Happy Easter. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. All right.
Thanks. It's good to see everybody here this
morning, and it's exciting to have visitors with
us this morning. If you're new here, if you've
never visited with us before, if you have been
here before, something that you should know about
everyone here is that we are all just a bunch
of sinners who have been redeemed by the mercy
and grace of God. Amen. So I know that it may
look like we all have it together and we're all
wearing our Sunday best, our Easter finest. I
was going to wear short sleeves today, but Anna
told me no. So I'm in a suit because it is hot.
But that's our story. We are not perfect. There
are no perfect people here, even though we are
in church. We are just stories of God's grace.
And that's a common story that we all have. And
the thing that I've learned from being a Christian,
is that it's always great when people know the
new you in Christ. But the hard part about being
a Christian in the town you grew up in is that
even if people don't necessarily know the new
you, they certainly have not forgotten the old
you. And they will always think about you in
that way. And so I wanted to share a story that
happened years ago. Actually, I thought it was
a few years ago, but then I looked and turns
out it was over 10 years ago. There's a guy that
Anna and I went to high school with and for whatever
reason, he thought it would be a fun idea to
get on Facebook and post about every single person.
He took our yearbook and went person by person
in alphabetical order and said exactly what he
thought of that person that he went to high school
with. Oh yeah, just wait till you see. So I decided
I would share with you. what he had to say about
me. You'll see it on the screen. A lot of it's
redacted for obvious reasons. This is what he
said about me. What an idiot this guy was. There's
a list people can make of the stupid redacted
stuff he did. Just immature and never grew out
of the ninth -grader mentality of being a redacted,
unlikable person because we all are redacted.
Horrible. at that age. So that's what he thought
about me. And I tell people all the time that
God has an amazing sense of humor. So do you
want to know what God did in this situation?
I read this post, a few days later I go to CVS,
pick up some prescriptions because I was sick.
Guess who was working at CVS? Did you guess the
guy who wrote the post? Because you'd be right.
So I see this guy working at CVS and I'm not
the type of person who avoids hard, awkward conversations.
So I just went right up to him and I was like,
hey man, what's going on? How are you doing?
And he was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, good to
see you, good to see you. And he asked me, you
know, he's like, what have you been up to since
high school? And I was like, I'm glad you asked.
Let me tell you what God has done in my life.
And I was studying Christian studies at North
Greenville at the time, so I got to tell him
my entire testimony and share my testimony of
what God had done in my life since high school.
And I ended that conversation by telling him,
man, I was like, hey, I saw your post on Facebook.
And everything you said was actually exactly
right. That is exactly who I was, but that's
not who I am, thanks to what Jesus has done in
my life. That Alex is dead. a new one has been
born in his place. And the great thing is that
story is not unique to me. I mean, maybe the
bit about the Facebook and the yearbook thing,
that's unique to me, okay? You might not have
had a high school friend do that. He wasn't a
friend, but a guy you went to high school with.
But the story that you share in common is that
the person you were has died, and you are a new
person thanks to Jesus, and that is only possible
because of his resurrection. If Jesus never came
out of that tomb, if He never rose from the dead,
we would still be dead in our sins. We would
still be enslaved to the flesh. But because He
is alive, we have new life in Him. And that's
why the great thing about Easter is it's not
just a celebration, it's an invitation. The point
I want you to understand this morning is because
Jesus has been raised, we are invited to live
in the fullness of the resurrection life. Because
Jesus has been raised, we are invited to live
in the fullness of the resurrection life. The
resurrection of Jesus literally changes everything
for us. Because when we look at the resurrection
of Jesus, we are seeing God write an entirely
new story. A story unlike all of the ones that
came before it. I don't know if you've ever thought
about this before, but if you look in the Bible
and you see the story of Joseph, Joseph is presented
as a foreshadow of Jesus the Provider. And you
read about his story in Genesis. How does the
book of Genesis end? It ends with the death of
Joseph. And then you have the story of Moses.
And Moses is presented as a foreshadow of Jesus
the Deliverer. But you read the book of Deuteronomy,
and how does it end? It ends with the death of
Moses. Then you get to Joshua and Joshua is presented
as a foreshadow of Jesus the conqueror and then
you read the book of Joshua How does it end with
the death of Joshua? But then you get to the
Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John and they do
not end with death do they church they end with
resurrection and that changes everything and
So the question I want us to consider this morning
is how do we live in the fullness of the resurrection
life? How do we live in the fullness of the resurrection
life? And to start, I think it means understanding
the nature of God's grace. I want you to, if
you have your Bibles, look again at verse 1.
Paul asked the question, what shall we say then?
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
By no means. How can we who died to sin still
live in it? All right, so we need to get our
bearings. Because we're just jumping right into
the book of Romans and if you've missed the whole
first part You kind of have some catching up
to do so for the first five chapters of Romans
Paul spent the majority of those chapters telling
people The horrible news that everyone is dead
in their sin He said of mankind that all people
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God He has said that no one is good, no one does
good, no one seeks after God. You might say,
well, Pastor, that's not fair. I feel like I'm
a pretty good person. I try to do good things.
I'm nice to other people. How can you say I'm
not a good person? I didn't say that. The Bible
did. So you'll have to take it up with the Bible.
But this is God's assessment of humanity. He
says all people have sinned, all people are dead
in their sin, and there's not a thing they can
do about it. No one seeks after God. No one is
good. No one does good. It's all pretty bleak
news. And it only gets worse because Paul goes
on to say that when Adam and Eve sinned against
God, they became corrupted by sin. And they were
corrupted in such a way that this corruption,
they passed it down to all people because all
people come from Adam and Eve. And what they
passed down, this corruption, is something we
refer to as a sin nature. You might say, well
pastor, what's a sin nature? A sin nature basically
means that all people are born with a bent towards
sin. Like the natural default of all humans is
going to be sin. And you know, even if you didn't
grow up in church, even if you're not here every
week, and you're unaccustomed to all this theological
language, you know this is true just by experience.
Because as parents, you're going to have to teach
your children a lot of stuff. The one thing you
will never have to teach your children how to
do is sin. Those little boogers come out of the
womb knowing how to sin, okay? That is just thanks
to Adam and Eve. That's the sin nature that we've
inherited. We have this bent towards sin. And
so since all people have a sin nature, guess
what they kept doing? Sinning. And the Bible
says that sin brought death into the world. And
so Paul says this whole world became a place
where sin and death ruled and reigned. And that's
the bad news. But then as Paul starts Romans
6, he gets to the good news and he says, where
sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. Now
that sounds great, does it not? Hey, this bad
news, it's really bad. And this is a lot of sin.
And Paul is saying, there's a lot of sin here,
but God's grace is greater. Sin abounded, grace
abounded all the more. This sounds great, does
it not? Here's the problem. People heard Paul
say this, and they no doubt heard Paul teach
this, and they started thinking to themselves,
hey Paul, if you're saying where we sin, God's
grace is going to abound, shouldn't we just keep
on sinning so that grace will keep on abounding?
That's exactly the question that's raised here
shall we continue in sin that grace may abound
and notice how Paul answers He says by no means
and in Greek is even stronger. It's a phrase
that means it's unthinkable It means such a thing
should never even be Suggested and yet there
are those who suggest it I've told you many times
now of a growing movement. That's very concerning
to me as a pastor It's called the hyper grace
movement. And it's basically a movement that
teaches people that you don't need to repent
of your sins. You don't need to ask for God's
forgiveness. You don't need to trust in Christ
and have this repentant heart and follow Him.
They even teach that you don't even need to be
obedient to the commands of God. All you have
to do is just live your life however you want
because they say God's grace is just going to
cover everything anyways. And God's just going
to forgive everything anyways. And so they say
it doesn't matter what you do or how you live
because of God's grace. And the problem is, if
you have this mentality, it actually demonstrates
that you've never actually experienced the grace
of God in Christ in the first place. Because
if you had truly experienced God's grace, you
would never want to abuse God's grace. You would
never want to continue doing something that God
hates and is displeasing to him just because
you think that his grace is going to cover it.
I mean, a good way to think about this is my
wife Anna and I, we have our marriage vows printed
and framed and hanging above our bedside tables
in our room. And they serve as a reminder of
our commitment to each other and our covenant
before the Lord. And in our marriage vows, both
of us say the phrase, I will never divorce you.
Now, let me ask you a question. What would it
say about me if I said, well, look what she said.
I will never divorce you. Not only did I hear
her say it, it's printed and it's framed and
it's hanging in our room. She said she'll never
divorce me. So that means I can just do whatever
I want. I can treat her like dirt. I can be domineering.
I can be unfaithful. I don't need to pursue her.
I don't need to love her. I don't need to lead
her. I can do whatever I want because she said
she's not gonna divorce me. Would anyone in here
this morning say that I actually love my wife
and was committed to her if I thought like that?
No, right? Or as Paul says, by no means. Absolutely
not. So how on earth does it make any sense?
For someone to claim to be a Christian who lives
in sin and continues in sin just because they
say God's grace is going to cover it anyways
God's just going to forgive everything anyways
It doesn't make sense that the Christian is one
who having received the grace of God has died
to sin It would never even cross his mind to
abuse God's sin or God's grace and continue Abusing
God's grace by continuing in sin. It does not
cross his mind You see, the point Paul is making
here is that grace is not freedom to sin. Grace
is freedom from sin. Grace is not freedom to
sin. Grace is freedom from sin. In other words,
God's grace does not give us permission to sin.
It gives us the power to stop sinning. The Bible
says before we became Christians, we were enslaved
to sin. That we had this sin nature, and we had
this bent towards sin, and there was nothing
we could do to get ourselves out of the power
of sin. We were in bondage to it. And the Bible
says here, we've now received God's grace. And
His grace has broken the bonds that sin held
over us, and now we have the power to stop sinning.
You see, this is where so many people get the
faith wrong. So many people that I've talked
to. They think becoming a Christian means I've
got to stop doing all the things I really like
doing and I've got to start doing things that
I really have no interest in doing and That's
not what it means to be a Christian at all But
to become a Christian it means that God gives
you a new heart So that you hate the things you
used to love and you love the things you used
to hate That's why the Bible says in first John
5 3 for this is the love of God. In other words,
this is how you can see the love of God in your
life, that we keep His commandments, and His
commandments are not what, church? Burdensome.
Of course the commandments of God are burdensome
to those who are dead in their sins. The Bible
says the natural man does not accept the things
of God. The Bible says the natural man does not
submit to the things of God. He does not obey
the law of God. In fact, the Bible says in 1
Corinthians 2, 14, that they are folly to Him,
meaning stupid. They think it's ridiculous. And
so naturally, humanity does not love God. They
do not obey God, and they don't want to. But
then the Bible says once you become a Christian,
and you repent of your sins and you trust in
Christ, God gives you a new heart where you actually
delight in obeying God. You actually long to
do the things that are pleasing to God. You love
what God loves and you hate what God hates. And
when you receive this new heart from God, it
means that you no longer desire to keep on living
in sin. It means that you no longer desire to
abuse God's grace, because if that's your mentality,
folks, I hate to be the one to tell you this,
but it means that you're not actually a Christian.
It means that you've never actually experienced
God's grace in Christ. It means you are still
identifying with Adam and the reign of sin and
death. But Christians are identified by our union
with Jesus. Notice what the Bible says here in
verse 3. It says, Do you not know that all of
us who had been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death. We were buried, therefore,
with him by baptism into his death, in order
that just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life. 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.
And we know that our old self was crucified with
him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. Now, Paul's got a long explanation here.
Let me break this down for you. To start off,
it's important to understand that Paul is not
talking about water baptism here. When he's mentioning
baptism, I know he says baptism a couple times,
he's not mentioning water baptism, okay? That's
not what he's referring to. He's not saying,
hey, this is how you know that you're really
a Christian. This is how you know that you've
truly been united with Christ. You've been baptized.
That's not what he's saying here. All right.
Plenty of people have gotten wet who have never
gotten saved. OK, so baptism cannot save you.
He's talking about the baptism of the spirit.
It's the same thing he mentions in First Corinthians
12 13. He says, for in one spirit we were all
baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves
or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit.
He's saying that when the Holy Spirit convicted
us of our sins, and He caused us to be born again,
He put our old selves to death with Christ. We
died with Christ we died to our sins and then
we are made alive with Jesus Just as Jesus has
been raised the Bible says we are raised with
him through faith in Christ and When we are raised
with Jesus, we're no longer affiliated with the
kingdom of darkness or with the reign of sin
and death But we're now affiliated with Jesus
in his kingdom It's a new identity that we receive
I was listening to the testimony recently of
a man named Coco. And Coco used to be a high
ranking member of the gang M18. It's a Mexican
street gang and he was covered in M18 tattoos
and it's really important in that culture because
your tattoos are seen as a public declaration
of your loyalty to the gang and they identify
you with the gang. And Coco ended up getting
arrested, going to prison. And while he was in
prison, He went to a couple chapel services,
and he began to hear the gospel preach for the
very first time. And after a few times of going
to these chapel services, the Holy Spirit convicted
Coco of his sins, showed him the grace of Jesus
Christ, and Coco repented of his sins, and gave
his life to Jesus. He became a Christian behind
bars, and has this wonderful testimony. But as
he was talking, He was saying that he made the
very difficult decision to leave the game right
after becoming a Christian. And it was dangerous
because one of the main slogans of M18 is the
only way out is in a box. And so he knew by leaving
the game he could be put to death. But he trusted
that this is what Jesus was calling him to and
that it was worth it. And he said that after
he became a Christian, he also made the very
difficult decision to cover up all of his gang
tattoos with Christian tattoos. And I love what
he said, this is what he said, he said, my old
tattoos affiliated me with the gang and they
identified me as belonging to the gang. My new
ones affiliate me with Jesus and tell the world
that I belong to him. Now, the reason I tell
you that story, is to say that you need to go
get some Christian tattoos sometimes this week.
Right? No, obviously that's not the point, okay?
The point is not you need to go get Christian
tattoos. The point is there's a clean break,
right? You see that. Coco said, I was identified
with this old world and this old kingdom and
this reign of sin and death and when I came to
faith there was a clean break with that world
and in embracing this new world. I was accepting
a new identity. I was accepting new affiliations.
The world was no longer going to say, I belong
to the gang. They're going to say, I belong to
Jesus. You see, that's the same point that Paul
is making here. He's saying that none of our
past affiliations have any bearing on our new
identities. None of our past affiliations have
any bearing on our new identities. And this is
really important for everyone to hear and understand
this morning. If there's one thing you hear me
say this morning, I want you to understand and
hear me say this. You have not sinned too much
for God to love you and forgive you. That's something
that so many people struggle with because they
look at their lives and they say, I haven't been
in church since last Easter, Pastor. And if you
look at what I've done since then, my life is
filled with sin. I'm not living in obedience
to Jesus. I'm not pursuing Jesus. I've got a
past that is so messed up. I shouldn't even be
here this morning. And they become convinced
that they are too far gone for God. And I want
you to know this morning, there is no such thing.
You are not too far gone for God. You are not
beyond the reach of God's saving grace in Christ.
You might say, well, Pastor, you don't know what
I've done. How can you say that? I don't need
to know what you've done to know that it's true.
You cannot out sin the cross of Christ. You cannot
out sin God's grace. Your sins may be great,
but God's grace is greater. I mean, do I need
to go back and read you what my former classmates
said about me? And that's, listen, that's not
even the worst thing that anyone has said about
me, and it's certainly not the worst thing someone
could say about me, okay? But the point is that
that's not who I am anymore. I have a new identity.
And the reason I am here today as a Christian
is not because I earned my salvation. It is not
because I was a good person. It's not because
I've worked really, really hard to turn my life
around and get in God's good graces. It's not
because my rap sheet just wasn't too long for
God. I was the chief of sinners. And yet God
saved me and redeemed me to display His saving
power in Christ Jesus. That's why we are all
here today, is it not? It's not because we are
great, it's because Jesus is great and He is
making His power known by saving people like
us. Jesus did not rise from the grave so that
people who just aren't too bad might have the
opportunity to avoid hell. Jesus rose from the
grave to invite the worst people to join him
in newness of life and join his kingdom. And
I tell you this this morning because one of the
most common lies The enemy tries to get people
to believe is that you are unlovable and unusable
because of all the stuff that you've done. Because
of all the ways that you have fallen short. He
comes to you and he says, how could God ever
love you? What makes you think that God would
want someone like you? Why do you believe that
God would ever use someone like you? On and on
the enemy goes. But listen, God delights in saying,
you show me the most notorious sinner. You show
me the person with the most messed up past, and
I will show you how I can redeem them and use
them to accomplish great things for my kingdom's
sake. Listen to me church if God can raise Jesus
from the dead He can save you and he can use
you and he can redeem you and he can forgive
you You are not too far gone and when you accept
this invitation into life in Christ none of your
past sins None of your former affiliations have
any hold on you anymore How good is that to hear
this morning? I mean, if it's not good for you
to hear, maybe you've just grown up in church,
been in church too long, maybe your past isn't
as messed up as mine, but for someone like me,
the best news I can hear is that God no longer
looks at me as that messed up sinner anymore.
He doesn't look at you as that liar anymore,
that cheat, that gossip. God has given you a
new identity in Jesus. And he says that you are
a saint through faith in Jesus, that you are
a child of the living God, a son or a daughter
of the king. And so none of those old affiliations,
none of those old identities have any bearing
on you anymore. Thanks to Jesus. And if we really
are children of God, then we need to live as
children of God and as citizens of his kingdom.
Notice what he says in verse seven. He says,
for one who has died has been set free from sin.
Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe
that we will also live with him. 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 to God
So you also must consider yourselves dead to
sin and alive to God in Jesus Now what's the
Bible saying here? The Bible is saying that when
Jesus died he put sin to death for good Jesus
took the power of sin and death with him into
the grave and they stayed there But Jesus did
not. When He rose again, He proved that the reign
of sin and death was done, and it has no dominion
over Him anymore, and now the grace of Christ
reigns in its place. And you see, this is something
that sometimes people mess up about the Easter
story. If you pay attention to Christians, you'll
start to notice this. For whatever reason, Christians
sometimes act as though Friday, is a day of defeat.
It's called Good Friday, right? Not Black Friday,
it's Good Friday. But they look at Friday as
a day of defeat, and they say, well, that's the
day that the world killed Jesus. That's the day
that they nailed Him to a cross, and He was suffering
in agony, and He breathed His last, and He was
crying out to His Father. And they say, that
was a day of defeat. You're not going to find
that in the Bible. The Bible says Friday was
victory. That was the day that Jesus defeated
sin, death, and Satan and put them in the grave
for good. Friday was victory. Sunday is vindication.
Friday showed the world that the Father demands
a sacrifice and a payment for sin. Sunday showed
the world that he had accepted Jesus' offering.
And the Bible is saying here, if you have been
buried with Christ, and you have been raised
with Christ, then you too have died to sin. Sin
has no power over you anymore. Sin has no dominion
over you anymore. You are now living the resurrection
life and you were under the reign of grace. And
so the point that he's making here is living
the resurrection life means leaving the grave
behind. Living the resurrection life means leaving
the grave behind. When you think about the story
of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, it's
an amazing story, is it not? It's a miracle.
Lazarus has been dead for four days. It means
he's super dead. No chance of coming back. That's
the technical term for it. I don't want to get
into it, but it means he's super dead. He's dead
dead, okay? No chance of coming back. Jesus goes
to the tomb and says, Lazarus, come out. People
think it's ridiculous. Everyone looking is like,
Jesus, you know the technical term. He's dead,
dead. He's not coming out of there. And yet Lazarus
starts to walk out of the tomb. The most ridiculous
thing Lazarus could have done in that moment
was step out of the tomb and immediately turn
around and go back into the tomb. The tomb is
for dead people. And He's been made alive. And
the same thing is true for you. If you are a
Christian, you've been made alive in Christ.
You are no longer part of the kingdom of darkness.
You are no longer part of the kingdom of Satan.
You have left that kingdom. You have left that
grave behind. So you need to live in the light
of Jesus' kingdom and not go back to that grave
again. I was trying to think of a way to explain
this to y 'all in a way that would be understandable.
So I was reading a bunch of theology books and
I was like, okay, I know what I gotta do. Have
you seen the movie The Jungle Book? Possibly
read the book The Jungle Book? The story of Mowgli.
He's a little boy, born in the jungle, raised
by wolves, spends his childhood acting like an
animal. Growling at people. climbing trees, swinging
around. And in that story eventually Mowgli has
to make the decision to leave the jungle behind
and actually go and join the man village. And
it's a crucial part of the story because he's
breaking from this former way of life and he's
embracing this new way of life. It would make
no sense for the story to continue. And then
Mowgli woke up the next day in the man village
and went back to the jungle and started crawling
around on all fours again. Started growling at
people again. He's left that kingdom behind.
He was never meant to live in that kingdom. He's
a man, not an animal. And so he has to leave
that behind and join this new kingdom. And that's
exactly what Paul is saying about us here. He's
saying if we've been raised with Christ, why
would we go back to that old kingdom? Why would
we go back to living like we're spiritually dead?
Why would we go back to a kingdom that Jesus
died to deliver us from? You see, resurrection
life means that something's been left behind
and it's our old self and that grave is empty
for a reason. Jesus did not come out of the tomb
so that we could stay in the tomb. And Jesus,
when he came out of that tomb, he was inviting
us to follow him out of it. He was inviting us
to leave death behind. And we have not been raised
from the dead so that we can run back to what
we've been saved from. If you've been raised
with Christ, then you have to leave the grave
behind. You have to stop clinging to the habits,
the desires, and the identities of the old you.
They were nailed to the cross, and so we don't
need to try to resurrect something that Jesus
buried. Leave it buried. Leave the grave behind.
This is why I say that Easter is not just a celebration.
It's an invitation. Yes, we're celebrating Jesus
rising from the grave, triumphing over sin, death,
and Satan, but it's also an invitation. We are
invited to join Jesus in His death, to put our
old selves and our old sins to death. We're invited
to join Him in the resurrection life, which is
a life where His grace gives us freedom from
sin. where we receive new identities, where we
leave the grave behind for good. Jesus did not
just rise from the dead to show you that He is
alive. Jesus rose from the dead to make you alive.
And so we need to accept His invitation this
morning and step into this newness of life. Start
living the resurrection life and leave the grave
behind for good. Amen? Let's pray.