Who Is in the Grave with You? Romans 6:4

The Throne Room

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If you are joining us for the first time today, we would like to thank you for joining us. We know you have options, and we are honored that you would choose to be with us today.

Thank you to everyone who helped with last Sunday’s BBQ. We had a good turn out and I have heard from quite a few people that they really enjoyed the food and time of worship.

I hope you all had a good 4th of July. I could not have chosen a better time to complete our sermon series. As we celebrate our freedom as a nation on the 4th of July, today we will complete our sermon series looking once again to Jesus’ death on the cross which provided us freedom from sin. Next week, I will be preaching on Acts 18 as an introduction to a new series from the book of 1 Corinthians. Today you will be a little prelude to 1 Corinthians as some of our backup scriptures in today’s sermon will come from that book as well.

Stand with me as we open our worship with scripture.

Opening Scripture:

Psalm 39:1-7

Psalm 39:1–7 NIV

1 I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” 2 So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; 3 my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. 6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be. 7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

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In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote...

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

People cannot understand why we focus so much on Jesus’ death.  To our world, death is defeat.  We constantly fight to overcome death, yet as Christians, we have found it is through death that we find true life.  So, those people who struggle with our glorifying the cross would be truly mortified to realize that it is not just Jesus’ death we are celebrating but our own death as well.  Consider four outstanding servants of God who spoke of how they had died.

•     George Mueller, when questioned about his spiritual power, responded simply, “One day George Mueller died.”

•     D. L. Moody was visiting New York City when he declared that he had “consciously died to his own ambitions.”

•     Pastor Charles Finney slipped away to a secluded spot in a forest “to die to self.”

•     And evangelist Christmas Evans, putting down on paper his surrender to Christ, began it by writing: “I give my soul and body to Jesus.”

It was, in a very real sense, a death to self.    John Gregory Mantle wrote, “There is a great difference between realizing, ‘On that Cross He was crucified for me,’ and ‘On that Cross I am crucified with Him.’ The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power.”

Of course, this is not a physical death they are talking about, but it is similar.  Both the physical and the spiritual death separate us from a desire for the things of this world.   Recognizing that we “have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), we should, as Paul admonished in Romans 6:11, consider ourselves “to be dead indeed to sin.” We still have sinful tendencies within, but having died to them, sin no longer has dominion over us. We die to our selfish desires and pursuits here on this earth. But believers must also think of themselves as “alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).  Just as Jesus was resurrected from death to life, we are also.  Our old life is gone but now we live a new life.  Instead of our old ways of sin, ambition, and earthly desires, we should do those things that please Him.   Victorious Christians are those who have died—to live!  - R.W.D.   Our Daily Bread, Saturday, July 30

So, it is in death that we find true life, a new life that unlike the one we live now, will never end.  My text today comes from Romans 6.

Romans 6:1–14NIV

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

The Word of God for the people of God.  Thanks be to God!

Father, please bless this Word which you have provided and which we now receive. Amen!

I.  Who Is in the Grave with You?  Romans 6:1-14

Back in April, we celebrated Christ’s resurrection.  The grave could not hold him because He did not belong to this world.  Satan may control death, but Satan has no power over God!

However, this morning, I want us to focus on the grave, not the resurrection! When you think of a grave, is there anything so confining, so dark, so disturbing as a sealed grave? We often race by the grave. On Good Friday, we end with Christ’s death and His body placed in the tomb.  The next service after Good Friday, we are celebrating an empty grave! Yet, it will serve our faith well if we do not rush past the closed grave too quickly.  So, step back with me as we ...

A.  Reflect Back on Christ’s Tomb.  1 Corinthians 15:1, 3

Our tendency is to hurry past Jesus’ declaration of “It is finished” on our way to our shouts of “He is risen!” But the grave that stands between these two truths deserves our attention. Listen to the apostle Paul and what he wrote to the Corinthian church.

1 Corinthians 15:1, 3 NIV

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand…3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

1.  Paul counts Jesus’ burial among the things of “ first importance”! 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3

Christ died, was buried, and was raised from the grave! It is best to not rush past the burial when we consider the events of that glorious Easter morning.  You see,

2.  The grave is proof that our Savior died .   Romans 6:23

The burial leaves no doubt that Jesus was dead. The tomb where they laid him demonstrates the high price Jesus paid for our salvation. “The wages of sin is death,” as Romans 6:23reminds us.

Romans 6:23NIV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3.  Jesus himself underscored the importance of his own burial .  Matthew 26:12-13

He commended the woman who anointed him with expensive ointment days before his death. The disciples were upset when they saw this. They considered it an extravagant waste. But Jesus responded to their rebukes.

Matthew 26:12–13 NIV

12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

When we die and are buried, we are “cut off from the land of the living,” as the prophet Isaiah once put it (Isaiah 53:8). Who will remember us 70 or 80 years after we die? That’s not a very pleasant thought on an Easter morning, is it? But it is the reason that our Lord’s burial is important for us. It is especially important on Easter morning. That day, of all days, reminds us that Jesus will fulfill his promise to each one of us.  Paul wrote these words of celebration regarding that promise.

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 NIV

55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The burial of Jesus is such a sweet part of the Gospel because it reminds us that we are not alone in the grave, nor will we remain there.

As a way of illustrating this, I would like to share a story from the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show. It was about a woman in prison who became good friends with one of the prison caretakers. When a prisoner died, the caretaker would ring a bell, put the body in a casket, and nail it shut. Then, placing the casket on a wagon, he would take it to the graveyard outside the prison walls and bury the corpse.

Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and shared it with her friend, the caretaker. “The next time the bell rings,” she proposed, “I’ll leave my cell and sneak into the coffin with the dead body. You nail the lid shut and take the coffin outside the prison. Bury the coffin,” she continued, “and because there will be enough air for me to breathe for some time, you can come back to the graveyard that night, dig up the coffin, and set me free.” The caretaker agreed to the plan.

One day, the prisoner heard the death bell ring. She arose, walked down the hallway, found the coffin containing the dead body, and climbed inside. Soon she heard the pounding of hammer and nails. She felt the coffin lifted onto the wagon and taken to the graveyard. After the dirt was poured on the coffin, she began to giggle out loud: “I’m free, free!”

Feeling curious, she lit a match to identify the prisoner beside her. In the light of that match she discovered she was lying next to the dead caretaker! In classic Alfred Hitchcock fashion, the final scene fades as we hear the woman screaming, and then silence.

What a horrifying thought, right?  But death and a burial need not horrify us.  Let us move from the grave that held Jesus to the grave we will one day occupy.  This may feel morbid, but the truth is...

B.  You Get to Choose Your Grave !  Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

And it pays to know ahead of time who might be buried alongside you! So, let’s strike a match, the match of the Gospel, and see who is in the grave with us.

Romans 6:4NIV

4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

When we receive Jesus as our Savior, in that moment...

1.  We are buried with Christ .   Romans 6:4

That means, we need have no fear of the death that potentially threatens to separate us from God.  We are saved from that death.  We have essentially already died and been given a new life that will not end in spiritual d            eath.  Our soul is secure, even if our body dies.  This is because, when we are buried with Christ,…

2.  We are raised with Christ to newness of life! John 1:29; Romans 6:4

Do you remember the words of John the Baptist, the words describing Jesus’ mission?

John 1:29NIV

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Christ, the Lamb of God, took our sins. He took them to the grave. Those sins are forever buried, forever gone!  This was our topic last week.  Because of Jesus’ victory over sin, when we give our lives to Him, our sins are cast as far as the west is from the east.  In God’s eyes, they are offenses that no longer exist.  Our enemy Satan may like us to think they still exist, but they do not. 

1 Corinthians 15:56–57 NIV

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the grave could not hold onto the body of Jesus. Death could not defeat our Savior.  But his victory was not His alone because...

3.  The grave cannot and will not hold onto anyone who is in Christ.  1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:55-57; Ephesians 2:1-6

Death will not defeat those who are in Christ.  This is our victory chant.  When we accept His gift of salvation, the victory is ours.  We have died and risen to a new life that will see us into eternally.

Ephesians 2:1–6NIV

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

So, let me ask you again?  Who is in the grave with you?

Crucified! Died! Buried! Risen! All this for us and for our salvation. This is the Gospel. This is the Good News, the truth that conquers our most fundamental fear, the fear of death. The grave of Jesus has sanctified death and the grave for all who believe.  This is demonstrated by our water baptism.  When we publicly stand before others and are lowered into the water, it is like we are going down into the grave but when we come up in joy it is celebrating the new life Christ has provided for us.  Therefore we understand Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

We are buried with Christ. We are raised with Christ. For us, the grave is the doorway into our Savior’s nearer presence. The death that once cut us off from the land of the living is now the entryway through the torn veil of Jesus’ flesh and into heaven, where the resurrected Christ has gone before us.

Knowing this, we can shout in victory:

 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:55–57

As we end this Easter sermon series, let us follow Jesus’ instructions to participate in the Last Supper, what we call Communion.  As we listen yet again to the symbolism of the elements we will be partaking in, I pray you will do so with a new understanding in light of all we have learned these past few weeks about the torn veil, and how that torn veil was His flesh, pealing back the door between us and God, so that we can now have full access to the throne of God.  Currently we live it spiritually, but I believe the time is fast approaching when it will be both spiritually and physically. 

Communion

I am reading from Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 11:23–29 NIV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

Please hold up your cups for a moment as I pray over the elements before we receive them.  Once I am finished praying, I will allow a moment of silence for you to address God as you have need.

Precious Lord,

We thank you for these elements which we hold in representation of your body and blood.  We pray your anointing on them and as we receive them, we once again participate in Your death thankful for the resurrection that is now available to anyone willing to acknowledge their sin, turn from it and follow you.  May You be honored and praised forevermore!  Amen.

Moment of silence!

•     Take the Bread.  Eat it and do this in remembrance of Christ’s body shed for you and be thankful.

•     Now, take the cup.  Drink it, remembering Christ’s blood poured out, not only on the streets of Jerusalem, but poured out by Christ Himself on the altar of God for your sins.  As you do so, be thankful.

O Jesus, as we stand before your open, empty grave, fill our hearts with joyful confidence. Because you live, we also will live eternally! We live with you now through the Spirit, and we rejoice looking forward to the day when we will live with you face-to-face.  Teach us to live in this newness of life, with the freedom that your death and resurrection made possible. Teach us to die in the sure-and-certain hope of resurrection and new life. Help us to daily stand on the other side of the veil before your throne, in intercession for others who have not yet put their faith in you, just has you daily intercede for us.  We have the power to do so in the Name of Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

(Torn, A CTA promotional series edited and modified by me)

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