April 9, 2023 Easter Sunday

Will Easter Sunday, 1983 was a Sunday, all not ever. Forget my dad was a headman had had a massive heart issue and was recovered. Had a valve replaced and and then that got back on his feet from that and then had all kinds of pains and aches and things like that. Then they treated little treated this treated that and finally, of the week before Easter Sunday in 83 on my Mom finally called her doctor and he said, and she said, I want you just to put him in the hospital and don't let him out until you figure out what's, what's going on. And so they did that and Friday, they discovered that he had cancer and, and by Sunday it had, they had discovered that it is spread through the ball in the sand, and that he was in. Them tough shape. And so we were living in in Fargo-Moorhead. I was pastoring at the Community Baptist Church there. So I jumped in the car on Saturday and Toradol and it was a minute. I look how many of you have been through this the same story and, and we got there and it's just exhausting and we're with him for a while. My mom and I went back home to where they her condo has in Richfield. And the next morning, we just kind of dragged ourselves got up and slam some coffee down on and, and we're sort of numb. And so we went to the church. I grew up in big, big huge church and we got there late and the only seats in the whole church were front row. Hi Alice like right there so we came in and we were just shocked and and that church had like 100 and some member choir and I'll never forget it was Easter Sunday and the doors opened and they the choir was led forward with like a half, a dozen trumpets and a pipe organ. That was a size of my house and the whole building this massive building Christ. The Lord has risen today And we got to this section, I want mom and I were just balling, sorellina out. What Christ has led following our exalted head made like him like him. We rise. That's the message this morning ours the cross the grave. And the skies. And so, I've always thought music is a little bit like those paddles when your heart stops, or when your heart is not working, and they put the paddles on and, and they do the Joelton you that's kind of what has been going on in my heart. My heart had to stop but it, it it was good for my heart. This morning to sing. Those great exaltation songs. If we just sat or stood on the mount where Jesus told the disciples to meet him after the resurrection, and he had done his work and he met them there that he got this little ragtag group of disciples together having done leadership stuff. A lot of my life. I I kind of help my in my mind's eye a picture. Here's the, here's the Savior, the king who went through the cross, didn't flinch. Gave his life for sin and here's the disciples. One by one, had abandoned him and run for safety. Except for the women they couldn't stay awake when he said to stay here and pray. And now he gets them together if I'm the leader, I'm, I've got a kind of a little speech ready to go. Nice job, guys, way to come through when we needed you, but instead, he turns to them and he said, you know, my father has given me all of thorion Heaven and Earth. That's everything heaven in Earth. Go. Now to this little ragtag, Bunch that it failed. So fully at the crucifixion it just simply says go now and Make Disciples of all the nations. Who were the who knows anything about leadership? Looked at that little group and that little sane and said man there's a movement that's going to make it. They didn't have anything. No strategy really or charts? No long-range goals. Except they had Jesus and he said, just go make followers of me. And will do this then two thousand years later this morning as the sun rotated up across the time zones, millions and millions of born-again, Christians of all kinds of tribes and countries, ethnicities rose up and saying in their own tongue Christ. The Lord is risen today, I'd say it work. I'd say it worked. Over against that. Powerful Easter picture, we have almost kind of like something out of the Book of Revelation. We have this other parallel through the New Testament of the Believers wrestling with sin. You've got Glory.

And then you've got the weariness that many of us face on a daily or weekly.

Rotation that. How about a wrestling with sin? We have these things that Hebrews called the sins that easily beset you. And I can't know what they are for you but everybody in their heart knows what they are like anger. Or lust or these all of these different heart issues. And sometimes it's just all lumped together under covetousness in my heart, wanting to be Lord. And so we struggle with this. And so we go through the book of Romans, and in Romans 5, Paul, introduces us to the teaching after the, the great picture of an explanation of the death in the accomplishments of Christ, through his blood, that Christ in his blood dead, what the law could never do any other to the death and resurrection of Christ were witnessed by the law and the prophets. And once, and for all send was paid for so that the way to heaven was no longer through law, but it was through Christ, chapter 4, shows us the beautiful picture that were saved and as we move forward with faith in Christ chapter 5, introduces us to Grace this amazing grace, in which we stand and ends, kind of what this word trespass has increased. Grace abounded, all the more So is send random death Grace might rain through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord

And so for those that struggle with sin, we look at Romans five and think that Grace it's so wonderful. And yet, we wonder why is it? If it's so wonderful. I still I still have the sins that easily beset. Me Victory is just like always a little Out Of Reach whether it's a real defeatism or pridefulness it seems like there's this running Narrative of the believer in his life. Trying to get where Romans 8 and Romans, 5 through these beautiful pictures and somehow we're caught a little bit in the middle and Romans 6 takes The Wonder of Easter. And the struggle with sin and Romans 6 says this. Let's see this solves this. So if we try to, if we try to analyze and outline especially verses 1213 or you could throw 14 in there as well, and I'm an organizer and I'm out. I'm a logical. I love outlines. It's just tricky to the have a nice neat linear. Outline of Romans 6. It's, it's a little bit about Christ and price. Dustin are death and death of Shannon. His resurrection, our resurrection and it goes back and forth. So what I want to do today and the time that we have left is is take a key theme from this and one of the things we understand and reading this, even a casual reading is that the Believers Union with Christ is really the central theme of this of this book and then in our Union with Christ were United with him and his death. And is very ill and is right. And then we reunited with him in his resurrection. So, I want to just look at these two components and then we'll spend the bulk of our time on some applications to these things. The first thing is Christ's death, we have this all the way through that won't read the numbers. The verse numbers here, but you can look in your on your hand out or in your Bible, verse to died to send verse 3, baptized into his death. Verse for talking about baptize, baptize them into his death, verse five, United with him and his death, talking about the believer and verse 6, the old self was crucified with him. So my old self was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin verse 7. For one who has died has been set free from sin burst 9 death. No longer has dominion over him verse 10. He died. He died to send verse 11 dead, to sin verse 13 sin, as an inch talking about our, our members have our body being instruments of unrighteousness for sin. Soap, all begins, and what it will. Look at the resurrection in just a second, but he begins with this teaching on the accomplishments of the death of Christ. But then it shows that through this, that he died to send and in that death, that payment $0.04 was made and then links that to the Believers life, that these things that were true of Christ in his death and burial. Now are true of the Believers life and I think John stop has Has.

This happened last week 2. John Stott has written well on this. You never count on John Stott. Is there a half sheet of paper with John stock quote on it? No, no.

Well, the Lord is Sovereign, right?

What John Stott says it. Well, you'll just have to trust me and John Stott is set in what way did. Jesus die to send? What exactly does that mean in in what in what way did that happen? And stop says it. So clearly that it it really there, there would be several ways to look at this, but when you look at the context of especially the book of Romans, it means that he died to send by taking the penalty for sin and the Wrath and the Judgment of God against us for our sins. Jesus, took that end in when he died, he brought separation. Most of the many of you know, the word Greek word for death, it means short of an extra sense means separation. So when a loved one dies their separation, the body we bury and the Soul and Spirit go. If he's a Believer to go to heaven to be with the Lord, and Stop goes on to say that. This means that he took that that whole wrath and penalty. We look at this last week that he was crucified at 9 hung on the cross losing energy in that dying process, until noon. And it from noon to 3, there was Darkness, over the whole land. And we would think of that as the moment that God had poured out, the sins of the world onto the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, and that's when he was separated my God. My God, why have you forsaken me? And when God stepped away from the Lord Jesus Christ, and was in that time of enduring the Wrath and separation from his father. This is because of unrighteousness, nothing he did. He was innocent and perfect in every way and yet because of our sins and it caused us, great chasm in barrier Between us and a, holy and righteous God. And from noon to 3, he pays that price. And at 3, he honors his last words and among his last words were it is finished the payment for sin is finished. I always think of how many of you remember, I 2nd Corinthians 5:17 521, he who knew no sin and you know what? The next line is? Became sin on our behalf. And saw it from noon to 3 and on the cross. The father, put the sins of the world and Jesus. Became our sin. Think of all of the failures in your life, all of the dark chapters in your life. All of them put on Christ. During those hours as the father stepped away and is maintaining his perfect righteousness, and his son paid that awful price. For our sins. It's in that sense. The Jesus died to Sin Sin, and its penalty. He made like it is a Colossians, he wonderfully states that he took our certificates of death and just like, for the whole world, I just think of my certificate of death there be many. Many pages maybe volumes. And then for the world and he put it on the shoulders of Christ and when Christ had been separated from the father and bowed his head and said it is finished. It's that perfect tense. Meaning it's done. Now in time and space with continuing always, never ending results. It's finished.

And then he shows us through our baptism into Christ when I become a Believer and if you think back to when you became a Believer and maybe there's a handful here today that have never gotten quite to that point of its opening their heart and accepting Christ. But when when we understand the greatness of what Christ has accomplished that our sins have been paid for. He paid for my sin. Someone's got to pay, he paid that I can come and just simple humility with Open Hands of Faith and say Lord Jesus that free gift. I received that I take that by faith into my into my heart and when we do that, the Holy Spirit who is sort of the executor of redemption, takes the believer. How do I do this now? Takes the believer. And the Lord Jesus Christ and he baptizes. This is the old old Greek word that they use for baptized for dyeing cloth. So if you some of you have done dying before of cloth and when you have a big vat or a big kettle of purple dye or red dye or something like that and you got a red t-shirt or dress or something like that. If you want it, do you want a white one? And you want that white one to be ready to take that and you been kids? Do you put that into the. I stirred around? I don't know much about this. I just know. You put it in there baby. You stirred around. And when you pull it out, the white T-shirt is red and no tweezer Can go in and say, let's take the red out of there, the red and the T-shirt R1. That's the picture. The things that are true of Christ. I am immersed into Christ and in that immersion into the person of Christ his death, Send is now true in my own life. What I could never do on my own. Christ accomplished in out of the kindness and loving love of God. When we accept Christ he says I'll just put you in plenty right into my son like baptism and you'll never be able if you're a Believer no tweezer, no surgeon can go in and pick out and say let's just take Christ out. You and Christ are one. In my words, although they're not in this text particularly, but I would go with stop by saying the sum total of Dying In Christ. Is that there is now no condemnation from God towards me? And in our legalistic minds or our defeatism, we say, We'll man, Pastor, you don't know me, there's got to be a little bit of condemnation. The Romans clears, the table and says there is now therefore no condemnation for them. That are what In Christ, Jesus.

And so this Union with Christ first is that we like he died to send so that sin has no claim on him anymore. Because the payment has been made paid in full and now the Holy Spirit puts us into Christ Jesus so that now I can say with Christ because of my union with Christ, I've died to send And all of the condemnation of the law is done away with in my life. Let's look at the second part of this Union with Christ. The Man theme been baptized into him into his death but the same thing then is true of his resurrection in here we have this spelled out for us verse 4 044 just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father. So we to the believer who is now in Union with Christ, we might walk in newness of life. For if we been United with him in his death like this, we shall certainly be United with him in a resurrection like this. Versed. Now, if we believe we've died with Christ and we do we believe that we shall also live with him? Verse 9 and 10, 10. The death. He died to send once and for all, but this is speaking of Christ, the life. He lives Christ lives. He lives to God his father. Verse 11 consider yourselves to be dead to sin and I'll live to God in Christ Jesus. And then an application verse 13, present yourselves to God. How do we do that? What what does that look like? Will do it as those who have been brought the death brought from Death To Life? Do it as people who have been raised with Christ. And so we see from this passage these wonderful links to our Union with Christ in his in his resurrection that there is in our worst moment than our worst, wearing us in our worst sense of depletion, then our worst time of wrestling with that, send that easily besets. You, I can say on the authority of scripture that I have in Christ, every single thing I need to walk in newness, it means a new way, it means not legalism anymore, not trying to be a good boy. I saw that God will somehow look favorably on you but now being found in Christ and not only that my Sims are paid for my have Union with that deaths. We died to sin but now I've been raised in Christ. And so for me for you this morning, if you're a believer you have the possibility and provision of walking in newness of life.

And then verse five, he talks about will certainly be United with him. There's a few commentators. There's a verb tense here is is future. I take this myself Minions on the resurrected life as the believer. It's certainly also means that that at the Resurrection, the final trumpet that I will be raised physically, certainly means that, but I think it's also in the context. Here means that I can because I'm United with Christ I'm I'm certain. I know that I'm United with him in a resurrection, just like him first aid. I know that if I've died in Christ, I know that I also will live with him the Life of Christ in me. Galatians 2:20 comes to mind. I know that if I died to send in verse 10 but the life he lives and he's the one I'm into now, I'm baptized into Christ, he lives to God, Lives to his father versus 11, so that you must consider yourselves dead to sin on the one hand, but consider yourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus. That's an amazing statement for us frail folks that we have our good days and we have our bad days and we have our setbacks and we got this easily besets us and that is easily besets us and I don't mean that we're running around doing sinful stuff all the time but we do enough of it to be constantly reminded by our adversary whispering in our ears. Are you failure you Center? Don't give me this stuff about how great do you know, Union with Christ? And all that. Look at yourself. And we begin to, we begin to enter into that dialogue with the accuser of the Brethren and we always kind of lose if we start to argue in, in the realm of marriage and law. I'm not that bad devil. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I am.

And so he's saying here, the to the believer, just the person who is in Christ every morning you can wake up when you're depressed or Dawn or whatever it whatever it might be and you can roll out of bed and say by Kutless. I am at this moment. Alive to God. In Christ, Jesus. not cuz I'm perfect because I'm in

In Christ Jesus. Exactly. And so I want to try to make some applications to this because Paul comes down really. Well, this is a section. He, I think has been helpful an application. There's three big important verbs in these vs. One is the the verb to know. And that's three different times verse 3 and 4/6 + verse 9. No know that you're in, Fresno that you've died in in Christ. And this is a word that means had to have some experiential knowledge. But I fear an R&R age today, we call this The Information Age, and what did they say? We're, we're doubling all the information in the world, like every 6 months or something like that. It's just, I mean, just don't do it now but just grab your phone and the Google something anything And there's there's pages and, you know, a million data points on new information. Until we get used to the stopping there. Oh, my union with Christ. Oh, yeah, I know that Roman 60. Yeah, I know, I know that. I know that I'm in Union with Jesus and his death and Resurrection, I would venture to say across our crowd this morning that the vast majority of you have heard that read that and you, you know, that and here is what Paul pushes us to. He says it's not enough to know it but verse 11, we shift to the word consider. And I I really favor the old New American Standard in the King James and they had words like reckon, I just love that word recompense and this word in Greek, it's a word that we get logic from its really was an accounting term. So let's just say it was your birthday this week, and you got 45 checks. So you take a deposit slip and you're right amount one, you know, for $5 10-5, and whatever. And then you add That's the sister work, you draw line and you add that up and you come up with a sum and where's that some go your go to the bank and you put it on your account. That's what this word means. It means don't just stop because you have a nice outline of Romans 6 or you've read, you know, Watchman Nee or one of the great, many, many great books written on this. But it means that I stop saying No, this and then Reckoning, it pulls it from my brain, through the calculations down to my heart. And Reckoning means that, I'll look at this, that I'm dying to send. I already know that. Maybe I memorized it, I can quote it, I got books on it, I got papers on it. But I come to that point where I say, I know me John grunts. His dying to send in Christ Jesus.

And so I I understand that that condemnation that the adversary brings all the time, doesn't work. Here's my example of this. I worked years ago before I was a Christian. Maybe I came to Christ. When I was doing this. I was in the appliance business, I sold wholesale, major appliances. And for about a year, I work for a firm in Minneapolis. We're in Fargo, and I had a guy and now because we live stream these, I hesitate that uses name. This is like 50 years ago now. So, he's maybe not around anymore. But I'll just say his first name was Terry. He was my sales manager and he was, I used to think like a beast out of the deep wood. Whenever I call the home office would rise up on that other end of the phone and almost melt the phone lines and back in those days, we didn't have cell phones and so you couldn't sneak out in York, Are you going to roll up the windows and and talk and put the visor down and stuff you had to use the phone in one of your customers offices? And I remember many many times, I remember I had a big sale going on the big big Appliance places in Fargo and I went into this other guys off, as I had to check on inventory and Terry got onto the phone with me and I hear he was one of those were his mode of operation Operation was intimidation condemnation and he got started on me up one side and down the other side where she work employment situation, I think I've ever had in my whole life and and and he would start in and and he would, you know, why aren't you doing more of this and selling more of that? Don't don't do this. Don't do that. And and just wear me down. And so, when I would get on the phone with him ever, Time I had to have to do that. I went through this whole feeling and I don't know if I use the word condemnation back then, cuz I wasn't a believer in and wasn't fluid in biblical language, but it was kind of nation from when I got on and said, hey, good morning. Until I said, okay, goodbye and hung up and he started and then and this was wrong and that was wrong. And and and I and it was just a really a tough, he was a tough Taskmaster. And then, one day, I had an offer from a company in Fargo to go to work for them. So I jumped ship and I went to work for the new company. And I've often thought he didn't. But for maybe a year. If my phone rang again, before the days of caller ID, and all of that stuff. So when you pick up the phone, you have no idea who is calling. You couldn't filter them. That we do that but I'm nervous. Laugh there.

I would have felt a month after I had quit and went to work for another company. That familiar voice of condemnation, got on John, what are you doing? You didn't do that. She didn't do that. What are you doing? How come you're not doing this? These are And if in my mind I wasn't thinking clearly, I just started the condemnation it just started working and I was down. I was just so discouraged listening to him. Okay, Terry. Okay to. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, a rap. Yes, a failure. Yes, these are. Before we use the word loser. So effectively. And hung up and ruin my ruin my weekend. And if somebody had come to me and said, why are you still down at sales manager? Minneapolis, he called me up this morning. Just up one side on the other side, And my friend would probably say something like, you know what? You don't work for me anymore. Relationship severed. You can actually hang up on him.

You got a new boss. And his name is Grace, the Lord Jesus.

Reckon means that Windows condemning voices, come. I don't interact, I don't try to explain. I'm not as bad as other people. I don't try to justify things that I have done that. I shouldn't have done that. I should just spit it out and confess cuz he's faithful and just

I just go back and I realize, The old John grandits, doesn't live anymore. Terry can call all he wants. Honestly, I think I had moments where I drove down the road and I could almost see him running along the side of the car shouting condemnation at me that I can just we can just roll the window up and say get behind me. I belong to a new person now and there's no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus.

That's what Romans 6 is saying. Don't forget who you are. Child of God.

And not only is there no condemnation cuz I died with Christ, but then we get to the Easter flavor of this and I just I guess my favorite line in this sermon and this text is the last half of verse 11 that I'm alive to God in Christ Jesus, it's not hinging on. How are you doing? Been faithful in your quiet times this week and we, we strive to do that. It's not, you know, did you have any setbacks or any of those kinds of things? But that, how are you doing? Begins with who you are in Christ? How are you doing? Well, brother, sister, I'm doing fine. Cuz I'm in the sun, I'm in Christ and I may have some ups and downs. Certainly have some ups and downs, but you know, through it all in the deepest valley, I am not just alive. I'm a life to God. God, who is portrayed in the Old Testament in Isaiah 6, as exalted and filling this whole massive throne room in the train of his robe, filled the whole place no room for people and cherubim are above him shouting back-and-forth. Holy holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. They just don't stop doing that. They keep doing it. And when he speaks to the foundation's just Thunder, No wonder. Isaiah was shook wall is me or how about in a in Hebrews when we visit the writer, the Hebrews and he talks about the giving of the law, if you're under law, he says this, you have not come to, but then he describes what they came to then a blazing fire darkness and Gloom in a tempest. And the sound of the trumpet, in the, the voice of words, made the hearers beg. That, no further messages, be spoken. So, holy and frightful. This was for, they could not endure what was being given? And it said, Evan, if a beast touches the Mountain Stone, it indeed, it was so terrifying at the site that Moses said, I am trembling with fear

That's reality when I'm outside of Christ, it's that scary. Insult not trying to be fire and brimstone here, but if you're here and you feel like why? For some years I've been on the fence here and I lead a pretty good life. Never really took that stuff and said Jesus, I need that free gift, the stuff that the preachers talking about this morning. I need to be United with Christ in his death and Resurrection. So there's no condemnation at I can be alive to God and it's done on a simple transaction of Faith. Receiving the gift, I would say if you're nervous about the afterlife, you have good reason to be nervous about the afterlife. It will be so horrible that all of the world wars and even the Great Tribulation will pale in comparison to Eternity separated from God.

We're alive to God because we're in Christ.

One of my favorite guys. Missionaries is Hudson, Taylor old dead guy. I called him a lot, but one of the reasons, I love Hudson Taylor so much as he went through this and document, his journey understanding his Union with Christ, he was a believer,

But Hudson, Taylor says it something like this, he writes to his sister. And he feels like he had this long-standing problem. How do I live in Christ? How can I possibly draw the sap out of the vine? Get that into myself? He knew we needed the Life of Christ flowing out through him yet. He felt. He just hadn't gotten it. I knew he said right into his sister in 1869 then if only I could abide in Christ all would be well. Yeah, I could not. The more he tried, the more he found himself slipping out of track and so to speak until one day, the light dawned and Revelation came. Eddie said this here. I feel is the secret, not asking, how am I to get the sap out of the vine into myself? But remembering the Jesus is the vine. In fact, he's the root the stem, the branch, the Twigs, the leaves, the flowers, and the fruit. I have not, I do not have to get myself. Make myself a branch. Jesus tells me I am a branch. I'm part of him. And I have just now, become come to believe, think reckon added it up. He knew all this but he hadn't drawn a line and said, this is on my account. I have just to believe this and act on it. I have seen it long enough in the Bible, but I believe it. Now, as a living reality, I do not know how far I am able to express what has happened in my life. It's in a way, nothing, new or strange. And yet all is new, in a word. Once I was blind. Now, I can see he was a Believer. Now, I'm dead and buried in Christ. I, I have risen in Christ as well. Reckons me, so and tells me to record myself to be alive to God in Christ. And he goes on and on another wonderful story. Watch my knee gives on this. He's walking with a brother one day and this brother is talking about the the being able to abide in Christ and he says I just can't do it the more. I try the more I I fail, I want to know this Crucified Life in this Resurrection Life yet. I don't feel like I know it. He's a Believer. I see no way of getting there and as they walk, a third brother walks up up to the table. And on the table, there's a they call it a thermos flask, will call it a thermos bottle. He sees a thermos bottle. He picks it up and he says to the brother who's struggling. He says what is this? And he said it's a thermos bottle easy. Just imagine for a moment, he said that this thermos could pray and it starts to pray like this Lord, I really want to be a thermos bottle. Oh God. Would you make me a thermos bottle? Lord, give me the grace to be a thermos bottle. Make me one, please God. Well, what would you say? He said to the struggling, brother? The struggling brother said, I don't think even a thermos bottle, could be so silly, it would be nonsense to pray that way. Why? It already was a thermos bottle. And the same is true with you. You pray and you pray and you pray for what already is true. Of your life. So, I want to encourage you this morning. We've got some songs to sing. I want to encourage you this morning that as we sing that you would. Most of the time we try to take besetting sins and and I guess, you know, barium deny, I want you just to understand the amount when I was a kid and I'd get in trouble. I had teachers and parents and others that would say young man, who Do You Think You Are?

You know what the answer is? I'm a son of the Living God and I have his son living in me and I in him and I have all the resources of Heaven at my disposal cuz he's made me a branch and he's the vine and my job is to walk and follow him knowing and Reckoning that I am in Christ. Jesus father, I ask you two to help this. These truths that can seem little tricky to get our arms around that. I pray that you would help us to apply these things to our life on this deer Christmas or Easter morning 2023. All father, show us your son As we sing in Jesus name.