Introduction: Matthew 28:5-6
1. When the women came to the tomb looking for the body of Jesus, they were told by an angel, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay.”
2. They came to see His body, but there was nothing there. There was a place, but not a person. There was a grave, but the Lord was gone.
3. The men on the road to Emmaus said, “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see” (Lk. 24:24).
4. But what did they see when there was nothing to see? John answers, “Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed” (Jn. 20:9).
5. What did they see when there was nothing to see? The Bible says “he saw.” But what did he see? Nothing! He saw nothing “and believed.” Believed what? He believed in “THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION” (Phil. 3:10).
6. In the resurrection we see that God:
1) PROVES a FACT
2) PROCLAIMS FORGIVENESS
3) PROVIDES a FORCE
Body:
I. PROVES THE FACT
A. First, we see that God proves the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
He was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”(Rom. 1:4).
B Jesus showed Himself alive to His apostles after His death by many infallible proofs (Acts 1:1-3). He “presented Himself alive after His suffering.”
C The resurrection of Christ is a fundamental fact that we must keep in mind if we are saved (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Note: “if you keep in memory what I preached to you.”
D The first sermon under the Great Commission was almost entirely devoted to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:22-36). Note: “God raised up” (24); “raise up the Christ” (30); “the resurrection of the Christ” (31); “this Jesus God raised up” (32).
E Our very salvation depends on our faith in the resurrection of Christ (Rom. 10:9). “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Baptism has meaning only as it relates to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (1 Peter 3:21). Peter said, “this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
II. PROCLAIMS OUR FORGIVENESS
A. Not only do we see that God proves the fact that Jesus is His Son, but He also to proclaims our forgiveness through Jesus the Son (Acts 13:37-39). “But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.”
B. He was raised because of our justification (Rom. 4:25). “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
C. He died and was raised to make intercession for us (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25). “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34). Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them (Hebrews 7:25).
D. Thus, we are to preach Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:23-24). Paul wrote, “but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
He became for us righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
It is important to note that there are no sermons in the New Testament devoted exclusively to faith, or repentance, or confession, or baptism.
The Christians in the New Testament emphasized Christ and what he has done, THEN they told people how to respond. In much of our preaching today we emphasize how to respond and sometimes hardly mention Christ as the sin offering.
And because of this we have some people converted to a system rather than a Savior, rules rather than a Redeemer, and a plan rather than a Man.
But it is His death, burial and resurrection for our sins that saves (1 Cor. 15:1-4). “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scripture.”
That is the reason the early church preached Christ (Acts 2:22-36; 3:12-26; 7:2-53; 8:5,35; 10:34-43; 13:13-47; 16:30-34;17:22-31; 20:17-35; 26:2-23; 28:30-31; 1 Cor. 2:1-5; Gal. 3:1). Note:
a. If they preached about faith it was only as it related to Christ (Acts 16:31); “They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
b. If they preached repentance it was in the name of Christ (Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2:38). Note: “Repent….in the name of Jesus Christ…”
c. If they preached confession it was a confession of Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:9-10). Note: “Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord…”
d. And if they preached baptism it was only as it related to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (Col. 2:12; I Pet. 3:21). Note: “Baptism saves by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
e. Therefore, if our obedience is not as a result of our total and complete trust in Christ as the offering for sin, then all we do is worthless, useless, and vain-- no matter what we do or how many times we do it!
III. PROVIDES A FORCE
A. Not only do we see that God proves the fact that Jesus is the Son, and, therefore, proclaims forgiveness through the Son, but we also see that He provides a force in the living for the Son.
In our text (Phil. 3:10) “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” notice that Paul longed for a:
1. Personal experience with Christ.
a) Note that he said that “I” might know Him. Not that Peter, James, John, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, or Malachi, but that “I” might know Him.”
b) Of course Paul already knew the words he wrote to Timothy “I know whom I have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12).
c) But according to our text he wanted to know Him better, more intimately, and in a deeper and even more meaningful relationship.
2. Powerful experience with Christ.
a) Note: “That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection.”
b) That is, he wanted to know, to realize, to comprehend, and to grasp the power available by and through the resurrection of Christ.
c) Paul prayed that the Ephesians “might know…what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead” (Eph. 1:18-20).
d) Observe please, that “his power to us who believe” is “according to the working of His mighty power which raised Christ from the dead” (Eph. 1:20).
e) This assures us that the same power that works with us (Mk. 16:20) is the power that works: for us (Rom. 8:31); What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?; and in us (Eph. 3:20) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us; and is the power that saves us (Rom. 1:16), I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; and strengthens us (Phil. 4:13) I can do everything through him who gives me strength; and secures us (1 Peter 1:5) who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
f) The gospel does not come in “word only” but also “in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5).
Conclusion:
WHAT DO YOU SEE WHEN THERE IS NOTHING THERE? We see the POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION. We see that God proves the fact, proclaims forgiveness, and provides a force in our lives (i.e. the power of the resurrected and living Lord). It was this living Lord that Paul was talking about when he said, “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me”(2 Tim. 4:17).
His resurrection was, and is, designed to provide the personal touch of a living and active Lord in our lives. A touch designed to cause us to trust Him who said, “I am who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forever, AMEN” (Rev. 1:17-18).
Wayne Dunaway
ohatcheechurch.org
