Live a Life Worthy - Easter 2026

Call To Worship

Acts 2:32–36 ESV

32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

This Jesus—the One crucified— God raised Him up.

And He did not rise quietly— He rose to the throne.

He is seated at the right hand of the Father. The place of authority. The place of rule. The One rejected is now exalted. The One crucified is now Lord.

Not an option. Not an addition.

Lord.

Which means you are not here to observe— You are here because a King summons you.

So come— Not casually, not divided—

Come before the risen and reigning Christ.

Lift your voices. Bow your hearts.

Let us worship the King who was slain—and now lives.

Sermon

Sermon Introduction — Alive Means Owned (Romans 6:1–23)

Alright—let’s start here.

If Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead…

then your life is not your own.

Not part of it. Not most of it.

All of it.

That’s the claim of Easter.

And that’s where things get uncomfortable.

Because we love saying, “He is risen.”

We just don’t love what that means for how we live.

We love the idea that death is defeated. We love the idea that sin is forgiven.

But the moment you say, “Because He lives… I no longer live for myself”—

Now it gets real.

Now it presses in.

Now it starts messing with things we’d rather keep untouched.

Our habits. Our sin. Our control.

Because the resurrection of Jesus is not just proof that He is alive—

It is a declaration that He is Lord.

And if He is Lord…

then you don’t get to live however you want anymore.

So let me just ask you straight out:

What has actually changed in your life because Jesus is alive?

Not what you believe.

What has changed?

Is there war with sin? Is there obedience where there used to be rebellion? Is there submission where there used to be control?

Or is Easter just something you celebrate… while your life stays exactly the same?

Because Scripture does not give us that option.

Listen to this—Romans 6:1

Romans 6:1 LSB

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

Church, this is not a suggestion. The Apostle Paul is drawing a line in the sand here. If you are in Christ— You died. Your old life is not being improved. It’s over.

And what stands in its place is a new life— A life that is Blood Bought by the Risen Savior We Celebrate Today.

So this morning, we’re not just talking about the resurrection as an event. We’re talking about what the resurrection demands of those changed by it.

Because the empty tomb doesn’t just say, “He is risen. Keep Living in Sin.”

It says, “You are not your own. You belong to the Lord”

So the question is simple: Are you living like someone who belongs to a risen King?

Let’s go to Romans 6. Our pasasge will be Romans 6:1-23

Romans 6:1–23 LSB

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died has been justified from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be 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 lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were given over, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then having from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit, leading to sanctification, and the end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Point 1 — You Died With Christ (Romans 6:2–7)

Let’s jump in and actually feel the weight of what Paul is saying. Let’s start with verse 1 & 2

Romans 6:1–2 LSB

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

That question only makes sense if something decisive has already happened to you.

Christianity is not first about what you do. It is about what has been done to you… and for you… and in you.

If you are in Christ, something has happened at the deepest level of your being.

You have been united to Him. And that means His story has become your story.

When He died… guess what? You died.

Let me explain that, because that can sound strange if you’re new to this.

The Bible teaches that when a person truly trusts in Jesus, God joins them to Christ so closely that what happened to Him counts for them.

So when Jesus died for sin, God treats it as though your old life under sin died with Him.

Not that you were physically on the cross, but that your old standing before God—guilty, enslaved, under sin—was brought to an end there.

In other words, the “old you” that belonged to sin has been put to death in God’s sight.

Then Paul roots this death in union with Christ.

Romans 6:3–5 LSB

3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

To be in Christ is to be joined to Him so completely that what is true of Him becomes true of you.

His death was not just for you, but in the eyes of God it became your death as well. Then just as beautiful as that can be it get even better. Romans 6:6

Romans 6:6 LSB

6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

That old man— The one enslaved to sin and this world. The one who loved darkness. The one was an enemy of God.

That man was crucified with Christ. Paul is not talking about you cleaning yourself up. He is talking about an ending.

And this is where a lot of people get it backwards.

The loudest voices you hear say if you do better, if you try harder, if you get your life together, then you can call yourself a Christian.

Your work, your effort, your progress. But Scripture flips that on its head.

It does not say you earn grace by improving your life. It says grace is given to you in Christ, and His death counts for you.

What He did is applied to you.

He paid the price. You were ransomed.

As Scripture says, “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold… but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” (1 Peter 1:18–19)

So the cross is not a place where you go to get better.

It is the place where your old life ends because Christ has already done the work for you.

It was a place of death.

And that is where your old self went.

Now here is where we have to think carefully.

Because if you miss this, you will either fall into legalism… or you will fall into license to sin.

Legalism says: “I must kill my old self so that I can be accepted.”

License says: “My old self doesn’t matter, I can live however I want.”

Paul says neither.

He says your old self has already been crucified… and therefore you must not go on living as though it still reigns.

Do you see the order?

Identity… then implication.

Reality… then response.

This is why a Christian can never make peace with sin.

Not because we are strong. Not because we are disciplined.

But because sin no longer fits who we are.

It is out of place.

It is like wearing grave clothes after you have been raised.

It belongs to a life that has already ended.

So when a believer sins, there is tension.

There is grief. There is conviction.

Because you are stepping back into something that no longer matches your nature.

And if there is no tension… If there is no grief… If there is no fight at all…

Then we are forced to ask a harder question.

Was there ever a death to begin with?

Because Scripture does not give us a picture of a person who is united to Christ… and yet unchanged at the core.

The gospel does not decorate the old man.

It buries him.

And until you see that… you will either spend your life trying to improve what God has already condemned…

Or you will excuse what God has already put to death.

So before we go any further, this is where we have to stop and examine ourselves.

Not your church attendance. Not your language. Not your outward morality.

Has there been a death?

Has the old you—ruled by sin, comfortable in it, at home in it—

been put to death with Christ? Do you look different from this world?

Because only those who have died with Him…

can truly live with Him.

Point 2 — You Were Raised With Christ (Romans 6:4–5, 8–11)

Now if that is true, if the old life really died with Christ, then the next question is obvious.

What now? Does the Christian life mean you spend the rest of your days staring at a grave?

Nope, because if the finished work of Christ is credited to our souls we can look at what happened.

The same Christ who died also rose. And if you are united to Him, His resurrection is not just something you admire. It is something you share in.

Let’s go back to verse 4.

Romans 6:4 LSB

4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

The Apostle Paul is not saying Jesus rose so you could quit smoking or cussing, or become a slightly nicer version of yourself.

He is saying the resurrection of Christ opens the door to an altogether different kind of life.

Not just a cleaned up life. Not just a religious life.

A new life.

The kind of life that only comes on the other side of death. And this is where Easter stops being a holiday and starts becoming a confrontation.

Because everybody likes the idea of new life as a feel good idea.

We get a Fresh start. Clean slate. Second chance. That phrasing makes us feel good on the inside.

But when Scripture speaks of new life, it is not talking about turning over a new leaf. It is literally talking about being brought out of spiritual death and into real fellowship with the living God. To push this further, lets go back a chapter in Romans to chapter 5.

Romans 5:8 LSB

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were sinners, Christ dies for us, and that death paid for our sins, we are brought into a newness of life being resurrected with him. But skip to verse 10 of chapter 5, it hits harder and should make us celebrate that death and resurrection we partake in a lot more.

Romans 5:10 LSB

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Enemies? While we were enemies God took us and reconciled us in the death of Christ. Took us out of our death when we hated Him, while were against the God most high!

This is the difference between dressing up a corpse and raising a dead man.

Those are not the same thing.

back to chapter 6 looking at verse 8

Romans 6:8 LSB

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

This although applicable to the Day of our Lord, when he returns on the judgment seat and us living with him, which that is certainly true. The Apostle Paul is saying that the life of the risen Christ has consequences right now for us.

The Christian is not merely forgiven on paper. He is made alive to God.

Verse 10 and 11 make that plain.

Romans 6:10–11 LSB

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Alive to God. That is one of the simplest ways to describe a Christian.

Before Christ, you may have been religious. You may have been moral. You may have had opinions about God. You may have not been the second Hitler, but you were not alive to Him.

You did not love Him. You did not delight in Him. You did not live before His face with joy. But when God saves a sinner, He does not merely cancel a record. He changes that sinner’s relationship to Himself.

The heart that was dead is awakened. The eyes that were blind begin to see. The will that was stubborn begins to bend.

And that matters, because there are many people who have borrowed Christian language without ever tasting Christian life.

They know the words, stories. they know when to say “amen.” But there is no life toward God in them.

No hunger for holiness. No love for Christ. No grief over sin. No desire to obey except when it is convenient or useful or makes them look better.

And Paul here in this text will not let us call that resurrection.

Resurrection shows up.

It shows up in new affections. It shows up in new loyalties. It shows up in new direction.

Not sinless perfection. Not instant maturity. But a real difference you can see.

A man who has been raised with Christ cannot be content to remain what he was.

How could he be?

He has been brought from death to life.

So when Paul says, “consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus,” he is telling you to think in line with what God has done.

Stop speaking of yourself as though sin still has the final word. Stop treating obedience like it is foreign. Stop talking as though holiness is for somebody else.

If you are in Christ, you have been raised into a new realm of life, under a new King, with new power at work in you. So Easter is not merely the announcement that Jesus walked out of the tomb.

It is the announcement that all who are united to Him are no longer trapped in the death they once mistook for life.

And that forces the question. Is there any evidence that you are alive to God?

Not do you attend church sometimes. Not do you know the right phrases. Not do you have a family history around Christianity.

Are you alive to God? Because those who have been raised with Christ do not remain untouched by His life. There is a change in your heart that starts to seep to the outside and is seen by all the world around you.

Points 3 — You Are No Longer a Slave to Sin, You Belong to God (Romans 6:12–23)

Now this is where Paul quits talking in broad terms and starts pressing it into your life.

Because once you understand that you died with Christ and were raised with Christ, the next question is obvious.

What do I do with my body, mind or my life?

Paul, here, answers it with force.

Romans 6:12–14 LSB

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

This answers all those questions.

Your eyes. Your mouth. Your hands. Your thoughts. Your desires. Your habits.

Paul is saying this: if you have been brought from death to life, then stop handing the pieces of your life back over to the thing Christ died to break.

Do not let sin reign.

Notice he does not say sin does not exist. I want you to notice this. He says it does not get to rule.

We still hear the voice of our flesh, there still is sin, the enemy still temps, this world still tries to make us promises.

But it is all lies, and it our flesh and sin are no longer our king.

So when you hand yourself over to lust, bitterness, greed, filth, pride, envy, anger, drunkenness, or whatever pet sin you have learned to excuse, you are bowing to a a master we no longer belong to. You are obeying a voice that has no rightful claim on you.

And this is where people start to squirm, because we like vague Christianity.

We like songs about grace, talk about forgiveness, the idea of Jesus dying for sinners.

But when the Word of God starts naming what we do with our bodies, our mouths, our money, our entertainment, our private habits, our secret sin, all of a sudden people want a softer religion.

Scripture does not give you a soft religion instead it says present yourself to God.

Not part of yourself. Not your Sunday self. Not your cleaned-up public self. Your whole self.

You have passed from death to life. That is the logic.

Not, “Clean yourself up so God will take you.”

No, God in Christ has made you alive, so now stop crawling back into the grave.

And then Paul says something that cuts straight through all our excuses.

Romans 6:14 LSB

14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

The ESV puts it more impactful with Romans 6:14

Romans 6:14 ESV

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Do you hear that?

Not, “Sin should not be master or have dominion over you.”

“Sin shall not be master over you.”

Grace does not make holiness optional. Grace breaks chains. Grace does not pat sin on the head. Grace teaches the believer to say no. Teaches you to Mortify and Hate the sin in your life.

Which means grace is not an excuse to stay the same. Grace is the reason you do not have to.

And that leads right into the next blow Paul lands.

Romans 6:15 LSB

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

That is the cry of the flesh.

“Then how much can I get away with?” “How close can I stay to sin and still have Jesus?”

That is not the voice of a man or woman who loves Christ. That is the voice of a soul still flirting with his chains.

Paul says do you not know that the one you obey is the one you serve?

That is plain. Everybody in the here can understand that.

You obey sin, sin is your master. You obey righteousness, that shows a new Master owns you.

Nobody lives masterless.

That is the lie of the age. “I’m free. I live for myself. I answer to nobody.”

No, you serve somebody. The only question is who.

And here is where we need to bring the resurrection down hard onto the conscience.

Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead so you could add a little religion to your life and keep yourself on the throne.

He rose to be Lord. And if He is Lord, then your life is not your own.

Your body is not your own. Your desires are not your own. Your future is not your own.

You belong to God.

Paul says in verse 22, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit leading to sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

There it is.

You have been freed from one master, not so you can belong to yourself, but so you can belong to God.

And let’s be honest, the modern man hates that.

He wants a savior who forgives but does not rule. He wants grace without authority. He wants heaven without holiness. He wants Christ without a crown.

But that Christ does not exist.

The Christ who came out of the tomb is the Christ who sits on the throne.

And the same Christ who says, “Come to Me,” also says, “Follow Me.”

So let me press this home.

What are you presenting yourself to?

What gets your thoughts when nobody is watching? What gets your body? What gets your affection? What gets your obedience?

Because whatever you present yourself to, that is what is shaping you. That is what is ruling you.

And then Paul closes with one of the clearest contrasts in all of Scripture.

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

Sin pays wages. It always pays. It pays in shame. It pays in corruption. It pays in death.

You may enjoy it for a moment. You may hide it for a season. You may excuse it for years. But sin pays in death.

But God does not deal in wages for His people. He gives gifts.

The gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not earned. Not achieved. Not purchased by your morality.

Given.

So here is the landing point.

If you are outside of Christ, your sin is not small, your danger is not imaginary, and your time is not endless. The wages are real, and death is coming.

But if you will turn from your sin and come to Christ, there is mercy even for you. Full pardon. Full cleansing. Full life. Not because you have done enough, but because He has.

And if you are in Christ, then stop living like a man still owned by the grave.

You have died with Him. been raised with Him. been freed from sin. You belong to God.

So live like someone the risen Christ has purchased.

Because Easter is not just the good news that Jesus walked out of the tomb.

It is the declaration that everyone joined to Him must never be the same again.

Come to the Living Waters

So here is where this lands.

Christ is risen.

The tomb is empty. Death has been conquered. The sacrifice has been accepted.

That means no one in this room has the right to leave unchanged.

This is what we have seen in Romans 6.

If you are in Christ, you died with Him. If you are in Christ, you were raised with Him. If you are in Christ, sin is no longer your master. If you are in Christ, your life is no longer your own.

So you cannot hear this and stay neutral.

You cannot say Christ is risen and then go on living like sin still owns you. You cannot speak of grace while making peace with the very things He died to put away.

So let me speak plainly.

You need to repent.

Repent of the sin you protect. Repent of the pride you excuse. Repent of dead religion that knows the right words but does not bow to Christ.

Turn from the old life that leads to death. Turn from the lie that you can belong to Jesus and still belong to yourself. Turn to the risen Christ.

Not to your effort. Not to your promises to do better.

To Christ.

Come to the One who died for sinners and rose in triumph. Come to the One who breaks chains. Come to the One who receives all who come to Him in faith.

And believer, do not sit there as though this is only for somebody else.

Repent of coldness of compromise. of drifting. Stop handing pieces of your life back over to a master that has already been dethroned.

You have died with Christ. You have been raised with Christ. You have been freed from sin. You belong to God.

So live like someone the risen Christ has purchased.

Do not leave this place boasting in your intentions. Leave clinging to Christ.

Turn from your sin. Look to the risen Christ. Walk in newness of life.

And live like He is alive.

Amen