150
April 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
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The; Power of His Resurrection B y H. A. I ronside * ( Chicago, Illinois)
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrec tion, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made con formable unto his death” (Phil. 3:10). ROM the moment that God, in grace, revealed fjpvM His Son in Saul of Tarsus, transforming the persecuting Pharisee into the flaming apostle to the Gentiles, Paul’s great and yearning desire
spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” Our salvation is altogether of God. The same power that wrought in Christ to bring Him again from the dead is the power that is involved in the salvation of every in dividual. Through faith, he becomes a child of God. P ower for S ervice In the second place, this is the only power for true
“ H lJJ was expressed in the words: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.” I would ask you to consider this remarkable expression from three standpoints. First, God is the God of resurrection. He works with what He brings,, not with what He finds. The excellency of the power is in Him and not in us. He who created all things by Jesus Christ, so that the vis ible universe was brought into existence by the Word of His power alone, is the God who now works in a creation ruined by sin, dem onstrating His omnipotent grace. The same power that raised the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave is the pow er that quickens dead souls into newness of life. In the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, ev ery person of the Godhead had a part. He was “raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” He was “put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit,” that is, the Holy
Christian service. Fleshly energy counts for nothing. It is even worse than noth ing, for it gets in the way of the acting of the Spirit of God. The servant of Christ needs, above every thing else, to rely implicitly upon that divine power that alone can make the good seed to fructify and give life through the message. The great object of many today is to put over some kind of a program which they judge will prove effec tive in gaining the attention of men and in bringing them to some kind of a decision. But the true servant of Christ is not called upon to formulate a program, nor to put over one that others have devised, but to live in such fellowship with the risen Christ that he will know the power of >His res urrection in a practical way. Thus he will be enabled to see the working of the holy Trinity as he, feeble and helpless, and perhaps a broken vessel, holds forth the Word of life in a scene of death. No one who is at all familiar with the Holy Spirit’s quickening opera
T H E RESURRECTION MORN (ENDERS)
Spirit. He Himself said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it ilp.” And again: “I lay down my life, that I might take it again . . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Likewise, in the regeneration of lost men, in the quickening of those who are dead in trespasses and in sins, the entire Godhead has a part. It was the Father who planned our salvation. It was the Son who died that we might be redeemed. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts and attracts the soul to Christ. Jesus said : “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” and “all that the Father giveth me shall come to me.” But “it is the *Pastor Moody Memorial Church, Chicago, 111.
tions today questions the reality and actuality of Christ’s, resurrection. It takes just the same power to turn men from sin to righteousness, from the power of Satan unto God, and from spiritual death to life in Christ that it took to revivify the dead body of the Lord Jesus. To the observant Christian, happily engaged in his Master’s ser vice, life is full of miracles, every one manifesting in some degree the power of Christ’s resurrection. P ower for V ictory In the third instance, this resurrection power is the dynamic for holy living. It is when I take my rightful place, as crucified with Christ, and reckon myself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God in Him, that the pow-
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