A Foundation Broken Up

There was a man who was saved during the Great Awakening named Nathan Cole. He was a poor farmer, but he kept a journal that you can still see in a museum up in Connecticut.

In that journal, Nathan Cole recounts hearing one of the famous Great Awakening evangelists. Here's what he wrote that day—and I love this:

As I heard him preach, [it] gave me a heart wound. By God's blessing, my old foundation was broken up. And I saw that my righteousness would not save me.

Notice what Nathan Cole did not say. He didn't say, "As I heard him preach, I got motivated to be a better man. I decided to be a better dad and a better husband. I decided to stop my sinful habit. I decided to become more moral."

No. What he said is, "When I heard him preach, my foundation was broken up."

True gospel preaching wounds the very thing we're trusting in to make us good enough for God. True gospel preaching shreds your resume. "My old foundation was broken up, and I saw that my righteousness would not save me."

The Ongoing Secret of the Christian Life

That breaking up of our foundation is not something that happens only one time at salvation. This is the ongoing secret of the Christian life.

Just as you look to Christ's righteousness to save you, you start to learn to look to Christ's power to sustain you. Hear me:

• You don't have what it takes to live the Christian life.
• You don't have what it takes to overcome temptation.
• You don't have what it takes to accomplish the will of God.

And the sooner you learn that, the better. The more you know of Christ, the more you're going to say with Nathan Cole:

My old foundation is broken up. Just as my righteousness could never save me, my own power could never keep me. It's his righteousness, not mine, that saves me. It's his resurrection power, not mine, that sustains me—Jesus, in my place.

Blessings Received, Not Achieved

Learn this, Christian. All the gospel's blessings come not through accomplishing. They come through receiving. Not through our impressive resume, but through humbly receiving gift righteousness and gift power.

And that means there's hope for you. No matter how messed up you feel, it is not about your power for God—it's about his power in you.

So to the husband who feels like he's made a mess out of his family, I'm not telling you, "Be a better man." My message to the drug addict is not, "Hey, look at what a mess you've made. Try harder."

I'm telling you: there's an empty tomb in Jerusalem that's been open for you, from which the power of new life flows to all who will receive it as a gift.

Resurrection Power Through Weakness

Maybe the most surprising thing for the Philippians is what Paul says right at the end. In verse 10:

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection... therefore I'm happy to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death.

That's the means by which he attains the resurrection—the power of resurrection. The gateway to resurrection power, Paul says, is through weakness and suffering.

My own failure, Paul says, actually helps me. It helps me trust in Jesus instead of in myself. When something blows up on me, when something falls apart, when something really disappoints me, it gives me a chance to tell myself and others: my hope is not in that thing. My hope is in Jesus. That thing may crumble, but Jesus is eternal.

Here's what's more. When I suffer unjustly, when I'm persecuted, that becomes a gateway to spiritual power.

Think about it. God brought salvation into the world through Jesus dying unfairly, in weakness and in shame. God did not bring the power of resurrection into the world through Christ's perfect resume. God brought resurrection power through Christ's unjust suffering.

And so when I suffer unjustly, when I feel like I'm bearing a cross, when I feel weak—I have access to that same power.