_Second_ thing 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
trespasses 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 engendred of the offspring of the first _Adam_, so long must
the quickning 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 round about CHRIST, and call him “Lord,
Lord,” when we come to worship 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
Saviour’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 carcases wrapt up in grave
cloaths, 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 bid him reach out his hands and
thrust them into his side, in a holy confusion 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
lye, 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 in affection for JESUS CHRIST.
For thus speaks our ♦blessed Master, “Unless a man forsake all that he
hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
♦ “blesser” replaced with “blessed”
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 friendship 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 season, than for the short
enjoyment of them lose 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, supported 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,
to-day, 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 trespasses 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 call 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.”
Grant this, O Father, for thy dear Son’s sake, JESUS CHRIST our
LORD; to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, &c.