You can, if you're in Romans chapter 6, I encourage you to either stay there or poke your finger there and turn back to Mark, briefly, chapter 16. Mark chapter 16, starting in verse 1, says this, when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Siloam, bought spices so that they might come and anoint him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe. And they were amazed. And he said to them, Do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." Now this is the true story of actual events that took place early one Sunday morning, nearly 2,000 years ago. Arguably the most important event that has ever happened, or will ever happen. happen. And we are here this morning, a little earlier than usual, to remember, to celebrate the Messiah rising from the dead. Over the past several years, we have looked at some different aspects of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Several times we have focused on the narrative accounts in the Gospels, like the one that we just read in Mark. In those accounts we have seen the fact of the resurrection. There is evidence in these passages that show us the certainty that Jesus came back to life after being crucified on a cross and buried in a tomb. Several times we have looked at the teaching of the Apostle Paul about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He says there's something about the The over 500 people who saw Jesus alive at one time. The eyewitnesses. So there should be no doubt in our minds that Jesus literally died on a cross and then came back to life again. It is a fact proven for us and told to us in the inerrant Word of God. Now unfortunately that Truth is not always taught in every building that is sometimes called a church. There was a certain pastor who holds to a very liberal theology who was once asked, do you believe Jesus was raised from the dead? He answered, the purpose and the personality and the power that was in Jesus continues so that today he is a risen and living presence and possibility. Or in other words, no not really, But it doesn't really matter all that much. It's a good thought that inspires us to be nice people is basically what he was getting at. Or it's the thought that counts. It's a nice thought. And the thought of Jesus inspires us. Well, that is a foolish position to hold for someone who claims to have studied and claims to teach the scriptures. Because God clearly tells us that Jesus is alive. He proves to us that Jesus is alive. Jesus is alive. And that is a big deal. Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 15 to detail just how vital it is that Jesus did rise from the dead. And he explains that there would not be any hope for anyone if it were not a fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Now we've looked at those verses several times in 1st Corinthians 15. So over the years we have seen that the Bible is very clear. Jesus went to the cross and died a real death. He shed His own blood and gave up His life to pay the penalty that our sins deserve. And then He rose from the dead. And that by believing in Him, because of His death and resurrection, being victorious over sin and death and Satan, we are saved for eternity. By grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, the risen Savior. his verses in Mark chapter 16. Those of you who have been here with us regularly, you may recall that we've only made it partway through chapter 13 in our regular study of the Gospel of Mark on Sunday mornings. So I was thinking through how are we going to, where are we going to go this morning? What are we going to look at? I was thinking that it shouldn't be too long before we work through the rest of chapter 13 and 14 and 15. Then I was thinking, well, maybe that's being a little too ambitious. It may take us a while to work through those chapters. But I didn't want to just skip to the end and go right into chapter 16. I'd like to keep working our way through progressively through the Gospel of Mark up through the rest of what leads to the cross. and the resurrection. So this morning we're going to look at another aspect of the importance of the resurrection. I said earlier that an argument can be made that this is the most important event that has ever happened. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. That goes along with the death of Jesus on the cross. Those two have to go together. There would be no resurrection if there was no death and Without the resurrection, his death would be meaningless. But when does the resurrection of Jesus become important for you? That's my question this morning. When does the resurrection of Jesus become important for you? Is it just at your death? Because it means that your destination will be heaven instead of hell. Is that when the gospel goes into effect? Or does the resurrection of Jesus Christ have some significance for you today? Was it significant for you yesterday? Will it be significant for you tomorrow? Now we're going to be in Romans chapter six, verses one through 11 this morning. And we are going to see why the resurrection is so important for you today. is important for you right now this morning. Let's look at verse 1, Romans chapter 6. Apostle Paul writes, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Now here Paul is anticipating an argument that he knows someone will make. And he knows that someone is going to try to make this argument because of what he has just said at the end of chapter five, but not just because of what he said at the end of chapter five, but everything that he said leading up to what he says at the end of chapter five. If you look back, chapter five, verses 20 and 21, Paul has said, the law came in so that the transgression would increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so, grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now Paul has been making the argument in the letter of Romans that salvation comes by grace alone, apart from the law. Now he knew because he has been hounded by the Judaizers almost everywhere he has gone that there would be objections to his teaching on grace. They say, many people will say, yes, believing in Jesus is important. What he did on the cross, rising from the dead, yeah, that is all very important. But if you want to really be saved, you must also keep the law. And to try to bolster their point, some could make the argument that if you teach that salvation is only by grace, and no good works are necessary to be saved, people will start to get the idea that it doesn't matter how they live. That sin is fine, and in fact, sin even more, because more sin brings more grace. Now that is the argument that Paul is anticipating in chapter 6 and verse 1. And so he preemptively answers in verse 2, May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? So does teaching that salvation is by grace alone, apart from the works of the law, does that encourage licentiousness? Does it make sin okay? Well, Paul says as strongly as he can, Absolutely not. May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Paul is saying that there is something about salvation that makes that a ridiculous thought and an invalid argument. Because salvation is by grace alone, that sin is okay. When a person is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, there is a change in that person's relationship with sin. He says, we die to sin, in verse 2. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? This is something that happens to the believer that changes who they are. And in the next several verses, Paul defends his argument and explains the change that happens to a believer. We look at verse three. He says, or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Now this is something that we need to know that maybe everyone doesn't realize. Maybe everyone hasn't been taught this. Maybe everyone hasn't considered this about the believer's new relationship with sin or how it is that we who are saved have died to sin. When we were saved, we were baptized into Christ Jesus. Now that word, baptized, can carry some baggage with it that we might need to unpack a little bit. Generally, when this word comes up in the Bible, What can come to mind is what happens in a church baptistry, like the one that is under this platform here, or may happen in a lake or a river where somebody gets wet, maybe two people get wet. I like this one here below us where I don't have to get wet. But one person at least gets wet, and someone else says something like, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But something we need to know is that every time you see that word in the Bible, that is not always what it is talking about. When we see that word in the Bible, we should know that it is a transliteration of a Greek word. Now that means that the Greek word was not translated. The Greek letters were replaced with the equivalent English letters to make a new English word. Now that Greek word, baptizo or some form of that, was a common everyday kind of word that means to immerse. So you can immerse your dishes into the dishwater in the sink. Or if you want to sound fancy and make people think you speak Greek, you can baptize your dishes into the sink. It means the same thing as putting them into the water. It is not always talking about a church ceremony. When you think about it, Dunkin' Donuts could equally be called baptized donuts. Some people may think, oh, you're eating some very spiritual donuts. But no, it's just a Greek word that means Duncan. So you're baptizing your donuts in your coffee. So Romans chapter 6 is one of those times that is not talking about a church ceremony with someone being dunked in water. It is talking about being fully immersed or placed into. That is the the sense that that word has here in Romans 6. Fully immersed or placed into? Or do you not know that all of us who have been immersed or placed into Christ Jesus have been immersed or placed into His death? Another way we could see this or say it is that when we are saved, we are so identified with Christ that we are identified with His death. Now this is talking about Holy Spirit baptism. Like Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, where he says, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body. When we are saved, we are placed by the Holy Spirit into Christ. We are identified with Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are identified with Christ so closely that we are identified with his death. So, as Paul said in verse two, we have died to sin because we have died with Christ, verse three. It's that idea that Paul is explaining further in the next verses in this passage. Since we have been immersed into and identified with Christ by the Holy Spirit, then verse four, therefore, we have been 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. So even though it was nearly 2000 years ago that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and then rose again. We are so identified with Christ at salvation that it is just as though we died when Jesus died. We died to sin when Jesus died for our sin. We were buried with Jesus when he was buried. And we were raised from the dead when Jesus was raised from the dead. So his death was our death. His resurrection was our resurrection. So Paul is saying here that just as Jesus is alive from the dead through the glory of the Father, so are we. We've died to sin. We've been raised from the dead. So now we can walk in newness of life. He's saying the same basic thing in verse 5. He says it in just a little different way. 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. Now, where most translations say, united with Him, that's the idea of identification. We've been baptized. That we've been talking about. We are united with Christ. It means the same thing. Baptism. Identification. United with Christ. The King James Version. It has a bit of a word picture there. It says planted together. It's the idea of being grafted into Christ. And when you graft branches into a tree, that branch becomes part of the tree. It gets its life from the roots of that tree. And that is The idea here that we've been united with Christ. We have become a part of Christ. The life that we have comes through Jesus Christ. So that union, that identification, is so close that it's just as though we died with Christ. We died to sin. And if that is the case, then just as certainly as Jesus rose from the dead, us too. We have risen from the dead. Now the point that Paul is making with this resurrection talk here and in the following verses is that if you are saved, something about you has changed. You are not the same as you used to be. When Jesus rose from the dead that Sunday morning so long ago, that resurrection is so important for you today because you have been united with Christ in his resurrection. And that means today, you have life that you didn't used to have. You were born dead in sin, with a sin nature, a slave to sin, without spiritual life. But through Jesus' death on the cross, when you were saved, You died to that sin. You died to who you used to be. Sin no longer has power over you like it used to have. Sin is no longer your identity. When Jesus rose from the dead, you've been united with him in that resurrection, so you now have spiritual life that you didn't have before. The same thing that Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, We said, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. You now have spiritual life if you are in Christ because of his life. And your relationship with sin has changed. We have died to sin. Same thing Paul is explaining back here in Romans 6, verses 6 through 7. He says, knowing this, that our old self 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. For he who has died is freed from sin." Now what it means that our old self was crucified, he says beginning of verse 6, is explained by the rest of verse 6 and verse 7. Now you may have noticed from your own experience that we are still in the flesh. We still have weaknesses. We still sin sometimes. But what has changed is that now we don't have to sin. Sin is no longer our master. We don't have to obey Satan. We don't have to fall to temptation. That we died to sin means that the power of sin has been broken. And we are no longer slaves to sin. Because we've died with Christ, we've been freed from sin. Not entirely from His presence, but from His power. Sometimes the freedom that we have in Christ, or Christian liberty as sometimes it is called, has been taken to mean that because of grace, we are free to sin. Because sin just doesn't matter anymore. Grace cancels it out. God forgives it, so it doesn't matter. Go ahead and sin. I've heard people who believe things like that. But Paul is telling us the opposite in this passage. As Christians, grace doesn't mean that we're free to sin, and it doesn't mean that It makes it okay to live a life of sinful indulgence. That's what the unsaved have the freedom to do. But the great freedom we have in Christ is to be freed from the power of sin so we don't have to sin. And we now have the opportunity, because we have spiritual life, to live a life that honors, glorifies, and pleases our Creator, something an unbeliever cannot do, something you could not do when you were dead in sin. Look at verses 8 through 10. It says, Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over Him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Paul says that the death that Jesus died was fully sufficient to accomplish all that he came to do. It was a completely acceptable sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. So he will never die again. He never needs to be sacrificed again. And when He rose from the dead, He broke the power of death. The power of sin has been broken. And so He is now alive forever, living to the glory of His Father. And so since we have been baptized into Christ Jesus, our death towards sin is certain. It is sufficient. And it cannot be undone or redone. We don't need to obtain some higher level of sanctification before any of this kicks in. If you are in Christ, you are not who you used to be. You have been changed. And as certain as Jesus is alive, If you have been united with Him in salvation, then so are you. You are alive to God today. There is so much more to salvation than just a change in forwarding address when you die. So much more than just going to heaven instead of hell someday when you die. That is an amazing part of it, It's wonderful, but there's so much more to salvation than that. If you have turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in Him for salvation, you have been baptized into His death and His resurrection. And today, it's not just someday in the future, but today, that means you are no longer a slave to sin. And you never will be again. And you are spiritually alive. And you always will be. So you are now able to live a life for the Lord that you could not before. And that is a big part of what we should celebrate about the resurrection of Jesus Christ today. It matters for you today. It matters for the life that you are living today, not just someday when you die. So that event almost 2,000 years ago changes who you are today. Well, that's what the scripture says. That's what we read right here in Romans chapter six, verses one through 10. These are the facts. Now what is left is to put it into practice, to apply the truth that we know. Look at verse 11, even so, Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. So, if you are united to Christ for salvation, it is true. It is an unbreakable, unshakable truth that you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. But are you considering that to be so, or reckoning it to be so." What this means is that there is a difference between knowing the truth and applying the truth. For example, someone could be very well read in theology. Someone could know a lot about God's immensity, about His sovereignty, about his power, his providence, his provision, his protection, his plan. They could know about his wisdom and his love for his own, and yet be fearful in a difficult or uncertain circumstance in his life because he has failed to apply the things that he knows about God to his own situation. And we've probably all been there in some cases. Sometimes we know better than we do. Because sometimes there are things we know that it's been hard to apply. Verse 11, we are called to apply what we know about the death and resurrection of Jesus. To apply our part in it through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. to apply it to our lives and to our relationship with sin. So when temptation comes, we are to remind ourselves that we are not who we used to be. That we are no longer a slave of sin. Sin is not my master. I do not have to obey it. We are alive to God in Christ Jesus and we are to live like it. So we say no to sin. We say, I am a child of the King, and I want to live like it. My life no longer belongs to sin. My life belongs to God. So as Paul says in verse 13, verse 13 is the application of this passage. Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Today, how will you use your hands? How will you use your feet? How will you use your mind? How will you use your body today? Will you use it for sin? Or will you use it for righteousness? You no longer belong to sin. So why serve it? You belong to God. You ought to serve Him. You ought to use your hands, your feet, your mind, your entire self for the purpose of righteousness for the Lord. As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ today, remember the effect that it has on your life today. That you were raised with Him. You were once dead in sin. Now you have died to sin in Christ. You've been raised up with Him. You have spiritual life. You can live victoriously for the Lord. So, let's do it today.