Sermon - From Death to Life: Easter Sunday

Sermon Outline
Focus: Because of the cross, we have died with Christ; because of the
resurrection, we have been raised with Christ. Now, by the power
of His Spirit, we are called to walk in newness of life as people of
His Kingdom.

I. The Waddling Ducks (Soren Kirkegaard)

II. Movement 1 – YOU DIED (Identity)
       Because of the cross and the blood of Jesus:
       Your sin, guilt, shame, and old self was nailed to the cross
       You are completely forgiven because Jesus paid for your sin in full.

III. Movement 2 – YOU ROSE (Power)
       Because of the resurrection:
       You are not the same person anymore
       New life, change, and freedom is possible
       The same power that raised Jesus is at work in you

IV. Movement 3 – NOW WALK (Purpose)
       To “walk in newness of life” means:
       Live in forgiveness, not shame
       Forgive others as you were forgiven
       Live for the King, not just yourself
       Use your time, gifts, and resources for God’s Kingdom
       Live with purpose and eternal perspective
       The Christian life is not lived to earn a new identity. It is lived from a new                   identity.

V. The Gospel in One Sentence:
       The blood of Jesus paid for your sin. The resurrection of Jesus gave you new             life.
       And now the Spirit of Jesus gives you power to walk differently.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

The resurrection is not just good news, it is a summons. It is a declaration from our living God that Jesus is in fact who Jesus claims to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Therefore, the question is not, are you okay with this news? Do you believe this news? The question we must ask is, have we yet surrendered to this risen King?

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes weekly sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined us and we're honored to be part of your spiritual journey. Today, we celebrate Easter Sunday, a day when Christians around the world rejoice in our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and defeated death. Pastor Jared Priestett's message today is titled From Death to Life. Because of the cross, we have died with Christ. Because of the resurrection, we have been raised with Him. And now through the power of His Spirit, we are called to walk in the newness of life as citizens of His kingdom. And now, here's Pastor Jared. Be blessed.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Good morning again and welcome. It is a joy to gather with you in this sacred space that we call Church the Lakes to lift our voices upward, to sing our praises and give our thanks for our risen Savior Jesus Christ. The greatest news the world has ever heard. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. I made the comment at the 8:30 service. If you're a composer of sacred music and you can't put together good music on a resurrection Sunday, you need to pack it up, right? And do something else. You could probably say the same for preachers. If you can't preach a good sermon on resurrection Sunday, you better pack it up and do something else. So I'll let you all be the judge today with the message the Lord has laid in my heart to give. Let me start with a question. What if? What if the resurrection was not just something that happened to you after you died, but was about the type of person you're becoming now? What if Easter Sunday wasn't just about heaven someday, but was about your life, your purpose, your mission right now. All year long at Church Lakes, we have been teaching and preaching around the idea, the reality of the kingdom of God. We're trying to understand what is the kingdom of God, the theology of the kingdom of God, and then how do we, the church, play a part in seeking to expand the boundaries of God's kingdom into the world in which we we lived? You take the kingdom of light and push back the kingdom of darkness. And here's what we really need to understand, church. If there's no resurrection, there's no kingdom. If there's no resurrection, there's no king. If there's no resurrection, that means sin and death and evil still win. If there's no resurrection, the church has no message, nor does it have a mission. If there's no resurrection, there is no hope. But if Jesus indeed rose from the dead as we know he did, guess what? Guess what that means? That means there is a king. That means sin, death, and evil have been defeated. That means the kingdom of God is real, and that also means you and I can be made new today. Friends, listen to me carefully. The reality of resurrection is just that. It's not simply information to believe. It is a reality that demands a response. The resurrection is not just good news, it is a summons. It is a declaration from our living God that Jesus is in fact who Jesus claims to be, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Therefore, the question is not, are you okay with this news? Do you believe this news? The question we must ask is, have we yet surrendered to this risen King? Listen, the scriptures tell us there will come a day when every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Here's the reality: you can surrender now or you can do it in regret later. Romans chapter 6 really helps unfold for us what the resurrection looks like in real time and in real lives. I'm gonna look at Romans 6. This is yet one of the many times the Apostle Paul in his letters to the early church just tries to articulate the reality and the brilliance and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's no different here in Romans chapter 6. We're gonna start in verse 4 and work through verse 11, but I'm gonna really focus on verse 4 for today's message on Easter. Listen to God's word as written through the pen of the Apostle Paul. It says, Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Christ. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. No, death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Church, this is the good news of Jesus Christ for the people of God. Praise be to God. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, I thank you so much for this morning, what this morning means for us, your people. I thank you for the songs we've sung, for the prayers we've offered up. I thank you for your life-giving word that I have just proclaimed. And God, in the midst of these next few moments, as I offer up reflection on that life-giving word, I just ask that you bless the words of my mouth, the meditation of all our hearts, that they be of profit to us and acceptable to you, for you indeed are our rock and our redeemer. Amen. So, Church, if what Paul just said a moment ago that I read is actually true, and it is, then the resurrection of Jesus is not just something we celebrate one day a year. It is the reality in which we live into every single day of every single year. But the danger is we can hear all of this great, glorious stuff about resurrection in its reality and still never let it change us. 19th century Danish philosopher, theologian Soren Kierkegaard, tells a story about a town that existed that only existed ducks. You heard that right. Only ducks were part of this town. And every Sunday morning the ducks would do the same thing. They would get up from their duck homes and waddle their way over to their duck church, and they would sit in their duck pews and they would listen to their duck preacher preach. And the message was the same every single week. The duck preacher would get up there and say, Ducks, God has given you wings, you can fly. You were not made to just waddle in the mud. No, you were made to soar, soar high above the clouds, and all the ducks would hear this duck preacher preach and they'd shout back in affirmation, Amen, you're right, that's true. We've been given wings, we can fly, we can soar. And when the service ended, you know what those ducks did? They got out of their duck pews and they waddled their way all the way home. Friends, here's the reality. It is possible to hear the truth, to be inspired by the truth, to agree with the truth, but to never actually let that truth change you. And the danger on Easter Sunday is that we can come to this space, this sanctuary, this beautiful place, sing the songs, proclaim Christ is risen, and hear the response, He is risen indeed. We can celebrate the empty tomb and then go home and live exactly the same way we did before. But the resurrection of Jesus, church, is not just something to believe, it is a reality to live. And Romans 6 really gives us that reality of how do we most fully live into this resurrection reality that Christ has brought to us, his people. Paul will say three statements. He'll say, You died, you rose, so now walk. The first thing Paul says, if we can look at those as movements, is you died. This has everything to do with our identity. What Paul is saying is you have died to your old self. Romans 6, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, when he died, Paul is saying you died as well. He says, Your sin nailed to the cross. Your shame, your guilt, your past nailed to the cross, your old self nailed to the cross. And don't miss this. This didn't happen because you tried harder. This didn't happen because you became more religious. This didn't happen because you started going to church more often. This happened because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ being shed from the wood upon which he hung. Let me speak as plainly as I can this morning. Friends, your greatest problem is not your circumstance, though it might be challenging. Your greatest problem is not that habit you're trying to shake. It's not your past that you're ashamed of. For some of you, your greatest have your greatest hang up is not even your mother-in-law, okay? Your greatest problem, hear me, is your sin. Your sin separates you from a holy God. And there's nothing you can do to fix that. You cannot outwork it, you cannot outchurch it, you cannot outgive that. But here's the good news: what you could not do for yourself, Jesus Christ did on your behalf at the cross. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So you know what that means? That means the cross wasn't Jesus just demonstrating an example of love, of true love. That's not all it was. What it was, more importantly, was a substitute. He wasn't just showing you, church, how to die. He was dying the death you were supposed to die. He wasn't showing you how to suffer, he was suffering in your place and in mine. Listen, an example shows us what to do. I get that. It was an example of true love, but hear me, substitution, which is what's underneath the example of true love, is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. And on the cross, Jesus took our place, took our sin, took our judgment, so we in exchange could have his forgiveness, his righteousness, and his life. On the cross, friends, Jesus did not, or God did not ignore your sin. He did not excuse your sin. He punished your sin in the person of Jesus Christ. That's why the cross is not just an example of true love. It's a place really where the justice and the mercy of God met. Which means if you're here today and you're a Christian, if you're in Christ, you are not temporarily forgiven. You are not mostly forgiven. You are not almost forgiven. You are completely and absolutely and fully forgiven forever. Amen. Not because you were good, but because Jesus paid your sin debt in full with his blood that dripped from the wood upon which he hung. Romans chapter 6 says, Hear me, that person is dead. The old you, dead. The guilty, shame-ridden you, dead. The condemned you, the enslaved you, that person is dead. Oh, but church, how many times do we keep running back to the prison of the old self? How many times? There's a real phenomenon that has hit our prisons in America today. And it's this phenomenon where uh prisoners that have been incarcerated for a very long time don't actually want to leave. It's called institutionalization. So sometimes a person can be incarcerated for so many decades that when they finally get parole, they leave to go live in the real world and they cannot function in the real world. To such a degree that some of them will even commit crimes just to get put back in prison. And you wonder yourself, why? Well, it's because it's the only identity they ever knew. Listen, it is possible to live legally free and still live like a prisoner. Church, that's Romans 6. Like, Jesus didn't just open the door of our prison cell and set us free on parole. He opened the doors and then transformed our identity. The apostle Paul says in his letter to the Ephesian church, he says, listen, by nature, every human being is an object of wrath. But when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, when you acknowledge his lordship over your life, the Spirit of God transforms you from an object of wrath to a child of God. That's what Christ does for us. You are not what you used to be if you are in Christ. You are not what you've done. You are not your worst moment or your biggest failure or your deepest shame. If you are in Christ, hear me, that person is dead. Because of the cross, you died. And please, please listen to me. This is so important. You don't clean yourself up first and then come to Jesus. You come to Jesus dirty and he cleans you. You don't make yourself new first and then come to Jesus. You come to Jesus, baggage and all, and he makes you new. But you must come. You must surrender. You must lay your down at the foot of his altar. Listen, nobody drifts into salvation. Nobody accidentally or inadvertently becomes a Christian. There is a moment in every single one of our lives where we simply say, Jesus, I cannot fix myself, I cannot save myself, but I trust in your work on the cross. I trust that your blood can cleanse me of my sin and unrighteousness. Therefore, I surrender my life to you. And friend, in that moment, in that moment, the old dies and the new life begins. You died. Here's the second movement. Not only did you die, but you also rose. So death has to do with our identity being transformed. Being risen has to do with the power of God working in our lives. Romans 6 says that not only did you die with Christ, but you also were raised with Christ. Paul says it this way: He says, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life. You know what that means? That means resurrection is not just a future promise, it is a present power, church. I mean, think of the disciple of Peter. For those of you who know the biblical narrative, Peter was one of Jesus' 12 disciples. Probably his closest of all of those disciples, Peter and then, of course, beloved John and James. But Peter was one of Jesus' inner three disciples. This guy knew Jesus inside and out. And yet, in Jesus' moment of greatest need, when he was betrayed, arrested, tried, and convicted in a kangaroo court, and eventually hung on a cross. In Jesus' moment of greatest need, it was Peter who denied even knowing him. Peter spent three years with Jesus, ministering alongside Jesus, saw Jesus preach with authority, do miracles, raise people from the dead in Jesus' hour of greatest need. Wrap your head around this. He denied knowing him out of fear. And then he went into hiding, full of shame and guilt at what he'd just done. Fast forward three days. Resurrection of Jesus, the scriptures tell us, was intentional about wanting to see Peter because he wanted to forgive Peter and reinstate Peter's position in this motley crew. And he does that. He reinstates Peter. He forgives Peter. And if you follow the story into the book of Acts, on Pentecost Sunday, Acts chapter 2, we're told the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in power and filled them up to such capacity that Peter stood in front of the streets of Jerusalem and proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ with boldness and with courage, and we're told that 3,000 people came to faith in that moment. What happened? Did Peter just say, you know, I feel really bad, I'm going to try to work harder and prove myself to Jesus? He experienced the resurrection. The coward became a preacher, the denier became a leader, the fisherman became a world changer. Friends, that's resurrection power. And guess what? That same power is available to you and me today. Listen, you don't have to live stuck anymore. You don't have to live bitter and angry and addicted anymore. You don't have to stay the same anymore. Why? Because of the cross you died. And because of the resurrection, you rose, which moves to the third movement. So now walk. Prince, this has everything to do with your life's purpose. Paul says in verse 4, walk in newness of life. In other words, live like who you now are. Have you ever talked to somebody who had near-death experience? Maybe a car accident, cancer scare, heart attack, a stint in the ICU. If you ever talk to people who've had near-death experiences, I have talked to those people, their comments about what happened and how they're going to move forward in life are almost identical. Every one of them says something like this I see life differently now. I don't want to waste another moment in my earthly existence. Why? It's because when you come that close to death and you're given life back, you don't want to live the same anymore. Church, that's resurrection. You died, you rose, so now walk. But what does it actually mean to walk in light of resurrection? What does it mean to live resurrection? You know what it means? It means tomorrow morning when you wake up, resurrection life still lives in you. And it's supposed to work through you. It means that when you sin, you don't have to live in shame anymore. You can live in forgiveness. What it means is when somebody hurts you, you can forgive them more easily because you know what it's like to first be forgiven. To live resurrection, it means that when the world says live for yourself, you say, No, I'm gonna live for the king. It means when it would be easier to quit, you stay faithful. When it would cost you something to follow Jesus, you follow him anyways. It means when everyone else is building their little kingdoms, you stand up and say, No, I'm gonna build his kingdom. Friends, resurrection people hear me, we walk differently. We walk differently in our marriages, at work, with our finances, with our time. We even walk differently when no one else is watching. Not because we're trying to earn God's love, but because we've already received it in Christ. Not because we're trying to pay Jesus back, but because Jesus has already paid our sin debt in full. Not because we're trying to become someone new, but because of Christ and the resurrection, we already have been made new. Friends, here's the gospel. The blood of Jesus Christ paid for your sin. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has given you new life. And now the Spirit of Jesus Christ has empowered you, the church, to walk differently. So now walk. Or dare I say fly? Oh, but let's be honest. Even if you're alive in Christ, there is still a part of you, isn't there, that keeps trying to get you to waddle back into the old life. Did you like that? That was that, was that. Isn't there? There's still a part of you that misses the prison, isn't there? There's still a party that wants your old kingdom back. So let me close this morning going back to those three statements the Apostle Paul made. You died. You rose. So now walk. I think there are people in this space today that God is speaking to you in one of those three areas. Some of you here today, you need to hear that you need to die to yourself. Like you've heard about Jesus. You've been around the church, but you've never actually surrendered your life to Jesus. You've never actually acknowledged His Lordship over your existence. Listen, today, hear me, you need to lay down your sin. Lay down your guilt, lay down your past, and trust in the blood of Jesus Christ to cover you of all sin. Cover all your sins. Some of you need to die to self. Some of you here need to rise. You're a Christian. You've been a Christian for years. But you're still living like the old man or the old self is in charge of your life. Listen, that person is dead. You have been made alive in Christ. Own your resurrection. And yet there's still some of us here that need to walk. There's some of us here that there's an area still in our life that we have struggled to surrender. We said, God, you can have this, this, and this, but not yet. Some of you today need to relinquish the not yet and surrender, yes, even that part of you before the throne of our God and King. So here's what I'm gonna do in a moment. I'm gonna pray. And after I say amen, I'm gonna invite any of you to come forward to come and just simply kneel at the altar rail. If maybe you need to die or you need to rise or you need to simply walk, or just simply give thanksgiving to what God has done in your life. Come to the altar and rail. All throughout the Latin season, we've been offering people the invitation to come and kneel at the altar rail. Listen, we have a God of invitation. Amen. He does. And all throughout the biblical narrative, what we see is people would approach the altar to be altered. They would approach the altar, they would meet God, and they would leave never the same again. They would approach the altar, they would lay something down so something new could rise up. I want to give you that invitation and that opportunity to come and kneel at the altar to be changed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Listen, don't be like the ducks who heard the truth, who yelled amen, and then waddled back home. Friends, you have wings. You died, you rose. Now walk. Or dare I say fly. If God is speaking to you today, I want you to come and kneel. Listen, sometimes the most eloquent prayer you will ever pray is not with word, it's with movement. It's with getting out of your seat without hesitation and coming and kneeling before the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Friends, whatever it is, whatever you're carrying, please lay it down. Surrender it to the King and leave this place a new person. Will you pray with me? Father God, I want to thank you that in Jesus Christ we died to sin. I want to thank you that in Jesus Christ we have been raised to new life. And I got I pray now that you would give us the courage to walk out of this place in newness of life. Lord, for those of us here who still need to die to self today, will you give them courage to stand up to move and to bow? For those of us who need to rise and live into the new identity that Christ has transformed us and given us. God, will you give them the faith to step out and come and bow? God, for those who need to walk in obedience, will you give them the strength to step out and bow? Holy Spirit, draw people to yourself now. We give you this moment. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. In all God's people said, Amen.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Thank you for listening to the Church of the Lakes podcast with Pastor Jared Preset. If today's message encouraged you and helped you grow as a devoted follower of Christ, we invite you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also help others discover this podcast by leaving a five-star rating or review and sharing it with your friends, family, co-workers, and others in your circle of influence. We're also very grateful for your generosity, which helps make messages like this available to more people. If you feel led to give, please check the link in the description. And if you're in the Kent, Ohio area, we'd love to invite you to join us in person on Sunday and worship together. To learn more about Church of the Lakes, visit churchofthelakes.org or click the website link in the description. Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.