A New Creature
Noticed been singing songs about Christ + resurrection,
is common on what is typically called Easter Sunday.
The word Easter is actually found in the Bible, although
only in the KJV. Recorded in Acts 12:4, Herod the king
apprehended Peter and put him in prison, “intending
after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”
Original Greek word there is pascha, and it should have
been translated as Passover, and it has been corrected in
most all subsequent translations.
The reason why the King James translators decided to
use the word Easter instead of the correct word
Passover was likely because King James had instructed
them to, whenever possible, use words that conformed
to the beliefs and practices of the Church of England
during that time.
I’m not exactly sure of the origin of the word Easter or
when it was first celebrated in a religious sense. As best
as I can tell, the first reference to any such observance
was around middle of the 2nd century or so, but it’s
unclear as to when it eventually came to be a tradition
for some folks.
Here at RH, we don’t elevate this particular Sunday
above other Sundays. Like the very first Christians, we
celebrate the DBR of Jesus every first day of the week.
Which makes today + every Sunday a time to rejoice
that our Savior not only was put to death on our behalf,
but early that Sunday morning, the 3rd day from when
He was crucified…
…that stone was rolled away, and our Savior was
triumphantly raised from the dead!
Be turning to Luke chapter 23…
I want for us to take just a few minutes to let the Bible
remind us of the story, and then I want to apply it in a
way that I think will make it very relevant to us today!

Luke 23:44-49 (death)
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Luke 23:50-56 (burial)
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Luke 24:1-9 (resurrection)
It’s an extraordinary story, isn’t it? But it’s so much
more than just a story. It is an event that changed all of
history thereafter.
And more importantly, it is an event that can
dramatically change your life throughout all of time and
eternity!
Jesus died, He was buried, and then God raised Him
from the dead.
This is the main idea I want you to take with you today:
God wants to do the very same thing in each
one of us!
1. Remove Guilt of Sin
He wants to take that old person that is plagued by sin
and worldliness, put it to death, bury it in the waters of
baptism, and just as he did with Jesus, triumphantly
raise you from the dead to walk in a whole new way of
life!
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Romans 6:3-5 (look with me at this passage)
This is God’s procedure for making us His. To belong
to God, you’ve got to die, be buried, and be resurrected.
Do you remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus as in
John 3:7? “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must
be born again.’” (Do not be surprised that it takes a
dramatic rebirth to become a child of God.)
Before you become a child of God, no matter how good
you might be, you are still a sinner and stand guilty of
sin and therefore in a lost condition.
But God has a solution to your sin problem!
Just like Jesus was put to death / buried / resurrected…
(God wants to do the same thing to you too.)
God wants to take your old sinful self, that person
guilty of sin, and put it to death
God wants to take your old sinful self and bury it in
the waters of baptism
God wants to resurrect you from baptism as a brand
new born again Christian
Isn’t that the most amazing thing? And isn’t it
remarkable how God combines what He did in Jesus’
life and what He seeks to do in your life as well?!
V5 in KJV: “… we have been planted together in the
likeness of His death.” (what happens to us is like…)
NAS uses united. Greek word is SUMPHUTOI,
meaning “grown together.”
We have all seen trees which were planted so close
together that over the years they “grow together”
and became inseparable.
So it is that when we are converted, there must be
such a close association between the death of Christ
and our death to sin that the word SUMPHUTOI
emphases they are “grown together”.
God wants to do the same thing in each one of us as He
did concerning His own Son. And He will accomplish
that in your life when you put your faith in Jesus Christ
as the one and only Son of God, and then allow God to
wash away your sins by being baptized into Christ.
When you do that, your old self will die and be buried,
and you’ll rise to a whole new life as a child of God.
This morning, if you have never done that, God so much
wants for you to give your life to Him. He wants so
much to save you and make you one of His precious
children.
He paid the most extreme price for you by giving His
own Son to suffer and die to pay your debt for your sins.
He longs for you to come to Him. If you believe in
Jesus, and you understand what God did for you, please
don’t make Him wait any longer.
God is like that Father of the Prodigal Son. He is
looking and longing everyday for you to come to Him.
His heart aches for you to come to Him.
At the end of this sermon, we’re going to stand together
and sing an invitation song, and that is your opportunity
to step out and walk down here to the front.
You can express your love and appreciation for God by
giving your life to Him today. Please don’t wait any
longer to let God wash away the guilt of all your sins.
2. Remove Power of Sin
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Romans 6:6-7
But also to save us from sin itself! To deliver us and
set us free from bondage to sin!
Rock of Ages, cleft for me...
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood...
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure...
Cleanse me from its guilt and power!
Through Christ's sacrifice on the cross we have access to
a double cure Free not only from the guilt of sin, but
also from the power of sin!
Exactly How Does God Do That?
Look again at v6… Paul said, “our old self was
crucified with Him.”
How does God get rid of the power of sin in your life?
By crucifying the old self that wants to sin!
The phrase “was crucified” is in the passive tense, which
means that the old man or self had an action performed
upon him at a point in time in past (at our conversion)!
We cooperated in this action, agreed to it, but the
crucifixion was performed by another upon us.
Even though the action of our crucifixion was not
without our consent, still the action was, in some
powerful way, performed on us!
There’s something else that God wants to do in your
life, something else He will do to you and for you when
you’re baptized into Christ.
Surely the two thieves likely went “kicking and
screaming” to their crosses, and likewise our “old self
or man” does not go easily and willingly to death.
It’s an incredible thing that God wants to remove the
guilt of our sins, but even more incredible is the fact that
God wants to do even more than remove the
guilt of your sins!
God wants to change you from being a person who all
too easily gives in to sin time and time again . . to a
person who no longer is enslaved to sin.
God wants to do the most wonderful thing in you when
you are born again. He intends for you to have an
incredible new life with the greatest of blessings through
your new relationship in and with Christ.
And so, by our being “dead and buried,” not only does
that get rid of the old self that was guilty of sin, but it
also frees the new self to overcome the power of sin!
Again, I urge you: Do not wait to let God do this
awesome thing in your life.
Matthew 1:21 Angel of Lord told Joseph about Mary,
"She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus:
for He shall save His people from their sins."
Not only do you desperately need to get rid of the guilt
(you’re lost right now if you’re not in Christ), but you
also need to get rid of the power that sin has in your life!
When Jesus saves you from your sins, He wants to fully
remove the burden of your sins. That means He will do
more than just save you from the guilt of sin in your life.
It’s certainly not doing you any good whatsoever!
He will also save you from the power of sin in your
life!
We need to remember why Jesus died on the cross...
Not just to save us from the punishment of Hell
brought on by our sin
Notice latter part of v6: “...Our old self was crucified
with Him, that our body of sin might be done away
with.”
“Done away” (KJV is “destroyed”) comes from the
Greek word KATARGATHA, meaning to “make
ineffective, powerless, idle.”
It’s getting rid of something, it’s making something
powerless that has previously been unnecessary, or
counterproductive, or even harmful.
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Luke 13:6-7 (find this same Greek word here)
The phrase “use up” is that same Greek word
KATARGATHA. Notice in the parable the thing which
is being “used up” is not the tree, but the “ground”.
In short, the sentiment of the owner of the vineyard was
that it was a waste for a tree which had not born fruit for
three years to continue to “waste” space in his vineyard!
Therefore, just as the worthless tree was useless to the
vineyard, so also is our old sinful way of life useless and
even detrimental to our life in Christ.
1 Peter 4:1-3 Just like Christ died on the cross, likewise
we need to die to our old way of life. Wasted enough
time already…
That old sinful way of life therefore has been crucified,
destroyed, and done away with. We just don’t need it,
and it’s no longer there to affect us or trouble us any
longer.
3. Resurrected to a New Life
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Romans 6:8-11
Therefore, just as Christ was resurrected to live a new
life (you might say), so also are we as Christians
resurrected from our death to sin to live a new life
a new life which is glorious and abounds in spiritual
blessings,
a new life which seeks to live according to
righteousness instead of the old way of
unrighteousness.
Remember Paul writes about such in Galatians 2:20, “I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me...”
That’s resurrection; that’s a new life in a new believer!
2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new."
This morning, the good news is: He is Risen!
The even better news for us today is: God wants to do
away with your old life of sin and raise you up to a great
new life in His Son Jesus Christ.
If you are a Christian, a baptized believer in Christ, then
know that God has done this wonderful thing in your
life.
If you are not, then I implore you to let Him do this
wonderful thing in your life today!