“A plan to realize the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in our lives”

Sermon 3 of The Knowing God series- 2014

John 20-

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher, then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed, for as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you:as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name

The beginning of the church of Jesus Christ, most of the scholars would agree, began at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given.  But it imperative we understand the dispensations, or periods of God’s revelation of himself through His Son Jesus.

First, Jesus had to come and walk as a human amongst men revealing himself and the love of God, teaching the truth of God and His very person.

Second, His Son must fulfill all the prophecies and give his life as a ransom for the sins of mankind on the cross.

Third, He must resurrect from the dead gaining victory over both sin and death.

Fourth, He had to walk with his disciples for 40 days, revealing his resurrected body.

Page 2

Fifth, Jesus had to ascend to the father and send the Holy Spirit back to empower and dwell within the church.

For the church to be established and become the bride of Christ all of these steps or dispensations were important.  I would like to focus this morning on the 40 days Jesus walked in his resurrected body on earth and it’s importance to the church today.

I will call it the 40 days of Feast for important reasons.  First of all most of you know the importance of the number 40 to God.The number 40 shows up often in the Bible. Because 40 appears so often in contexts dealing with judgment or testing, many scholars understand it to be the number of “preparation” or “trial.” This doesn’t mean that 40 is entirely symbolic; it still has a literal meaning in Scripture. “Forty days” means “forty days,” but it does seem that God has chosen this number to help emphasize times of testing, challenge and even trouble .

Here are some examples of the Bible’s use of the number 40 that stress the theme of testing or judgment:

In the Old Testament, when God destroyed the earth with water, He caused it to rain 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:12). After Moses killed the Egyptian, he fled to Midian, where he spent 40 years in the desert tending flocks (Acts 7:30). Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24:18). Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf for 40 days and 40 nights (Deuteronomy 9:18,25). The Law specified a maximum number of lashes a man could receive for a crime, setting the limit at 40 (Deuteronomy 25:3). The Israelite spies took 40 days to spy out Canaan (Numbers 13:25). The Israelites wandered for 40 years (Deuteronomy 8:2-5). Before Samson’s deliverance, Israel served the Philistines for 40 years (Judges 13:1). Goliath taunted Saul’s army for 40 days before David arrived to slay him (1 Samuel 17:16). When Elijah fled from Jezebel, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).

The number 40 also appears in the prophecies of Ezekiel (4:6; 29:11-13) and Jonah (3:4).

In the New Testament, Jesus was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4:2). There were 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension (Acts 1:3).

So what is the purpose of the 40 days of Christ on earth after his resurrection?

Well, lets look at the death of Jesus.  When the disciples saw Jesus die they fell into despair.  Their sins were revealed. Peter was reminded of his denial.  Thomas questioned.  Judas committed suicide.  All the disciples hid in a room together to question everything.  Why?

This period of despair and loss brought them directly into the death of Jesus.  They suffered with him in his death and they spiritually died that day.

Two Sunday’s ago I preached the first sermon on Knowing God.  It reminded us that death is the requirement to knowing God.  That is the beginning.  The disciples were in despair. Fear had gripped them and they hid in great trouble.  Then Jesus showed up.

The disciples were in despair and in danger of slipping into complete collapse when Jesus showed up in His resurrected body.  For 40 days Jesus walked with the disciples and the things the disciples could not comprehend before his death they began to clearly see.  The things the disciples could not relate to came into focus by just spending time with the Resurrected Jesus.  For 40 days of testing and preparation Jesus met with His disciples and just lifted them while he remade their hearts into trusting and believing vessels.  When the 40 days were over then he left them and sent the Holy Spirit to begin His Church.

Page 3

The Lord Jesus wants his bride the Church to walk in the Resurrection Power. “It is God doing something unseen for the moment, but that will prove that it had and has in it the exceeding greatness of His power, because it will stand every test that can be applied to it, and go through every storm that can burst upon it, and endure through all ages. That is resurrection power.”{Excerpt From: T. Austin-Sparks. “Knowing God in Christ.” iBooks.https://itun.es/us/6ntwF}  And that is what Christ wants for his bride the Church.

The great promises that His disciples would do greater things than he had done is impossible without the Resurrection Power. Therefore Jesus is intent on bringing His disciples into his resurrection power.

He will do this the same way he accomplished it with his early church.  First, death is the beginning of life.  Resurrection power always follows the Cross.  Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

God said to Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness”. II Corinthians 12:9  For there to be power in the church it must be preceded with weakness, and in that weakness death follows.  For my weakness is revealed and my need of deliverance- and that through death.

Jesus explained it this way.  ‘You cannot put new wine into Old Wineskins. New Wine must go in New Wineskins, or if you put it in Old Wineskins they will burst.’ Luke 5:37  There must be a death to the old wineskins for new wine to be applied.  Without new garments the truth would not be able to be held and shared.  God is in the business of empowering his church and its individual members. He wants you to walk in the power of his might.

And what is the first sign of his resurrection power? We can do nothing but in awe -worship him and bear witness to what we have seen.  Mary when she stood in the reality of resurrection of Jesus could only utter words of worship, and then she had to share the news with the other disciples, so too Peter, and John and Thomas.

Illustration– In 1972 I went to Dallas, Texas for Explo ’72, a Campus Crusade for Christ rally.  It was here that we met in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  Over 100,000 students met each day for a week.  On Wednesday we were to go out witnessing about Jesus in the streets. I hid in the bathroom till the buses left for downtown and then I caught a bus back to SMU where I was staying.  That’s just not me I said.  I don’t do witnessing.  The next night the Billy Graham spoke and he challenged us to give their lives up for Christ, die for Him.  With tears in my eyes seeing I was a fraud, I gave my life to Christ.  When I looked up into the crowd the tears formed prisms as students passed candles from student to student.  As it got brighter and brighter God spoke to me, “this is what I want you to do. Take your light and spread it to others.”  I died and gave up.  Then in tears I worshipped him on my knees for hours.  On the airplane home I could not help, but witness to everyone I spoke to- about what God was doing and had done in Dallas”

Again and Again in my life I experienced trials, even moments of despair followed by the Lord leading me to a process of death.  Some old wineskin God wanted to remove from my life. It was always followed by a period of Holy worship of God.  I never counted the days but that period of experiencing the resurrection life in Jesus was ended by the Holy Spirit calling me and empowering me to a new work.

With burdens in my life, I went to God to ask Him to help me.  Then God said, I have a plan for you that is special, but you must die. OK!!! Wow really death? And I began to die, that was followed by a lot of spending time in the word of God and on my knees.  Bathing my life with the promises of God.

Page 4

Then a few Sunday’s ago he led me to call our church to die.  That along with the preparation of

our VBS began the movement of God.  You see for God to infuse us with his resurrection power we have to shed that which is hindering his spirits control.   Our burdens, our fears, our weaknesses, our pain, our heartache he wants to rid us of.

What was the first sign of the resurrection power? Awe and wonder for God’s great goodness, peace and hope, which leads to inspiring worship of God.  Followed by the testimony witness of new believers.

I think right now we are in the 40 days of feast, where we’re just supposed to stand back with awe at Gods work through Christ.  We are to worship as never before.  We are to seek to know him through the word and prayer and watch his outpouring of His Holy Spirit.  What is it that God is wants to do here?

I don’t know but I sure don’t want to miss it.  There may be someone

who is worried, sick, and tired.  You are filled with fear, or great desperation.  Or maybe you’re just in a state of emptiness.  When you say, “There’s got to be more to life than this”.  This great loss or emptiness is God tugging at you.  If you cry out to God for His Power you might first be touched by weakness, breaking and emptying – making room for Christ Jesus so that there is more of Him and less of you.

God is in the process of leading the church to Calvary and the grave. Old garments have to be shed and new garments must be put on.  Others have already experienced the death and are walking in total trust and faith with an awe and reverence of God, which fills them with reverence and respect.  It is now time to worship, praise, feast at the feet of Jesus – praying for all the saints in this church for God’s feasting to be for all.

Where are you?  God is taking our church through 40 days of Feast.  Join us as He does a great new work in our church.