Introduction
"Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o'er his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!" Robert Lowry in Up from the Grave He Arose
Today, and every Sunday, we celebrate the historical fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, arose from the dead by the power of God on the third day following his crucifixion for the sins of his people. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most controversial issues in history. At the same time, it is one of the best attested events in history. The problem people have with the resurrection doesn't come from lack of historical evidence. It has more to do with the claims that one would have to acknowledge to be true if they accented to the truth of the resurrection. If one acknowledges that God the Father indeed raised Jesus from the dead on that glorious morning and that he declared him to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords by that very act, then one has to acknowledge the following twin truths: Jesus is who he said he was and all he said concerning you and your need of him is also true.
Our passage today assumes the historical and factual truth that Jesus arose from the dead and gives us the theological consequence of the resurrection on the life of those who believe that what Jesus did in life and death, he did for them.
I. Very Important Questions Right off the Bat: What Will You Do with Easter?
"Well, at the end of this Easter day, I want to ask you this question: what will you do with Easter? Maybe it sounds like a strange question. Maybe you're thinking, 'I'm not sure I understand the question. I think what I'm going to do is, I'm going to put it away and get it out next spring.'
"What will you do with Easter when a particular area of sin looks attractive to you, and you feel weak and unable? What will you do with Easter when you have been betrayed by someone and thoughts of vengeance enter your head, you're able to think of what you'd like to say and what you'd like to do?
"What will you do with Easter when you're struggling in your marriage, and it doesn't seem possible for you to love one another as God has designed for you to love? What will you do with Easter when you're facing another situation with a rebellious child, and you feel like you have nothing left, and you want to shake that child and say, 'Can't you get your act together?'
"What will you do with Easter when you lay in your bed at night, all alone, wondering how you will face the next day? What will you do with Easter? Maybe I should ask this question: what is it that God wants to do with Easter in you?" Paul Tripp
II. The Passages Leading to the Passage.
A. In Romans 5:20, Paul said something absolutely shocking to anyone with a Jewish when he declared that the law came in order that sin might increase.
B. He said something even more shocking when he said where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
C. Even though he had already explained what he meant in Rom. 5:21, Paul spends the whole of chapter 6 fleshing out what grace does in the life of believers as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
III. According to This Passage, Why Is the Resurrection so Important?
A. The thing that Paul emphasizes in this passage is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the source of both our justification and our sanctification.
B. The resurrection declares that grace went beyond even where sin had gone.
IV. Resurrection and Grace: Continuing in Sin Is a Contradiction of Grace and Its purposes, 6:1-2.
A. Paul's point is this: how can people who have died to sin, still live in it?
B. So to the first answer to the question "Shouldn't we go on sinning so that grace might abound?" Paul says, "Well, just think of who you are. You are a person united to Christ, and therefore, you died to sin."
V. Remember Your Baptism (into Christ and His Death), 6:3-4.
A. Paul tells us to stop and think about what our baptism means – reminder of the significance of baptism, 3.
B. Now Paul doesn't say that because water baptism saves you or anyone else.
C. What he is saying is that water baptism is a symbol of our union with Christ.
D. Paul emphasizes how radically the break of the dominion of sin is by his using two words throughout this passage: died and buried.
E. Because we are united to Christ, we can walk in newness of life, 4.
VI. The Transformation of Grace Is Radical, 5-10.
A. The transformation of grace is decisive through resurrection power.
B. But ultimately Paul points us to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the emphatic change of life that comes about in us, for us, because of Christ's resurrection, 5.
C. Paul is saying, when you believe on Jesus Christ, God grants you new life that flows from the resurrection of Christ.
D. Does it mean you never sin, or that you never have a desire to sin? Romans 7 tells us that it doesn't mean that.
E. Does it mean that you are no longer under the dominion of sin? Absolutely – you have new life granted you in Jesus Christ.
F. When you look at the gospels, there are many interesting reactions to Jesus.
Conclusion
Let me ask you again what I asked you earlier. What are you going to do with Easter? What are you going to do with the fact that Christ is risen? Is the risen Savior going to shape your life?
"Lord, by the strips which wounded thee from death's dread sting thy servants free, that we may live and sing to thee. Alleluia!" Latin Hymn
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2015/04/alive-with-christ-rom-61-10.html
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