Freedom from the Power of Sin
Easter 2021 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The remaining 11 disciples and several women close to Jesus saw him after the resurrection. They all saw Jesus alive and testified of it until their deaths. Not one single person is recorded to have taken back their testimony about Jesus’ resurrection. Many of them would be persecuted for this testimony. They had nothing on earth to gain by saying they saw Jesus alive.
By contrast, Chuck Colson said this:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We say this morning that HE IS ALIVE! Why does this matter? Sure it is great to think that even though Jesus suffered on the cross, He is alive, but there has to be more to it. Turn with me to Romans 6.
Through this passage today, I want you to see that:
The power of the cross and resurrection is not just
freedom from the penalty of sin,
but also
FREEDOM FROM THE POWER OF SIN
Let’s read starting in verse 1 of Romans 6:
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?
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.
Vs 1 - If grace increases when sin increases and I want more grace…then...
Vs 2 - Paul says by no means…Absolutely not!
If we have died to sin, how is sin living anymore…it shouldn’t, but we all know it does...
Vs 3 - Baptism is a symbol of us relating to the death of Christ - as we are immersed in water, that symbolizes Christ’s burial in the tomb. Fortunately we don’t have to stay there three days,
Vs 4 - But when we are raised out of the water, we are raised up to live a new life.
The resurrection is not just for us when we die, it is for us to live a new life here and now. Too often though we like to go back to the cross and the suffering that is there because we like our sin too much.
If we’ve put sin to death, why would we want to bring it back to life?
The burial and resurrection is not just for the
freedom from the penalty of sin, but also for the
Freedom from the power of sin.
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.
Vs 5 - If we put our sin nature to death like him, we will have a resurrection like his.
Vs 6 - We have to crucify our sin nature in order that our sin would be done away with. If we don’t put it to death, it will still live within us and cause bondage to it.
Vs 7 - dead people don’t sin. Dead flesh doesn’t sin. Dead desires don’t cause sin. Only living ones do.
The cross is a place to nail your sin and leave it there. It doesn’t do any good to nail sin to the cross if we are just going to go and pick it off the cross again.
Death on the cross is as much for
freedom from the penalty of sin as it is for the
Freedom from the power of 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.
Vs 8 - if do the first part, death, we also get the second part, life. He continues
Vs 9 - Jesus died and rose from the dead => death is defeated. death has no chance of victory, nor does Jesus give it any mastery or hold on him.
Vs 10 - this once and for always death to sin is final. Because sin is now dead, he lives his life to God or for God.
Paul is stepping through a logical progression to speak against Christians living in habitual sin.
Once we’ve put sin to death, our life belongs to God and our living is for him....let’s keep reading...
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.
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Vs 11 - Just as Jesus is alive to God, we are to consider ourselves alive to him. Our sins are gone…they are dead in Christ.
Vs 12 - If sin is dead, it cannot reign. It cannot tell us what to do and we no longer obey its evil desires.
Vs 13 - Just as Jesus was resurrected from death to life, we - in this life, here and now - have been resurrected from death to life. By offering ourselves to Him as instruments of righteousness, we effectively claim the victory over the power of sin in our lives.
Vs 14 - Sin will no longer be our master if we live life this way. Our way of living becomes less about what is allowable under law and we live a perpetual state of grace.
The resurrection of Jesus is not only for
freedom from the penalty of sin, but also for the
Freedom from the power of sin.
Have you identified with Jesus in his death and therefore also with Jesus in resurrection?
As believers we are resurrected into new life. Here. Now. Freedom not just from the penalty of sin, but over the power of sin over our life.
So many believers are walking around in bondage because they haven’t nailed their sin to the cross in death, once and for all. Is there sin you need to leave at the cross once and for all?