Easter 2026
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Happy Easter, He is risen!
Would you stand with me as we read Scripture - we ended our time on Friday with this section, But let me read Romans 6:1-11
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let’s pray slide and pray
We read that on Friday. We're reading it again this morning.
And I want you to notice something — Paul doesn't say admire the resurrection. He doesn't say celebrate it. He says walk in it.
Friend — that's what today is about. Not just the greatest event in history. What it means for your life. Starting now.
This day is really what it’s all about. By that i mean - it was on this day, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, that hope demonstrated its triumph.
Christ suffered for our sins, the full punishment and death and payment put on him instead of those who call out to him in faith, but he wasn’t crushed by death. The power of God has overcome the grave, Christ is victorious over sin, over the devil, and over the grave. Life and life eternal has one - and with it gives us assurance, not only of Christ’s victory, but one day new creation is coming, and with it will come love, joy, goodness, and God’s presence, and death, sin, sorrow, and evil will pass away FOREVER!
This day is the greatest day! Perhaps only to be overshadowed when Christ returns in all his glory and the harvest is taken in.
But can I be honest with you? As a pastor, Easter is one of the more difficult Sundays to prepare for, And oftentimes one of my least favorite sermons to prepare.
“How can that be?” one may ask.”Isn’t this the greatest triumph - is not the resurrection the creme de la creme?”
And the answer to that is yes and yes.
And yet - we walk in to this day and there is often a buzz, a haze, a fog. Surely its from satan, but it takes the form of religious habit, a holiday, easter hams, and pretty dresses, where we “gotta do the thing” and “pastor better talk briefly.”
We are sometimes so familiar with the story that we fail to actual hear the words. On these big days it’s easy to go through the motions.
And if we just go through the motions when it comes to the Resurrection of Jesus - friends then we will end up going through the motions of the whole Christian life! We will miss out on all the best parts of the human life.
Because the resurrection from the dead isn’t just a cool part of the Christian faith - it’s the foundational truth.
The Christian faith and it’s truth rises and falls on the merits of the resurrection of JEsus Christ and therefore the hope we have over sin and over death. This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
You see, when Jesus rose again creation fundamentally changed. What had entered into creation through sin and through Adam has permeated everything, and it’s dark, and depressing, and causes so much pain and hate.
But when Christ defeated death, he rose in glory, and the incorruptible nature of what’s to come was realized in his body. He is the firstfruits of the new creation that is on the horizon!
Did you know, that Jesus is in heaven right now with a physical body?
He has a physical body, that is glorified, and is the proof of the new to come!
Jesus is the new life. He is the proof that Sin is defeated and death is on the way out!
And this changes everything - it should give us great hope, and it allows us to walk in victory! not of our own strength, not by our own merit, but by grace through faith, joining with Christ.
AND Therefore, if we are with Christ, in victory -we can have victory over sin. Friend - Jesus paid for sin and defeated the grave so you don’t have to be a slave to sin anymore!
This is one reason why easter is both the best day and so conflicted for me personally: the greatest truth - Victory over sin and grave, and it’s available to us by grace through faith. You can have salvation from sin, and hell, and enjoy eternal life starting right now!
Not only that - the Spiritual Life in God begins in our hearts through the indwelling of the holy Spirit!
And yet, the temptation is to celebrate this day with good food, and go back to our normal way of life. And we put off the idea of victory over sin and being with God to when we die. Functionally many treat faith and easter as a ticket that we are given that gets us into heaven when we die. We treat salvation as something to come, and not a present reality.
So we live in sin, defeated and depressed. Sure theres this idea of hope… but it often feels out of touch from our lived experience.
We celebrate today, then go back to our old way tomorrow.
This kind of thinking often betrays that we don’t actually deeply know that Christ is victorious. That we don’t have the deeper life with Christ. That we have doctrine in our minds, but not real hope in our hearts.
Friend - the reality of the situation because of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and the ongoing rule of Christ in heaven is that you can be FREE and SAVED and EMPOWERED and ASSURED. And not even DEATH can come in the way of God’s love.
When we come to faith, we repent, we are then in a very real way, one with Christ on high. The symbol and ordinance that Christ gave us that marks entrance into the Faith is baptism. Why? Well Baptism is a perfect picture of the Christian’s life.
Look at Romans 6:1-3
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
When we are baptized, when we have faith in Christ - we are baptized into his death. Think about that image - our sinful self was put on Christ at the cross, and BURIED with him. Like person going under the surface of the earth, in baptism we go beneath the surface of the water.
But - Jesus didn’t stay in the grave!
Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
YOU TOO CAN WALK IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE!
For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin.
This hinges on us being united with him in the likeness of his death, right? That’s how he continues. Look at this
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In faith - consider yourselves dead to sin. That man, that woman, that old self is dead and God. We bury it beneath the surface, and we then receive in the faith life in Christ.
The old is Gone, the new has come.
The Easter Story, the Resurrection of Jesus is amazing, and it is made spectacular when in faith we live the life of Christ right now.
Where we turn from sin.
Where it’s not just a holiday, but the start of the recreation of the whole world.
God is making all things new! Christ first, then us by grace through faith - behold the old is gone and the new has come!
So what does it actually look like to walk in newness of life on Monday morning?
It looks like the young mom who's been sitting in a pew her whole life but if she's honest — faith has just been part of the routine. Church is what you do. Easter is what you celebrate. But somewhere along the way the verdict never quite landed. That God actually, really, declared her righteous. Not someday. Now.
It looks like the guy who knows he's saved but keeps crawling back to the same sin, convinced he's too far gone for real change. Friend — the same power that pulled Jesus out of a sealed tomb is alive in you. You don't have to stay in the grave.
It looks like the young couple who shows up, checks the box, goes home — and this is the Easter they decide it's not a holiday. It's the beginning of something. That the righteousness of Christ has been given to them freely, and they don't have to earn their way back to God. They're already in by grace through faith.
That's what Paul means. That's what walking in newness of life looks like.
So What?
Paul answers that for us.
In light of the death and resurrection of Christ, and how we therefore can die to sin and be alive to God, I want to continue in Romans 6:12-14
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.
Friend - we who are in Christ bury out sin with him, and we walk alive in Christ. We once were dead in sin - but now we are live, truly, deeply, and eternally in Christ.
Would you take joy my friend? We serve a living God!
In the midst of sorry and pain, we can weep and mourn with eager expectation that there is a coming day where no more sickness or sorry, or pain, or death, or sin, or any wicked thing will be! And the PROOF of that new reality is found in the risen body of Jesus Christ!
Friends - God is making all things NEW!
Friend — if you don't know Jesus, if you've never experienced what it means to be truly forgiven — I'm not going to dress it up. You need him. Not a religion. Not a habit. Him.
Call out to him. Confess your sin. Ask him to save you. There is power in that name — the name of the one who walked out of a grave.
Jesus didn't come to start a holiday. He came to begin the recreation of everything. And he wants to start with you. And that makes every day a holy holiday. Every day we get a chance to join in the recreative work of God WITH HIM.
He is risen.
And so shall we.
And there is no better way to visualize and celebrate this new life in Christ, then to witness someone profess their faith in Christ through Baptism.
*transition to baptism with Hannah*
Baptism Questions:
Do you believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son and anointed King, and in the Holy Spirit the great advocate as co-equal and eternal members of the Trinity?
Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead to give you everlasting life?
Do you reject Satan and his works,the desires of the world, and do you repent from the sinful desires of your flesh?
Do you affirm your commitment to live for Jesus, no matter the cost, without conditions, in the power of the Holy Spirit?
