life, is people that are self-deceived.

The hardest people to reach for Jesus Christ are those that live a lie. They have a form of godliness and they think they're saved. They think they're going to heaven while their works prove to be damnable.

They live like the devil. And they play church on Sundays, but Monday through Saturday, they just live in a fleshly way and demonic way that you could think of. And they do it in the name of Christ. Blaspheming Christ's name.

And Paul says, let him that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Jesus came to save us from what? Our sins. See, here's the problem in the church today. There's so much grace that's being taught, it becomes licentiousness.

Say that right.

In other words, grace has become cheap. So, in other words, you can have the name of Jesus, you can have the title, you can make a profession, but yet, have no possession. In other words, whatever you say is okay and I can live any way I want to because I got my ticket.

I'm okay with God. Well, beloved, we know, according to the word of God, that's false. Your life must back it up. There must be obedience to the faith of the gospel. And obedience to the word of God. Obedience to the commandments of Christ.

We don't see that today. People are living a lie. It's sad, isn't it? But the hardest people to reach for Jesus Christ are those who think they are saved. I'm telling you, there are a lot of religious lost people.

In this day and in our day. And it's really bad in our day, especially here in the south. Just about anybody you ask, do you know Jesus Christ?

Oh, yes, yes, yes, I know Jesus.

But they can't tell you the first thing about Jesus. They can't tell you one scripture. Well, oh, I could be a Christian and not go to church.

Well, let me say this.

I've always had this saying. Going to church does not make no one a Christian. But when you are a Christian, you will want to go to church. The church is not the building. The church is the people of God.

Yeah, but here's the problem. Churches is becoming corrupt now. Because they are preaching another gospel. There's another Jesus being preached. And people are liking it. So there, as the church goes, the nation goes.

So now we have another Jesus. I assure you, ask anybody their definition about the love of God. They have a totally different view of what God's love really is. According to the scriptures.

Tozer was right.

Brother Keith knows what I'm talking about. He uses this almost every time when he witnesses to people. What you think of God is the most important thing about you. Your view of God. And our right view of God always comes from this right here.

This is the compass. This is the guide. And any time you read in the scriptures what God is. If you want to know what God is like. Right here. The Bible would tell us what God is like. We'll talk more about that later.

But Paul the Apostle counted all his religious pedigree as dumb. As rubbish. To put it frankly, it was a manure heap. That's what he was saying. It stinks. And that's exactly what religion is to God. It stinks to God.

It stinks. It's dumb. It's a trash heap. And that's what he's saying. All this is a trash heap in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. And notice what he said. Christ Jesus my Lord. Now there's something you don't hear preached about, do you?

The Lordship of Jesus. How many sermons have you heard on the Lordship of Jesus recently? Jesus is Lord. He's Savior. Oh my. He is Savior. But He would not be Savior unless He's Lord. And He is Lord. But when I say that, He must be Lord within your life.

My life. He's going to be Lord. Regardless I believe it or not. You see what I'm saying? Because the Scripture says actually in Philippians. If you read in chapter 2. If you go with me. Notice what He says here.

This goes right into the message of the cross and the resurrection.

He says this.

Look at chapter 2. Look at verse 5. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Who although He existed in the form of God. You want to know the doctrine of the second person of the Trinity?

Here it is. Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. A thing to be grasped.

Asserted.

But emptied Himself. He laid aside His privileges. In other words. He laid aside all that. You see He's the Word of God folks.

And the Word was made flesh.

That's what John says.

But He emptied Himself.

He laid aside all His privileges. Taking the form in verse 7. The form of a bond slave. A bond servant. And being made in the likeness of men. Being found in the appearances of man.

He humbled Himself.

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even the death on the cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him. And bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. How did God highly exalt Him?

He raised Him from the dead. He's ascended on high. Verse 10. So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow. This is going to happen. In hell and heaven everywhere. All those who are in heaven. On earth.

And under the earth.

And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Folks this is going to happen. And you know whether a person is going to be damned to hell forever. They're going to all bow the knee to Jesus.

Or in heaven we're going to bow the knee. But I'm telling you. We need to be. I would prefer to be in heaven. And the way to get to heaven must be born again. There must be a transformation. Actually when Jesus is Lord.

In that sense there is a great transformation. Paul says if any man be in Christ. In Christ. He's what? He's a new creation. He's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Then he says behold. Don't you love that?

He says look.

All things become new. He didn't say some things. There's a total transformation. And folks we're not seeing this. We see a lot of people playing church.

We see.

We still see. The sin problem is still abasive.

And not taken care of.

Because the book. The word of God. Is not being preached like it should be preached. And in order to be sanctified. We must hear thus saith the Lord. Jesus says it's the word that sanctifies. Thy truth.

My truth. Thy truth sanctifies. He prayed for his disciples. In John 17. That they may be sanctified.

What sanctifies?

Thy truth. The truth.

Nothing outside of this word of God. Is going to sanctify us folks. Only the word of God. Has the power.

To sanctify us.

As we should be sanctified. And I'm talking about sanctification. That has two aspects. There's a cleansing aspect. And there's a separation aspect to it. But basically it means separating. From the world.

Apart from the world. Unto God. But there's a cleansing aspect of it. Aspect of it as well. But Paul says. Basically once he was saved.

And no longer.

That these good things. And these good pedigrees. And he did. Mean anything to him. Why? Well because he had seen the glory of the Lord. He's seen Jesus. He all of the glory. Seemed like nothing. In comparison to the glory of the Lord.

That was in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul considered. All things lost.

No profit whatsoever.

Jesus says.

What's going to profit you.

If you gain the world.

And lose your own soul. What a question. We need to consider that. Don't we? Well for the excellency. Of the surpassing knowledge. Of Jesus Christ my Lord. That's what Paul said. To Paul. The all important thing.

To him.

Was to.

Gain.

Jesus Christ. To win. Jesus Christ. To be found. Now here it is. To be found in him. To be found in Jesus.

Folks.

I heard Ravenhill say this. And he's so right. When we evangelize. And ask people questions. We don't ask necessarily just. Speculative questions about. Do you have eternal life? That's a good question though.

He gets right to the point. I like what he says. Do you have Christ? Is Christ living in you? See that's the key question. Have you ever thought about asking your friends and family.

Does Christ live in you? Does Christ live in you?

See it's in Christ. Or outside of Christ. There's nothing in between.

You see.

And that's what he's saying here. He must be found in Christ Jesus. So that he has what? The righteousness of Jesus. To know the power of the resurrection. To know the power of the resurrection. First you got to have the righteousness of Jesus.

You got to be justified. And that's what we're going to look at.

Ultimately.

It attains to the resurrection of the dead.

Now.

Look at verse 8. In coming to Christ.

For salvation.

This is. He speaks.

More than that. After he speaks of the loss for the sake of Christ.

I count.

I count all things to be lost. In view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.

My Lord.

For whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And count them but rubbish. So that I may gain Christ. So in coming to Christ for salvation. Paul had renounced all things. And counted them worthless.

And compared to Jesus Christ. Do you count everything worthless? In comparison to Christ? The surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ. The Hebrew way of saying that was the excellent knowledge. The excellent knowledge.

Now we're not talking about intellectual knowledge here. We're talking about knowledge that is. By experience. Knowledge that is personal.

Intimate.

Amen.

To know him intimately. Like David said in Psalm 23. Verse 1. It's one of the easiest scriptures to memorize. And yet so many people that claims to be Christians can't even quote you this. He says the Lord is my shepherd.

The Lord.

Is.

My shepherd.

Did you get that?

My shepherd. You notice David says that quite often. He says he's my shield. He's my buffer. He's my helper. He's my strength. He's my salvation. But here he says he's my shepherd. He leads me.

Besides still water.

He goes on to talk about that. But the point I'm making here is. It's personal. It was personal to David.

It must be personal to us.

It's very personal.

It's intimate.

It's surpassing. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Knowing that he is life.

He is life.

He said that I am the resurrection and the life. Galatians 2 .20. Paul said it like this. I am crucified with Christ. Can you say that? Can I say that? That I have been crucified with Christ. With Christ.

Nevertheless I live. Yet not I. It's not me that's lived.

Because I'm dead.

Well what do you mean?

I'm still living but I'm dead. Well he's talking about his old nature. His old man has been crucified. Now the old man still comes up and tries to swim. You got to put him down. You got to put him to death.

But at salvation. At justification. But Christ liveth in me.

There's the key right there.

Christ liveth in me. And I love what he says here. Especially from the Old King James translation. In the life which I now live in the flesh. I live right now. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Who loved me and gave himself for me.

He gave himself for me as a sacrifice. And now I have his righteousness. And yet but he lives in me. By the spirit of the living God. And I'm telling you. I like what J .C. Ryle says here. Anytime that if Christ lives in you.

It's the Holy Spirit. It's very simple.

Right?

It's not just a spirit. It's the Holy Spirit. Anytime there's holy living. There's the Holy Spirit. But if there's no holy living. There's no Holy Spirit. And that's the truth. Now the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

Is the only power to deliver us from our sins. And our miseries. And it was Paul's desire to know the power of the resurrection of Jesus. He was not interested merely in just knowing the facts about the resurrection.

Right?

Got a lot of people nowadays. Wanting to know all about the facts.

Well facts is great.

And it's good to know the historical account. I'm not going to say that's bad. But what about knowing the power of the resurrection personally? It's power. That's what we need. To make a difference within the church.

You know knowing about the facts of God.

And the facts.

And again.

Having the right knowledge of God. And the right view of God. Is very critical important.

I'm not going.

I emphasize that. But we must know Christ personally.

You see.

Having head knowledge is not sufficient. It's not enough. Why do I say that?

Because.

As I speak to you right now. The reality of this is. There's many people. Thousands and probably millions. That's in hell right at this moment. That knew all about Jesus.

But they did not know Jesus. They did not know Him personally.

And in the end day. In the judgment day. Jesus is going to say. What does He say to those that didn't know Him. Don't depart from me. I never. I never knew you. By Him saying that. You know what He's saying.

And notice the profession they make. Before that. You can find this. On the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus conclusion. In chapter 7. In Matthew. What did they talk about?