From our Easter Sunday service on April 20, 2025, Romans 6. Watch the full message: Risen With Christ on YouTube.
Someone said to me this morning, “It’s an easy message, right? It’s Easter. It’s the same thing every year.” The joke is that you’ve heard this one before. But I don’t want you to think of it as a story you’ve heard before. I want you to see it as what it truly is. The Bible tells us that the angels rejoice before the throne of God day and night, singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” The angels in the presence of God have been saying the same thing for thousands of years. Sometimes people say old songs are too old. Jesus Himself says:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation 1:17–18
That’s what we celebrate every Easter Sunday: the Lord did not stay in the tomb. He rose with the keys of death and hell, and because of His resurrection and His sacrifice, we too have hope and life. A week ago on Palm Sunday, Jesus told His disciples that as the Messiah He was going to have to suffer, but this was not the end. He told them that in three days He would rise again, just like Jonah in the whale, and on Good Friday He walked up to Golgotha and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, a fact of history that historians do not debate.
But that was not the end of the story. Early that Sunday morning, women went to put perfume on Jesus’s body. When they got there, they found the stone rolled away, the guards gone, and Jesus nowhere to be found. The stone was rolled away by an angel, but not so that Jesus could get out. It was so that humanity could look in and see what had been done. The resurrection wasn’t just about raising Jesus from the dead. We don’t serve a crucified and dead Savior but a crucified and living Savior.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4
If you get anything from this message, I want you to know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ should completely change how we live our lives. Because Jesus has conquered death, a new power is now at work in every believer. We no longer have to live in fear of tomorrow or be mastered by our past mistakes. Today we can walk in the same victory that raised Jesus Christ from the grave.
Dead and Buried: Slaves to Sin
Each of us, when we are born into this world, is spiritually dead. That means the Spirit of God is not within us and does not convict us, and we are at the whims of our flesh. The Bible teaches that we’re not just spiritually dead but enslaved to our sinful desires. Paul talks about a struggle that’s relatable to every one of us. There are things he doesn’t want to do, yet he finds himself doing them over and over. The good news is that Christ died on the cross so that sin nature can be separated from us and we can regain control over our bodies.
We are all sold to our desires. Here are some symptoms of our slavery to sin. “I told them I wasn’t going to explode at them anymore. Why did I?” “I said I was done with the alcohol. Why did I go back to the bottle for comfort?” “I said I wasn’t going to go to that website anymore. Why did I open it again?” Romans 6 tells us we will all serve someone, either God or sin. But if you surrender to Christ, you become His servant, and He promises to adopt you as a son or daughter, and you’ll share in Jesus’s inheritance.
The title “Christian” literally means belonging to Christ. Do you know the term was originally an insult from the Romans? They called us Christians to mock us. Before then we called ourselves people of the Way, because Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Greeks thought it was so funny that we didn’t believe in multiple gods. They said, “You only have one God, and you say you’re His servant? Then we’ll call you belonging to Christ.” The question is, Christian, do you belong to Christ, or do you serve another master?
Christ’s death and resurrection mean we no longer have to be slaves. We can walk in victory instead of defeat. “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” When Jesus died on the cross, our old lives were to be nailed to the cross with Him. When we die, our work contract with sin is broken. But just because Jesus died doesn’t mean it’s all said and done. Just as Jesus carried His own cross up that hill to die for us, we need to be willing to surrender our flesh to die on it with Him.
Many of us may think we are good enough to make it into heaven. “I’m a pretty good person. I’ll make it there.” The Bible tells us that whoever is trying to save his own life by his own efforts is going to lose it. One day each of us is going to stand before God, and God is going to say, “Are you guilty?” You’ll point to charity and good deeds. And God will ask about the bullying, the stealing, the relationship in college. “Then you’re guilty.” “But I did good, too.” And He’ll say, “What if somebody ran over a child and said, But I did community service?” We will have no choice but to say, “I’m guilty.” Jesus has given us the gift of eternal life, but only to those willing to put to death their own ego and pride and admit that we need a Savior.
Raised to Life: Risen With Christ
Being buried with Christ is only half the story. The same power that nailed our old self to the cross is now alive and working to raise us to new life. “Purge your conscience from dead works” means all those good deeds you thought made you a good person, put them to death. Nail them to the cross. Your guilt from your sin, nail it to the cross. The old man is dead. Those who ask Christ for forgiveness are no longer condemned. And Christian, if you’re not winning those fights, it’s not because Christ hasn’t empowered you. It’s because you don’t want to win. Christ has liberated us from sin’s power.
Jesus didn’t just put to death our guilt, our shame and sin’s power. He put to death death itself. Though we struggle in a sinful world, one day God will wipe away all tears from our eyes and give us a body free from the bondage and temptation of sin. Though we may die in this world, and some of us will be spared at the second coming, that death is not a final death. It’s a temporary death. The grace and power that originally saves us is the same power that will preserve us until we meet again in heaven.
Our Response: The Gospel Invitation
First Corinthians 15 gives us a short statement of the gospel from Paul. We must believe that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, which means He truly died on that cross, and that He rose again the third day. It wasn’t an analogy, a metaphor or a myth. Jesus Christ came to this earth, died, was nailed with real nails to a real tree, and paid the penalty for our sins. But the gospel requires a response from us. The Bible tells us even the demons believe and tremble. Romans 10 tells us the response we should have:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:9–10
Two responses are needed: confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. First, belief from the heart means we truly believe it. Some people go to church every Sunday and play the part of a Christian because they want to look good in their community. Maybe someone comes every Sunday, or just Easter and Christmas, and says, “I’m a Christian. I believe it.” They’ve made the confession with the mouth, but they haven’t believed in their heart. If that’s you, it’s not enough. Second, it also says to confess with the mouth, which means to identify with Christ. If we believe those things and do those two things, “thou shalt be saved.” Shalt in modern English is “you will be,” not “might be.” You will be saved. It’s that simple.
After salvation comes responsibility. Some of us may have nailed the old man to the tree and be a new creation, but we haven’t set our sights on things above. We’ve been stuck here on earth, worried about the news, our jobs, this and that, and we’ve lost sight of our heavenly purpose. Study the Scriptures. Take time to read the Bible. Spend time in prayer. I don’t mean praying for God to give you a Lamborghini or make your raise at work go through. Every day we can do something that shows the love of Christ to those around us.
We’re here because of an empty grave, and that empty grave means more than Jesus being risen. It also means we can have a full life. Jesus said He came so that we can have abundant life: life free from slavery to sin, freedom to serve others in the joy of the Lord, and freedom to find grace every morning. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a historical event to remember once a year. It’s a present power to live by. The resurrection of Jesus Christ should completely change how we live. Will you allow it to change you?
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