Knowing The Power of Jesus Christ's Resurrection

Redeeming Grace Church

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April 4, 2021

00:00: We all know that the state of our country is in pretty bad shape, isn't it?
00:07: And there is a great decline in the country, in the
00:12: United States of America in which we live. We see our freedoms being taken away a little bit at a time.
00:20: But can I say this? The problem in America is not political. The problem in America is spiritual.
00:30: 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.
00:42: And it's the sins of the church that offends God. The church, the state of the church is in decline spiritually.
00:54: I know that sounds negative, but it's reality. We see a great spiritual decline.
01:00: 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.
01:11: God sends a delusion. And it's a judgment. And tie it in, you see that in 2
01:17: Thessalonians, and you can tie it in to Romans, chapter 1.
01:28: You can tie that in that God gives them up. It's like he releases his hand.
01:34: And all he has to do is move his hand away, and the land will corrupt itself.
01:39: And that's where we are. The land is corrupting itself. There is a delusion that God has sent.
01:45: 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,
02:01: I'm speaking to the church, that has a form of godliness, and no power thereof.
02:09: Now what power is he talking about? The power of the resurrection. There is no resurrection power.
02:16: Why? Because people are not born again.
02:23: That's the problem. People are not repentant of their sins.
02:29: 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.
02:39: The only way we can know God is to first know that we have sinned, and who we are, and how corrupt we are.
02:47: And that is why God has given us this wonderful book right here. The Law and the
02:53: 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.
03:10: You don't hear that. No, you got too many people, other preachers, not born again, preaching another gospel, another
03:22: Christ. The gospel is not right, and people are hearing wrong views of God, because they're not hearing the scriptures.
03:31: They're 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, and it was
03:40: Resurrection Sunday. A lot was said. There was a few good, couple good preachers, but most of the preachers
03:47: I was hearing was telling stories. People sitting back just laughing, enjoying it.
03:55: And I understand that there's a time to give illustrations and stories, but this,
04:01: I'm talking about, I listened for quite a bit of time of this Resurrection camp meeting, and all
04:07: I heard was just storytelling. There was no, thus saith the
04:13: Lord, there was no word of God being expounded. And you know, if you're not telling people, thus saith the
04:20: Lord, what are you telling them? You're telling them, you know, doesn't it say, what didn't
04:28: Paul say, that in the last days people will have itching ears?
04:35: And Paul tells Timothy, preach the word. Preach the word. And the duty of the pastor is not to tell stories.
04:47: He's to preach the word. He's to feed the flock of God. So in saying that,
04:54: I want to do my utmost, by God's help, to give you the word of the Lord this morning, and give you
05:00: God's word. This is just to be a skim over, but we're going to look at, on this
05:05: Resurrection Sunday, the power of the Resurrection. That's what we need. We need the power of the
05:12: Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The church needs the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
05:18: 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.
05:30: It's a small epistle. Paul wrote some small epistles, but they're packed full of truth.
05:38: 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.
05:47: He wrote this in a dungeon, in a jail. It's known as the epistle of joy.
05:53: The traditional view is that this book of Philippians here, is along with other prison epistles, which are
06:01: Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, was written during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, which took place around 60
06:13: AD to 62 AD. So you have the time period there. And I'd like to draw your attention to verse 7 through 11.
06:24: Verse 7 through 11. This is the
06:30: Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul as he writes this himself in prison, in a dungeon.
06:38: He's in chains. And this turns out to be one of the most wonderful epistles that he has ever written.
06:48: Verse 7 through 11. Hear the word of the living God. For whatever things were gained to me, those things
06:54: I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, more than that,
07:05: I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing
07:11: Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain
07:24: 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.
07:38: The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Verse 10.
07:47: 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.
08:06: Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask God's blessing upon our time of study and worship within this hour.
08:13: Father, your son said, without me you can do nothing.
08:21: Lord, we recognize that without Jesus we can do nothing. So Lord, I pray help us within this hour.
08:29: 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.
08:40: And Father, may not a one of us leave here the same way we came.
08:47: Oh, that we may see Jesus. Oh, that we may see Jesus. Christ crucified, risen from the dead.
08:56: That is our prayer this morning for your glory and your honor. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
09:05: Well, beginning in verse 7, the Apostle Paul makes a great renunciation. There's a renunciation here.
09:12: 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.
09:23: There's accounting words here. And he speaks of it as, whatever things were gained to me, those things
09:30: I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
09:36: The Greek word for gain, again, it's an accounting term that means profit.
09:43: The Greek word for loss also is an accounting term which is used to describe a business loss.
09:50: So you got, he speaks of profit and loss. What was lost, what he has gained.
09:59: So here, he gives us this accounting term used to describe a business loss and a gain.
10:09: 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.
10:21: He says, although myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh,
10:31: I far more. Now he's using sarcasm here. But listen to what he says, but he's being very truthful.
10:40: Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
10:50: Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a
10:55: Pharisee. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.
11:02: And as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
11:08: Now this is a man that persecuted the church of God. And this is what his pedigree used to be.
11:19: It's interesting, he speaks of these things. And at one time, Paul, who at that time when he was a
11:25: Pharisee was known as Saul, had confidence in the flesh.
11:31: This is what religious people do. They have confidence in the flesh. That's what actually it is.
11:37: It's all externalism. There's nothing internal here. There's no transformation here.
11:44: It's just all external. But it can be a great deal of externalism, but it's all of the flesh.
11:52: And as he says here, it's confidence in the flesh. That's what religion is.
11:59: 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.
12:14: Of being separated. His pedigree. His credentials.
12:20: He had a lot of them. His good works. All that he did.
12:27: 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.
12:36: I'm sure Paul was the first one in the temple. Many times teaching as a
12:42: Pharisee. It is said that when a Pharisee was born or there was within a family of a
12:50: Pharisee, a Pharisee would pass to even the baby that they would deem to be a
12:57: Pharisee when it grows up. They would place a scroll in that baby's hand.
13:06: And literally put honey on it. And the baby would suck the honey.
13:13: And scripture speaks about the word. Thy word, thy law is sweeter than honey. And they would begin their
13:21: Pharisaical life as studying the law. The Mosaic law.
13:28: Strictly. Even from a child, a baby such as that.
13:34: A strict Pharisee, Paul said he was. As a matter of fact, he said he was a
13:39: Pharisee. Some translations, a Pharisee of Pharisees. But he was definitely a
13:45: Pharisee. Which was one of the most... In our day would be a theologian.
13:51: He would be a theologian. And would know a great deal. He was trained as a teacher, a rabbi.
14:00: To teach the word of the law of God. That's the word of God in that time period.
14:07: And again, when Paul speaks of the flesh he's not referring to this outward flesh.
14:15: He's talking about man's unredeemed nature. The nature that's fallen.
14:24: That's what he's referring to here. The unredeemed nature. His own ability and achievements apart from God.
14:31: 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.
14:42: But is it with God or is it apart from God? And I submit to you, if there's a lot of pride
14:48: I assure you, it's apart from God. And it breeds pride.
14:55: It breeds pride. God resists the proud. God resists the proud.
15:01: But he gives more grace to the humble. And then the apostle Paul refers to the other side.
15:07: 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
15:16: Who? Christ. In one word. Christ.
15:23: That's the word and that's the person who he's referring to.
15:29: The things that were gained to him he now counts as loss for Christ. For Christ.
15:35: Gladly. He's not trying to say Oh, I've lost something wonderful to gain
15:45: Christ. No, I've actually all that I had was a rubbish heap to gain what is most precious.
15:56: 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.
16:11: He cast them away. And the only thing that matters to him was
16:17: Jesus Christ. And this is what really matters to the true Christian.
16:23: Is the person and works of Jesus Christ. Jesus to be more beautiful.
16:29: Jesus to be more lovelier. Jesus was everything to him. He was all in all to him.
16:36: 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.
16:52: 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.
17:13: He has become the first love of our lives as believers.
17:19: Now keep in mind the Jews placed their confidence in being circumcised.
17:25: They spoke of being the descendants of Abraham quite often. When Jesus had discussions with the
17:36: Jewish people the Jews always bragged on their father
17:41: Abraham. They were the descendants of Abraham. They bragged about it.
17:47: And that's when Jesus said, well if you were of Abraham seed, you would do the works of Abraham.
17:55: In other words, faith and belief and doing and being justified by faith and by what they did and believed on.
18:07: And James talks about that as well. And also the Jewish people in performing external ceremonies and duties of the
18:18: Mosaic Law. Beloved, that was a big deal to the Jewish people. A very big deal.
18:23: And it still is today. And this is why if you think of it or should
18:29: I say, Jesus witnessed to another Pharisee and we find this account in John chapter 3.
18:37: This Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. He was a
18:43: 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
18:53: Jesus with a statement about the signs and the wonders. Listen to what it says in John 3.
19:01: A rabbi, he says, Master, we know, we know, speaking of the Jews, that you have come from God as a teacher.
19:10: For no one could do these things. These what? Things mentioned these signs.
19:16: These miracles. These miracles that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered immediately.
19:24: 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.
19:37: 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
19:48: Jesus points him to this. He says Jesus answered says to him truly, truly and in the
19:55: 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.
20:05: 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.
20:16: The meaning born from above, born of God, born by the spirit of God.
20:22: He cannot see the kingdom of God. Now that was
20:27: Jesus' reply when the Pharisee came to him and just saying, well, you got to come from God because these miracles follow and these signs and wonders follow you.
20:39: But Jesus said basically what he is saying, the most important miracle is for you to be born again.
20:44: You must have a new heart. You must have a transformation. There is something that must take place within you
20:50: Nicodemus. So Nicodemus, like Paul the apostle in that time period very few came to Christ.
20:58: Very few were born of the spirit of God. I heard this from Pastor John McArthur when he was preaching on this text.
21:04: 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.
21:14: And we know this about Nicodemus at the latter part because he was there with Joseph of Arimathea at the burial of Jesus.
21:22: So Nicodemus was there and he was a transformed man. So Nicodemus did come to faith in Christ of believing who
21:29: Jesus really was, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And then of course you know the apostle
21:34: 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,
21:50: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? In other words he was persecuting Christ because he was persecuting the believers.
21:58: And the believers were one with Christ. One in union. So there was a transformation in the beginning of a transformation of Saul of Tarsus and it changed him so much he changed his name from Saul to Paul.
22:15: But he was one of the elite religious men of that day that ever lived. Very few
22:21: Pharisees came to believe on Jesus. 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.
22:37: I have the hardest people to reach for Jesus Christ are those that live a lie.
22:43: 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.
22:54: They live like the devil. And they play church on Sundays but Monday through Saturday they just live in a fleshly way, a demonic way that you can think of.
23:05: And they do it in the name of Christ. Blaspheming Christ's name.
23:10: And Paul says let him that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Jesus came to save us from what?
23:17: Our sins. See here is the problem in the church today. There is so much grace that's being taught it becomes licentiousness.
23:27: 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.
23:40: In other words whatever you say is okay and I can live any way I want to because I got my ticket.
23:46: I'm okay with God. Well beloved we know according to the word of God that's false.
23:52: Your life must back it up. There must be obedience to the faith of the gospel.
23:58: And obedience to the word of God. Obedience to the commandments of Christ. We don't see that today.
24:05: People are living in a lie. It's sad isn't it? But the hardest people to reach for Jesus Christ are those who think they are saved.
24:13: I'm telling you there are a lot of religious lost people in this day and in our day.
24:20: And it's really bad in our day. Especially here in the south. Just about anybody you ask do you know
24:26: Jesus Christ? Oh yes, yes, yes I know Jesus. But they can't tell you the first thing about Jesus.
24:33: They can't tell you one scripture. Well Oh I could be a
24:38: 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
24:44: Christian. But when you are a Christian you will want to go to church. And church is not the building. The church is the people of God.
24:52: Yeah, but here's the problem. Churches is becoming corrupt now. Because they are preaching another gospel.
24:59: There's another Jesus being preached. And people are liking it. So there as the church goes, the nation goes.
25:07: So now we have another Jesus. We have a, I assure you ask anybody their definition about the love of God.
25:14: They have a totally different view of what God's love really is. According to the scriptures.
25:20: Tozer was right. And Brother Keith knows what I'm talking about. He uses this almost every time when he witnesses to people.
25:26: 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.
25:36: This is the compass. This is the guide. And any time you read in the scriptures what
25:43: God is. If you want to know what God is like. Right here. The Bible.
25:48: Would tell us what God is like. Well, I'll talk more about that later.
25:55: But Paul the Apostle counted all his religious pedigree as dumb.
26:02: As rubbish. To put it frankly, it was a manure heap. That's what he was saying.
26:08: It stinks. It stinks. And that's exactly what religion is to God.
26:15: It stinks to God. It stinks. It's dumb. It's a trash heap.
26:23: And that's what he's saying. All this is a trash heap in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ.
26:29: And notice what he said. Christ Jesus my Lord. Now there's something you don't hear preached about, do you?
26:39: The Lordship of Jesus. How many sermons have you heard on the Lordship of Jesus recently? Jesus is
26:45: Lord. He's Savior. Oh my. He is Savior. But He would not be Savior unless He's Lord.
26:52: And He is Lord. But when I say that He must be Lord within your life.
26:58: My life. He's going to be Lord. Regardless I believe it or not. You see what
27:03: 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.
27:16: This goes right into the message of the cross and the resurrection. He says this.
27:23: 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.
27:32: 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.
27:40: A thing to be grasped. Asserted. But emptied
27:46: Himself. He laid aside His privileges in other words. He laid aside all that. You see
27:52: He's the Word of God folks. And the Word was made flesh. That's what John says. But He emptied
27:58: Himself. He laid aside all His privileges taking the form in verse 7 the form of a bond slave.
28:03: A bond servant. And being made in the likeness of men. Being found in the appearances of man. He humbled
28:09: Himself. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.
28:16: 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.
28:24: 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.
28:33: 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
28:43: 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.
28:52: 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
28:57: I would prefer to be in heaven. And the way to get to heaven must be born again.
29:03: There must be a transformation. Actually when Jesus is
29:09: Lord in that sense there is a great transformation. Paul says if any man be in Christ in Christ he's what?
29:18: He's a new creation. He's a new creature. Old things are passed away.
29:23: Then he says behold. Don't you love that? Look. All things become new.
29:29: He didn't say some things. There's a total transformation. And folks we're not seeing this.
29:35: We see a lot of people playing church. 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.
29:48: And in order to be sanctified we must hear thus saith the Lord. Jesus says it's the word that sanctifies.
29:56: Thy truth sanctifies. He prayed for his disciples in John 17 that they may be sanctified.
30:07: What sanctifies? Thy truth. The truth. Nothing outside of this word of God is going to sanctify us folks.
30:15: Only the word of God has the power to sanctify us as we should be sanctified.
30:20: And I'm talking about sanctification. That has two aspects. There's a cleansing aspect and there's a separation aspect to it.
30:28: But basically it means separating from the world apart from the world unto
30:34: God. But there's a cleansing aspect of it as well. 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.
30:52: Why? Well because he had seen the glory of the Lord. He's seen
30:58: Jesus. He all of the glory seemed like nothing in comparison to the glory of the
31:04: Lord that was in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul considered all things lost.
31:10: No profit whatsoever. Jesus says what's going to profit you if you gain the world and lose your own soul?
31:17: What a question. We need to consider that don't we? Well, for the excellency of the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ my
31:26: Lord. That's what Paul said. To Paul the all important thing to him was to gain
31:32: Jesus Christ. To win Jesus Christ. To be found. Now here it is.
31:38: To be found in him. To be found in Jesus. Folks, I heard
31:44: 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?
31:57: That's a good question though. He gets right to the point. I like what he says. Do you have
32:04: Christ? Is Christ living in you? See that's the key question.
32:10: Have you ever thought about asking your friends and family that does Christ live in you? Does Christ live in you?
32:19: See it's in Christ or outside of Christ. There's nothing in between. You see and that's what he's saying here.
32:28: He must be found in Christ Jesus so that he has what? The righteousness of Jesus to know the power of the resurrection.
32:36: To know the power of the resurrection. First you've got to have the righteousness of Jesus. You've got to be justified and that's what we're going to look at.
32:43: Ultimately it attains to the resurrection of the dead. Now look at verse 8
32:49: In coming to Christ for salvation. He speaks more than that after he speaks of the loss for the sake of Christ.
32:58: I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my
33:04: Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain
33:09: Christ. So in coming to Christ for salvation Paul had renounced all things and counted them worthless and compared to Jesus Christ.
33:19: Do you count everything worthless in comparison to Christ? The surpassing value of knowing
33:27: Jesus Christ? The Hebrew way of saying that was the excellent knowledge.
33:33: The excellent knowledge. Now we're not talking about intellectual knowledge here. We're talking about knowledge that is by experience.
33:41: Knowledge that is personal. Intimate. Amen. To know him intimately.
33:49: Like David said in Psalm 23 verse 1. It's one of the easiest scriptures to memorize and yet so many people claims to be
33:57: Christians can't even quote you this. He says the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.
34:06: Did you get that? My shepherd. You notice David says that quite often.
34:12: He says he's my shield. He's my buffer. He's my helper. He's my strength.
34:19: He's my salvation. But here he says he's my shepherd. He leads me beside still water.
34:26: He goes on to talk about that but the point I'm making here is it's personal. It was personal to David.
34:33: It must be personal to us. It's very personal. It's intimate. It's the surpassing worth of knowing
34:40: Christ. Knowing that he is life. He is life.
34:47: He said that I am the resurrection and the life. Galatians 2 .20 Paul said it like this.
34:53: I am crucified with Christ. Can you say that? Can I say that? That I have been crucified with Christ.
35:02: Nevertheless I live yet not I. It's not me that's lived because I'm dead.
35:09: 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.
35:16: Now the old man still comes up and tries to swim and you've got to put him down. You've got to put him to death.
35:23: But that's salvation. That's justification. But Christ liveth in me.
35:29: There's the key right there. Christ liveth in me. And I love what he says here especially from the
35:35: Old King James translation. In the life which I now live in the flesh. I live right now.
35:40: I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
35:47: He gave himself for me as a sacrifice and now I have his righteousness. Yet but he lives in me by the spirit of the living
35:55: God. And I'm telling you. I like what J .C. Rowell says here. Anytime that if Christ lives in you it's the
36:03: Holy Spirit. It's very simple. Right? It's not just a spirit. It's the
36:08: Holy Spirit. Anytime there's holy living there's the Holy Spirit. But if there's no holy living there's no
36:14: Holy Spirit. Isn't that the truth? Now the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is the only power to deliver us from our sins and our miseries.
36:23: 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.
36:32: Right? Got a lot of people nowadays that want to know all about the facts. Well facts is great and it's good to know the historical account.
36:40: I'm not going to say that's bad. But what about knowing the power of the resurrection personally?
36:47: It's power. That's what we need to make a difference within the church.
36:53: 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 and important.
37:02: I'm not going to... I emphasize that. But we must know Christ personally. You see, having head knowledge is not sufficient.
37:11: 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.
37:29: But they did not know Jesus. They did not know Him personally. And in the end day, in the judgment day,
37:36: Jesus is going to say what does He say to those that didn't know Him? Depart from Me. I never,
37:41: I never knew you. By Him saying that, you know what He's saying? And notice the profession they make before that.
37:48: You can find this in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' conclusion in chapter 7 in Matthew. What did they talk about?
37:55: They said, Oh, we called you Lord, Lord. We preached. We prophesied. We cast out demons in Your name.
38:02: In His name. You see this? We did these many wonderful works in Your name. And I remember one minister saying this.
38:09: He never, Jesus never denied that they did those things. But one thing
38:14: He does deny, He says, I never knew you. In other words, you did all these miracles, in other words,
38:20: God did these things, but yet that particular person never knew Jesus.
38:27: And people see these external, don't wonder Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. You don't just look at the signs and the wonders.
38:35: Even though they verified who Jesus was and backed Him up as credentials, of course it did.
38:43: But every time there was a miracle, Jesus always went to His spiritual truth. Prove me wrong on this.
38:49: You can look at this in the Gospel. If Jesus opened up blinded eyes, He says, I'm the light of the world.
38:55: If Jesus brought a dead person from the grave, He says, I'm the resurrection and the light.
39:01: He always pointed to the eternal perspective, not the physical. Because that's why
39:08: He came. He came to transform us. That we may be born again. And repent from our sins.
39:16: See, that's the whole purpose. That He would have many sons of glory. Oh, this is wonderful.
39:23: Well, it's not enough to know about the facts of Jesus, we must know personally that knowledge, that intimate knowledge of who
39:29: Jesus is that is most precious. It was precious to David. David said this in Psalm 19, 10.
39:37: They are more desirable than gold. Now, he's talking about the law, but the Word of God, but isn't that everything?
39:43: The Word of God, but knowing the Word. Knowing the God of the
39:49: Word. So, it's not sufficient to know just about the
39:55: Word of God, we must know the God of the Word. He says, they are more desirable than gold.
40:01: Yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey, than drippings of the honeycomb. But this knowledge is precious.
40:09: Is it precious to you? Is it precious to you this morning? Well, the power of the resurrection is threefold.
40:17: We're going to scan this quickly as I can within the amount of time I have left over. First, it is proof of our justification.
40:26: That's our past. Second, it's power for new life. That's present. Third, it is power for our bodily future resurrection.
40:36: Praise God. Let's look at it very quickly. Skimming over this, the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof of our justification.
40:45: It's proof of our justification. All these things we will be gleaning at this morning because it is because of the love of God.
40:55: Brother Keith sent that text to me. He says, the resurrection is proof of the love of God. How true that is.
41:02: But notice what he says in verse 9. That I may be found in him, in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
41:14: The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. And that's what he's talking about. It's on the basis of faith.
41:20: John Newton said this, as precious as sanctification is, it is not the ground of my hope.
41:28: Now, what is he saying? What's the ground of our hope? The resurrection of Jesus. You see, when
41:35: Jesus rose again from the dead, everything that he did makes it all true.
41:41: Everything. Now, think of this. If Jesus did all those miracles and taught everything he taught and it's all good and wonderful and true.
41:51: And let's just say they put on the death on the cross and that he was still dead.
41:57: It wouldn't mean nothing. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. Your faith would be in vain.
42:04: My faith would be in vain. My preaching would be worthless. And everything we believe about Jesus would be vain.
42:11: It would be worth nothing. But that's not the case. He is risen from the dead.
42:17: And we have a living hope. The resurrection of Christ is the most important article, Calvin said, of our faith.
42:25: And without it, the hope of eternal life is extinguished. So if Jesus is not risen from the dead, then we have no hope of eternal life.
42:36: So, you know, that's the whole point. He says that I may be found in him, in Christ.
42:43: This is the union with Christ which was possible only because God imputed Jesus' righteousness to him so that it was reckoned by God on His account.
42:55: You see? Isn't that great? Not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. Now, go with me very quickly to Romans 3 .24.
43:05: We're going to flip around from scripture to scripture. That's what we need to hear. Thus saith the Lord. Romans 3 .24
43:12: says this. Being justified as a gift, justification as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
43:25: Listen to what He said. Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
43:31: The word justification is a very important word. Matter of fact, it's so important Paul used it 30 times in the book of Romans.
43:39: 30 times in the book of Romans. It's a legal or forensic term that comes from the
43:48: Greek word for righteous, meaning declare righteous. It's a declaration that God makes for you and me.
43:58: A declaration that Almighty God makes for you and me. Beloved, this is a verdict that includes pardon from guilt and the penalty of sin.
44:09: It is the imputation of Christ's righteousness. In other words, it's imputed, it is given to us, it's transferred to us as need to be and only can be accepted by a holy
44:24: God. And as you well know, this is what the reformer
44:30: Martin Luther struggled with. He saw God's frown, he was a man, you could say right along with Paul the
44:37: Apostle. He was very much the most religious man that ever lived. Did everything he possibly could externally but yet he knew inwardly his conscience was still accusing him and he did not have the peace that only comes from God.
45:02: And he knew he was not truly saved even though he went through all the reform and all the religion.
45:10: But what he found out was in Romans chapter 1 when he studied it that rather than trying to earn his way to God which he could not that Jesus earned the righteousness he needs to get to heaven and please
45:28: God for him. See, in other words, what the law demanded the gospel provided.
45:37: Isn't that wonderful? That's why Jesus said that he came to fulfill all righteousness.
45:45: When he spoke that at his baptism he was basically saying as the perfect son of God he was identifying with the sinner in the baptism.
45:55: Not that he needed to be baptized because he was not sinful. He was sinless!
46:01: The only sinless person that ever lived. And isn't it wonderful to know that his righteousness is what has provided us.
46:11: For us. And it's accounted to us. And God declares this.
46:18: God almighty makes a declaration to you and me and to anyone who believes and puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and what he did alone.
46:28: It's accounted to you. It's imputed to you. It's transferred to you. Christ is righteousness.
46:34: Think of that! If you are in Jesus right now you have his righteousness.
46:42: It's scandalous. And it's like, we're so unworthy of this. Because we deserve the death that he died.
46:52: Jesus was the righteous one. And by the way, he was the only righteous one. Beloved, this is the good news.
46:59: What I give to you is the good news this morning. And this is how you and I can know the power of the resurrection.
47:05: It's a favorable verdict by a holy God. A perfect God! That has no curve balls, keeping his law.
47:13: No curve. Depends on possessing that righteousness when we appear before an all holy
47:20: God. See, that's the question right there. That's answered in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
47:26: And that's the good news. How can a sinful person be right with God?
47:34: Only through the blood sacrifice of Jesus, being justified. Justified!
47:41: Folks, we don't hear this enough, but this is the gospel. A God that does not, a most holy
47:49: God that does not tolerate sin in the slightest. So in other words, to get to heaven if you're a religious person, you've got, by your motive, by your mind, by your thinking, by everything that you do, you've got to perfectly keep
48:04: God's law to the finest. From the day you are born to the day you die.
48:11: Beloved, no one's ever done that but Jesus. You see what I'm saying? No one but Jesus. This will only happen only when we are joined to Jesus Christ, and what's so marvelous about the gift that God gives, and that gift
48:25: I'm talking about is faith. God grants this by faith. Faith is that gift that we can lay hold of God and receive this.
48:37: And I'm telling you what, it's not that you get a ticket to heaven and live any way you like.
48:43: Matter of fact, when you receive this grace and this gift, there's a transformation that takes place. And then you desire to be holy.
48:50: You desire to be obedient. You see, it's not the works, there are good works that follow, yes.
48:59: But the problem is we must get the cart, well don't get the cart before the horse
49:04: I should say. We've got to have the cart right. It's Jesus' righteousness.
49:10: And that's the only thing that will get us into heaven for eternally.
49:17: Eternal life. It's by faith alone. And I don't have time to expound on that word sola, alone, but there's a huge difference in that.
49:26: The reformers chose that. It distinguishes from anything else added to or subtracted from the gospel.
49:35: It is by faith alone. It counts as perfect righteousness of Christ on our account.
49:42: This is the great reality of justification. In Jesus Christ God justifies the sinner. Now, alone.
49:49: Christ's resurrection from the dead is proof that this is the righteousness of Christ in Christ that therefore if we are found in Him we will be justified from all of our sins.
50:03: Go with me to Romans 4 chapter 4 and look at me, look with me real quickly just a few verses.
50:13: Look at verse um let me start with verse 20.
50:19: Because of the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight. Actually the law is good and holy,
50:26: Paul said. Then what's the purpose of the law? It condemns us beloved.
50:34: It shows us our sin. It's like a tutor. It's a schoolmaster. We need to see this. We need to see that we are sinners.
50:42: Don't you think that's one of the biggest problems today? That people don't see that they're sinners? And how awful sin is before a holy
50:50: God. If you want to see how awful sin is, just look at what Jesus did on the cross. That shows you how awful sin is.
50:59: And then he says this, that you're justified in His sight for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
51:04: There it is. Now listen to what he says. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifest.
51:12: That's apart from the law. Being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ and all those who believe for there is no distinction.
51:23: And then he says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified is a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, we read that earlier, whom
51:35: God displayed publicly as a propitiation of His blood through faith that was to demonstrate
51:42: His righteousness because of the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration
51:48: I say of His righteousness at the present time that He would be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
51:58: Now I'm sorry. I was supposed to read from chapter 4 but I read from chapter 3. I was in chapter 3.
52:04: Jump to chapter 4. So I make a lot of mistakes but what counts here is the word of God.
52:13: Right? I don't want to steer you wrong. Listen to chapter 4. Look at verse 20 again.
52:21: Yet with respect to the promise of God. He's speaking of Abraham. He did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully assured that what
52:31: God had promised He was able to perform. Therefore it was also credited to Him as righteousness.
52:39: Now, now not for the sake of only it was written that it was a credit to Him but for our sake also.
52:48: It was for us to whom it would be credited as those who believe in Him who raised
52:55: Jesus our Lord from the dead He who was delivered over because of our transgressions and was what?
53:04: Raised because of our justification. There it is. Jesus risen from the dead and He was risen because of our justification.
53:15: Beloved, even the Old Testament saints had to believe the same way by faith alone of the coming
53:22: Messiah. They looked to the coming Messiah. We look back to the Messiah that had already come.
53:29: Now we're going to look towards His second coming and He will come again and very soon.
53:36: Well, as has been said, God justifies the sinner by faith alone.
53:42: You can see that in Romans 1 17. There is a righteousness that is imputed to the believer.
53:49: That imputation is by faith. It is to be reckoned upon by simple, childlike humble trust in Him that we've been justified from all of our sins.
54:02: Notice in this text, Jesus was delivered to the cross on our account because of our sins.
54:09: God placed our sins upon Jesus and this required that He suffered the wrath of God on the cross and that's exactly what
54:16: He did. 2 Corinthians 5 21. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
54:26: What a glorious text. The great exchange. There's an exchange.
54:32: Jesus took our sin, we take His righteousness. The righteous one. He who is truly righteous gives us
54:40: His righteousness. Isn't that glorious? It's just so staggering.
54:46: Beloved, Jesus endured the wrath of God in our place all because of this so that you and I can have eternal life.
54:54: In His perfect obedience to the Father. The Father bruised Him. He crushed Him. He was made guilty with our sins and is now righteous before God and now we are righteous before God because He did this.
55:09: His perfect works. Everything He did is accounted, is put to our account.
55:15: Scripture calls Jesus the righteous one. I love that because He really is the only righteous one.
55:22: None is righteous. None is good. Only God. Only because He's the perfect one.
55:29: And so that the resurrection of Jesus is the proof of the righteousness, the righteousness in which is imputed to us by Jesus because He is the righteous one.
55:41: Oh that we may be found in Him. The proof of our justification. Now, before a most holy
55:48: God. And that's critical. That's very critical because no one, no one will have this righteousness unless one comes to faith, puts their faith in who
55:58: Jesus really is. And what He did, who He is and what He did. That's the only way that God is going to let anyone into the portals of heaven for eternal life.
56:13: But the eternal life begins now. It's just not something in the future. It begins now. Jesus said, I came to give life and give it more abundantly.
56:20: So the sinner who really understands his awful sin wonders how can God declare
56:26: Him righteous. It's staggering, isn't it? That such a holy
56:32: God would do this. He didn't have to. He didn't have to.
56:40: He don't owe us mercy. Matter of fact, He owes us punishment and death and hell. You want to test people out today, ask people, what does
56:51: God owe you? What does God owe you? So what kind of answer do they give you?
56:57: God presents nothing less than the resurrection of Jesus Christ to make that secure. Well, I need to go on.
57:04: Second, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is also the power of new life. The power of new life.
57:11: The nature, that our own nature is we are dead in sin. You see this in Ephesians chapter 2.
57:18: You can turn with me there very quickly. Chapter 2, verse 1. And you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air and the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
57:36: Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh. We don't deny, that's the way we lived before we was transformed and in Christ, right?
57:47: What's the lust of the flesh? It goes on, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
57:54: Indulging in it, were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
58:03: Transition takes place here. But God, don't you love that? There's the gospel. But God, God did something.
58:11: God did something. I didn't do anything. God did it. Being rich in mercy because of what?
58:18: His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead. Can a dead man, can a dead man make himself clean, folks?
58:30: Can a dead man, have you ever seen a corpse get up and make a decision for Jesus?
58:39: I've never seen a dead man. Have you ever gone to a funeral? Have you ever seen a dead man in the casket get up and say,
58:45: I've decided to follow Jesus? No. Now don't get me wrong, we have decided to follow Jesus, but you know something?
58:52: Before I made that choice, God already made His choice. In other words, who made the choice first?
58:58: God did. I'm not the seeker, God's the seeker. The only way we can come to God, because the
59:05: Bible says, none can seek God. We seek Him because He first sought us, right?
59:12: We love Him because He first loved us. God takes the initiative. Verse 5, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive.
59:23: Together with Christ, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. By grace you have been saved.
59:29: He says it right there in parentheses. In other words, it's God's favor that did this to you. God's goodness, that's just why
59:35: He saved you. He has graced you. He has given you favor. He has raised us up with Him, with Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come,
59:48: He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and the kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
59:54: And then He goes on to say, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
01:00:00: It is what? The gift of God. And He's talking about the faith in context.
01:00:06: That faith is God's gift to you. He gives you that grace so that you can lay hold of Christ.
01:00:13: Isn't that beautiful? Well, it gives new life.
01:00:19: New life. Only God can give new life, right? Jesus Christ was raised by God to eternal life.
01:00:27: He is the resurrection of life. And He is that life.
01:00:32: The power of the resurrection. Jesus Christ raises up to a new life all those who belong to Him.
01:00:38: One more scripture in context to this. Colossians chapter 3.
01:00:45: Look at this. Then He says this. Therefore, verse 1, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking those things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
01:00:58: Set your mind on things above and not on things on the earth, for you have died.
01:01:05: You've died. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. It's hidden in Christ.
01:01:10: With Christ in God. So when Christ who is our life, don't miss that,
01:01:16: Jesus is our life, right? Is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
01:01:23: Raised up with Christ. Died with Christ. Keep seeking those things above. Above. Above. Not on the earth, right?
01:01:31: Why so many people seek things on the earth? Because they're earthly. We need to keep seeking those things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
01:01:41: Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Well, last, there is our future resurrection.
01:01:51: And I need to apply right here. Those who have a new life in Jesus Christ has a living hope.
01:01:57: We've been studying through 1 Peter, right? Let me remind you once again of the verse from 1
01:02:03: Peter chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us, what?
01:02:12: To be born again. He's caused us to be born again to a living hope through what?
01:02:19: The resurrection of Jesus Christ. There it is. Underscored.
01:02:24: It's because of the resurrection or through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and then
01:02:30: He says to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, it's secure and who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
01:02:48: There it is. Well, I've got to close this out. Do you personally know
01:02:54: Jesus Christ? He says this in verse 10 and 11 in Philippians that I may know
01:03:00: Him, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection the fellowship of His suffering is being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
01:03:10: Jesus is going to raise everything, everyone up, the righteous and the unrighteous.
01:03:20: What's important is you've got to be righteous and I just explained from the scriptures the only way you can be righteous is to have the imputed righteousness to your account and it's by faith.
01:03:34: But beloved, can I tell you this? Faith is never alone. Faith has repentance.
01:03:41: There's twins. We must repent and believe the gospel. And people say, they've asked me this, how can
01:03:49: I do this? So you're struggling with that because because you have not seen your sin.
01:03:57: You have not seen that you are unworthy. You're trying to do this yourself. You're trying.
01:04:04: We need to stop trying and start trusting. And you know, if you could seek God right now, seek
01:04:09: God with everything you have, but throw yourself upon the mercy of God and say, God have mercy upon me,
01:04:14: I'm a sinner. It doesn't have to be long prayers, but faith takes a hold of Christ.
01:04:21: You see, that's the difference. Romans 8 gives us a clue here.
01:04:28: Go with me to Romans 8. This is a great I wish I had time, more time on this, but I don't.
01:04:35: It tells us exactly. Everybody's familiar with Romans 8 28, right? But notice here.
01:04:44: I want to read Romans 8. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who, what?
01:04:52: Love God? It's only for those who love God. Not those that are outside of the love of God. But to those who love
01:04:59: God, to those who are called. That's the effectual calling that God gives according to His purpose.
01:05:07: In verse 29, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined, He marked them out, don't be scared of that word,
01:05:15: He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.
01:05:20: That's God's purpose of your salvation, is to be like Jesus. To conform to Jesus' likeness.
01:05:27: That I may know Him, right? That I may know Him. So that He would be the firstborn among many brethren, and these whom
01:05:35: He predestined, those He marked out, He also called, here's the chain, here's the golden chain of redemption,
01:05:45: He also called, and these whom He called, He also justified, and these whom
01:05:54: He justified, He also glorified. In other words, you can't separate the links.
01:06:03: It's going to happen. So, when you're truly called, when you're truly predestined, called, you're truly justified, and there's sanctification, but there's also a justification then glorified.
01:06:20: You'll be risen with Christ at the resurrection. That's our hope.
01:06:26: Jesus said it. John 17, 3. This is life eternal, that they may know
01:06:32: Thee, know Thee intimately, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
01:06:38: Thou hast sent by faith alone. Do you know this one thing?
01:06:44: Do you know Jesus Christ? Jesus said this, one thing's necessary, in Luke 10, 42,
01:06:53: Jesus said this, says of Mary to Martha, He's speaking to Martha, but He says this to Mary, and he says, but only one thing is necessary for Mary, Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
01:07:10: She wanted to know Him. Jesus was speaking of the, yeah,
01:07:15: I'm sorry, He was not speaking of the number of dishes to be served, which Martha was so fussy about, and details, it was unnecessary, but one thing was necessary, one thing was necessary, it will not be taken away from her.
01:07:29: Sit at the feet of Jesus to know Him. Oh, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.
01:07:36: Do you know Him this morning? That's all that's going to matter. That's all that's going to really matter.
01:07:44: Just like John 9, 24, 25 says, the second time they called this man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God, we know that this man's a sinner, and the
01:07:55: Pharisees were saying that. The religious people, this means that the authorities of the synagogue wanted this man that Jesus, this is a blind man that he healed and he received his sight to own up and admit that Jesus was a sinner because he violated their traditions, their laws, threatened their influence, and he answers them back, and this man says this in verse 25, then he answered, whether he's a sinner,
01:08:24: I do not know. This man didn't know theology, but one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now
01:08:32: I see. He knew that. So you don't need to know all the facts.
01:08:40: What matters is, do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus? Do you know this one thing, this all -important thing?
01:08:49: Do you know Christ? Have you passed from death to life? From darkness to light?
01:08:58: Oh, that we may know Him and the power of His resurrection. Let's pray. Father, Lord, there's so much that could be said, but I pray that what's been said is sufficient.
01:09:11: Your word is truth. Lord, all that's gonna matter in that great day of judgment, because it says, your word says, it's appointed for once man to die and after that, the judgment.
01:09:26: We all have an appointment day with death. And all that's gonna really matter, did we know
01:09:33: Jesus? Did we know Him? Not know about Him, but know Him. Loved Him.
01:09:42: Served Him as our Lord. Lord, we need faith to live by.
01:09:50: Repentance to turn from our sins and our wicked ways. Oh God, forgive us for not spending more time.
01:09:59: Lord, if we truly loved You, we would spend the time. The time would just come so naturally. Lord, I pray anyone here today that is not have that settledness, this peace that passes all understanding that's by justification alone.
01:10:19: I pray, Lord, this would be the day of visitation for them. Oh God, have mercy and grant repentance and faith.
01:10:30: And I pray, Jesus be Jesus in me. No longer for me but Thee.
01:10:37: Resurrection power. Fill me this hour. Jesus be