Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God. And
then he gives this, I will say, footnote. This gospel of God
is the one which he promised afore by his prophets in the
holy scriptures. Not promised that there would
be a gospel. But he gave that gospel. Now
this gospel has been fully revealed within and by the person who
is the gospel, because then he continues, concerning his son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. Now, I've actually, through this
series, come up this far. Verses one, two, and three. I want to try to deal with verse
four this morning. Listen to what Paul then writes,
being moved by the Spirit of God, and speaking still of Jesus
Christ, this one who was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. Then Paul writes this about him, and declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. Now I know we often stress
this, various preachers have and do and pray God still will,
but these words were chosen very
carefully by God. By God. It is true for me to
say that Paul did not choose these words. Though Paul willingly
chose to write these words. God chose these words in their
precise order. Now before I get in my message
in earnest, look at what it says and I will point out a few things
it does not say so that maybe this will help give us a gauge
as to what is actually being said. And declared to be the
Son of God with power. Notice he did not write, he did
not say, and declared to be the Son of God with or by power. but with power. It is true the resurrection of
Jesus Christ was a powerful thing. It is also true that the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of his being
raised from the dead is a powerful thing. Paul will go on to say,
as we will, God willing, read a little later, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the dynamite of God unto
salvation. To everyone that believeth. To
everyone that believeth. To the Jew first, that's who
it went to first, and also to the Greek. But it says, and declared
to be the Son of God with power. Declared. Declared. Christ's
resurrection. because that's what it's saying.
And declared to be the Son of God with power, then read it,
by the resurrection from the dead. It was according to the
spirit of holiness, but being declared to be the Son of God
was by the resurrection from the dead. Do you see that wording?
So it's by, by, by the resurrection of the dead. It was according
to the spirit of holiness but by the resurrection from the
dead. Why do I keep emphasizing this? Because very few people
seen, understood, or perceived back then and even now the spirit
of holiness that dwelt within our Lord Jesus Christ. I today
still do not see it as it ought to be seen. So again, let me
read the words. And declared to be the son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ was not the crescendo, but it was the beginning of the
opening of the light of the truth of what he just accomplished
when he suffered on Calvary's tree. He was raised from the
dead on account of our salvation. On account of our salvation.
He was not raised from the dead to save us. He had saved us before
the foundation of the world. Because when God Almighty decrees
something to come to pass, it is as well as done from God's
point of view. But Jesus Christ actually took
away our sins when he suffered on Calvary's tree. We sing a song. Living he loved
me. Dying he saved me. Buried he
carried my sins far away. Rising he what? Justified. But that's not quite true. Because
he justified us when he died. When he died, he was raised for,
that is, on account of our justification. Used to have posters years ago,
Jesse James wanted for bank robbery. You ever see them on TV? They
actually existed. Jesse James, might have even
had some kind of drawing of Jesse James on it, wanted for bank
robbery. Now, did that mean they wanted
Jesse James to go rob some banks for them? Do you get the point of the word
for now? Wanted on account of bank robbery. Wanted because
he had committed bank robbery. He was raised on account of the
fact that he had justified us by his blood. Now I have much
more to say on that later, but that's when we get to that passage,
we'll deal with that. Listen to what Robert Hawker
wrote. Now Robert Hawker was an Anglican. He knows better
now. He knows better now. I could
not in good conscience associate with the rites and the rituals
that the Anglican church had back in his day, and especially
with the things they do today. But if I knew a few Anglicans
that were like Robert Hawker, if I knew some today that were
like Robert Hawker, love would cover a multitude of sins. because
Robert Hawker stands out as a outstanding Anglican preacher. This is one
of the things he wrote, and I'll give you this as a side note.
I remember listening to a preacher, and I have the messages somewhere
in the things I have, and he began preaching through the Psalms.
Then he got a hold of some of Robert Hawker's writings on the
Psalms. And he says, I was so embarrassed
by what I did not see about Christ, I had to go all the way back
to chapter one and start over again in teaching the church.
Because God Almighty gave Robert Hawker great insight from the
scriptures concerning the personal work of Christ. This is what
Robert Hawker wrote. Nothing but Christ. and his text
is Acts 5, 42, where it reads this, where Luke recorded, and
daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach
and preach Jesus Christ. Note, it does not say, that they
ceased not to teach and preach the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Though that certainly was a part
of the message, but their message was the person who suffered on
that tree, and the person who was buried, and the person who
was raised again. I will give you my conclusion
as my introduction before I read this from Hawker. The conclusion, let me find the
right spot. The question is not this. Do
I believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? That's
not the question. Thousands have believed that
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and have perished in
hell. No, that's not the question. Do I believe that Jesus Christ
was raised from the dead? The question is this. Do I believe
the Christ who was raised from the dead? That's the question. Many believe in a resurrected
Christ, but they don't know who the Christ really is. Or even
more, reject who the Christ really is. Robert Hawker writes then
concerning Acts 5.42. The Lord Jesus was with them,
both text and sermon. They found enough in him for
endless discourse. Enough in him. in him for endless
discourse. Oh, that those glorious days
would return when Christ and Christ alone, Jehovah's Christ
and Jehovah's chosen may fill every pulpit, occupy every house,
warm every heart, and flow from every tongue in his churches
and among his people. Lord, The Spirit, in mercy to
thy church, hastened the hour when the Redeemer shall arise
out of Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Come, my beloved,
saith the church, and be thou like to a roe or a young heart
upon the mountains of spices. Robert Hawker preached Jesus
Christ, and that is indeed the message. Three things, three
things. Christ's resurrection declared
him to be. the Son of God with power. That
is, it proved him to be. That's the simplest way. I'll
give you a couple more things in a moment, but it declared
him to be the Son of God with power. It proved him to be the
Son of God with power. It announced clearly that Jesus
of Nazareth, this one who was David's seed according to the
flesh, it announced clearly that he was both God and he had the
power of God. You see it? And declared to be
the son of God with power, not by power, though the resurrection
was a powerful thing, but he personally was declared to be
the son of God, God Almighty manifest in the flesh. And the
Jews understood that to be the meaning when he said, I, my father,
are one. They said, because you make God
your father, you blaspheme, you make yourself equal with God.
They understood him rightly. But they did not believe him.
And declared to be the son of God with power. It did not give
him power. He already had that power. He
already had that power. But in the Hebrew, this word
declared means to mark out, to appoint, or decree. As a matter of fact, it sounds
very much like our word, and it is The Greek word for which
we get one of our English words, horizon. Horizon, that is the
boundary point. That's the boundary point. When you stand at the ocean and
you look toward the horizon, it does not matter what's behind
you. Whether it's flat fields, whether it's craggy rocks and
cliffs, or whether it's the gigantic rocky mountains. When you look
toward the ocean, you will see the Earth's boundary point. Do you not? And it's almost unfathomable. When you go out there, first
time I ever seen it, 14, 15 years old, Mason and I was just enthralled
with that horizon out there. And it's just a horizon. But
it is the horizon. And Jesus Christ was the horizon. The resurrection was the horizon. The place where the light begins
to come up. The light's always been there.
The sun was just over the horizon a few moments ago. But as the
Earth turns, I know there's some that disagree with that, but
it does. And as the Earth turns, then that sun begins to come
up where? On the horizon. And it declares, I am light. And if you don't believe that,
go out on a cloudless day, go to the ocean, and when it begins
to rise, stare right into it for about 10 minutes. It is so
much light that it will blind you if you look at it too long.
He was declared to be the Son of God with power, not given
power. John 17, you know the passage. Our Lord prayed this
prayer. And I wanna read just the first few words of our Lord's
prayer. And this is, it's amazing that God gave us this prayer
between the Father, or between the prayer of the Son to the
Father, because this is the Son pouring out His heart. to the
Father. As a matter of fact, many of
the Psalms gives us our Lord's own feelings. When you read those
Psalms, yes, those Psalmists may be speaking of experiences
they had in their life, but it is ultimately and truly fulfilled
only in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Look at what Christ
prayed. These words speak Jesus. and
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, now remember, there's
another man that prayed. He went home justified, but did
he look up to heaven? What did he do? He looked down. Smote on his breast, wouldn't
even so much lift his eyes up to heaven, but here's one who
had the right because of the spirit of holiness. He had the right to do what,
Jack Mattis? Lift his eyes to heaven as he
prayed to the Father. Mm. lift his eyes to heaven,
and said. All right, so we have recorded
what he actually said. Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son. Now wait a minute,
what, is he talking about the resurrection? That wasn't the
next coming thing, was it? It was his sufferings. His sufferings
on the tree are the foundation of the gospel. You could preach
the resurrection and even the ascension of Christ, but if you
miss the truth about what he did when he died on that tree,
you got no gospel. Thousands believe Jesus was raised
again and ascended and even sits at the right hand of God the
Father, but he has no real power. but he was declared to be the
son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. And
that was according to the spirit of holiness. And think about
this, his holiness went undetected, even unseen, for about 30 years. Even in his humanity. His mother
and father still didn't really get it. When they left him behind,
what was he doing? Worrying about where mommy and
daddy was? Worried about where the caravan went? No, he was
in the temple, speaking the truth of God, was he not? And they
become all worried, go back and find him there, and he said,
wished ye not that I must be about my father's business? Glorify thy son, he said, that
thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given. Now, we could say it was given,
was given because he earned it. He even earned it as a man. He earned it as the seed of David
according to the flesh, even there, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh. Does that mean might or right? It means both. He has both the
might, the strength, and the right. But to do what? As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. Now in any true court
of law, that anyone would honestly read that, they would say, Jesus
Christ here was praying that God the Father, you gave me authority
and power, ability, over all flesh. And the main reason is
to give eternal life to only some of that whole number. That's
what he prayed. So that's what he was intending
to do when he went to Calvary. And that's what he did when he
went to Calvary. Because he cried out on Calvary
right before he gave up the ghost. Gave up the ghost. Said it is
finished. But he'd said that one time before.
And that's right here in this prayer. Look at it. Thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
work I have finished. There it is. I have finished
the work which thou gave me to do. Now wait a minute, didn't
he still have Calvary to go? Didn't he still have the resurrection
to go? The ascension? The exaltation? Does he still
not have the keeping of his people to go? Yes he does, but he's
talking here about his preceptive obedience. He had obeyed God
perfectly all the way up to this point. And it's not long, he's
about to go into the garden and begin to experience things that
you and I better pray, God, we never experience. Because if
we ever experience them, we'll experience them in hail or the
lake of fire. But he experienced that hail,
metaphorically, he experienced that lake of fire, it started
in that garden and it commenced in full on that tree when God
the Father turned his back on the Son. And even then, though
Paul Pendleton, he was allowed to say, it is finished. Mason, before he gave up that
ghost. Why? Because he still, now think about this. Though
he was made sin, he still had the spirit of holiness. I can't
explain that, wouldn't dare to explain that, but it's true.
Just like Hebrew said, though he were a son, yet, learned he. yet learned it. How do you explain
that? He don't explain it, he just states it. Now we love to
get all theologically minded and use our big words and quit
trying to explain it, just declare it as it's given in this book.
God will use his word to convert the soul, not our explanations
of his word. Yeah. If it's in this word, it's
big enough. It's big enough. Look at it,
I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me
with thy own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Again I say, Jesus Christ is
this, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. And then John records for us
in verse 14, and the word was made flesh. And we beheld his
glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. Full! Full! There's not room for one little
drop more. full of grace and truth. You wanna find out about grace
and truth? Search out this book concerning
the person and work of Jesus Christ. There you will see the
true spirit of holiness. Though it was not recognized
for 30 years, even by his immediate kin. His brothers and sisters
didn't see. You would think the way most
people talk about holiness, somebody said, that Jesus of Nazareth,
he stands head and shoulders above everybody else. but nobody
even really recognized and knew about him until he was about
30 years old. Wasn't it? About 30 years old. That amazes me. And I still remember
what Tim James says. You know what Jesus Christ was
doing for those 30 years when we barely have any record other
than when his father took him, his father Joseph was supposed
to be, took him and his mother down to, was it Egypt, wasn't
it? You know what he was doing all of that time? He was being
perfect. And he said this, and nobody called it. Nobody called it. Colossians
1, and I'm gonna read it. But verses 16 and 17 says that
Jesus Christ is God Almighty and he controls everything. He
controls everything right now. Good or evil. Sinful or righteous. The breath that men have and
the larynx that they have with which they use their tongues
and curse God, God gives them that breath. And the heart and the mouth with
which we cry out for mercy unto God, God gives us that breath. Jesus Christ is this, declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. Somebody says, prove to
me that he was raised from the dead. It's proof right here in
this book. And that's all you get. And you'll
believe this book or you'll perish. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, remember
the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? He withheld himself
from them physically. They couldn't recognize him.
They didn't do this on their own. He kept it from them. But
what did he do? He could have all of a sudden,
Mason, just showed himself to them and said, okay, here I am,
look. And they'd have seen him. He could have transfigured himself
just like he did to Peter, James, and John on the Mount. Could
he not? But no, what did he do? He took them to what? The scriptures. Now let me tell you something.
I know most people don't understand this. If you're ever saved, if
you're ever converted, God will show you what a corrupt, evil,
wicked person you are. And he'll bring the message of
hope by another corrupt, evil, wicked person. God hates human
ego so much that God As a major rule, he has before, but as a
major rule, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching.
Well, guess who's doing the preaching? Corrupt, evil, wicked men. And
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Believe what? What, that evil,
corrupt person. We've had people leave this assembly.
We've had more leave this assembly than is left in this assembly
because they didn't like a preacher from this assembly. and still
profess to believe Christ, but won't associate with them preachers.
Now folks, I don't care what your profession is, you are dead
wrong when you're like that. You are a liar. I don't care. I mean, you've got sound reason
not to like me, but you better love the gospel I'm preaching.
You better love the Lord Jesus Christ that I'm preaching. And
Paul prayed this prayer. Turn to Ephesians if you're following
along. I gotta hurry. Ephesians chapter one. Let me give this quickly. Christ
was and will always be absolute holiness. That means sinlessness,
yes, but it also means he's distinct, separate, and unique. There has
never been and will never be anybody else like Jesus of Nazareth. Never, even in glory. There is
much glory in Christ's resurrection. but I want you to know that it's
his death that saved us. It's his death that justified
us. It's his death that put our sins away, not his resurrection. His resurrection is the testimony
that he did what he came to do. Okay, let me give you, here's
what Paul prayed. Verse 18 of Ephesians one, that the eyes
of your understanding be enlightened. Let me know the hope of his calling.
What is the riches of the glory of his inheritance to the saints?
What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe?
according to the working of his mighty power. It takes an act
of God's mighty power for us to believe. It ain't up to us. It takes an act of God in mighty
power. What kind of power? Which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him
as his own right hand in the heavenlies. Christ's resurrection
proves to me that God Almighty will raise his people from their
spiritual death. Not just raise us bodily one
day, He raises us from the spiritually dead now. Now. And what do those people do?
Now look, Paul said, I don't cease to pray this ever since
I heard, verse 16, cease not to give thanks for you make a
mention of you in my prayers. Why? Because of what he said
in verse 15, wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in
the Lord Jesus, loved all the saints. Don't tell me you believe
Jesus. if you don't wanna be with God's
people. If you don't wanna be with God's
people. Now I know some people are hindered, but let me also
tell you, it's easy to even use hindrances as an excuse. Because
the things in this world that I love, even on a natural level,
Joe, I will spend myself to have those things. Even when I'm sick,
I'll do what I can to be as close to it as possible. You know that? If you can't be here and you
love God's gospel and you're within TV range of this, you
will be listening to that gospel on TV or on the internet or something. And if you don't, you're a liar.
You've deceived yourself, you've deceived us, but you ain't deceived
God. So again, I gave you my summary. The question is not, do I believe
Jesus was raised from the dead? That ain't the question. The
question is, do I believe the Christ who was raised from the
dead? Father, bore these things into
our hearts and minds. Teach us this truth daily. Forgive us of our sins, I pray
in Christ's name, amen.