Recently, a certain proven heretic has gotten so desperate in his attempts
to smear me has gone completely into the realm of absurdity by falsely
claiming that I deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ(you can see
what I believe specifically on an area of my own website
[http://www.nettally.com/saints/affirmat.html]
where I have my personal
affirmation of faith). Quite the contrary, I know that Jesus Christ was
bodily resurrected because the Bible is clear as crystal on the topic. God
warned us how wicked and evil these self-condemned individuals are (Titus
3:11). I've not only pointed out scriptures showing conclusively that the
Bible teaches Jesus' resurrection was indeed bodily (as opposed to the
Jehovah's Witnesses erroneous belief that He was only spiritually
resurrected) but I have posted excellent sermons (like the one below by
George Whitefield) by Christian theologians who also show this Biblical
fact. It's not surprising how wicked heretics, radical atheists, etc. are
in
their words and deed as well as how dishonest they become in regards to
Christians and Christianity. We, as Christians, need to pray for them in
hope their hearts will be softened and they will turn to Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
The Power Of Christ's Resurrection
by George Whitefield
Philippians 3:10 "That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection."
The apostle, in the verses before the text, had been cautioning the
Philippians to "beware of the concision," Judaizing teachers, who
endeavored
to subvert them from the simplicity of the gospel, by telling them, they
still ought to be subject to cir***cision, and all the other ordinances of
Moses. And that they might not think he spoke out of prejudice, and
condemned their tenets, because he himself was a stranger to the Jewish
dispensation, he acquaints them, that if any other man thought he had
whereof he might trust in the flesh, or seek to be justified by the
outward
privileges of the Jews, he had more: For he was "cir***cised the eighth
day;
of the stock of Israel (not a proselyte, but a native Israelite); of the
tribe of Benjamin (the tribe which adhered to Judah when the others
revolted); an Hebrew of the Hebrews (a Jew both on the father's and
mother's
side); and as touching the law, a Pharisee," the strictest sect amongst
all
Israel. To show that he was no Gallio in religion, through his great,
though
misguided zeal, he had persecuted the church of Christ; and "as touching
the
righteousness of the law (as far as the Pharisees exposition of it went,
he
was) blameless," and had kept it from his youth. But, when it pleased God,
who separated him from his mother's womb, to reveal his Son in him, "What
things were gain to me," (he says) those privileges I boasted myself in,
and
sought to be justified by, "I counted loss for Christ." And that they
might
not think he repented that he had done so, he tells them, he was now more
confirmed than ever in his judgment. For, says he, "yea doubtless (the
expression in the original rises with a holy triumph) and I do count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord." And that they might not object that he said, and did not, he
acquaints them, he had given proofs of the sincerity of these professions,
because for the sake of them, he had suffered the loss of all his worldly
things, and still was willing to do more; for, "I count them but dung (no
more than offals thrown out to dogs) so that I may win, (or have a saving
interest in) Christ, and be found in him( as the manslayer in the city of
refuge) not having my own righteousness which is of the law, (not
depending
on having Abraham for my father, or on any works of righteousness which I
have done, either to atone or serve as a balance for my evil deeds) but
that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith," a righteousness of God's appointing, and which will be imputed to
me, if I believe in Christ, "that I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection;" that I may have an experimental knowledge of the efficacy
of
his resurrection, by feeling the influences of his blessed Spirit on my
soul. In which words two things are implied.
FIRST, That Jesus Christ did rise from the dead.
SECONDLY, That it highly concerns us to know the power of his rising
again.
Accordingly, in the following discourse I shall endeavor to show,
FIRST, That Christ is risen indeed from the dead; and that it was
necessary
for him so to do; and,
SECONDLY, That it highly concerns us to know and experience the power of
his
resurrection.
FIRST, Christ is indeed risen.
That Jesus should rise from the dead was absolutely necessary;
1. FIRST, On his own account. He had often appealed to this as the last
and
most convincing proof he would give them that the was the Messiah, "There
shall no other sign be given you, than the sign of the prophet Jonas." And
again, "Destroy this temple of my body, and in three days I will build it
up." Which words his enemies remembered, and urged it as an argument, to
induce Pilate to grant them a watch, to prevent his being stolen out of
the
grave. "We know that deceiver said, whilst he was yet alive, after three
days I will rise again." So that had he not risen again, they might have
justly said, we know that this man was an impostor.
2. SECONDLY, It was necessary on our account. "He rose again" (says the
apostle) for our justification;" or that the debt we owed to God for our
sins, might be fully satisfied and discharged.
It had pleased the Father (for ever adored be his infinite love and free
grace) to wound his only Son for our transgressions, and to arrest and
confine him in the prison of the grave, as our surety for the guilt we had
contracted by setting at nought his commandments. Now had Christ continued
always in the grave, we could have had no more assurance that our sins
were
satisfied for, than any common debtor can have of his creditor's being
satisfied, whilst his surety is kept confined. But he being released from
the power of death, we are thereby assured, that with his sacrifice God
was
well pleased, that our atonement was finished on the cross, and that he
hath
made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction
for the sins of the world.
3. THIRDLY, It was necessary that our Lord Jesus should rise again from
the
dead, to assure us of the certainty of the resurrection of our own bodies.
The doctrine of the resurrection of the body was entirely exploded and set
at nought among the Gentiles, as appears from the Athenians mocking at,
and
calling St. Paul "a babbler and a setter forth of strange doctrines," when
he preached to them Jesus, and the resurrection. And though it was
believed
by most of the Jews, as is evident from many passages of scripture, yet
not
by all; the whole sect of the Sadducees denied it. But the resurrection of
Jesus Christ put it out of dispute. For as he acted as our representative,
if he our head be risen, then must we also, who are his members, rise with
him. And as in the first Adam we all died, even so in him our second Adam
we
must all, in this sense, be made alive.
As it was necessary, upon these accounts, that our blessed Lord should
rise
from the dead; so it is plain beyond contradiction, that he did. Never was
any matter of fact better attested; never were more precautions made use
of
to prevent a cheat. He was buried in a sepulcher, hewn out of a rock, so
that it could not be said that any digged under, and conveyed him away. It
was a sepulcher also wherein never man before was laid; so that if any
body
did rise from thence, it must be the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Besides,
the
sepulcher was sealed; a great stone rolled over the mouth of it; and a
band
of soldiers (consisting not of friends, but of his professed enemies) was
set to guard it. And as for his disciples coming by night and stealing him
away, it was altogether improbable: For it was not long since, that they
had
all forsaken him, and they were the most backward in believing his
resurrection. And supposing it was true, that they came whilst the
soldiers
slept; yet the soldiers must be cast into a deep sleep indeed, that the
rolling away so great a stone did not awake some of them.
And our blessed Lord's afterwards appearing at sundry times, and in divers
manners, to his disciples, as when they were assembled together, when they
were walking to Emmaus, when they were fi****ng: nay, and condescending to
show them his hands and feet, and his appearing to above five hundred
brethren at once, put the truth of his resurrection out of all dispute.
Indeed, there is one objection that may be made against what has been
said,
that the books wherein these facts are recorded were written by his
disciples.
And who more proper persons than those who were eye-witnesses of what they
related, and eat and drank with him after his resurrection? "But they were
illiterate and ignorant men." Yet as good witnesses of a plain matter of
fact, as the most learned masters in Israel. Nay, this rendered them more
proper witnesses. For being plain men, they were therefore less to be
suspected of telling or making a lie, particularly, since they laid down
their lives for a testimony of the truth of it. We read indeed of Jacob's
telling a lie, though he was a plain man, in order to get his father's
blessing. But it was never heard since the world began, that any man, much
less a whole set of men, died martyrs, for the sake of an untruth, when
they
themselves were to reap no advantage from it.
No, this single cir***stance proves them to Israelites indeed, in whom was
no guile. And the wonderful success God gave to their ministry afterwards,
when three thousand were converted by one sermon; and twelve poor
fishermen,
in a very short time enabled to be more than conquerors over all the
opposition men or devils could make, was as plain a demonstration, that
Christ was risen, according to their gospel, as that a divine power, at
the
sound of a few ram's horns, causes the walls of Jericho to fall down.
But what need we any farther witnesses? Believe you the resurrection of
our
blessed Lord? I know that you believe it, as your gathering together on
this
first day of the week in the courts of the Lord's house abundantly
testifies.
What concerns us most to be assured of, and which is the
SECOND thin I was to speak to, is, Whether we have experimentally known
the
power of his resurrection; that is, Whether or not we have received the
Holy
Ghost, and by his powerful operations on our hearts have been raised from
the death of sin, to a life of righteousness and true holiness.
It was this, the great apostle was chiefly desirous to know. The
resurrection of Christ's body he was satisfied would avail him nothing,
unless he experienced the power of it in raising his dead soul.
For another, and that a chief end of our blessed Lord's rising from the
dead, was to enter heaven as our representative, and to send down the Holy
Ghost to apply that redemption he had finished on the cross, to our
hearts,
by working an entire change in them.
Without this, Christ would have died in vain. For it would have done us no
service to have had his outward righteousness imputed to us, unless we had
an inward inherent righteousness wrought in us. Because, being altogether
conceived and born in sin, and consequently unfit to hold communion with
an
infinitely pure and holy God, we cannot possibly be made meet to see or
enjoy him, till a thorough renovation has passed upon our hearts.
Without this, we leave out the Holy Ghost in the great work of our
redemption. But as we were made by the joint concurrence and consultation
of
the blessed trinity; and as we were baptized in their name, so must all of
them concur in our salvation: As the Father made, and the Son redeemed, so
must the Holy Ghost sanctify and seal us, or otherwise we have believed in
vain.
This then is what the apostle means by the "Power of Christ's
resurrection,"
and this is what we are as much concerned experimentally to know, as that
He
rose at all.
Without this, though we may be moralists, though we may be civilized,
good-natured people, yet we are no Christians. For he is not a true
Christian, who is only one outwardly; nor have we therefore a right,
because
we daily profess to believe that Christ rose again the third day from the
dead. But he is a true Christian who is one inwardly; and then only can we
be stiled true believers, when we not only profess to believe, but have
felt
the power of our blessed Lord's rising from the dead, by being quickened
and
raised by his Spirit, when dead in tresp***** and sins, to a thorough
newness both of heart and life.
The devils themselves cannot but believe the doctrine of the resurrection,
and tremble; but yet they continue devils, because the benefits of this
resurrection have not been applied to them, nor have they received a
renovating power from it, to change and put off their diabolical nature.
And
so, unless we not only profess to know, but also feel that Christ is risen
indeed, by being born again from above, we shall be as far from the
kingdom
of God as they: our faith will be as ineffectual as the faith of devils.
Nothing has done more harm to the Christian world, nothing has rendered
the
cross of Christ of less effect, than a vain supposition, that religion is
something without us. Whereas we should consider, that every thing that
Christ did outwardly, must be done over again in our souls; or otherwise,
the believing there was such a divine person once on earth, who triumphed
over hell and the grave, will profit us no more, than believing there was
once such a person as Alexander, who conquered the world.
As Christ was born of the Virgin's womb, so must he be spiritually formed
in
our hearts. As he died for sin, so must we die to sin. And as he rose
again
from the dead, so must we also rise to a divine life.
None but those who have followed him in this regeneration, or new-birth,
shall sit on thrones as approvers of his sentence, when he shall come in
terrible majesty to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
It is true, as for the outward work of our redemption, it was a transient
act, and was certainly finished on the cross, but the application of that
redemption to our hearts, is a work that will continue always, even unto
the
end of the world.
So long as there is an elect man breathing on the earth, who is naturally
engendered of the offspring of the first Adam, so long must the quickening
spirit, which was purchased by the resurrection of the second Adam, that
Lord from heaven, be breathing upon his soul.
For though we may exist by Christ, yet we cannot be said to exist in him,
till we are united to him by one spirit, and enter into a new state of
things, as certainly as he entered into a new state of things, after that
he
rose from the dead.
We may throng and crowd about Christ, and call him "Lord, Lord," when we
come to wor****p before his footstool; but we have not effectually touched
him, till by a lively faith in his resurrection, we perceive a divine
virtue
coming out of him, to renew and purify our souls.
How greatly then do they err who rest in a bare historical faith of our
Savior's resurrection, and look only for external proofs to evidence it?
Whereas were we the most learned disputers of this world, and could speak
of
the certainty of this fact with the tongue of men and angels, yet without
this inward testimony of it in our hearts, though we might convince
others,
yet we should never be saved by it ourselves.
For we are but dead men, we are like so many carc***** wrapt up in grave
clothes, till that same Jesus who called Lazarus from his tomb, and at
whose
own resurrection many that slept arose, doth raise us also by his
quickening
Spirit from our natural death, in which we have so long lain, to a holy
and
heavenly life.
We might think ourselves happy, if we had seen the Holy Jesus after He was
risen from the dead, and our hands had handled that Lord of life. But more
happy are they who have not seen him, and yet having felt the power of his
resurrection, therefore believe in him. For many saw our divine master,
who
were not saved by him; but whosoever has thus felt the power of his
resurrection, has the earnest of his inheritance in his heart, he has
passed
from death to life, and shall never fall into final condemnation.
I am very sensible that this is foolishness to the natural man, as were
many
such like truths to our Lord's own disciples, when only weak in faith,
before he rose again. But when these natural men, like them, have fully
felt
the power of his resurrection, they will then own that this doctrine is
from
God, and say with the Samaritans, "Now we believe not because of thy
saying," for we ourselves have experienced it in our hearts.
And O that all unbelievers, all letter-learned masters of Israel, who now
look upon the doctrine of the power of Christ's resurrection, or our new
birth, as an idle tale, and condemn the preachers of it as enthusiasts and
madmen, did but thus feel the power of it in their souls, they would no
longer ask, how this thing could be? But they would be convinced of it, as
much as Thomas was, when he saw the Lord's Christ; and like him, when
Jesus
bud him reach out his hands and thrust them into his side, in a holy
confession they would cry out, "My Lord and my God!"
But how shall an unbeliever, how shall the formal Christian come thus to
"know Christ, and the power of his resurrection?" God, who cannot lie, has
told us, "I am the resurrection and the life, whosoever liveth and
believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Again, says the apostle,
"By
faith we are saved, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God."
This, this is the way, walk in it. Believe, and you shall live in Christ,
and Christ in you; you shall be one with Christ, and Christ one with you.
But without this, your outward goodness and professions will avail you
nothing.
But then, by this faith we are not to understand a dead speculative faith,
a
faith in the head; but a living principle wrought in the heart by the
powerful operations of the Holy Ghost, a faith that will enable us to
overcome the world, and forsake all the affection for Jesus Christ. For
thus
speaks our blessed Master, "Unless a man forsake all that he hath, he
cannot
be my disciple."
And so the apostle, in the words immediately following the text, says,
"being made conformable to his death;" thereby implying, that we cannot
know
the power of Christ's resurrection, unless we are made conformable to him
in
his death.
If we can reconcile light and darkness, heaven and hell, then we may hope
to
know the power of Christ's resurrection without dying to ourselves and the
world. But till we can do this, we might as well expect that Christ will
have concord with Belial.
For there is such a contrariety between the spirit of this world, and the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, that he who will be at friend****p with the one,
must
be at enmity with the other: "We cannot serve God and mammon."
This may, indeed, seem a hard saying; and many, with the young man in the
gospel, may be tempted to go away sorrowful. But wherefore should this
offend them? For what is all that is in the world, the lust of the eye,
the
lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, but vanity and vexation of
spirit?
God is love; and therefore, could our own wills, or the world, have made
us
happy, he never would have sent his own dear Son Jesus Christ to die and
rise again, to deliver us from the power of them. But because they only
torment, and cannot satisfy, therefore God bids us to renounce them.
Had any one persuaded profane Esau not to lose so glorious a privilege,
merely for the sake of gratifying a present corrupt inclination, when he
saw
him about to sell his birth-right for a little red pottage, would not one
think that man to have been Esau's friend? And just thus stands the case
between God and us. By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are
new-born to an heavenly inheritance amongst all them which are sanctified;
but our own corrupt wills, would tempt us to sell this glorious
birth-right
for the vanities of the world, which, like Esau's red pottage, may please
us
for a while, but will soon be taken away from us. God knows this, and
therefore rather bids us renounce them for a reason, than for the short
enjoyment of them lost the privilege of that glorious birth-right, to
which,
by knowing the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are entitled.
O the depth of the riches and excellency of Christianity! Well might the
great St. Paul count all things but dung and dross for the excellency of
the
knowledge of it. Well might he desire so ardently to know Jesus, and the
power of his resurrection. For even on this side eternity it raises us
above
the world, and makes us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Well might that glorious company of worthies, recorded in the Holy
scriptures, sup****ted with a deep sense of their heavenly calling, despise
the pleasures and profits of this life, and wander about in sheep-skins,
and
goat-skins, in dens and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted,
tormented.
And O that we were all like minded! That we felt the power of Christ's
resurrection as they did! How should we then "count all things as dung and
dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord!" How
should we then recover our primitive dignity, trample the earth under our
feet, and with our souls be continually gasping after God?
And what hinders but we may be thus minded? Is Jesus Christ, our great
High
Priest, altered from what he was? No, "he is the same yesterday, today,
and
for ever." And though he is exalted to the right hand of God, yet he is
not
ashamed to call us brethren. The power of his resurrection is as great now
as formerly, and the Holy Spirit, which was assured to us by his
resurrection, as ready and able to quicken us who are dead in tresp*****
and
sins, as any saint that ever lived. Let us but cry, and that instantly, to
Him that is mighty and able to save; let us, in sincerity and truth,
without
secretly keeping back the least part, renounce ourselves and the world;
then
we shall be Christians indeed. And though the world may cast us out, and
separate from our company, yet Jesus Christ will walk with, and abide in
us.
And at the general resurrection of the last day, when the voice of the
archangel and trump of God shall bid the sea and the graves to give up
their
dead, and all nations shall appear before him, then will he confess us
before his Father and the holy angels, and we shall receive that
invitation
which he shall then pronounce to all who love and fear him, "Come, ye
blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the
beginning of the world.
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