RESURRECTION POWER
EPHESIANS 1:19-23
Paul writing to the Christians in the church at Ephesus tells them that he has been praying that they would begin to be aware of the exceptional and immeasurable greatness of the power which was at their disposal through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This same resurrection power is at our disposal today. We need to be aware of what God can do in our lives if we would but allow Him to release His awesome resurrection power in us.
I. RESURRECTION POWER IS POWER TO OVERCOME THE GREATEST TRIAL AND ADVERSITY YOU WILL EVER FACE.
A. 1 Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
B. In Luke 22:42-44 Christ prayed, "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
C. When Satan saw Christ affixed to the cross, he and his angels danced with glee. They felt that they had finally put the Son of God through His greatest trial and had stopped Christ cold - dead cold!
D. The Good Friday service in Dampara Baptist Church, Chittagong, Bangladesh, was packed. Little children sat on the floor in the aisles and across the front of the church. Rows of people stood in the back, craning their necks to see the crucifixion scene as depicted in the "Jesus Film." Weeping and gasps of unbelief could be heard in the shocked hush as Jesus was crucified. As the Bengalis watched, they were feeling the agony of Jesus’ pain and the disappointment of the disciples. In that emotional moment, one young boy in the crowded church suddenly cried out, "Do not be afraid. He gets up again! I saw it before." A small boy’s encouraging cry gave new hope to the viewers of the film. "He is risen!" is the cry that gives new hope to all. (William D. Barrick, Christian Reader, Vol. 35, no. 2.)
E. The devil and his crowd threw everything they had into keeping Christ down and from making a comeback from the agony, the pain, the suffering, the loneliness, and the death on the cross. But their efforts were futile. You cannot keep the God-man down.
F. Last November, Sports Illustrated magazine was covering the baseball World Series in which the Arizona Diamondbacks recovered from a slump to defeat the New York Yankees in the last inning of the final game. It started the editors thinking about the greatest comebacks in history. So, they produced their list of the "TOP TEN COMEBACKS OF ALL TIME." It was an eclectic list. Elvis Presley was on it, as a result of his TV special in 1968 that revived his sagging career. Muhammad Ali made the list when he returned from his forced seven-year exile from boxing, to reclaim the world championship. Harry Truman made the cut, owing to his 1948 victory over Thomas Dewey when all the polls had him losing by a large margin. When Michael Jordan gave up baseball and returned to his first love of basketball, he found a spot on the top ten comebacks in history. Even humanity was on the list--after recovering from the Black Plague of the 14th century when 25 million Europeans died. Number two among the all-time comebacks was Japan and Germany, devastated in the Second World War but becoming world economic powers within a generation. And number one...named by the editors of Sports Illustrated magazine in the November 12, 2001, issue...the greatest comeback of all time... Jesus Christ. AD 33. Stuns Romans and defies critics by his resurrection from the grave.
G. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
H. 0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? This is so true that even Satan cannot deny it. Christ’s resurrection and victory over sin, death and hell is greater than all heaven and earth. You can never imagine his resurrection and victory so great but that in actuality it is far, far greater.
I. Isaiah 43:2-3 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when you walk through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. [3] For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior..."
II. RESURRECTION POWER IS POWER TO GIVE LIFE TO THAT THAT IS UNMISTAKABLY AND UNDENIABLY DEAD.
A. 2 Corinthians 4:14 "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you."
B. A woman wrote J. Vernon McGee: "Our preacher said that on Easter Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed him back to health. What do you think?" McGee replied, "Dear Sister, beat your preacher with a leather whip for thirty-nine heavy strokes. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours Run a spear through his heart. Embalm him. Put him in an airless tomb for three days. Then see what happens."
C. Billy Graham (1918- ) There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three.
D. Death is man’s greatest enemy. 1 Corinthians 15:26 "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." But by His resurrection, Christ has disarmed death and one day will dismantle it.
E. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. [16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: [17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
F. But resurrection power does not only speak of raising my physical body from a cold grave, but resurrection power gives life to those who are spiritually cold and dead.
G. Ephesians 2:1 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephesians 2:5-6 "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"
H. When elderly Adele Gaboury turned up missing four years ago, concerned neighbors in Worcester, Massachusetts, informed the police. A brother told police she had gone into a nursing home. Satisfied with that information, Gaboury’s neighbors began watching her property. Michael Crowley noticed her mail, delivered through a slot in the door, piling high. When he opened the door, hundreds of pieces of mail drifted out. He notified police, and the deliveries were stopped. Gaboury’s next-door neighbor, Eileen Dugan, started paying her grandson $10 twice a month to mow Gaboury’s lawn. Later Dugan’s son noticed Gaboury’s pipes had frozen, spilling water out the door. The utility company was called to shut off the water. What no one guessed was that while they’d been trying to help, Gaboury had been inside her home. When police finally investigated the house as a health hazard, they were shocked to find her body. The Washington Post (10/27/93) reported that police believe Gaboury died of natural causes four years ago. The respectable, external appearance of Gaboury’s house had hidden the reality of what was on the inside. Something similar can happen to people: We may appear outwardly proper while spiritually dead. All sorts of religious activity may be happening outside, while the real problem is missed: spiritual death on the inside. (Vialo Weis, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3.)
I. Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
III. RESURRECTION POWER IS POWER TO LIVE VICTORIOUSLY THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
A. There is not a lost person alive who can truthfully say that he is living a happy, victorious, and fulfilled life. He doesn’t have the essential ingredient for a victorious life. There is a void in mankind, which can only be filled by Jesus. Without Jesus, life is never at its best. Many believers live discouraged, dry, desolate, defeated lives because they fail to let go of their futile attempts to live victorious lives in their own strength and let the risen living Lord take over and live the victorious life through them by His resurrection power.
B. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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."
C. It is the resurrected Christ living in us that gives us the strength to live victoriously.
D. Martin Luther once was so depressed over a prolonged period that one day his wife came downstairs wearing all black. Martin Luther said, "Who died?" She said, "God has." He said, "God hasn’t died." To which she replied, "Well, live like it and act like it." (Robert Russell, "Releasing Resentment," Preaching Today, Tape No. 136.)
E. 1 Peter 1:21 God "... raised him (Christ) up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
F. Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,"
G. For the Christian, to trust is to triumph.
