Death's Dominion is Done

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. We're going to do something a little bit different this morning. There's going to be two different passages we're going to read.

If you could turn in your Bibles with me to the book of John. John chapter 20. We're going to read that and then we're going to move over to Romans chapter 6. John chapter 20. I'm sorry, I don't have a pew Bible in front of me, so I don't know what page that's on, but it's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John chapter 20. If you get to Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, you're too far. Come on back. John chapter 20. Let's read these words. Hear now the word of God.

Now the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. And when she ran, it came to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloth lying there, yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb, and he saw the linen cloth lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloth, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

But Mary Magdalene stood outside by the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? She, supposing that he was the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is the saint teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me. for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father and to my God and your God. And Mary came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. Let's turn over now to the book of Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6, that's page 1003. Romans chapter 6, beginning at verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, that the life he lives, he lives to God.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we read true historical events and true doctrine teaching from you. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts now, that we would have hope for today and for eternity. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I grew up in a church that did sunrise services. where every year you woke up and on Easter Sunday you had sunrise services and so we would be there and that was kind of weird because kids normally weren't at the worship services but during the regular worship the kids were taken away into our Sunday school classes and I heard the story of the resurrection time after time after time after time again but you want to know something amazing? I heard that story year after year after year after year and one didn't believe it, and two, didn't know why in the world I should believe it. What difference did it make? Why does the resurrection of Jesus matter? Why is it at the heart of Christianity? That's what I want to explore with you this morning. Why in the world does the resurrection of Christ even matter? Well, because the dominion of death is done. That's why. The dominion of death is done. See, first, there was a reign of death.

We picked up in Romans chapter 6, but that's not exactly fair to you because Paul has been putting this whole argument forth about why Jesus had to die and how the Christian is to live in light of Jesus' death. And the reality is that in Romans chapter 3, I'm just going to be walking us through some stuff here, but Romans chapter 3 says something insanely offensive. Look with me at Romans chapter 3. You can look there and just listen, but it's not really that fun.

As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. Their tongues, they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is on their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." That's offensive!

Let's just make sure that you understood what he was just saying. Paul, the Holy Spirit through Paul, has just cast a blanket statement on every single person who's ever lived. And for every single one of us, he says, naturally, you don't want God. It shows with how you speak. You're not seeking after God. It shows with how you live your life. This is why in chapter 5, verse 12, specifically says therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin thus death has spread to all men because all sins well I think I just failed church growth 101 class because this is not a popular message that you're going to hear in most pulpits today but see sin is a cruel taskmaster I was, uh, I love YouTube.

You find all sorts of crazy stuff on YouTube. Not all the good, most of it not good. But there's sometimes that I'm amazed by things that are there. I was watching recently, I've been fascinated by audio and video from the 1800s and from the early 1900s. And one of the things I never thought of is that, did you know that they actually did audio interviews with slaves in the 1880s? all the way up to the 1930s.

And as one former slave said, he said, we were slaves. My mother was a slave. My sister was a slave. My father was a slave. We were all slaves. Brothers and sisters, every single one of us was a slave to sin. Every single one of us had a cruel taskmaster.

The book of Hebrews, when it's talking about Moses' life, says that he didn't go after the pleasures of sin for its season. See, sin is this thing that we think about, but really all it is is this desire in our heart for something other than God. From Adam onward, we've tried to fill our desire for joy with anything other than God. Satan tries to tempt us saying that there's enjoyment to be had away from Christ. that you'll finally find fulfillment in something or someone in this world. Some pleasure, some experience, some vast amount of money, some prestige, some thing other than God. Indeed, what does sin do? It tempts us that there's peace or some type of good life to be had apart from God. And if we're honest with ourselves, Why do we sin? We think it's going to fulfill something in us or some desire or pleasure in us.

The person who is addicted to alcohol got drunk because they thought it was going to be fun. The glutton thinks that they're going to find some type of satisfaction if they just keep eating and eating and eating. I struggle with this. As I wrestled with my own heart, going to food because of depression, rather than going to Christ. As people rage in their anger, thinking that they just, what do they want? They want their own way, and this is how I'm going to get it, and they just get so mad. They think that it's going to fulfill what they want.

The thief steals because they think, this is something that I desire, and I want, and I should have it, and so they go and they steal and they kill for it. But see, sin is a cool taskmaster. I'm begging with you to open up your eyes to this. Sin is a cool, cool taskmaster. Always promising pleasure. Always promising fulfillment. Always promising the good life.

It makes grandiose promises, but it delivers shame, guilt, misery, hopelessness. and indeed death itself. It's byproduct is shame and isolation, strife and contention. The problem is that we inherited this from our father Adam and that we practice it in our own lives. Kind of a sad place to start a sermon, isn't it? Not a fun way to have your nice pick-me-up on Sunday morning. But we have to look at the darkness.

We have to recognize that when God looked upon man in Genesis chapter 6, he said that the intent of his heart was only evil continually. It's not until the Holy Spirit makes us sober enough that we can honestly evaluate ourselves. that our hearts are prepared for what Jesus actually did. Because until we know how bad the cancer is, we don't know how badly we needed this great physician to cure us. And indeed, it was Jesus Christ, even though we deserve death, who died the ultimate death for us.

Romans chapter 3, this is, you know, if you go to Awanos, your children will learn this right away. Romans chapter 3. For all have stand and fallen short of the glory of God. Thank God the message doesn't stop there. What does verse 24 say? Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. See, the good news of Jesus Christ is that there is a bar set up here. Have you ever seen high jumping before? Man, that scrupturizes me. I'd be crazy. No way I'm getting 12 feet in the air on a pole. You've got to screw loose or you're really brave. I don't know what, but that's a long way to fall.

But the Lord's bar is so high, none of us could ever attain it. And we fall short of His bar of glory time and time again. None of us could ever attain it. But God, by His free grace, has justified us through the redemption of Jesus Christ. See, it's not that you are ever going to be good enough to get over the bar of righteousness. None of us are ever going to be good enough to merit salvation. None of us are ever going to have enough love, enough good works, enough things that we've done, enough money we've given away to ever go to God and say, yeah, I deserve to be in heaven.

No. The good news of Jesus Christ is Romans chapter 5 verse 8, for while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. This is how God demonstrated his love. So many people come and they have this idea of Christianity, this idea of of somehow that the church is all about, well, just live an ethical life and be good enough and you'll get to heaven. And this is the entire point. If that's the case, why did Jesus die? No, for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. See, on Friday, God's love was demonstrated.

The debt was paid in full. A debt that we could never pay. Each one of us, if there was a log book, an accounting book in our lives, or a double ledger, our debts and our profits. With our debts in red and our profits in black, each one of us, our books would be swimming and ready.

And it was Jesus Christ who paid that debt, who purchased you at the cost of His own life. It is Jesus Christ who is the one who drank the full cup of God's wrath. It is Jesus Christ. This is why John cried out when he saw Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Why do we make such a big fuss about Jesus? Because without Jesus, none of Christianity makes sense. Why do we make such a big fuss about sin? Because if sin wasn't such a big deal, then why would Jesus die?

But maybe you've heard all this before. And you think, okay, that's great, you've gotten me to Good Friday. I still don't know what in the world the resurrection has anything to do with this. Well, let's keep going. See, Jesus died the ultimate death, but He, in fact, defeated it. death.

Romans chapter 4 verse 25. I'll read 23 through 25. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raise up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who is delivered up because of our offenses and was raised for our justification. And then in chapter 6 verses 9 through 10.

Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. For the life he lives, he lives to God. Jesus died the death once for all. But death had no rightful claim over Jesus. Why do people die? Because of sin. But Jesus had no sin. So why did Jesus die? For you. And for me. So what does the resurrection prove? That God did not just shove him in a hole in the ground and put a rock over the hole and walk away and say, yeah, that one's dead and it is done, but there's no more hope. Now guess what?

You've got to do it all again next time. That's what the Old Testament sacrifices did. Year after year after year after year, you would slay a lamb and then Yom Kippur happened, the Day of Atonement, you would slay the lamb, but then what happened the next year after those sins were done away with? Well, you'd go live your life and the next year you'd have to come back and slay another lamb. But brothers and sisters, we needed a lamb who would be slain, who would live forever. That the sacrifice would be done.

And this is what Jesus has done. Jesus rose from the dead. Death has no more dominion over Him. He was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification. That's a fancy word for saying Because Jesus is alive, do you know what's happened? His righteousness is imputed to you who believe in Him. All the work that Jesus did, living an absolute perfect life, if you believe in Jesus, if you are united to Jesus, if you are in Jesus and the Spirit of Christ is in you, when the Father sees you, He sees the righteousness of His Son. He doesn't see the red ink, because the red ink has been paid for. He sees perfection. Because the perfect lamb was slain. And he lives now. Jesus is alive today. Jesus is alive today. This is not something you can believe in by natural reasoning. But only by faith will you accept this. And you say, well, maybe I could just believe it on my own. Well, the Jewish people around his day certainly didn't believe it on their own. They came up with all sorts of schemes about somebody robbing the grave and the disciples stealing him away.

But Jesus walked upon the earth for 40 days after the resurrection, proving that he was alive, was seen by thousands. But unlike his friend Lazarus, who Jesus rose from the dead and eventually would die again, Jesus has never died again. But he ascended up into heaven. He sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

Why did Jesus rise again from the dead? Because today, Christian, you have the final prophet in heaven. Brothers and sisters, why don't we have to go back to Jerusalem every single year and offer a sacrifice year after year after year? Because you have a great high priest who is in heaven, who serves in the heavenly tabernacles. And he is the lamb who sits upon the altar. There's no more sacrifice needed because our priest and our sacrifice is in heaven. We have a great high priest, the final prophet in heaven today who is also the king of kings and the lord of lords.

Did you notice what Mary Magdalene said when she went and told the disciples? They've taken the body of our Lord. Is Jesus your Lord? This is a time to ask yourself honestly, is Jesus the one who calls the shots in your life? Is Jesus the one who says, come and follow me, here's the narrow way, walk upon the narrow way? And do you say, I love you Lord, okay. It might seem cockamamie at times, I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't know why I'm giving away money, I don't know why I'm helping poor people, I don't know why I'm loving my enemies, but okay Lord, you tell me, if I do this for others, I'm doing it for you and I love you, so I'm going to do it Lord. Do you follow the Lord? See, he has defeated death. Okay, great. Wonderful theological truths, Brian.

What does it mean for me? What does it mean in your life? What difference does it make, day to day? What's going to happen when you walk out of these doors, and I promise it's going to be less than ten minutes? What's going to happen? How's this going to change your life?

One of the slave recordings I was listening to, this woman who was an old woman by this point, she was a slave, she said, after abolition happened, after the emancipation occurred, this is what she said, she said, Mama and them didn't know where to go, see, after freedom broke. Just turned, turned like you just turned something out, you know? Didn't know where to go. Their bonds had been released, the shackles had come off, they were no longer slaves, but they didn't know where to go, didn't know what to do.

Brothers and sisters, the shackles of sin and slavery are off of you. So what do you do? Do you go back to your old master? So that you might somehow get more grace? This is the logical thing that Paul's worried about in chapter 6, verse 1. He says, may it never be... I love the King James Version there. It says, God forbid. If you think that Jesus saved you, that Jesus died on the cross to pay for the debt of sin, so that you could go and then go keep serving that master of sin, wires have gotten crossed that are wrong. May it never be.

Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher in the 1800s out in London. Thousands and thousands of people would come and hear him preach. As he was preaching one time, or while he was walking the streets one time, this guy came up sloppy drunk and slurring his words and stuff. He came up to Spurgeon, alcohol smells coming off of his lips, and he said, I'm one of your converts, Spurgeon. And he said, you must be one of my converts, because you're certainly not the Lord's.

God didn't save us from sin so we could go wallow in the mire of sin. No, He saved us unto holiness. See, if your life is in Christ and He hasn't left us to live unholy lives, but to live holy lives, this is where people often get things mixed up, you know? Because they'll hear the second part of the sermon and they'll think, oh see, snuck in the Christian ethic. Oh yeah, because we love Jesus! Because our priest reigns, our king is alive. We want to bring him glory. This is why he says in Romans chapter 6, Reckon yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Maybe you're one of these Christians that for so long, you've played a mind dupe on yourself. You've convinced yourself that you can never overcome a certain sin in your life. You've convinced yourself that you're just a worrier and that's just all you are. You're just an angry Irish stock and you're just always going to be an angry Irish dude.

No, consider yourself, reckon yourself dead to sin. Turn away from your sin. Do not let sin, verse 12 and 13 teaches us, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies. Christian, you are not a slave to sin. Yeah, you're going to struggle with your heart your whole life. You're never going to reach that point of sanctification in this life where you can say, I never willfully sin anymore. You're never going to get out of that place. But the chokehold that sin once had on you is done.

Walk in Christ. You have a Savior who defeated death. the sin in your life, because the spirit is in you. You're not going to do this by yourself, don't get me wrong. If you walk away from here and you think, oh, death has no power over me, I don't have to worry about Satan, I don't have to worry about any of this, I promise you, you're going to fall flat on your face by the end of today. Death has been done away with. But some of you, There's three groups of people here that I'm, there might be other types of groups, but I'm going to suppose that at least these three types of groups of people are in here today.

Some of you are complacent Christians. Some of you have, remember those times in your lives where it seemed like your heart was so tender towards the working of the Holy Spirit. That when someone would talk to you about sin, it would grieve your heart. It was like your stomach would turn and you couldn't wait to get to the Lord to confess your sin and to repent from it and turn unto God. But something's changed in your heart. The embers have started to grow cold. If you're honest with yourself, some of you have begun to act like, well, you have made it. You're not that sinful anymore.

Live like you've arrived. Where's your zeal for wholeness? Where's your desire for evangelism? Is your heart so lukewarm even during the sermon that when you hear about the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, in one ear and out the other, you just can't wait to get to lunch? Wake up.

This is the heart of Christianity. If this drives you cold, if you just say, oh, here goes pastor, thumping the pulpit again, this is the heart of Christianity. This is the hope that we profess. This is what brings people out of the kingdom of darkness and into His marvelous light.

If you are one of these complacent Christians, I pray that you mark this day on your calendar and you wake up. That you stoke those flames, because the Lord does not desire lukewarm. He wants hot, not lukewarm or cold. Go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. May this be that day that you remember the power of the resurrection in your own life, and that you would not be complacent anymore to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A second group of you are... Oh, this is... This is, I don't know, maybe for some of you this is the 10th time you've heard the resurrection story, maybe for some of you this is the 75th time you've heard the resurrection story. You come to church, these are Sunday Christians, you come to church week in and week out, but for you this is all just a story. It's nostalgic, it's cute for kids and stuff, but that's about it. It gives good moral teachings.

Some of you will go home today. No change. Why? Because it's too easy for a number of people who call themselves Christians to treat Jesus like a trinket. A little dopamine pill you take on Sunday morning to feel better about yourself. Have you lost sight? the radicalness of the resurrection of Jesus. Think about this. Paul says this is so important, that if Jesus Christ did not raise from the dead, then all of us who believe that are a bunch of loonies and fools. We are without hope in the world, most pitied above all men.

So I'm challenging you this morning. Ask yourself, do you honestly believe that a dead man could come out of a grave? That he could surely show himself to Thomas and he could say, you want proof? Put your finger here. You want proof? Put your hand in my side. That's where they struck my side. But do you know what Jesus says about you all?

When he talks to Thomas, he says, that's great that you believe because you've seen. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. It is harder for us to believe the resurrection because we believe it by faith. We have hope that our King is in heaven. But we live not by sight, but by faith.

So for you who have come in week in and week out as Sunday Christians, I pray that you lift up your eyes to heaven. I pray that the Holy Spirit would be working in your hearts even this morning, that you would have true saving faith, that you would confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead.

But the third group of you are contrite Christians. You read a chapter like Romans chapter 6, and you read of the resurrection, and you hear this great story of, I'm no longer a slave to sin, and this is wonderful, and But you're honest with your heart, but I know how sinful I am. Maybe I'm not a Christian.

Have you been there before? Maybe some of you know what that's like. You remember those former days where you were fighting hard against sin, and you're still fighting against sin, but it doesn't seem like you're making headway. Two steps forward and three steps back. Romans chapter 7 comes after Romans chapter 6. The Apostle Paul knew that feeling.

For he knew that he was no longer a slave to sin and yet he would cry out to God, the things that I do want to do I don't do and the things that I don't want to do yet I do. O wretched man that I am, who can save me from this bondage of death? What's his only answer?

Thanks be to God for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ, Christian, that some of you have wounded consciences, tender souls this morning and you have been struggling with sin and fighting with sin and you are struggling with assurance of salvation. I'm telling you right now, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that's meant to give you hope.

Not to draw you to despair. Because your King reigns. And nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, not even death itself. Because see, the book is written. It starts in Genesis, it ends in Revelation. Revelation's the end of the world, right? So the book is written.

But here's the problem we find ourselves. We're somewhere like here. Not all the way back here. We're in the story still. Jesus Christ hasn't returned yet. So we're going to struggle with sin. We're going to struggle with desiring holiness and failing on our faces and trying to love the Lord but always doing it imperfectly. But there is hope.

See, Jesus is the firstborn of the resurrection. But Jesus is going to come back again. And all those graves on the far side of this church, I'd encourage you after church, just walk to the north side of the building, and go learn about what the resurrection is actually about, because those graves are going to be opened up, and the dead are going to rise again, and guess what? They are no longer struggling with sin. for believers at their death are made perfect in holiness, but they rest in their graves waiting for the resurrection of the dead. And someday, someday brothers and sisters, the last trumpet is going to blow. The thunder is going to crash against the sky. and our king is going to return and written upon his thigh the name king of kings and lord of lords and he is going to come again and judge the living and the dead both the just and the unjust will rise see it is not the end of the story we are still in the middle of the story but Jesus is going to come back again and there will be a final end to death we await the resurrection of all of us But if Jesus is alive, if Jesus has been raised from the dead, Christian, you have hope that even though you might find yourself in a temporary residence next door, it is not a permanent change of address.

Jesus Christ is coming again. Our high priest will return. The lamb who was slain from before the foundations of the world has defeated death. It has no claim on Him, and if we are in Him, it has no claim on you. Rejoice in the resurrection of Christ. Never lose hope, for we hope in Christ, Him crucified, and Him raised, and Him come once again.

Father, please work in our hearts that we would love you. Lord, I pray that we would not walk out of here today with even harder hearts. But Lord, do a miracle in us. Lift our eyes unto heaven that we might see the Lamb who was slain. We might have hope both for today and for eternity. In Jesus' name, amen.

We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.