THE GRAVEYARD
Finding the purpose of Palm Sunday: Dead to sin, Alive in Christ
Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Today is Palm Sunday…
The moment of triumphal entrance of Jesus… one in which the palm branches are lowered and the people shout his name… the same people that will cry out crucity him in a short week of time…
Palm Sunday… a moment where Jesus enters into the last moments of His life… but He does not do it blindly… He walks into with foreknowledge of all that was about to come… in fact He is stepping into the purpose for which He came to Earth… He must die … He must be sacrificed.
Hinged to the Christian faith is the moments that transpire this week… Jesus by His own choice giving His life… God by His choice turning away and allowing the word to take His son… because with Eternity in His minds eye He had to provide a perfect sacrifice to meet the requirements of justice demanded by a righteous God…
For while God is full of grace and mercy… He is just… and Righteous… and the only way in which we could be redeemed is for Him to send His son to die for us…
The purpose for which Christ entered the world… He was Driven by Eternity…
Focused on what must happen to create the pathway for those that choose Christ can know God. To create the means by which SIN can be erased… and we can be set free…
Sin: What is it? That which seperates us from a just and righteous God. 1 a: an offense against religious or moral law b: an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible
Bible is clear… all have sinned. All have fallen short. The best of us don’t add up to how it should be…
Jesus comes in to Jerusalem… a triumphal entry with palm branches in hand and those shouting hozanna in the highest… the beginning of the red road of Easter… which would be paved with His blood for our sin… Jesus will die this coming week… why?
This was God’s process by which the sin of the world can be taken away… dead and buried… that we might have new life, new hope, and a new future in Jesus Christ. But understand… sin is to be taken away…
o Patrick Morley’s book “Walking with Christ in the Details of Life.” It is a book of meditations that includes one called “Revival: The Gospel of Addition.” In it, he said the following, “The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior… A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin, that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.”
Paul is talking in Romans 6 about the purpose for which Christ died… the destruction of sin… but our role to play in living the life that is now before us… how must we now live? How must we be driven by eternity?
What is this process we must take… to accept what Jesus offers this palm Sunday… the purpose for which He came… the purpose for the triumphal entry…
4 Important Steps – to make Jesus’ triumphal entry in your life
1. Entering the graveyard
2. Identify the Marker
3. Leaving the graveyard free… with that freedom >
4. Become Driven by Eternity
1. enter the graveyard… the Death of self…
a. 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
b. We must die to sin… Death: a: a permanent cessation of all vital functions : the end of life.
c. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at your own funeral… ?
d. What would people say?
e. Did you know in the walk of faith the metaphor of Water baptism is meant to be that of a funeral… in part at least.
f. For our christian life is meant to be that moment in which we go under the water.. .our old self goes and it is allowed to die… and we are reborn.
g. So if we have died to sin, how can we live in it any longer…
h. Step one is to acknowledge the graveyard… and allow the death of self to come… NO LONGER … my agenda, my plan, my purposes… I am too finite to see everything. I need God and must aknowledge that need…
i. The Death of Self is an acknowledgement of our sin…
o A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?" The pastor replied, "Mary, that’s not a sin, why that’s just a mistake!"
4 Important Steps – to make Jesus’ triumphal entry in your life
1. Entering the graveyard – let your old self die and be reborn…
2. Next – in the graveyard you must know the gravestone/ the marker or tombstone of what was… our old self dies… to identify with the death of Jesus
a. 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
b. Water baptisms… next Sunday on Easter…
c. Water baptism is that moment of public confession of faith, it is a step of obedience to do what God had asked us to do… public confession of a changed life!
d. And it is meant to be an identification point to the death of our old self… and the rebirth into new life…
e. Just as Jesus died… so we must… and if we Identify with that death, we also identify with that life into new life and rebirth. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
If we identify with
o In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. It belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Yet strangely, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened." In time, a seed, covered over by the stones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged, the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.
o The dynamic life force contained in that little seed is a faint reflection of the tremendous power of God’s creative word that someday will call to life the bodies of all who are in their graves. He will also bring back every person drowned at sea, cremated, or destroyed in some other way. This is no problem to the One who made something out of nothing when He spoke the universe into existence. Unbelief cannot deter the resurrection. But faith in the risen Christ opens the door to blessings that His resurrection guarantees -- a glorious new spiritual body and a home in heaven. In new bodies we will be reunited with saved loved ones to live with Jesus throughout all eternity.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
4 Important Steps – to make Jesus’ triumphal entry in your life
1. Entering the graveyard
2. Identify the Marker – identify with Jesus’ death and resurrection
3. You are in the graveyard… you’ve found your tombstone… you identify with Jesus… WHY does all of this happen… so that you might now leave the graveyard… you are free!
a. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
b. Why… no longer slaves to sin… but free!
c. Even two weeks ago we discussed the women caught in adultery… Jesus the only one that could condemn her and throw the stone, doesn’t… but compels her to go and sin no more. Meaning she could now go and sin no more… after meeting Christ… and choosing to identify with Him, walking through the graveyard and burying our old self… we have now been given the ability to not be slaves to sin… but free…
d. Why do so many of us live in the graveyard? The rear view mirror we discussed last week…
e. In the name of Jesus you have been set free in Jesus Christ… LIVE IN THAT FREEDOM!
Dead to sin…
o A priest in the Philippines, a much-loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?” “Yes, he did”. she replied “And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?” “Yes.” “Well, what did he say?” “He said, I don’t remember”
This is the point today, this palm Sunday… the purpose for which Jesus Christ is stepping towards the cross… to GAIN A NEW PERSPECTIVE…
As a beliver in Jesus Christ… I am Dead to sin… alive in Christ…
f. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
g. Stop going to the graveyard of your life… except to remember your old self is meant to be dead… and you are meant to be born again.
h. What does it mean to be alive in Christ?
i. Alive: 1: having life : not dead or inanimate2 a: still in existence, force, or operation : ACTIVE
Now that you are dead to sin… you’ve been in the graveyard…
And you are alive in Christ… you are free to run through life…
o Men who trap animals in Africa for zoos in America say that one of the hardest animals to catch is the ring-tailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can’t get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.
We must become dead to sin… or your life will be caught… your hand holding the seeds of sin trapping your life…
4 Important Steps – to make Jesus’ triumphal entry in your life
1. Entering the graveyard
2. Identify the Marker
3. Leaving the graveyard free… with that freedom > be dead to sin, and alive in Christ…
Step 4:
4. Now you are Driven by eternity…
a. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
b. Do you want to find purpose? Meaning? Significance? Leave a legacy? Accomplish success?
c. Make God your master… become dead to sin… and alive in Christ…
d. It is only through visiting the graveyard… accepting the reality of Jesus Christ… Him becoming your Lord and Savior… for what is offered through the Cross? Death of self… birth of new life, reborn, made into a new creation… WHY? To carry out the point of the cross… to be driven by eternity… brought from death to life… now under grace… offered to God to be His instrument of eternal vision…
God has a plan… as Jesus stepped into Jerusalem that day… He knew for what purpose He had come…
To provide a way that you and I could become dead to sin… and alive in Christ.
4 Important Steps – to make Jesus’ triumphal entry in your life
1. Entering the graveyard – die to self
2. Identify the Marker – identify with Jesus death and ressurection
3. Leaving the graveyard free… with that freedom > dead to sin
4. Become Driven by Eternity – alive in Christ
What does it mean to be alive in Christ?
So what does God offer?
The Contract of Freedom…
For the Christian – become dead to sin
For the non-believer – sign the contract today and be set free
THE CONTRACT OF FREEDOM:
Defining the Contract: A contract involves two parties agreeing on a focused intent. The two parties in this contract are you and God. If you are like most of us you don’t sign a contract without knowing ahead of time what you are signing. So what is this contract of freedom?
God Offers: God offers a contract to us. He knows we are all in debt in this life, that debt is sin. Sin is living life our way vs. God’s way. We cannot pay this debt on our own. God has already paid and signed His portion of this contract. John 3 verse 16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (See also John 1:12).
Our Response: In John 8 verse 32 Jesus says, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Also in John 15 verse 14 Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” When we sign this contract, we will find freedom from our sin, and we are committing to walk with God and learn what it means to know His word and do it.
Your New Life: What is the outcome of this contract? It’s freedom! God offers freedom from the slavery of sin (our debt) that we might live life the way He intended, connected to Him. This freedom is not only for now, but extending into eternity, for upon death we step into eternal life in heaven instead of hell. Romans 6 says “ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Our old self dies and we are reborn and set free.
