Living in the Power of the Resurrection!

It’s not over! Yes, you read that right. We don’t return to life before Easter, because every Sunday, indeed every day, is Easter day for the Christian – there’s no going back. We are not caught in some pagan cycle of continual death and rebirth, but rather one of forward movement and progression, whereby having encountered Christ as Saviour, we live in the power of His resurrection.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus brings us total forgiveness, cleansing, deliverance – total salvation, a salvation that rest’s in Christ’s work alone. Not only that but it also grants us the power to live a new kind of life, a life empowered to say no to sin, and bear good fruit to God, with a sure and certain hope of heaven.

As Paul puts it, in baptism we were baptised into Christ’s death, and just as He was raised from the dead, so we too have been raised to walk in newness of life – wonderful!

Paul said that knowing Christ, being found in Him, and knowing the power of his resurrection was everything, indeed he counted all that he previously knew as loss – and he knew an awful lot and had an impeccable religious heritage and experience, but he said, I boast in it no more, it has no value, for Jesus is everything.

If we look to ourselves we will fall into the trap of pagan spirituality, of the constant need for death and rebirth, and be continually coming to the end of ourselves and recommiting and renewing ‘our vows.’ That is to move away from the gospel, and bring us into works.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds and exhorts us to keep looking unto Jesus because He is the author (or founder), and finisher (or perfector) of our faith. And as he says a bit later, it’s not to blazing fire, darkness, gloom and tempest, with the sound of a trumpet and voice that caused the hearers to beg, ‘no more,’ that we come, but to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, who is giving us a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!

Yes, the death and resurrection of Jesus changed everything, and if you have encountered Him, your history has been permanently changed, along with your present and your future.

LIVING IN THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION

“From now on" says Paul,"we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2Co 5:16-17).

What does the resurrection mean for us today?

Paul says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.” Phil. 3:10. This is part of Paul’s testimony, is it yours? It's not only a past experience but an ongoing one.

Do we know? Do you? Do you know the saving power of Christ?

Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians(1:15-23)for the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him .. that you may know ..”

The question is, do we know what we should know?

Back to our verse, in the New Living Translation it puts it this way, “So we have stopped evaluating ourselves from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person ...” 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17.

What does Paul mean, “according to the flesh” or human point of view”?

The Bible speaks of two groups of people, those in Adam, those in Christ.

• In Adam, ‘according to the flesh’ – all are condemned. Romans 8:5-8.

• In Christ, ‘according to the Spirit’ – all are justified. Romans 8:5-9.

• To think of ourselves ‘according to the flesh’ as Paul puts it is to think prior to the cross and outside of Christ. The reign of sin and death.

• To think ‘according to the flesh’ regarding Christ is to think of him from a human point of view, and prior to his cross-work for us.

You see the resurrection changes everything, world history (BC to AD - Before Christ - In the Year of the/Our Lord) and our history!

That is my question to you? Are you thinking according to the flesh? Has the enemy gotten you off redemption ground onto the old ground ....?

A question that comes up all too often is, am I good enough? Have I done enough?

I came across a very good illustration the other day. Imagine you are on a long journey, and suddenly you get to a ravine and the only way to cross is via a bridge. Well you don’t stop and examine yourself, you examine the bridge! Has it been constructed well? Has it stood the test of time? Is it falling apart in any way? Does it look sure and stedfast?

The answer to the question then is not found in examining ourselves .. are we good enough ... done enough .. but is our Saviour good enough, has he done enough, is he strong enough. We look away from ourselves unto Jesus.

We move from thinking according to the flesh, from a human point of view, and we think according to his resurrection!

Living in the Power of his Resurrection:

1. A justified life – acquitted. No case against us! Declared in the right. Romans 3:21-26; 4:5, 25; 5:1, 15-18.

2. A reconciled life – 2 Cor. 5:18; Romans 5:10, 11; Col.1:21,22.

3. A sanctified life – made holy. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; Hebrews 10:10

4. An empowered life – Spirit empowered. Romans 6:4; 7:6; 8:1-4.

5. An overcoming life – victory over Satan, sin, our past, circumstances is possible. Romans 5:17; 6:1-14; 8:1-17, 26, 37 ; 1 John 4:4.

“If I am truly in Christ by faith, my good works can't get me to heaven and my sins can't send me to hell.” Bob Kauflin.

Questions
The main question is do you know Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?
Do you believe in Him?
If you are a Christian, where are you living? Are thinking according to the old way – outside of Christ and his cross-work – according to the flesh?
Are you allowing the enemy to knock you down?
Do you know what you should know?
Do you know what it means to live in the 5 points listed above?
Do you experience more defeat than victory? Why?
Do you preach to yourself?