But when the Apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthian church, he concluded with an expression of the gospel. The gospel, he wrote, which I preach to you, which you also received, in which you stand, by which you also are saved. Of course, the message of the gospel is not simply an add-on to the Christian faith. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.3 that it is of first importance. And despite the fact that we rehearse it every single week, and the temptation for us is to hear the gospel message and go, yep, I know that. Check it off and move on. And to just block it out. But here's the thing, the reason we rehearse it and talk about it and explain it is because this is the most important part of anything I could ever say. It is the message of our salvation. It is the good news of how God has saved sinners and forgiven them and rescued them and redeemed them for His glory. And yet, what are the most essential elements of this gospel message? Well, Paul actually summarizes. And he says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. And so these phrases, that Christ died for sins, it highlights the work that is accomplished on the cross. We talk so much about the cross and what takes place there, but because of the wickedness of our sins, because of the severity of our transgressions, because of the awfulness of our rebellion against God, he punishes sins with an eternity in hell for those who cannot escape on their own merit. And yet, in his loving kindness, he offers a way of salvation for those who desire to be reconciled to him. He sends Jesus, the Son of God, to come into the world as a perfect man, the God-man, to live righteously as God in human flesh and then die on the cross in the place of sinners. The Bible teaches that He earns forgiveness for us. He makes atonement or payment for us. He satisfies the wrath of God against us and He secures for us an eternity in heaven. Quite simply, Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and His death on the cross satisfies every single spiritual requirement that is necessary for us to receive the benefits of salvation. And so, He dies on the cross, and then we understand that He is buried in the ground. He is buried. And then on Easter Sunday, He resurrects to new life, and conquering death, He leads His followers to glory. The resurrection validates His work that He did on the cross, and it validates that it was accepted by the Father, and it also prefigures our future resurrection. How do you know that you're gonna resurrect and go to be with Him when you die? Well, just look at Jesus. Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected, and so if we are in Him, then we will resurrect with Him. He is the prefigurement of our future resurrection, which we'll talk about in a couple of weeks. But there's one component that is absolutely essential to the gospel that oftentimes gets overlooked. And that is the burial of Jesus Christ. And that will be the focus of our study today. And so if you have your copy of scripture in front of you there, turn to the end of Matthew 27. Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27 has brought us all the way from the mock trials of Jesus in Caiaphas' house to his audience before Pontius Pilate. And then He goes to the whipping block followed by the cross. After six hours of hanging on the cross, three of those in darkness under the wrath of God, Jesus finally accomplishes the work of salvation and gives up His life in Matthew 27 verse 50. And that's where we left off last time in verse 50. But immediately after the death, we understand that there was a massive earthquake which cracks open the tombs in Jerusalem. The veil in the temple is torn from top to bottom, and the centurion standing in front of Jesus declares, truly, this was the Son of God. But all of this history, these history-changing events, as they're taking place, Matthew records that in the midst of all of this, there is a group of women that are functioning as a consistent witness to everything going on. And so we're gonna pick it up in Matthew 27 verse 55. Verse 55 and 56. We're continuing in this narrative here. And Matthew records many women were there looking on from a distance. who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to him. Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Now, at first glance, you might think to yourself, well, this is kind of an odd place for a random detail. We're in the middle of the gospel narrative here, the passion narrative, whereby Jesus has died on the cross, he's gonna be buried, and he's gonna resurrect. Why are we talking about a couple of women who were standing and just watching all this take place. Well, actually, these verses are incredibly important. Despite the fact that all the disciples have fled, and we saw that a few weeks ago, that all the disciples have run away from Jesus in his hour of testing, his hour of need, they've all gone. And while they've all fled, there is a group of women who has remained faithful. They have stayed at Golgotha, on Calvary, they have witnessed everything that's taken place. Matthew tells us in verse 55 that many women were looking on from a distance. Why from a distance? Well, perhaps they were afraid. Perhaps they were partly cautious or maybe they were just too heartbroken to come too close and so they watched all the events of the cross from a distance. But this wasn't just a random group of women curious about what was happening on a Friday morning in Jerusalem. Matthew notes that this group of women had been following Jesus ever since Galilee and they were ministering to him. Galilee is the region of the north So we're talking about Judah in the south where Jerusalem is, Galilee's in the northern part of Israel, that's where Jesus is from. That was the beginning of his ministry. And so we know that Jesus had many disciples, and quite a few of those were women. Very many, in fact. But this specific group had been following Jesus for a long time, months, possibly even three years, all the way from Galilee. And Matthew notes that they had not only followed Jesus, but they had also been ministering to him. There's a Greek word that's used here is diakoneio refers to serving. Well, what ways are they serving Him? Well, the text doesn't tell us, but if you were to look at other examples of women in Scripture who do serve the Lord, it's possible, like Martha, they had been cooking food for Him. Or maybe they had been mending His clothes when it was torn down, or maybe running errands. We don't know how these women were serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but we do know that they were serving Him, and they had been consistently serving Him all that time. Well, who is in this group? Verse 56 tells us, at least some. Verse 56, among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Now this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but Matthew does note several prominent women here. First we encounter Mary Magdalene. Now she had been following Jesus for quite a while after he had delivered her from demon possession in Luke chapter eight, verse two. And as we're gonna see, she plays a very vital role in the text today. And next, after Mary Magdalene, we see Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. Now, there are several possibilities as to who this might be. Some scholars believe this might actually be Jesus' mother, and that his brothers, James and Joseph, could have been that, but Mary is a very common name, and there have been some who have said, well, ever since John brought her away from the cross and brought her home, she would not have been there after the fact. That's very well possible. Mark records that she's the mother of James the Less, one of the twelve, and Joses, again, likely a nickname for Joseph. But John 19.25 refers to her as the wife of Clopas. So again, there are so many Marys in the Bible, it's sometimes hard for us to determine which one is which. The last woman he referenced is the mother of the sons of Zebedee. According to Mark 15, verse 41, this woman's name is Salome. She's the mother of James and John, the sons of thunder. These are the disciples of Jesus. Salome is also Mary's sister, which makes Salome Jesus's aunt. And so this is a group of women who witnessed the death of Jesus on the cross. And as we're going to see, they're also going to witness his burial. And that's where we pick it up at this point in verse 57. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. and rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away and Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave." Now because of the prohibition in Deuteronomy 21 Verses 22 and 23, it was a Jewish custom taught by Scripture that they are not to leave a body hanging on a tree. We know Scripture also says that cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so for them to be hanging on a tree and dying on a tree and be cursed, the Bible says, you shall surely bury that person on the same day and do not let that action defile the land. And so they were commanded to pull the body, the dead body off of the tree and bury the body out of respect and also to keep the land from a curse. Whereas the Romans, the Romans had no problem leaving a dead body hanging on a cross or a pole or a tree. They did it all the time. They would just let their bodies sit there and rot as a warning to passersby. This is what's gonna happen to you if you disobey the Roman government. But as evening approached, Jesus' followers, they knew they needed to bury him. And that time was coming. Verse 57 says, as it was evening, close to about 6 p.m., A little bit before, Jesus' followers came forward to do it, and one of them was a specific follower, which we're gonna talk about. Matthew identifies him as a rich man from Arimathea. We don't exactly know where Arimathea is. We think it's somewhere near Jerusalem within 20 miles, but this man's name is Joseph. We don't know a whole lot about Joseph. Luke 23 50 tells us that he was, however, a good and righteous man. Matthew records that he had become a disciple of Jesus. However, this becomes all the more complicated when we also consider Mark 15 43 that it says he was a prominent member of the council. Which council is that? The Jewish Sanhedrin. the body of leaders in Israel that were presiding over the trial and subsequent execution of Jesus. Luke records that he had not consented to their plan and their action concerning Jesus. He was against it. He did not believe that they should put him to death or try to get him to be put to death because he believed in who Jesus was. Quite the opposite, he was actually a disciple, but the John says he was a secret disciple. He didn't let anybody know that he was secretly following Jesus. He hid his discipleship out of fear of the other Jews on the council. But Mark himself notes that he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Joseph was a righteous man. By earthly standards he was a good man. He had power and authority and wealth but he was waiting for the kingdom of God and he believed that Jesus is the Messiah. But we have a secret disciple now of Jesus and now this man is on the Jewish council and he's working a clandestine plan. Now it is possible that the reason that Joseph is the one who goes to Pilate is because of his position. The family of Jesus could have gone to Pilate and tried to get him to give the body over to them, but he knew that he would have had much more success because of his position on the Sanhedrin, and so he goes. He's able to gain an audience very quickly with Pontius Pilate, and perhaps this is something others could not do so easily. So verse 58 says that he goes to Pilate and he asks for the body of Jesus. However, Mark tells us that Joseph had to go and do this, but in order to do it, he had to gather up his courage. He was afraid. He was nervous about what this was gonna mean. In requesting the body of Jesus for burial, he's admittedly going to the Romans, he's aligning himself as one of Jesus' followers, the person they had just put to death, and he knows that this is problematic because if word gets back to the Sanhedrin that he's one of the followers, it could be trouble for him. And yet he sticks his neck out and he asks for the body of Jesus. However, according to Mark, Pontius Pilate hesitates. Matthew doesn't record that here, but Mark does. He's not sure, however, if Jesus is dead yet. Jesus, at that time, was about 33 years old. He's healthy. Normally, a man in his condition would have agonized on the cross for many days, potentially. So Pilate doesn't know after only a couple hours if Jesus is actually gone. And so we read that he summons a centurion to find out what has happened. In fact, is he expired? Is he gone? Because if he's not gone, I'm not doing anything. He has to be able to confirm. And so we read more about this in John chapter 19. So go over to John 19, just a couple pages ahead in your copy of scripture, John 19. Again, this is a parallel account. This talks about the same events of Matthew, but just from a slightly different perspective. John is talking about the crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus. He records the same details. Some details he adds to this, and that's the passage we're in today. But in John 19.31, we read sort of an addendum or sort of another detail added in that John records. John 19.31, when the Jews, because it was the day of the preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day, asked Pilate that their legs, the criminals on the crosses, their legs might be broken and they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with him. But coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who was seen has testified that this testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill so Scripture that not a bone of him shall be broken. And again another scripture says, After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate granted permission. So he might come and take away the body. And so at first you might be looking at these details saying, well, what's the big deal? Why hassle over the details about whether Jesus is dead and how they broke the legs of the other criminals so they would hang and die quicker on the cross? Why they pierced the side? Why all these details? Well, here's the reason. Because in order for the resurrection to happen, there has to first be death. You can't resurrect if you haven't died. The resurrection was prophesied. Again, the opponents of this will claim that Jesus never actually died. There's a popular theory floating around, it's been floating around for a long time, that Jesus did not die on the cross, that he only passed out or swooned. That he only seemed to die. And then the disciples took him down, patched him up, and then he looked like he was alive again. But here we have, bound in scripture, The testimony of a Roman governor, a Gentile, who would not give over the body of Jesus until he had proof that he was dead. So Pontius Pilate acts as another testimony to us and to the scriptures that Jesus actually died. Because again, he was not going to release the body of Jesus if he was not dead. And so at this point he receives word, confirmation. that Jesus is gone. And so the body of Jesus is handed over to Joseph of Arimathea, and then Pilate is given it to him, and now Joseph has the body to go and perform this ceremony. However, we know that Joseph was not by himself, and that's what we can continue on in John 19.39. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." Now again, you have to keep Matthew's account still in our minds here as we walk through this. John records now that Nicodemus himself, also a member of the Sanhedrin with Joseph of Arimathea, they have this honorable task of setting the body of Jesus to rest in the ground. Now, if you know the story from John chapter 3, you'll recognize the name of Nicodemus. He's the one who comes to Jesus by night. He's the one who's sitting with Jesus when Jesus tells him, He made that promise to Nicodemus that night. It's the same place where he talks about the necessity of new birth. Unless a person is born again, they cannot see the kingdom of God. And so like Joseph, he's also a secret disciple of the Lord. But Nicodemus here, he brings about 100 pounds of aromatic spices. 100 pounds, that would have been enough, that's wealthy enough, enough purchase to be made for the burial of a king. And so he comes and he brings this mixture of myrrh and aloes. Why did they do that? Well, this was to mitigate the smell of the body, clearly. Verse 40 again, so they took the body of Jesus and they bound it in linen wrappings with the spices as is the burial custom. Matthew also records this action where they take the wrappings and they wrap his body with clean linen cloth also known as a shroud. And as they're wrapping the body they are packing it with spices. Verse 41, again, now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden. And in the garden a new tomb in which no one had been laid. Now typically tombs would have been carved in many places in the sides of mountains or hills. Sometimes they were even repurposed from rock quarries. When they would quarry out rock there was a lot of times where they were caverns or caves, and so oftentimes that would be repurposed for grave sites. Customarily, in the case of a family tomb, the bodies of the family members would have been brought in and they would have been prepared on a makeshift table inside of that catacomb or whatever you want to call it. And so there's a table there, they prepare the body on that table, and then they have these carved in shelves inside of the walls of the tomb. And they would lay the bodies on these carved shelves where they would decompose. It was not uncommon to have many bodies in one tomb. Usually a whole family would have their dead in the same family tomb. And once these bodies were completely decomposed, they would go then, open the tomb back up, they would retrieve and re-deposit the bones into another vessel. And they would take pottery and they would put the bones in the pottery and they would go and bury or dispose that way. They would bury them in some kind of another tomb or in the ground. So even today in Jerusalem, buried in all these tombs are just these jars of bones everywhere. These are the bones of the dead. Of course, John notes that Jesus is laid in a new tomb where no one had yet been laid. And the reason is because this is a new tomb that Joseph had purchased for himself and for his family. And so once the body of Jesus is laid to rest, Matthew records that Joseph and presumably Nicodemus roll a large stone over the front entrance of the tomb and it says that they went away. And so their task is now done. It is the evening before the Sabbath, before the Passover. And now the body of Jesus has been properly buried. But even in all these verses there are details of this burial that are in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Isaiah 53 verse 9, which we're going to hear read next week, records the the suffering servant, the one who was pierced for our transgressions, who was crushed for our iniquities, who was oppressed and afflicted. And it says here we know that his grave was assigned with wicked men, meaning he died with criminals on the cross here. He was surrounded by two men who had died. They were guilty of sin and transgression. They were put to death as murderers and thieves. Jesus, the only innocent and righteous one, is in the middle dying for the sins of his people. And so he dies with wicked men. And yet, the Bible says in Isaiah, he was with a rich man in his death. Well, that's fulfilled literally. Literally. Because the body of Jesus is taken away and buried in Joseph's tomb. The tomb of a rich man. What's remarkable about this is beyond fulfilling prophecy is even that in death, He had been honored as king by his followers. After the shame and humiliation of the cross, in fact, R.C. Sproul notes that his burial, his burial was the beginning of his exaltation. Where the cross was humiliation, the burial he's honored. He's buried as a king in a rich man's tomb. He is exalted at least in honor. Now, over the years, there's been a lot of discussion, a lot of talk about, but what happened between Friday night and Sunday morning? Where did Jesus go at that time? What did he do? If you're familiar with the Apostles' Creed, we read this, that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, he descended into hell. And then the third day, he rose again from the dead. This has been a topic of strenuous debate. There's a reason I wrote a book called Christ in Creed, and I evaluate a lot of these things in the early church creeds. There might be a few left on the back table. Grab one if you'd like to. But the question is, where did Jesus go? Did he go to hell after he died? According to Roman Catholic theology, Jesus descended into hell after death for the purpose of preaching the gospel to the patriarchs and Old Testament saints and to other quote-unquote virtuous pagans who lived before the time of Christ. However, here is the problem. Apart from a very vague reference in 1 Peter 3.19, there is no biblical support to that belief. Rather, we're helped when we consider that the early Latin translations of the Creed do not refer to Jesus descending into hell, ad inferna, but rather to the dead, ad inferos. A whole different word, a whole different concept. Not into hell, but into or to the dead. In other words, Jesus descended into death. Literally is what the creed is talking about. Furthermore, everything he needed to accomplish in salvation is done on the cross, which is why he declares in John 19 30. It is finished to tell us I in the Greek paid in full. Nothing else has to be done. Nothing else has to be atoned for. Nothing else has to be said. The work has been done. And so where did Jesus go after the cross? Jesus tells us. In Luke 23-46, it records that before Jesus dies, right before He says, Tetelestai, it is finished, He cries out with a loud voice and He declares and He commends, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Where does Jesus go? He goes back to the Father. He goes back to the Father. Which brings us to the last verse of our passage today. Go back to Matthew 27. Verse 61, we're coming to the end of this burial now, and Matthew slides in another verse, which again, if we're not paying attention, would seem like just an add-on. But Matthew 27, 61 says that Mary Magdalene was there, referring to the time of the burial, and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave. Again, why is this detail important? because it maintains a consistent witness of the women who were there at every single stage of the events. The women were there on Friday, watching from afar as Jesus dies on the cross. They watched Him utter all of the phrases, the seven sayings on the cross. They watched the soldier pierce his side. They watched everything happen. They watched Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea take down the body. They watched everything. They were looking on to see, Mark 15, verse 47, they were looking on to see where he was laid. They were witnesses to every single thing. Luke actually tells us in Luke 23, 56, that they come back on Saturday, the very next day, and they prepare more spices and more perfume. Why? Because they're preparing, they're waiting that after the Sabbath is over, they're gonna go back to the tomb, they're hoping that someone will unroll the stone for them, and they can go and add more spices around the body of Jesus. So they're there on Friday, Friday afternoon, Friday evening, Saturday morning, However, when they return on Sunday morning, it is the very same women, these same women who find the tomb empty and the Lord resurrected. They are the witnesses that we're going to look at in a couple of weeks. They're the ones that God chooses to be the first ones to witness the resurrection and go tell the others. These women are here for a very specific, important purpose. to bear witness to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One week earlier, interestingly enough, if you could talk about Mary Magdalene here, they're at a dinner. And the disciples are there, and many of the women are there, and Mary Magdalene is the one who then anoints the head and ultimately the feet, the body, of Jesus with an expensive bottle of spiked nard. Remember the story? She breaks the neck of this bottle, pours the entire thing out, the whole room fills with the pungent smell of this perfume, and all the disciples get angry. And Judas Iscariot blasts her for wasting money on Jesus. But what does Jesus say about this beautiful gesture of devotion? He says in Matthew 26, 12, about Mary Magdalene, when she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. He was already thinking this way. All week long, Jesus' skin and his hair would have smelled like this spikenard. On the cross, the fragrance would have remained. Even as Joseph and Nicodemus gently handled the body of Jesus, they also would have smelled the spikenard on his body. This is a fragrant testament to Mary's love and devotion of the Savior. It lasted all week, and we know because of the gospel testimony, this story has remained even to today. 2,000 years later, we're still talking about Mary's act of devotion to prepare the Lord's body for burial. No verse in Scripture is wasted, my friends. Every detail is important. But there's even more for us to consider here when we talk about the burial of Jesus Christ. Why is this an essential gospel component? Why does it matter? Question 41 of the Heidelberg Catechism is this, simply, why was he buried? In other words, why is it significant? Certainly we understand that it's important that he died. Certainly we understand it's important that he rose. But why is it significant that Jesus was buried? And the Heidelberg Catechism gives this answer. His burial testifies that he really died. Why is it important that we establish that he really died? Because if Jesus really died, then our sins have died with Him. Turn over to Romans chapter 6. The book of Romans articulates and explains the doctrines of the gospel, or to put it another way, what the cross accomplishes to save us. The Apostle Paul taught that we are justified, that we are made righteous and right with God through faith alone in Jesus Christ. That even though sin and death were entered into the world at the fall, grace and salvation came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And so once we've been forgiven and saved and redeemed, there is nothing that we or anyone else can do to change that reality. Once you have been saved, once you've been purchased, you can't be unpurchased by God. Once you've been bought back, you cannot be sold again. Once you've been saved and found, you cannot be lost again. That's the whole point of salvation. But this opens up a hypothetical question. If God forgives me because Jesus paid for my sins on the cross, then I can just do whatever I want. It doesn't really matter if I continue to sin if all of my sins are paid for. You can't out-sin the grace of God, right? As long as there's grace and grace is sufficient, I can just sin and ask for forgiveness later. But Romans 6, Paul blows that up. Romans 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 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. For if we become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 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 should no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is free from sin." And so here we have Paul expressing the spiritual connection that believers have to Christ. Jesus dies on the cross to pay for our sins. And verse 2 says that we died to sin with Him. Christ is placed into the grave, into death, and verse 3 says that we are baptized both physically and spiritually to align with Him in His death. Then verse 4 says we've been buried with Him. Why is it important that Jesus is buried? Because we also are buried with Him. Well, how? Through baptism into death. Christ's physical burial points to our spiritual burial. But what is buried? It says we're buried with Him. What's buried? Our old self. Our former life. Our slavery to sin. Our punishment for our sin. We who were in salvation, who are dead and buried with Christ, are now alive in Christ. That's the connection. This means several things. Number one, who we used to be, who we used to be, our unregenerate nature, our depraved mind, our blasphemous speech, our sinful deeds, all of that is dead and buried with Christ if you are in Christ. And so don't let Satan convince you. that it's still there, that you're under condemnation. Because that's one of the tactics of the enemy. Satan loves to take your old sins, the old confessed and forgiven sins, and stick them right back in your face. Remember the time that you did this and that and this and that? That was terrible. And you feel the guilt and the weight and the shame. Oh, I've confessed that so many times. Oh, I still am burdened with that. Be free. If you have confessed and found forgiveness in Christ and have a new life in Christ, it's gone. Don't let Satan tell you it's not. Your old self is gone. Your old self is buried with Christ. Number two, because your old self is buried with Christ, here is the exhortation, don't go back and live your old life. Don't do that either. That's what Paul says, shall we continue then in sin so that grace might increase? Why give God more reasons to have to pour out grace to forgive sins? Of course we can't out sin the grace of God, but Christians don't try to do that. If anything, it's the other way around. I can't believe there's grace to cover my sins. Christians do not willfully enter into sin and rebellion against God. That's not who we are. That's not why Christ died. And so don't go back and try to live your old life. Your old life is gone, friend. It's totally gone, so don't go back to it. The person that you were before Jesus saved you is dead. And was buried in the ground. Don't try to get them back. They won't help you. They won't help you. Furthermore, they will drag you down and they will kill you. So don't live in your old nature. Don't live in your old self, the old sins, the old way. Live for Christ. You have been freed. Number three, while your old self is dead and buried with Christ, you have been raised to new life in Christ. That's what he says in verse four, therefore we've been buried with him through baptism into death, so that, that's a purpose statement, so that as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. You're a new creation in Christ, if you have received him. If He has changed your heart, if He has given you new life, you're a new person in Christ. You might look the same on the outside, but your heart changes, your mind changes, your spirit, your nature changes. Beloved, you have been given spiritual power and freedom to live righteously for God. Let me tell you this, I understand that you have a sinful nature still attached to you because of your flesh, but here is the thing, you don't have to sin. I'm not saying that you won't and you can't. You can, you certainly can, and you probably will, but when you're faced with temptation, you don't have to give in. You can tell your flesh no. In fact, that's what the Bible says in Titus 2, 12, says that the grace of God has delivered us and has given us, has taught us to say no to ungodliness. When a temptation comes, you can look the temptation in the face and say, I'm not gonna do that. I have freedom to say no because Christ has set me free. That's not who I am anymore. I don't do that anymore. You have been freed. You have the freedom to live righteously for God. And Christians desire to live righteously for God. Not because it earns us anything. My good deeds will do nothing for my position. Doesn't matter how much money I give, how many people I serve, how many good deeds I do, how much I deny the flesh, none of those things will get me into heaven with God. Doesn't make a difference to him on that level. What gets me into heaven is a relationship with him through faith in Jesus Christ alone. He's the only one who can save. And yet, now that you have been saved, what is your response to him? What do you do to a person who has saved your life? Do you spit in their face? No. You live your life in response to grace. You live your life in humility and thankfulness and joy and pleasure in the Lord, seeking to find new ways to do right things for God, not because he's going to give you something for it. We don't trade time and money and goods with God. We have nothing to offer him. And yet everything I do is an act of worship. God, whatever I have, whatever I have is Yours, even though He doesn't need anything. But it's your heart. What does your heart do for God? Do you love Him? Do you trust Him? Do you obey Him? Do you serve Him? Do you submit to Him? Do you rejoice in Him? You have freedom in Christ to live righteously for God, so live as free believers in Christ. Live free, my friends. Don't let yourself be shackled to a dead body. You have new life in Christ. Again, all of this came to you because Jesus went to the cross, paid for sin, your sin died with Him in the ground, and you were given new life and resurrection. That's why we have this. He was dead, buried, and rose again. And you might be asking, maybe, well, I'm not sure if I belong to Him. I don't know if I'm a Christian. I don't know if I've ever been forgiven for my sins. I don't even know if I've ever asked for forgiveness. Well, here's your opportunity to confess to God and to say, Lord, I've tried to live my life without you, and I've sinned against you, and I've tried to just make it better, but it's not working. Not only that, it can't work, because I recognize that you're a holy God, and you have no room in your character and nature for sin. And so forgive me of all of my sins. Everything I've ever done, Lord, I lay it at your feet. Please forgive me. And the Bible says if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You can be dead and buried with Christ in terms of punishment, in terms of old nature, and reborn in Jesus. Again, he says, unless a person is born again, spiritual rebirth from the inside out, unless a person is born again, they will not see the kingdom of God. Have you been born again? Do you have new life in Christ? Have you believed the gospel of Jesus Christ that he went to the cross to pay for you and was buried for you and rose for you? If you have never put your trust in Jesus, don't wait. Don't drag your feet. Don't play games with God. Well, maybe I'll do it before I die. You don't know when you're going to go. And furthermore, why would you deny living for God now? Why would you thumb your nose at His grace? Live for Him now. Believe in Him now. Confess your sins now, find life and freedom and forgiveness and hope now while you still can. Because you don't know. You don't know how long you have. Death is stalking all of us. Believe in Christ now. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you that you are a God of mercy and forgiveness and love. That you love us even when we are dead in our sins. Even when we were enemies of the cross, you still set your love upon us. And you called us by your grace. And you gave new life to our hearts and revived us in you and caused us to walk in your ways. It is by grace we have been saved through faith. It is nothing of ourselves. It is your gift to us. It is not a result of work so that we can't brag about it. Instead, the Bible tells us that we are your workmanship. We are your creation. created in Christ Jesus for good works, prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them. Lord, we look at today, we look at the burial of Jesus Christ and we see that the penalty, the punishment, the shame, the guilt of sin is buried with him. And so Lord, I pray that even today you would use these words, this scripture, this sermon, this service to draw people to yourself. Lord, even hardened sinners who are turning away from you and living lives for themselves, Lord, would you break their hearts and break their wills and submit them to yourself to follow you, to repent, to turn away and follow you and trust in you for life. Oh, Lord, would you deliver, would you save today? We thank you so much that we have grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. There is such freedom in knowing the joy of the Lord to know that we can be delivered and have life forever with you. I thank you for that. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen.