Our text tonight is found in
that first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans that we
read, Romans chapter 1, and reading at verse 4. The gospel concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we
read, declared to be the Son of God with power according to
the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Romans chapter 1 and verse 4
declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. It is of course in the death
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ultimately
we have that revelation of the power of God in the Gospel. We read in the epistles of the
Colossians of how He spoils principalities and powers and made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it, that is in his cross. It's there in the very depths
of his humiliation as Christ makes that sacrifice for sins
that we see the power of God to save sinners. And of course
death was unable to halt him, the Holy One, the undefiled one,
he breaks through the bars of the grey, or death, where is
thy sting, or grey, where is thy victory, the sting of death
is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I say
that it is there then, ultimately, at the end of his ministry, as
he dies, and as Christ is raised again from the dead that we have
that final revelation of the power of the Gospel. And in these opening words of
the Epistle we see how that God himself is the author of the
Gospel, Paul speaks of his own ministry, he is a servant of
Christ, he is called to be an apostle. He was separated onto
that gospel. He tells the Galatians how that
he pleased God to reveal his son in him and to establish him
not only as a Christian believer but as an apostle not by the
will of man but by the will of God. And then here He speaks
of how God is very much the author of this Gospel. It's what God
had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It's
God's Gospel. As we see there at the end of
verse 1, the genitive of possession, the Gospel of God, the Gospel
that belongs to God, the Gospel of which God himself is the originator
and the author. And that Gospel that God promised
throughout the Old Testament, all the Old Testament is but
preparation, of course, for the New Testament, the coming of
the Promised One. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the very subject matter of this Gospel. It concerns God's
Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. which was 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. Well as we come tonight to consider
the text, verse 4, I want to say something with regards to
this power of the Gospel, three things. First of all, we see
here how it is a designated power Secondly, it is resurrection
power. And then finally, how it is spiritual
power. First of all, it is a designated
power. We're taught how that Christ
is declared, declared to be the Son of God. Now, it's an interesting
word, we've made reference to it on previous occasions, this
verb, to declare, it has the idea of marking someone off, designating them, ordaining them,
appointing them. And you'll see that there's an
alternative reading in the margin and the alternative is determined,
determined. to be the Son of God. How we see in all that Christ
did here upon the earth, God's determination, God's determinants
cancelled. Doesn't the Lord Jesus Christ,
as He comes to the end of His days and He speaks of His betrayal,
He says, truly the son of man goeth as it was determined of
him. He goes as God himself has appointed. This is what he was marked off
to and for. Peter in his sermon on the day
of Pentecost uses the same word, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel. and foreknowledge of God ye have
taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. Christ's death then was not a
chance event. There were no chance events at
all in any part of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his
death certainly was that that God had predetermined and foreordained. And we see it all, of course,
being foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament. There's not
only the ministry of the prophets, there's all the Levitical laws,
and in those laws we have remarkable types of what Christ would come
to be the substance of in the fullness of the time. It is all determined of God. And it all has to do with the
power of God that saves the sinner. It's all vested in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Determined to be the
Son of God with power. Was not the Lord Jesus Christ
God's first elect? He stands at the head of all
the election of Christ As we're told in Ephesians chapter 1,
all of the elect were chosen in Him. Chosen in Him, it says,
before the foundation of the world. He is God's first elect. He stands at the head then of
that whole innumerable company. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, says God, in whom my soul and he is elect, chosen,
appointed to this position to be the Sadian. When we read of
him in his high priestly work, we see it there in what Paul
writes to the Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 4 following. He is speaking of the priestly
office. And what does Paul say? Verse
4, No man taketh this honour 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. He is designated, you see, to
this office of being the great high priest of our profession. And we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as he comes into the world, in all that he does he is clearly
a man who is under authority. He is under authority. He doesn't
speak his own words. He is a prophet. He speaks the
words of God. I came down from heaven, he says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that had sent
them. And as he speaks the words of
God as a prophet, the culmination, the fulfilment of the prophetic
office, so also when we see him in his priestly work, He also
is one who is acting under authority. He has received a commandment
from God. But does he not say as much?
Therefore doth my father love me, 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 or authority to take it again. This commandment, he says, this
commandment to lay down his life, to take his life again, this
commandment have I received of my Father. All that Christ does
in the outworking of the covenant All that Christ does in the establishment
of the Gospel, He is one who is clearly under the authority
of God. Now, that does not mean that
He is in any way inferior to God, inferior to God the Father. He is. He is the eternal Son
of God. The Gospel We're told here at
the beginning of verse 3, concerns his son, God's son, concerning
his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And his sonship is indicative
of his equality, is it not? Why was it that the Jews sought
to stone him in John chapter 5? It was because they considered
him guilty of blasphemy. He not only had broken the Sabbath,
they said, but said that God was his father, making himself
equal with God. He is equal with God, being in
the form of God. He 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 passion as a man, he became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. He willingly becomes a
servant, but he is in reality equal to God the Father, equal
to God the Holy Ghost. Now his glories, the glories
of his Godhood were hidden and concealed during the days of
his humiliation. during those days when he was
present here upon the earth. But of course, he is no more
upon the earth. He has now entered into his glory
and he is glorified in heaven as God, as God-man. We referred just now, quoted
those familiar words from Philippians chapter 2, but how does the Apostle
continue? having spoken of his humiliation,
his obedience, and his obedience even to the death of the cross,
Paul says, wherefore, or therefore. There's a connection, you see,
it's because of his humiliation that now he is exalted. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth. And every tongue confess that
he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. All this power that
he has in the Gospel then, it is that that has been designated. It's what God has determined.
This one is marked off, is ordained by God to be the saviour of sinners,
mate of the seeds 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. Its designated power, yes,
its resurrection power. We read here at the end of the
text of the resurrection from the dead the resurrection from
the dead. What is death? Death, alas, is
the awful consequence of man's rebellion against God. Death is that curse that has
come because of man's sin. Had not God said to Adam there
in paradox concerning any disobedience with regards to that fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day that
thou eatest thereof, God said thou shalt surely die. All the wages of sin is death. It is so plain in the Word of
God. It's declared time and time again. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. There is a certain inevitability,
is there not here? This is what death is. It has
come because of man's fall into sin. It is the great curse that
is upon the human race. And what is that death? Well,
there are various aspects, are there not? There is a spiritual
death, and all who come into this world are in that condition,
though they be physically alive, they are dead in trespasses and
in sin. This is what God said to Adam
there in Eden, in the day that they eat us thereof, they shall
surely die. Dying, they shall die. with regards to the state of
his soul. Eventually he would die in his
body, physically. But dying, he died. That was the result of his sin. And what is that spiritual death
that comes upon men? It's an alienation from God. It's man now separated from God. It's man who was created in God's
likeness, made in God's image, made to enjoy God. Man was to enjoy God, to delight
himself in God. This is man's chief end in the
familiar words of the Shorted Catechism, to glorify God, to
enjoy Him forever. But alas, We see even there in
Genesis that immediately there is a separation. Remember when
God comes into the garden as he was welt in the cool of the
day. Language is beautiful, is it
not? What does Adam do? No more is he in fellowship with
God. They heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst
the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked,
and I hid myself. Man is now alienated. He doesn't
want the company of God, the fellowship of God. And we have
at the end, of course, his expulsion. He's sent out of the garden.
He's put out of paradise. 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. He died. No more is he in God's
company, no more in God's paradise. Cut off. Your sins have separated
between you and your God. Your iniquities have hid his
face from you. There is A death, you see, that
is spiritual. And alas, that is our condition
by nature, all of us, without any exception. And so, this is
why the Lord Jesus makes it so clear that the sinner must be
born again. He must be born again, says Christ. He must become again a partaker
of the divine nature. Or there must be that communication
of new life to the soul that is dead in trespasses and in
sins. There is spiritual death. And
then there is a death of course that is physical. Dying thou
shalt die. He was dying immediately. He
was dead spiritually. And he would die physically.
And so it was. There is a time To be born, we
are taught, there is a time to die. Then shall the dust return
to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. Physical death, and we see it.
Men might like to hide it away if they can. They cannot really,
it's all around us. People die. And we all ultimately have to
face that dreadful reality. We will die. And of course the
great concern of our soul should be that we are ready for death.
That we are prepared for it. Prepare me gracious God to stand
before thy face. Thy spirit must at work perform
for it is all of grace. There is physical death, and
then, alas, there is an eternal, an eternal death, an eternal
separation. Remember what's said concerning
Lazarus and the rich man in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ,
there in the Gospel, in Luke chapter 16, and verse 26, This is what he said to that
rich man who is in torment. Beside all this
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence. a final separation. There is
an eternal separation. There are those who have their
portion in heaven, there are those who have their portion
in hell, where their worm dieth not and
the fire, we are told, it is not quenched. It is an eternal
suffering, it is an eternal separation that will come at the end of
time. when God confines the goats to their allotted place and the
sheep will be with him in heaven for all eternity. Now, Christ
has vanquished death in every sense. That's a great thing for
the Christian, is it not? Those words that we've already
quoted in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians We see him there
as the great vanquisher, O death where is thy sting? O grave where
is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. O Christ has come,
Christ is risen. He has triumphed so gloriously
over death, over the grave. And here we have it you see.
He is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection
from the dead. Death was not able to hold it. Wasn't this the purpose of his
coming? He says, I am come that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
That curse, that death that came with the first man, with the
first Adam, Why Christ has come to undo all that? This is the
last Adam. This is the second man. This
is the Lord from heaven. Why has he come? Why in him the
sons of Adam boast more blessings than their father last, says
Isaac once. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. What does he say to his own disciples?
Because I live. Ye shall live also. Oh, this is the power of the
Gospel. It brings life to those who are dead in trespasses and
sins. Thy dead men shall live, he says. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. There is, friends, in the Gospel
then this power that is resurrection power, that has overcome death
in all its various forms, be it a spiritual death, that death
that is in the soul, be it a physical death, be it an eternal death,
Christ has vanquished it. He has triumphed so gloriously.
And this is what the Gospel concerns you, sir. And then, in the third place,
I say, here we read of spiritual power in the Gospel. It's the Gospel of God which
He had promised to for by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures
concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was 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. There is an interesting contrast
here. The same expression is used,
is it not, at the end of verse 3 and here in the middle of verse
4. He was made of the seed of David,
it says, according to the flesh. Now that is a definition of the
sphere of Christ's ministry following his birth. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. We see him of course throughout
the Gospels in the flesh. We see God manifest in the flesh. We see him in the period of his
humiliation. He is made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. But then we have this other expression
in our text, in verse 4, according to the spirit of holiness. According to the spirit of holiness. Here is another sphere of Christ's
ministry. This is the sphere of Christ's
ministry following His resurrection from the dead. according to the
spirit of holiness it says, by the resurrection from the dead. This then is Christ's ministry
in another sphere, it's now in the sphere of his glorification. Christ is no more in the flesh,
in the sense that he is no more present amongst men as a man
here upon the earth. Paul tells us, does he not, in
that verse that we have in chapter 5 of 1st Corinthians, rather 2nd Corinthians I should
say, 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 16, he says, wherefore
henceforth No, we know man after the flesh, yea, though we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him
no more. We know Christ no more after
the flesh, because Christ is no more here upon the earth in
that state of humiliation. Christ is now here, but he is
here in the Spirit. He is here by that ministry of
the Holy Ghost. This is how Christ comes to us. He says, I will not leave you
comfortless. I will come unto you. And it's in this day of the Holy
Ghost that we see so much the power of the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. John says in chapter 7 of his
Gospel that the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was
not yet glorified. When Christ was glorified when
Christ had accomplished His great work here upon the earth by His
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, how He was
glorified, how the Father raised Him from the dead, how the Father
received Him at His ascension, how He is now seated in glory
and all authority is committed unto Him. And He then is that
One who gives the Holy Ghost. This is what Peter says in the
course of his sermon on the day of Pentecost, therefore being
by the right hand of God exalted. He's being exalted by God, he's
exalted to God's right hand. Therefore says Peter, he hath
shed forth this which ye now see and hear. What were they
seeing? What were they hearing? They
were witnessing the blessed coming of the Spirit, the glorious coming
in sight of the Holy Ghost. That's what they saw and experienced
and felt on the day of Pentecost. It was a remarkable scene. And
as the Spirit of Christ, what does the Holy Ghost do? He brings
salvation into the soul of the sinner. That's what he does. He works mightily and effectually
in the soul of the sinner. He applies all that Christ has
done. Or this is the day of Christ's
power, is it not? By that ministry of the Holy
Spirit. The promise, remember, in Ezekiel 36, a new heart also
I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh. And don't we see it in the acts
of the apostles, those men exercising their ministry under the blessed
unction of the Holy Ghost? We see Paul and Silas there at
Philippi, and they're there by the riverside, and there's those
women and Lydia amongst them. And what do we read concerning
Lydia as she hears the preaching of these men as they proclaim
this gospel of God, this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
heart the Lord opened. Oh, the Lord opens our hearts.
whose heart the Lord opened and she attended unto the things
that were spoken of Paul. This is the Holy Spirit you see,
this is the sphere of Christ's ministry today, the period of
his glorification. He was here upon the earth ministering
in the flesh according to the flesh it says, made of the seed
of David according to the flesh but now how he is declared to
be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead and what does Paul go on
to say later in the chapter I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The power of God to salvation
to all that believe. And where does their faith come
from? It comes from God. It comes by the sovereign operation
of the Holy Ghost. It's the gift of God. It's the
operation of God. in the soul of the sinner. And
there we need it, friends. We have the Word of God, we have
the Scriptures before us, we've attended to it tonight, we've
read God's words, we listen to the ministry of the Word of God,
but that's not enough. The Kingdom of God is not in
words, says Paul, but in power. Now we need to know something
of the power of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, how we
need it to come into our hearts and into our lives just as He
came to those Thessalonians. Our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, says Paul, but in power and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance. It is the power of Christ that
is demonstrated in the Gospel. He who has triumphed so gloriously
over all the works of Satan. How there at the cross we see
the devil overreaching himself. In the death of Christ of course. Sin itself is vanquished. Christ
has made the great sin offering the great sacrifice. There he
dies as the substitute in the room in the stead of his people.
He pays that penalty that was due to the Holy Lord of God.
He redeems his people by the shedding of his precious blood.
Oh, that's the power of the cross, is it not? And then how God vindicates
him, how God raises him from the dead, all the power of the
resurrection. He says, 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? It is spiritual power then that
we have here in the gospel ultimately. He is declared, he is marked
off, designated the Son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Now it is marked
the spirit of holiness, it's the Holy Spirit. But it's not
expressed in that way, is it? It's the spirit of holiness. ministers holiness to those who
in their very nature are not holy but are all unholiness they
are all sinful an unclean thing but he comes to minister holiness
to make those holy who themselves were nothing but sinners in Jeremiah
Jeremiah 31 and verse 31, Behold, the days
come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of David, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto
them, saith the LORD. But this shall be the covenant,
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall
be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the law, For they shall all know me from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquities and I will remember their sin no more. Now these
are the words that Paul takes up in Hebrews chapter 8 and makes
it so plain, so clear to us that this is the gospel. This is Christ's
gospel. And what do we see here? How
the Spirit works in the heart. He gives a new heart. I will
put my law in their inward paths and write it in their hearts.
They are not forgiven in any way because of their own keeping
of the Lord of God. They are forgiven for the sake
of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. But there is a change wrought
in the sinner. There is a change. The Lord Jesus says concerning
the true believer wherefore by their fruit ye shall know. O
friends, if we know anything of the power of this gospel,
will it not be evident in the manner of our living? Yes, our standing is so different
when we are those who by precious faith are trusting in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Then we come into that blessed
experience of our justification, to stand before God as those
who are acquitted, free from all the guilt of their sins,
but not only free from sin but also reckoned to be righteous,
clothed in the robe of Christ's righteousness, having about us
the garments of his salvation. But there is not only justification
in Christ, there is also that great blessing of sanctification. These people are a separated
people. Was Christ separated? Was Christ
designated to be the saviour of sinners? Well, all those who
are in Christ are also people who are separated and they are
designated to a life of holiness. And all their sanctification,
of course, comes from Christ. All their sanctification is only
in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They know. They know
that blessed ministry in their souls of Him who is the Spirit
of Holiness. He who comes to constantly testify
to them concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't speak of himself. but will direct them at every
turn to consider Christ. This is something then of the
power of the Gospel as we have it unfolded here in this verse
of Holy Scripture. Christ is the one declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead, or that power that was
designated to him, that power that we witness in his resurrection,
that power that we know by the gracious ministry of God the
Holy Spirit. I am not ashamed, Paul says,
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth to the Jew first. and also to the
Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Amen.