Let us turn to God's Word and
I want to turn back to the portion we were considering last Thursday
in Philippians chapter 3 and we're looking at verses 10
and 11 Philippians 3 verses 10 and 11 in this remarkable passage
where Paul is expressing something of his great desire and he says
here at verse 10 that I may know him that is the Lord Jesus Christ
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now, last week I
was mentioning the importance when we come to any part of God's
Word, any text of Scripture, that we recognize that there
is a threefold consideration that we should be taking up.
And I spoke of it in terms of the doctrine, the experience,
and the practice. And so last time we were thinking
more particularly of the doctrine that he set before us in this
verse. And clearly there is an emphasis
upon the truth of the resurrection. At the beginning of verse 10
he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. And then again in verse 11, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
And so we said something with regards to that great doctrine
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. It was,
of course, the vindication of Christ, how the Father is the
one who raises Him again, indicative that He is now clearly being
marked out as the Son of God. the Messiah, the Savior of sinners. It's a vindication then of the
Lord Jesus Christ and it's also in a sense, and we said this,
it's a vindication of those who are in Him, the union between
Christ and His Church is He vindicated so they also are vindicated in
the resurrection. He was put to death in the flesh
for the salvation of sinners. He was raised again for their
justification. And so we were looking in some
detail at the doctrine that he set before us in this verse.
And now I want us more particularly to consider the experimental
aspect, to take up as it were the theme of the the manifest
and manifold experience of the resurrection that comes into
the souls of sinners. That's the theme that I want
to try to address and you will observe how Paul speaks here
in the context if we go back to what he is saying previously
in verse 8 He speaks of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. The excellency of the knowledge. That is an experimental knowledge
of the Lord Jesus. And the word that he uses is
strong. It's something excelling. It's something surpassing. It's
not just a doctrinal knowledge, a speculative knowledge, a knowledge
that merely concerns the intellect, but it is something far greater
and far deeper than that. We can write and tell the Thessalonians
that when he preached amongst them, the gospel came not in
word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance. And when he's dealing with the
Corinthians, and he's aware of the false teachers who have gone
amongst them. He says there in 1 Corinthians
4 verse 19 that he will know not the speech of those who are
puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not
in words, but in power. And that power has to do with
the soul of the sinner. And it's a knowledge that is
not something that we can attain by our own efforts, by employing
our reasoning powers and trying to fathom out these things. It's
interesting the statement that we find in one of the church
fathers, Ignatius says, a Christian is not a work of persuasion but
of majesty. It is the majesty of God, the
work of God. Only He that made the world can
make a Christian. A Christian is not a work of
persuasion, but of majesty. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son,
and to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. And that verb, to
will, there at the end of that verse in the Gospel, is the stronger
of the two verbs to will he to whomsoever the son willeth to
reveal the father the father reveals the son and the son of
course reveals the father and all by and through that gracious
ministry of the spirit who proceeds from the father and the son always the knowledge and that
that Paul is speaking of and expressing his great desire for
in this passage of scripture and that knowledge all comes
by revelation as Christ says to Peter there at Caesarea Philippi
when he confessed he said what the Christ the son of the living
God flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto them but my
Father which is in heaven." And it was the same with Peter. He
pleased God, he says, to reveal his Son in me. To consider then for a while
tonight the manifest and manifold experience of the resurrection. What is the consequence when
we come to know something of the power of this resurrection? Well, it really concerns all
the great truths that we have revealed to us in the Gospel,
and I want to mention five doctrines in particular. First of all,
the doctrine of redemption. As we've said, by the resurrection
God sets his seal on Christ, but in particular upon the work
that Christ had accomplished and fulfilled. that great work
of redemption. He is declared to be the Son
of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. And you know how in the Acts
of the Apostles, time and again we see the Apostles bearing testimony
to Christ's resurrection, preaching the truth of the resurrection.
the end of the first chapter where they meet together and
one must be chosen to fill up that breach by the apostasy of
Judas Iscariot and they draw lots and the lot falls upon Matthias. But he is to be one with the
other apostles in bearing witness to the resurrection. That's what
Peter says there in Acts 1, 21 and 22. One has got to be chosen
to bear witness with us. And then when we read Peter's
great sermon, he clearly is preaching the doctrine of the resurrection. In chapter 2, And then, verse
23, he speaks of Christ being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken them by wicked
hands, have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. And then at verse 32, he says,
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses
and so later in that portion that we read in the 17th of Acts
again we see how Paul is preaching the same doctrine in Athens and he so emphasizes the truth
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that their philosophers
think he's preaching and setting forth strange gods, he's speaking
of gods in the plural, there at verse 18, because he preached
unto them Jesus and the resurrection, as if Jesus was one God and the
resurrection was another God. And then of course right at the
end of that chapter we see how he speaks of The resurrection is that that
is the assurance that there will yet be a day of reckoning, a
day of judgment. Verse 30 says, The times of this
ignorance, when the Gentile nations were left to their own devices
and they knew nothing of God. The times of this ignorance God
winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee
again of this matter. And then Paul departs. They reject
the message. But he explains that the resurrection
is significant. Why it's associated with that
call to repentance. God commands all men now everywhere
to turn from their idolatrous ways. Now those Athenians were
given over to all manner of superstition. Why? They had an altar to the
unknown God. And the one that they worshipped
in all ignorance is the one that Peter is preaching to them. He
preaches the Lord Jesus. He preaches the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus. And what is the significance
of all of this? well the sinner can only know
the forgiveness of sins because of that work that Christ has
accomplished that great work of redemption and in the resurrection
we see how God has accepted the Lord Jesus and therefore sin
is abolished by that great sin atoning sacrifice that he has
made and There is now the forgiveness of sins. And forgiveness is a
reality for the sinner. Because Christ has borne that
punishment that was the just desert of the sinner. He's paid
the ransom that the holy law of God demanded. The soul of the sinner, it shall
die, it must die. The wages of sin is death and
Christ has died. The just for the unjust. All
that redemption that is in the Lord Jesus, no remission without
the shedding of that precious blood. And so in the resurrection
we have the assurance that sin is no more as far as the east
is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from
us as the psalmist. And of course we have that remarkable
statement in the 50th chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah. And there at verse 20, in those
days, and in that time, saith the Lord, what is the day that
he speaks of? What is the time that he is speaking
of? It is this day, the Gospel day. The day after Christ's resurrection
from the dead. which is ushered in this blessed
reign of grace in those days and in that time said the Lord
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for
I will pardon them whom I reserve says the Lord God or there is
redemption then in the Lord Jesus and the resurrection is at it
gives us an assurance, because the Father himself has raised
Christ and received him now into the very heavens. But then, of
course, the principal truth that is so bound up with this doctrine
of the resurrection is that of the believer's new birth, regeneration. that I may know him, he says,
and the power of his resurrection. Here is something to be known
and felt. And interesting, the word that
we have here, dunamis, is one that I suppose comes over into
our own language in words like dynamic or dynamo, even dynamite. Here is something very powerful. that comes into the soul of the
sinner, that great passage that we often refer to in Ephesians
1.19, the exceeding greatness of His power, to us who do believe,
according to the working of His mighty power, after the same
manner, in the same fashion as that mighty power that He wrought
in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at
His own right hand. Doesn't Christ say in prophecy,
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise. Or because I live, ye shall live
also." And what does Paul say here in the text? He wants to
be found in Him. The previous 9th verse, to be found
in Him, he says. that is in the Lord Jesus, not
having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection." Now we know that there is, and I said this last time, there's
that threefold union with the Lord Jesus, there is a union
that stretches back into eternity, election, eternal election. According as He has chosen us
in Him, says Paul, before the foundation of the world. And
then in time there is an historical union. When the fullness of the
time was come, God sends His Son made of a woman made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. that they might
receive the adoption of sons he is made of a woman he is the
seed of the woman and he is that one who is also under the law
and he identifies himself all together with his people they
are debtors to the law but he comes to stand in their law place
he comes as that one who is the last Adam as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners so we're told by the obedience of one
shall many be made righteous there in Romans 5 as Adam is
the head of the race so Christ is the head of the whole election
of grace there is then an historic union
in time he becomes a real man but then the vital thing is that
what we might term the experimental union this is what Paul is really
speaking of he wants to be found in him he says not having mine
own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through
the faith of Christ and see how he speaks of the faith the faith
of Christ. That faith that comes of the
operation of God who has raised Christ from the dead. We have
the same truth there in Colossians 2.12 as we have in Ephesians
1.19. There's this theme then running through, there is great
power that must be experienced in the soul of the sinner before
he can do anything really. By nature he's dead, in trespasses
and sins there must be that communication of spiritual life. The sinner
must be born again. But now it's all associated with
Christ and his resurrection. If Christ did not rise, his people
are not saved. Isn't that one of the great truths
that the Apostle is asserting in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians? If Christ be not raised, your
faith is vain, he says. You're still in your sins. Ah, but we're told later in that
chapter that the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Oh,
there's a union, you see. with that one who is the last
Adam he's a quickening spirit he declares it himself in the
course of his ministry I am the resurrection and the life he
that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die believest thou this all there is an experience
in of regeneration, new birth, bound up with Christ and is rising
again from the dead. And then also in the third place,
and we've already in some way intimated this, there's the doctrine
of justification. The Lord Jesus Christ rose as
a justified person. As I said last week, he's vindicated
in the resurrection. And this is all part and parcel
of that great mystery that's spoken of in 1 Timothy 3.16. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, received up into glory. In the Incarnation, of
course, we see Him as that One who is manifest in the flesh. In the Resurrection, we see Him
as that One who is justified in the Spirit, put to death in
the flesh, quickened by the Spirit. And then we have his glorification.
He is seen of angels. He is received up into glory. We have it at the end of the
24th Psalm, where we clearly see how the psalmist is speaking
of his ascent into heaven. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of glory. nor is that one who is received
up. Not only is he raised from the
dead, but after showing himself to his disciples by those infallible
proofs over a period of 40 days. Then we read in the opening part
of the Acts a witness as he was received up into heaven, delivered
for our offenses. and raised again for our justification,"
says the Apostle. Our justification is in him and
Paul's desire to be found in him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. The apostles were preachers of
the resurrection, they were also preachers of righteousness. They
preached justification. Again, in another sermon that
we have recorded in the Acts, Acts chapter 13, Paul at Antioch
in Pisidia, what is the great message? He says, by Him, that
is by Christ, all that believe are justified. from all things
that they could not be justified from by the deeds of the law."
Or they preach then Christ as the one who is the justification
of his people. Well, we've considered redemption
and regeneration and justification. But then also there is mortification. Mortification, isn't that what
he is speaking of here in this 10th verse? The fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death. I do find the order so significant
here. Before we can know anything of
the fellowship of his sufferings, or any conformity unto his death,
there must be the power of resurrection. There must be that communication
of new life, spiritual life, the life of Christ, must come
into the soul of the sinner before he can know anything at all of
real experience, to experience any of the great doctrines. of
the gospel, there must be first that new birth the sinner must
be born again, born from above and then there will be the new
nature and there'll be the conflict
with the old nature there'll be that aspect of the good fight
of faith but there'll be fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ Well,
the Apostle himself knew it. A tremendous statement that he
makes to the Galatians, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. Now he was continually,
you see, pressing forward. Now he says it here at verse
14, Now he would crucify the flesh. And how can we do that? We can
do nothing of ourselves, nothing in our own strength. What does
the Apostle say there in Romans 8? crucified, put to death, the
deeds of the body ye shall live." All there is to be that putting
off the old nature, that putting on the new nature. And it's all by that gracious
ministry of Him who is the Spirit of Christ. The apostle in this very chapter,
of course, is dealing again with certain legalists. Not just when he writes to the
Galatian churches does he have to speak against those who would
seek to bring Christian believers under the yoke of the Old Testament
law demanding that these Gentiles who converted should receive
the right of circumcision. He says, doesn't he, if you circumcise
your debtors to do the whole law, you're under the law. Look
at what he says here, and the language that he uses when he's
exposing these legalists. Beware of dogs, he says. Beware
of evil workers, beware of the concision. or they're contending
for circumcision in the flesh, he says that's concision, that's
illegal cutting, that's what the word indicates. All that is gone now. We are
the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. and this is that
man who could have had every confidence and did once have
every confidence in the flesh because of his pedigree and what
he was he had been circumcised on the
8th day he was an Israelite he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin
he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews he was a Pharisee with regards
to the law of God and concerning that righteousness
which he then the Lord he thought himself blameless but more than
that he he had such a zeal for the old law of God that he was
persecuting the Christians persecuting the church all this man knows
what he's what he's talking about how do we mortify the deeds of
the body we cannot do it of ourselves we can do nothing of ourselves
We have to live to prove that. Paul knew it. He writes that
seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans. He feels his wretchedness. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? He cries out. I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Complete and utter dependence
on Christ. O that the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who must receive all the glory, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that as it is written, He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord. And so finally we come to that,
glorification. And Christ's resurrection, again,
is the guarantee of the believers' glorification. And Paul, again, he says that
so clearly there in 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 20, Now is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order cries the firstfruits afterward. They that are Christ's at His
coming then come at the end, when He shall have delivered
up the kingdom unto God even the Father. when he shall have
put down all rule and all authority and power. He is the first fruits
and as he has risen so there will be that general resurrection
and the saints then will enter into all the fullness of the
glory of God in heaven. And how all the powers of darkness
will then surely be seen to be vanquished. O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death says poorly sin. The strength of sin is the
law. But thank me to God who giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Even there upon the cross, in
all the midst of His humiliation and His sufferings, He could
say to that penitent dying thief today, shalt thou be with me
in paradise. Oh, there is that for everyone
whose trust, whose faith centers in the Lord Jesus. And he prays,
doesn't he, in that remarkable prayer of John 17, Father I will,
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. And again it's
remarkable because he does use in that verse John 17 24 he uses
the strongest of the two verbs to will. Father I will Although
he's praying, he can, in a sense, still address the Father as one
who is equal to him. We pray, Thy will be done. But Christ could say, I will.
That they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am.
Why? That they may see my glory. Well, this great doctrine then,
that is here in our text, the power of the resurrection, how
it's so necessary to the whole of our salvation. Redemption, regeneration, justification,
mortification, and then ultimately glorification. In verse 11 then
he says, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection,
of the dead and we have to know all of these great truths in
our soul's experience and that's the knowledge it's not
just a matter of our minds are sent into these truths but proving
them as the Lord is pleased to work graciously in our souls
by his blessed spirit or to know then something of the great power
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let us, before
we come to pray, sing our second praise, and we're going to sing
hymn number 57. At the head of the hymn, we have
those words, the gospel, the power of God to salvation. Number 57, the tune is Hursley
353. What shall the dying sinner do
that seeks relief for all his woe? Where shall the guilty conscience
find ease for the torment of the mind? Number 57, tune 353.