He Is Risen

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life.

This is why we practice immersion, because it represents here the dying to sin, the dying to the old self, and the resurrection up into a new life. It's a powerful picture of what takes place. The washing away of sin, the washing away of death. Death is defeated in the death of Christ, and baptism is a picture of what happens there. Baptism is significant as the first place he points back to. Now you are baptized. That this is the public profession of Christ that we're gonna get to see here in just a few minutes. Few minutes, don't get too excited. Eh, 30, 45 minutes. But baptism is where, as we'll hear, someone is gonna give a public profession. I no longer be identified with the world and death and destruction. I wanna be identified with Christ, his death, resurrection, and his church. There's a way in which there's a public promise and commitment that's being made in baptism. The person being baptized, the person receiving baptism is declaring, I no longer want to walk in this world in this destructive ways. I want to commit myself to Christ. There's also something we're doing as a church. We're receiving them. We're affirming the same gospel, the same truth you declare of Jesus Christ is the truth that we agree. Welcome to the family of Christ. There's an exchange that we're actually doing here. He wants to point back to that experience, that moment where we publicly declared, we publicly were recognized, Christ died for us. Christ rose for us. The way baptism is so important and powerful is what it represents. Notice in verse five,

for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

He's pointing back to that death because on the cross, that's where we have the forgiveness. In the resurrection is where we have the new life, but notice there's a union with him. This is covenant language. This is actually marital language. There's a way in which Christ in his relationship with us is uniting himself with us so that all that we have is given to him and all that he has is given to us. Well, what do we give him? Our sin that's worthy of judgment. Our destructive practices, our deciding that we're gonna live our own life. All our sin is counted towards him. And what does he give us? His righteousness, his perfect life, his sinless life. What does he give us? The opportunity to now be sons of God and to call God Father. What an exchange. When we're united with Christ, this is a real relationship that has real blessings and privileges. Baptism points back to that real relationship. We have to understand, we deserve wrath. We deserve judgment. Christ died to pay the price. He rose again to give us new hope. And notice how this is all tied up into freedom in verses six and seven.

We know that our old self was crucified,

that that old sinful life was crucified

with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we could no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Christian, let's not get confused. Sin is still present. That's why we put off the old self, put on the new self. The difference is the power of sin is broken. the power that enslaved us, the power that treated us as if it were our master. Forgiveness precedes freedom. God has forgiven us and he has set us free. That freedom is something that is given to us so that we would enjoy the master. Jesus is very clear, a passage you can look up later, meditate upon. John 8, 34, these are the words of Christ.

Truly, truly, I tell you that when you choose sin, it is your master.

A master, a ruler, someone who has power over you. Sin is deceptive. We think we're always in control when we're choosing sin. We think we're just gonna have a little taste, we're gonna put it in this category, we're gonna be able to control what it is. No, Jesus tells us very clearly, when you choose sin, it becomes your master. It destroys us, corrupts us, leads us away from the good master. Sin is this internal problem we're all aware of. Okay. I look pretty good here on Sunday. It's really easy to clean ourselves up and present ourselves for about an hour and a half, maybe four hours, we'll see how it goes, on a Sunday morning. We all know how to do that. We all know how, we learn how to act in front of our parents or our bosses or our co-workers. We know how to act like everything's okay and we're not as sinful as we know we are inside. Let's just be honest. If we were just to think, the things that have popped in our heads this morning were put up on display for everybody, we'd run in shame, right? We realize there's things that are constantly in our hearts and our minds. We'd be terrified if people knew what we thought, or the things that come into our minds. Sin is always present. It can't be controlled at the end of the day. The anger that comes out, the lust that corrupts us, the selfishness, We know sin when we realize it demands so much of us and satisfies so little. We know it's sin when we see how much it demands of us and how little it truly satisfies. It's not an outside problem, it's an inside problem. Here's the encouragement for us. God knows our sin even more than we do and yet he still sent his son to die for us. God knows our sin even more than we do, and he still declared his love and promise to us. We need help from outside to cure the problem inside. This is why God sent Jesus to us. So we have baptism, that public declaration, that ceremony, then we have that real relationship where our sin is put on Christ, Christ gives us his righteousness, and notice how it's all grounded, verses nine and 10, in what actually happened.

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives for God.

Notice his destruction of death, his destroying of the dominion of death is why we no longer under the dominion of sin and death. But he's grounding all this in what Jesus did. On Friday, Christ was crucified. He said

it is finished.

The earth quaked, the temple curtain torn in two. On Sunday, they didn't find his body because he was risen. If we found the bones of Jesus Christ, we would realize we're all to be pitied. It must be grounded in the historical facts, the historical actions of God of coming down to us and saving us. This is what we must believe, Christ died for sinners, he rose again for sinners. Verse nine, we know, we know that he rose from the dead. Okay, we could be some doubting Thomases, we could say I really want some more evidence. But remember what Jesus said,

blessed are those who hear and believe.

The good news this morning, if he is risen, he's conquered death. If he is risen, he's the promised Messiah. If he's risen, he's died for our sin. If he's risen, he's given us forgiveness of sin. If he's risen, he's given us freedom from sin. The question I want to ask everyone, do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus? Maybe we can actually break that out a little bit further. What do you believe about Jesus? Everyone here believes something about Jesus and you're in a church on Sunday morning. What is it you actually believe about Jesus? Let's just walk through some questions to see how far we might get in believing in Jesus. First question, was Jesus a good man? Was Jesus a good man? Second, was Jesus a wise and great teacher? Was Jesus a wise and great teacher? Third question, was Jesus a perfect man? Unlike us, we have sin, all of us. Was he sinless? Fourth question, did Jesus die on a cross? That's just asking historically, did that happen? Did Pilate condemn him to death after being falsely accused? Did he die on the cross? The more significant question, did he die on the cross to forgive us of our sins? Did he die on the cross so that we might have our sins forgiven? Sixth question, did Jesus rise from the dead? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Last question, will he come again, bring justice and peace perfectly? I ask, at what point might you have stopped saying yes? It's important for you to think about your own self and how you understand Jesus and how you would relate to him. At what point did you stop saying yes? Or what point would you say, I don't know, I have questions about that? This is a serious issue. You should understand who Jesus is. We want nothing more for you to know who Jesus is and to believe that you could actually say yes to all those questions. If you stopped at some point and just said no, or I don't know, please don't leave here without talking to somebody about where you stopped and why. The most significant question, is Jesus God's son who came to save us from our sin? Because if you actually see a sin problem, what other solution is there? Jesus, our creator, came to be our savior. That's complicated. It's not so far of a grasp. God has made himself known so clearly, but it is a wonderful thing to think about. God who created the men who would falsely accuse him. Jesus Christ sustained with life the very men who would falsely accuse him, even nail him to the cross and mock him. Jesus Christ, the creator, formed the tree he would be hanged upon to be a curse for us. Jesus Christ created the mountain that he will be buried in after his death. Jesus Christ is the one who died. And as we see him as a creator, we can stand back in amazement. It turned to darkness in the middle of the day? The earth quaked? Is that the earth grieving the death of its creator? Or is that the earth protesting against us for our sin? Either way, it's amazing that our creator, who we rebelled against, he came to die and to rise again so that we would believe in him and be saved. Do you believe? We must know who Jesus is, the Savior who died for sinners, the Savior who rose for sinners. The second commandment is just one verse. The second point here, consider, verse 11.

So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God and Jesus Christ.

We seem to be making a transition to a second point, and I think this second This second step is why so many Christians do not actually enjoy the Christian life. We know, and we'll be able to say, yes, I can check off all those seven questions you just said. I can say, yes, I know these things are true, and then I really try to do all the morality. I try to do the things, present myself to righteousness. But the second step is one we quickly overlook. I think it's central to actually enjoying the Christian life. Consider yourself sin. Don't just know Christ died for your sin and Christ rose for your sin. No, it's considering yourself dead. It's an accounting term. You're counting yourself differently. You're considering it, you're reckoning it. We all have personal truth. Let's just stand back and appreciate Oprah's right about that. We all have personal truth. We all have our truth. Every single person has some idea that is their own personal truth. We all embrace this is truth, and it's your truth. The key question we're asking this morning, does your truth align with true truth? Is the way we actually feel and believe aligning with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we considering and reckoning in such a way that we would recalculate, be willing to deny everything that goes against the true truth? When we get lost, that wonderful GPS says recalculating. This is what the Christian life is over and over again, recalculating. recalculating the decisions I'm making, the priorities I'm making, the ways in which I'm presenting myself, recalculating over and over again. Am I counting myself dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ? Am I seeing myself as truly forgiven? And now when I'm tempted, I can say no, knowing, considering yourself. I don't have to obey that sin anymore. I am alive in Christ. I'm gonna tell you now what you'll hear in every self-help book or find in every self-help book ever written. You've gotta stop listening to yourself, you gotta talk to yourself. That's true. The key question is, what are you telling yourself? What kind of truth are we gonna take and start putting into the new code we're writing, the new code we're telling ourselves? What are we going to start telling ourselves? Is it truth that Christ, his grace abounds where sin abounds? We can have assurance we're forgiven? Are we gonna tell ourselves, no, that sin that has been so entangling, I can say no to it, I can be free from it? We must know how to talk to ourselves and remind ourselves, yes, Christ died, and I now, united with him, am dead to sin and its power. Yes, it's gonna bark orders, but I know that Christ's declaration and word is more powerful. We are alive in him. One of those painful things to watch is a brother who gets bogged down in the dominion of darkness. They've been set free by Christ's death. They've been set free in the resurrection. They would be able to confess because they know those seven things, but you see them regularly entangled. They embrace sin, and there's a handful of reasons why. One, they might deny that that sin is really all that dangerous. They might not recognize that Christ's power is greater than that sin. They might not even know. If we just present you're forgiven, now start doing the right thing, not knowing all the benefits and blessings of being in Christ. Can you imagine? This is painful to watch. Someone who has been set free and yet chooses to remain enslaved to sin, either out of choosing not to know or choosing not to practice it. We can go back in our own country 1866, human beings who had been enslaved, they've been declared free. War's over. It's amazing how many did not know. They weren't told they were free. Some, after hearing it, had a hard time believing they could actually be free. They had a hard time fathoming what that would even mean and how that could happen, because slavery was all they ever knew. And some, out of fear of what anything else might look like, hung on to living as slaves because they didn't know how to do anything different. It's amazing. Wouldn't we want to come alongside these image bearers and just walk step by step, helping them learn how to know they're free, to walk in that freedom, to help them enjoy that freedom? It's the same thing we do as a church. This is why the church exists. So we would have other people who would help us know how to step out of that fear, out of the enslavement, into the forgiveness of Christ, into obedience. This is what we do. We walk alongside, teaching each other, helping each other, reminding each other. It really is amazing as we think about the patterns we create, if we've learned to make sin, our master, in just pure obedience. Even when its power is broken, we learn and keep those same habits. We learn to answer and to obey when it barks orders. This is why we remind ourselves, we remind each other, we are free. Consider, reckon, recalculate constantly. the truth that Christ died for you and you are free. The last thing we see from verses 12 to 14, it requires practice. I wanna be careful, we're not just gonna say we know these things, we do them. No, as we know them and we consider these things true for ourselves, we then need to practice. All these things are taking place fully. A mind transformed, a heart transformed, a lifestyle transformed. Verse 12,

let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace.

Simple put. Practice your freedom. Practice your freedom from saying no to sin and yes to Christ. Practice your freedom, learn to break the pattern of saying no to Christ. That's what's terrifying. That's how we can so easily get into a pattern of saying no to Christ, who said is free, because we don't consider ourselves free. Sin is scary strong, but Christ is stronger. What are we practicing? Where are we making ourselves present? What are we giving our time, energy, efforts towards? Are the things that build up righteousness, are the things that return us to old patterns and sin? To present your members to righteousness. The key here is what do you prioritize? What are we seeking to practice? It's pretty amazing to think about what's set before us in this freedom. Again, we're not free to be free for the sake of being free. We're free from sin so we can pursue God. The temple curtain was torn in two on Good Friday. So significant. Access to seeing the face of God. Access to beholding the glory of God. Access to enjoying the love of God. All of these things have been made available to those who believe. All of these things are ours to believe. What are we doing instead? It'd be like if you had a big Easter feast tonight and you were invited over and the host set before you all the things of Easter, bacon wrapped scallops, those things we get to enjoy now. And you decided, I think I'll just go scrunch around in the trash can and see what they have in there. That doesn't even come close to a real analogy of how disgusting it is that we would still continue to pursue sin. Instead of the glorious love of God, we now are free to enjoy. What are we presenting ourselves to? Who are we becoming? Christ, he died for us, he rose again for us. This is the final declaration of victory. He has come to set us free. We must know Christ has set us free. We must consider ourselves dead to sin and love in Christ. We must present ourselves to practice his truth. He is risen. Amen. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for the clarity of your word, that you help us to see our sin, even beyond how deceptive it is, that the way we even lie to ourselves about our sin. Lord, I pray you would bless us to see our sin more clearly, so that we would see the gospel in all of its power. So we would see our need for the death of Christ, we would see our need for his resurrection, and that we would long to walk in it, that we would see he has been risen so that we can walk in the newness of life. Forgive us for still wanting to walk in our old ways. Help us, Lord, to know how to consider ourselves, to recount ourselves, to recalculate our lives, to know you and enjoy you, and all the blessings that we now have in your son. In his name we pray, amen. Let us stand and sing our song of response in Christ alone.