The Walking Dead
Easter 2018
Scriptures: Matthew 27:50-54; Luke 9:59-60; Romans 6
When Jesus took His last breath, this is what is recorded in Matthew 27:52-53 says, “The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” We do not have a lot of detail about this event (who these saints were, what they said and how long were they present in Jerusalem), but what we do know is that when Jesus died the earth shook and many of the saints who were dead came back to life and appeared to many in Jerusalem.
The title of my message this morning is “The Walking Dead.” I am not attempting to scare you but I believe on this Easter morning that we should understand that everyone on this earth is walking dead because we are either dead to Christ or dead to sin and my friends there is a difference. I want us to grasp the fullness of what it means to be a dead man/woman walking. For several weeks I shared with you the importance of the Word of God in dealing with our enemy. I have shared with you that the Word empowers us and gives us the ability to withstand all attacks while also enabling us to change the world around us. While some may believe that we cannot be dead to sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I want to show you the truth through the Word of God.
How many of you recall the story of the dry bone as recorded in the thirty-seventh chapter of the book of Ezekiel? In that chapter God gave to Ezekiel a prophesy pertaining to the political and spiritual revival of his nation. The dry bones represented an army slain in battle which was a very good description of the hopeless condition of Israel at that time. I would like for you to just consider for a moment what happened with these bones. God asked Ezekiel if those bones could live. After Ezekiel answered Him, God told Ezekiel to prophesy (preach) to those bones. Ezekiel prophesied to those bones and the bones began to affix themselves back together as they were supposed to be. Then the sinews were added followed by the flesh and the skin. Then God had Ezekiel prophesy to the breath and the breath returned to those bones and the once dry bones came to life. In this prophesy the dead came back to life and walked again. What I want you to see from this story is the simple fact that it was the Word of God that brought those dead, dry bones back to life. Ezekiel 37:14 says, “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it, declares the LORD.” While this prophesy pertains to the political and spiritual renewal of the Children of Israel, I believe this also takes place in the lives of everyone who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Turn to Luke chapter nine.
Luke chapter nine mentions a man that Jesus asked to follow him but the man was not ready to commit at that moment. I want you to see how Jesus responded to the man’s request to delay his “calling.” Look at verses fifty-nine and sixty. It says, “And He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’ But He said to him, ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-60) How many of you know that being excited about something does not mean that you are committed to it? Excitement last while things are new and going well. However, the excitement died when things get tough and work needs to be done. Have you ever started something new and you were all in initially but as time went on the initial excitement gave way to the routine, then to boredom, then to dissatisfaction and finally to no interest at all? Have you experienced these before? When we lose interest in something we stop caring about “how” we perform our tasks and “if” others perform theirs. There is a difference between being excited about something and being committed to it.
In verses fifty-nine and sixty, Jesus asked a man to follow Him. The man asked Jesus to allow him to go and bury his father and then he would commit to follow Him. I do not want you to misunderstand what this man was requesting and why Jesus responded the way that He did. The man’s father was not dead at this time; he was very much alive. This man was asking Jesus to allow him to stay at home with his father because he was obligated to take care of his father until he died. So even though Jesus was calling Him, he was not ready. Focus now on Jesus’ response to this man’s request to be allowed to stay with his father until he died. Jesus told the man to “Allow the dead to bury their dead.” How is it possible that someone who is dead can actually bury their dead? Jesus was not speaking of physical death, but spiritual death. He was saying to let those who were spiritually dead bury those who died physically. This is an example of the first type of the walking dead. People who do not have Jesus in their life are walking dead – they are dead spiritually even though they are living physically. These individuals will experience the two deaths that the Bible speaks of; a physical death on this earth followed by an eternal separation from God in the lake of fire, the second death. Anyone who has not accepted Christ as their personal Savior is a dead man walking; they just do not realize it. It is our job as Christians to bring life to those who are spiritually dead, but we must be alive first! We can speak life into them through the Word of God if the Word is alive within us. This is why Jesus chose to die on the cross, so that all could be saved through His death. The first walking dead are those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. If we are doing our jobs as Christians, we are attempting to save the life of someone who is spiritually dead and that leads to the second type of the walking dead; those who have accepted Christ and are dead to sin.
From Genesis to Revelations the Bible speaks of sin. Sin started in heaven with Satan’s rebellion which led to Adam’s fall after creation. Sin placed into motion Jesus’ decision to leave heaven and come to earth to sacrifice Himself for the lives of many. If sin was so important to God that He would send His only Son to die for this world so that His creation could have a relationship with Him, it would make sense that it should be more important to us. Do you know that generally it is Christians who get tired of hearing about sin and not those in the world who know they are sinning? People who do not have a relationship with Christ are not worried about sin because it does not matter to them. They are living their lives as best they can to achieve what they want but they are not keeping in the forefront of their mind thoughts about what God thinks about their life. However, those who profess to be Christians are the ones who get tired of hearing about sin. What’s so alarming about this is that we are not tired of hearing about it because we are free from it; we are tired of hearing about it because we do not believe that we can overcome it in our lives! It is much easier to live and let live because God knows my heart and He is not condemning me because I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior – REALLY?????
Today we are celebrating Easter, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead to break the power of sin over our lives. He delivered us from the penalty of death attached to the Law forever empowering those who accept Him to be victorious. So here is a question for us to consider: “If Jesus died to give us victory over sin, how can we continue to justify our sins while celebrating His resurrection which gives us power over it?” We discussed this Thursday night during Bible study. I gave the class an example of Jarell getting caught stealing because he was hungry. Jean came and bailed him out and gave him money for food so he would not have to steal anymore. However, once leaving the jail, Jarell drives by his neighbor’s house whose garage door is left open. He sees something he wants so he enters their garage; steals it; and gets arrested again because he does not see the security camera taping him. (How many of you know that we are always being recorded with God’s camera?) In discussing this example there were several responses as to why Jarell would steal again when he had money for food in his pocket. Clarissa gave the best response. She said it was not about the stealing but about the rush, the excitement of doing something and not getting caught. She nailed it and the same really applies to how we view sin in our lives. Sinning is exciting and it can be fun. It also provides the flesh what it desires and there is no better feeling emotionally or physically than getting something we desire. This is why sin is so attractive and why we justify doing it. We celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection which delivered us from sin all the while knowing that we will continue in it. Christians are supposed to be walking dead as it relates to sin.
In Romans chapter six, the following is recorded: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may 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 have 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 would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:1-7)
Let me give you the definition of the word dead. Dead is defined as “having passed from a living state to being no longer alive.” It is also defined as “without physical sensation.” The Bible makes it clear that prior to our accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior we were alive in sin. Sin reigned within us. It was in a living state with a whole lot of physical sensation. When we accepted Christ the sin which was alive with us died - having become a state of no longer being alive. During this process the physical sensation of sin, while still present, begins to die as we learn more and more what it means to walk with Christ. This is why we hear testimonies about people’s lives changing physically when they get into God’s word and begin to grow in their understanding. It’s the Word speaking directly to their hearts that changes them. The Bible says that we are to be dead to sin; that it should not reign in our mortal bodies. We should all be dead men and women walking as it relates to sin. Let’s go back to Matthew chapter twenty-seven. I want to share with you why the veil tearing revealing the holy of holies is so important, even today.
“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:50-54)
When Jesus took His last breath there are a couple of things that happened that paves the way for our deliverance. I shared with you earlier about the ground shaking and the dead saints coming out of their graves and appearing to many in Jerusalem. But let’s examine what it says about the veil in the temple. Within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, there was an inner room called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. This was a most sacred room, a place no ordinary person could enter. It was God’s special dwelling place in the midst of His people. During the Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness, God appeared as a pillar of cloud or fire in and above the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was a perfect cube - its length, width and height were all equal to 15 feet. A thick curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. This curtain, known as the “veil,” was made of fine linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn. The word “veil” in Hebrew means a screen, divider or separator that hides. So what was this curtain hiding? Essentially, it was shielding a holy God from sinful man. Whoever entered into the Holy of Holies was entering the very presence of God. In fact, anyone except the high priest who entered the Holy of Holies would die. Even the high priest, God’s chosen mediator with His people, could only pass through the veil and enter this sacred dwelling once a year, on a prescribed day called the Day of Atonement. The veil was a barrier between man and God, showing man that the holiness of God could not be trifled with. God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil and He can tolerate no sin (Habakkuk 1:13). The veil was a barrier to make sure that man could not carelessly and irreverently enter into God’s awesome presence. Even as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he had to make some meticulous preparations: he had to wash himself, put on special clothing, bring burning incense to let the smoke cover his eyes from a direct view of God, and bring blood with him to make atonement for sins. So the presence of God remained shielded from man behind a thick curtain during the history of Israel.
However, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross changed that. When He died, the curtain in the Jerusalem temple was torn in half, from the top to the bottom. Only God could have carried out such an incredible feat because the veil was too high for human hands to have reached it, and too thick to have torn it. (The Jerusalem temple, a replica of the wilderness tabernacle, had a curtain that was about 60 feet in height, 30 feet in width and four inches thick.) Furthermore, it was torn from the top down, meaning this act must have come from above. As the veil was torn, the Holy of Holies was exposed. God’s presence was now accessible to all. Even though we can imagine the shock on the faces of the priests who were ministering in the temple that day, it was good news to all believers because we know that Jesus’ death atoned for our sins and made us right before God. The torn veil illustrated Jesus’ body broken for us, opening the way for us to come to God. As Jesus cried out “It is finished!” on the cross, He was indeed proclaiming that God’s redemptive plan was now complete. The age of animal sacrifices was over. The ultimate offering had been sacrificed. Through Jesus death and resurrection we became dead men and women to sin. Jesus paid the ultimate earthly price (His life) to deliver us from sin. Because he did this we can now boldly enter into God’s presence, the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. I want to close this Easter message with what is recorded in Hebrews 10:19-27. It says, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:19-27)
Today there will be some Christians who will leave their Churches after celebrating Jesus’ resurrection which delivered us from sin. They will leave and go home and continue in sin because they truly believe that God knows they love Him despite the things they do to make it in this life. They have been told and believe that sin no longer matters after you accept Christ because His blood covers all sin. I told you at the beginning that everyone is a walking dead man or woman. But the difference is what we are walking dead to. If we’re walking dead to Christ and are living a life of sin then we will still experience two more deaths, one physical and one spiritual. However, if we are living a life that is dead to sin which the Bible commands for a Christian, then we have already died once when we crucified sin in our mortal bodies and we will only die once more physically should we leave here before Christ returns. The second death that the others will experience does not apply to us.
If you take nothing else with you when you leave here today, please take this with you. Jesus died because of sin. Had it not been for sin, He would not have had to leave heaven and come here to suffer the horrible death that He did for us. Now, if removing sin from our lives were so important to Him that He died for us to be free from it, why in the world do we think it is okay to continue in it because of grace? Why do we continue to make excuses for our choices? Why do you think that the blood that was shed on that cross for you and for me is not enough to empower us to turn our backs on what led Christ to the cross. We celebrate Easter year and year and then continue in sin because it’s easy. We look at others and feel good because my sin is not as bad as someone else’s sins. This we have to stop. We talk about power and what God is doing in our lives so let’s put the proof where our testimony is. Prove God right; that His Son dying on a cross for us was not in vain because we continue to believe that we cannot stop sinning. Stop saying you are a sinner saved by grace. Confess that you were a sinner saved by grace and now you are a dead man or woman walking as it relates to sin. Sin no longer reigns in our lives!!!
Today starts our month where we are committed to giving God our best. Let it also be the month that we prove God right – sin will no longer reign in our lives because of grace.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
