Let us turn to this portion that
we've just read in Romans chapter 1 and I want to draw your attention
tonight to the words that we find here at verse 4. Romans
1.4 concerning God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord made of the seed of David according
to the flesh and here in verse 4 we read undeclared to be the
Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead. And declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. And to consider with you for
a while the power of Christ in the resurrection we might call
it the power of the gospel, the power of Christ in the resurrection. Isn't Paul here defining what
the gospel is, that gospel that he'd been separated unto in verse
1, that gospel which had been promised in the Old Testament
scriptures And how it all centers in, it concerns the Son of God,
Jesus Christ our Lord. And as we indicated there in
verse 3, He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
and then in verse 4, declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. And so the gospel clearly centers
in this person who is the son of David and also the son of
God. We're reminded then of his person
and those two natures. He is a man, he's at the seed
of David, but he's also the eternal son of God. And of course, We
remember that when Paul writes at the end of 1 Corinthians,
there in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians and the opening words of that
chapter, he again is defining the gospel that he preached.
Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand,
by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
He's defining the Gospel, but whereas in the opening words
of Romans he speaks of the person in whom the Gospel centers, here
he speaks more especially of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
how he died. how He was obedient, and obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, and how He also rose
again from the dead. It's the power of the Gospel
then that we have in such portions as what we've just referred to
there in that chapter in 1 Corinthians, what we have here at the beginning
of the epistle to the Romans. And so to consider that power,
the power of the gospel, the power of Christ as we see it
here in his resurrection from the dead. Now, last time, last
week, we were looking at that verse at the end of Philippians
chapter 3. We considered something of that portion at the end of
that chapter. and consider then what Paul says
in that verse concerning Christ who shall change our vile body
he says that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according
to the working whereby he is able also to subdue all things
unto himself and we spoke then of that resurrection that comes
through the Lord Jesus And we said then, concerning the resurrection,
that Christ himself is the cause, he's the efficient cause, the
real cause of it, he's the energizing cause, it's the working, whereby
he is able to subdue all things unto himself, and he is the exemplary
cause of it, because all are to be fashioned Paul says there
in Philippians, like unto his glorious body. So we were thinking
last time of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ as it affects
those who are in him and that resurrection that comes from
him. And so as we turn now to this
verse at the beginning of Romans, I want us to consider more particularly
Christ's own resurrection, and what we see in that resurrection.
He is declared to be the Son of God with power according to
the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. What is the power that is here
in the Lord Jesus Christ? And three things I want to mention
as we consider this text. First of all, it is a designated
power Secondly, it's resurrection power. And thirdly, it is spiritual
or divine power that is being spoken of. Following then that
threefold division, first of all, it is designated power. Look at the language that Paul
uses. He speaks of how he is declared
to be the son of God's with power. And this verb that we have to
declare, it's very interesting because it's such a strong verb. Literally it has the idea of
being marked out or marked off, being designated, being ordained
or appointed. The margin gives the alternative
word of determined. determined or predetermined to
be the Son of God with power. And we can think of the Lord
Jesus and His ministry and His life as He lived it here upon
the earth. When He comes to the end of His
ministry and He is well aware of what is going to happen He
must make that great sin-atoning sacrifice. He's determined to
accomplish all the work. He sets his face like a flint
to go to Jerusalem and he says concerning the one who would
betray him Judas Iscariot there in Luke 22 22 truly the son of
man goeth as it was determined but woe to him the one who is
the betrayer. Christ goes as it was determined. And then after his death and
his resurrection from the dead with the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we have the preaching of Peter
there in Acts 2.23 and he says concerning Christ him being delivered
by the determinate counsel. and foreknowledge of God. He hath taken and by wicked hands
hath crucified and slain." They had done the deed, they were
culpable. They had killed the Lord of Glory, but it was all
pre-determined. Christ's death then was not a
chance event. It was that that was appointed
and appointed by God. He himself, of course, is really
God's first elect. Behold my servant, says God,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my Spirit upon him. He is appointed, he is anointed. The Father giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. He is the promised Christ. And then in Isaiah 53, 11 we
have those words, "...he shall see of the travel of his soul,
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify men, for he shall
bear their iniquities." Oh, is the Lord's righteous servant
the one who fulfills all righteousness by the obedience of his life?
And then, in dying, he dies as the substitute made sin, though
he himself knew no sin, that his people might be made the
righteousness of God in him. Who is God's first elect, and
all who are chosen? The whole company of the election
of grace had chosen in him before the foundation of the world. And here you see, we see then
that there is that about him that is declared, designated,
determined. It's his work. It's not his own
work. He is that one who comes as the
Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. There in Hebrews
chapter 5, verse 4, No man taketh this honor that of the priesthood
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another
place, Thou art a priest for ever. After the order of Melchizedek. In all the work that the Lord
Jesus Christ does here upon the earth then, we see clearly that
he is a man under authority. I came down from heaven, he says,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. My
meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work. And what is it to finish that
work? It's the death of the cross. It's the crucifixion. Or therefore doth my father love
me, he says, because I lay down my life that I might take it
again. No man taketh it from me. I lay
it down of myself. I have power or authority to
lay it down, and I have power, authority, to take it again this
commandment have I received of my Father. And so the power that
he has, the authority that he has, is designated. It's designated power, determined,
declared to be the Son of God with power. And yet, we have to recognize
that there is no way in which he is inferior to the Father,
but he is always, always, and never anything less, than the
eternal Son of God. Because this gospel, that Paul
has been separated unto, concerns God's Son, concerning his Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lords, and he is the son of the Father,
says John, in truth and in love. He is not an adopted son. There
are those who are the adopted sons of God, and the great doctrine,
of course, of the believer's adoption, whereby the believer
is able to address God as Father, Abba Father. No, but this One
is no adopted Son. He is the true Son of God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, says John, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh, He is that One who is eternally
begotten. He is God. He is God of God. The eternal Son of God. And remember
the language that we have there in Philippians 2 concerning him
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. His glory
whilst here upon the earth was hidden in all his humiliation,
that lowliness of mind which was in Christ Jesus. But all that humiliation and
that obedience ultimately leads to his glorification as the Apostle
continues there in that second chapter of Philippians, wherefore
God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every and he should
bear of things in heaven and in earth and under the earth
and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God
the Father all his power then its designated power and we see
it here made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared
determined, designated, appointed to be the Son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. So, as it's designated, it is
also, as we see at the end of this fourth verse, resurrection
power. It is by the resurrection from
the dead. He has overcome death. And what is death? It's a consequence,
and it's the curse of sin. And Christ has overcome sin and
its curse. We know, the Scripture makes
it quite clear, the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth
it shall die. And so, as the natural seed of
Adam and Eve, we're all born dead in trespasses and sins. We know in Scripture that death
is set before us as threefold. First of all, there is spiritual
death. And in the Garden of Eden, concerning
that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Remember how the
Lord God speaks to the man, to Adam? He can eat of all the trees
of the garden, but he is not to eat of the fruit of that tree.
In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, says the
Lord God. Or as the margin says, in the
day that thou eatest thereof, dying thou shalt die. That's the literal wording. It's
rendered, surely die, which is a truth. But the literal wording
is, dying thou shalt die. And he does die. Eve and Adam
together die immediately. That they disobey and partake
of that forbidden fruit. And we see the death in what
follows when the Lord God comes into the garden in the cool of
the day. There at verse 8 following God
would come and He would commune with the man that He had created.
There was real union and fellowship between God and His creature
but now what do our first parents do? They feel the alienation. They hide, try to hide away from
God. Oh, there's alienation. And then, of course, we have
those dreadful words at the close of that third chapter in Genesis,
where God casts them out, thrusts them forth out of the garden. How solemn are the words. Verse 22, the Lord God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil.
And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree
of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him
forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence
he was taken. So he drove out the man, and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and
a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. That was spiritual death. That
was separation. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. Your sins have hid his face from
you. But then there was also physical
death. Dying thou shalt die. Or there was a physical death
that would follow in due time. Surely thou shalt die. then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit to God
who gave it. And how awful it is really because
when God created the man he formed his body of the dust of the ground
and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man
becomes a living soul, body and soul. That's human nature, isn't
it? That's the very nature that the
Lord Jesus Christ has taken to himself, a real man, a body and
a soul. But when death comes, there's
that awful separation. The dust returns to the earth
as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. There's a rending
as it were, as the soul departs from the body. That is physical
death. And then, thirdly, there is that
death that is spoken of as eternal death, really. And what is that? Well, we see something of it
in the ministry of the Lord Jesus, when he tells the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus. And remember how each go to their
appointed place. The rich man has all his comforts
in this life. and why the poor beggar is despised
and they come to die and Lazarus goes to heaven into the bosom
of Abraham and the rich man goes to his appointed place and there
he's in torments and he wants that some should that Lazarus
even should come with a drop of water to quench his parching
thirst. But we have those awful words
between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed. There is
a great gulf fixed. That is eternal separation. The
separation from God is an eternal separation. where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. But the Lord Jesus
Christ is that One, of course, who has come and He has vanquished. He has vanquished death. And
again, we have it at the end of that 15th chapter in 1 Corinthians,
Or death, where is thy sting? Or grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law,
but, says Paul, thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory. Christ has vanquished death. He is the resurrection and the
life. I am come, he says, that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. or not just life, but abundance
of life, eternal life. Because I live, He says, ye shall
live also. And that's really what we were
considering something of last time. There is that resurrection
life that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, it's an
eternal life. It's a life that even goes beyond
death and the grave. Thy dead men shall live together
with my dead body. Christ says they shall arise. It's not just saying that power that is determined and
declared, but it is this resurrection power. There's real spiritual life in
Christ when the when the sinner is born again. When he's born
of the Spirit of God, there is spiritual life coming into his
soul. And that's, of course, when he begins to feel that conflict,
because he has a new nature now. He's a new creation in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and there's a conflict with his old nature. And how
Paul writes of that so adequately in Romans 7. there is resurrection life, eternal
life, and in the Lord Jesus. But then also here, thirdly,
finally, we see that there is spiritual power, or divine power
we might say. It's according to the Spirit
of holiness, declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And of course, what we have in
verses 3 and 4 is a contrast. In verse 3 we have that expression,
according to the flesh, the human nature, made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. and then in verse 4 we have the
divine nature declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness and so the reference in these verses
is really to the human and the divine natures which are in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that is That's part of the mystery of godliness,
isn't it? Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Here is this person, Jesus of
Nazareth, and he is a man, yes, but he is also God. He's the
God-man. And there are those two distinct
natures in the one person. It's a mystery. Just as the doctrine
of God is a mystery, these are the two great mysteries of real
religion, of Christianity. That God is one, and yet God
is three persons. And then the Lord Jesus, he is
one person, but in that one person there are these two distinct
natures. And this expression, according
to the spirit of holiness, is a reference to his divine nature. The hymn writer, we're going
to sing that hymn of Joseph Swain, Presently 159, Divinity back
to his frame, the life he had yielded restored. And Jesus in
tomb was the same with Jesus in glory adored. I was very struck
by that little couplet at the beginning of that third verse
of the hymn 159, Divinity back to his frame, the life he had
yielded restored. There's amazing theology often
in the hymns that we find in the hymnbook and we sing. Amazing
doctrine and truth. And there's a great truth in
that little couplet. It was the divine nature that
sustained the Lord Jesus through the death of the cross through
the entombment in the grave it's according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead that he is marked
out as that one who is truly God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord we find a similar statement in
Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14 concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God there we have the expression the eternal spirit just as here
we have this expression according to the spirit of holiness and
That statement in Hebrews 9 is one also to be understood in
terms of a reference to his divine nature. Even Dr. Owen, the great Puritan, in his
commentary on Hebrews recognizes that fact. When Paul writes that Christ,
through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spots to God,
offered himself as a sacrifice to God, a sinless sacrifice.
The Eternal Spirit, says Dr. Owen, does refer to the ministry
of the Holy Spirit because God has given the Spirit without
measure unto the man Christ Jesus. In all his actions he is under
the gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. He lives a life
of dependence upon the Spirit. He lives a real life of faith.
But, says the Puritan, that expression, through the Eternal Spirit, also
has reference to His divine nature. What was it that sanctified the
offering that Christ made upon the cross? What was the altar,
we might say, upon which He made the sacrifice? Let us not imagine
that the cross is the altar. the Romanist makes an idol of
the cross. No, what sanctified the gift
was that divine nature of the Lord Jesus. It was then through the Eternal
Spirit that He made the great sin-atoning
sacrifice, His divine nature, sanctifying the offering and
here it's that same divine nature that is there when he is raised
again from the dead in a sense he is raising himself then declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead and then furthermore we
have to recognize that Christ is no more here in flesh. He is gone. 2 Corinthians 5.16,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, Paul says, yet now
henceforth know we Him no more. Christ is now gone, He has risen
from the dead, He has ascended on high, but He has not left
His children as orphans Or does He not come to them and come
by and through that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit? We have those words in John 7,
the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Oh yes, God gave the Spirit without
measure to Him. There was a ministry of the Spirit
in His own life here upon the earth. There was a ministry of
the Holy Spirit of course throughout the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit
is there in the beginning, in the work of creation. David cries
out in his great penitential psalm, take not thy spirit from
me. He felt he had grieved the Spirit
of God. But that statement in John 7.39,
the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified,
reminds us that after Christ rose from the dead and then ascended
on high, there was a glorious coming of the Spirit. There was
a great outpouring of the Spirit that occurred on the day of Pentecost. And again there in his sermon,
what does Peter say? Therefore, concerning Christ
being by the right hand of God exalted, having received of the
Father the promise of the Spirit, He hath shed forth this which
ye now see and hear. And how does the Gospel in this
day of grace, in this day of salvation, how does the Gospel
come into the heart of the sinner? It must come in the power of
the Spirit. That was the blessed experience
of those Thessalonians. Our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, Paul says, but in power. and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. Well, we need that God would
come by the Spirit, and in that power, into all of our hearts. And He must come to us in that
way if there's going to be any experience of salvation. We're
told concerning Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, and she
attended to the things that were spoken by Paul and Silas. As
the Lord the Spirit comes and opens her heart so she attends,
she hears the Word. Now we need God to continually
come to us by His Spirit in His Word. It's not enough is it that
we just have the Word and we read the Word or we preach the
Word or we hear the Word preached There's an intellectual exercise,
and we want that principle of the spirit of a sound mind, but
we want God's words to take hold of our hearts, to take hold of
our souls. We want it to be to us that implanted
word, able to save the soul, it must come by the spirit. And,
of course, the great promise of the New Covenant is not just
the opening of the heart, but a new heart. A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh. It is this one that's spoken
of here in the text, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has all that
authority and all that power. It is that that has been designated
to him in the eternal covenant, it is that that is demonstrated
in his own resurrection from the dead, and it is that divine,
that spiritual power that must come into the soul of all those
who will ever be blessed with an experience of the grace of
God. All this gospel then, it concerns
God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead. The Lord be pleased then to bless
His Word to us. Now let us Sing our second praise in the
hymn 159, the tune is Truant 767. How willing was Jesus to
die, that we fellow sinners might live the life they could not
take away. How ready was Jesus to give,
and those words that we referred to in verse 3, divinity, back
to his frame, the life he had yielded restored. And Jesus entombed
was the same, With Jesus in glory adored. No nearer we venture
than this, To gaze on a deep so profound, But tread, whilst
we taste of the bliss, With reverence the hallowed ground. 159.767 you.