Resurrection Power!

RESURRECTION POWER!

PHILIPPIANS 3:10-11

05/31/95

Go over to light switch. Here is a source of power. When I turn on this switch power in the form of electricity flows through the switch and into the lightbulb, thus giving us light.

Now in the case of this power there are four things which I want to note. That is the way pastors are, they even put turning on a light into outline form. But anyway;

1. It is necessary to make the light work. If I ignore this switch the light will not come on.

2. The switch is what transfers the power from to the lightbulb. The electricity must go through

the switch in order for the light to work.

3. The third thing is that I have confidence that the switch will indeed work. I have confidence that power will reach the light when I turn this switch. We all have confidence in these little switched that we have all over our homes. Confidence because they usually work.

4. The last thing is that this power is useless if I do not use it. I would sit here in the dark if I did not use this switch to bring power to that lightbulb.

So by now I am sure most of you know where I am going with this. Those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ also have in them a certain power. While the power that makes that lightbulb light up is not a living being that power that is in us, is. The power that lives in us is none other then God himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit. Now Paul refers to that power in todays passage.

So please turn with me to Philippians chapter 3 verses 10-11. That is page 1018 in the pew Bibles.

"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Now you may recall last week that we spoke of the need to gain Christ. And to do that we must lose all things. Which is to say we must put Christ first. Now Paul is continuing along those lines.

He saying that he counted all things as rubbish that he might gain Christ, that he might know Christ, and also know that "power of His resurrection." And the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is such an awesome power that every man, woman, and child, no matter were they are should desire the "power of His resurrection". As we shall see if we have this power alive in us, we have a tremendous thing.

Before we get into a detailed explanation of what this power does I first want to point out to you why this power of His resurrection is necessary. Why did Jesus have to be raised from the dead. Why did God choose to display this power through Christ’s resurrection.

Now for our purposes today I am going to be brief at this point and only list two main reasons.

First God displayed this resurrection power in order to attest to and prove the truth of what the Jesus Christ taught. God choose this method to give credence to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the gospel of John we read of a confrontation Jesus has with the Jewish leaders;

John 2:18-21 "So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days? But He was speaking of the temple of His body."

Jesus told those leader the if you want prove of who I am and what I have been sent to do just wait. After being dead for three days I will come back to life. And through Jesus’ resurrection we can be sure that what he said was true. What greater prove is there. If one promises to give eternal life and then raises from the dead, that is pretty impressive. It shows that He has the power to conquer death. He has the resurrection power!

Buddha claimed to have the answers to eternal death. But were is Buddha. Six feet under. Not power there. Mohammed claimed to have the way to eternal life, but where is Mohammed, dead buried and gone. No resurrection power there. Jesus proved the truth in what He was saying when he arose on that third day.

If Jesus did not raise for the dead then what we believe is in vain, it is useless. If Jesus did not raise from the dead then our faith is in vain, just as those who have faith in buddha, and Mohammad have a faith which is in vain.