Sermon Tone Analysis

When it comes to living the Christian life there are two significant errors that must be avoided.

One is that of legalism…legalism is an approach to the Christian life that takes your personal convictions and seeks to make them as binding as direct Scriptural commands.

It is insisting upon that which Scripture does not insist upon itself.

When we go down the path of legalism, it threatens our assurance, our relationships, and our joy as we will constantly be tempted to be critical of others and of ourselves, or else be so puffed up with pride and and filled with a sense of self-righteousness that we become unbearable to be around.

On the other hand, if the pendulum swings too far away from legalism, we end up with antinomianism.

Antinomianism refers to being anti-law.

This approach says that since Christ died for my sin, and since I trusted in Christ, then it does not matter how I live my life, I’m free to do whatever I want, and there is no such thing as a sin for me any more.

When we go down the path of antinomianism, we bring shame and reproach to the name of Christ, we become stumbling blocks to others, and we place our own souls in danger of eternal hell.

The solution to both errors is to embrace a proper understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Good News of the Gospel of the Jesus Christ declares to us that we are sinners deserving of God’s eternal judgment, but Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners so that who repent and accept by faith Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and his resurrections from the dead are promised forgiveness of sins, eternal life, adoption into the family of God, and entrance into the eternal Kingdom.

This necessarily rules out a legalistic approach, because it declares to us that, as sinners, we can do nothing to merit favor with God, either before or after salvation.

You good works didn’t save you then, and they don’t keep you saved now.

It is all of grace.

This necessarily rules out a an antinomian approach, because Christ died to free us from our sin.

He died to make us his children.

Why would we continue to walk in that sin?

Why would God’s children continue to persist in that which is directly contrary to His revealed will?

The proper understanding of the Gospel is essential to avoiding the pitfalls of both legalism and antinomianism.

Today is Resurrection Sunday.

It is the day that the church has traditionally set aside extra time to consider one of the crucial elements of the Gospel: The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Historically there have been times when the reality of the resurrection was under sever attack.

When we consider how atheists might approach the topic, we might think it is still under attack, but there was a time when it was under attack from within in church.

Academic scholars with presuppositions against the miraculous cast doubt upon the resurrection and it was common that, as denominational churches drifted toward theological liberalism, the literal historical account of the resurrection was suppressed.

Scriptural speaking, we simply cannot afford to do that.

Paul was unequivocally clear when he stated in 1 Cor 15:14

and again in 1 Cor 15:17

We cannot afford to set the resurrection aside.

We cannot afford to forget to stress the resurrection when it comes to presenting the Gospel to others.

Paul identifies this as central to the Gospel.

It was the reality of the significance of the resurrection that the early church began meeting on Sundays for worship.

In a sense, every Sunday is resurrection Sunday, and it has been called “The Lord’s Day” since the first century.

If we were to trace the theme of the resurrection of Christ throughout the NT, we would find that it is simply everywhere.

Whether you’re reading the book of acts, or epistles from Paul, Peter, or John, the reality of the resurrection is not only stressed, but applied!

The NT authors don’t view the resurrection as central only to the Gospel, as important as that is.

They view the resurrection as central to EVERYTHING in the Christian life.

It is essential to our justification, Rom 4:25

It is essential for our glorification

But do you know that it is also essential for our sanctification, for our growing in holiness?

Not only is the resurrection of Christ essential for our sanctification, but it is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead that is working within you to make you more like Christ.

The same power that worked in Christ to raise Him from the dead, that same power is at work toward us who believe.

This is the same theme that I want to continue to examine as we consider our primary passages for today.

Turn with me, if you will, to the book Romans, chapter 6, where we see three ways the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead impacts our lives.

As we work through this passage, it is clear that Paul makes numerous references to both the death and resurrection of Christ.

I will be focusing more on the resurrection elements simply because of what today is.

But this is not meant to ignore the other details, it’s simply a matter of using the time well.

The first way the Resurrection impacts us is that it Renders Sin irrational.

The Resurrection Renders sin irrational.

The Resurrection Renders Sin Irrational

Paul has ended chapter with a marvelous declaration of the grace of God!

Though sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, thus death spread to all mankind because all have sinned, and even though many died through one man’s trespass, the grace of God and free gift of the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many!

And he concludes the chapter with these words Romans 5:20-21

The grace of God abounds as he saves sinners for His glory.

Paul wrote in 1 Tim 1:15-16

Grace is abounding as God saves even the worst of sinners!

Praise him!

As Paul writes the book of Romans, he is frequently anticipating possible or real objections or responses to the information he present.

Some might respond to the ever abounding grace of God as a way to exploit what they might see as a loophole.

Wait…if the abundance of sin only served to increase the abundance of God’s grace, then what if I just go on sinning all the more??

Wouldn’t that make the grace of God abound all the more and thus glorify God to a greater degree??

I don’t know if you’ve ever met anyone like this, who wants to exploit every loophole they can find.

My dad would tell me the story of a man who used to pull up to every red light and stop.

If there were no other cars and it was safe to proceed, he would run the red light and keep going.

He would get pulled over for this constantly, but he always carried a copy of the rules of the road with him, and he showed the officers that it says you have to stop.

It doesn’t say you have to wait for it to turn green until you can go again.

He found the loophole and exploited it.

I don’t mind that when it comes to man-made laws, but there is something dangerous about always looking for ways to rules lawyer your way around everything.

If increased sin increases grace, then I should sin more that there might be more grace...

This might be the reasoning of some antinomians who want to turn the grace of God into an opportunity for licentiousness.

Paul’s response is swift and harsh: By no means!

May it never be!

This is one of the strongest possible ways to express this idea in the Greek.

No no no no no no no no NO!

God forbid!

Such reasoning is not not only flies in the face of the grace of God, but as Paul demonstrates, it is also irrational when we consider what has actually happened in the Gospel.

What Paul is saying is that the Gospel makes sin irrational.

How can you who died to sin still live in it??

And then he explains what he means by that statement.

Do you not know....

He says that like its something we should know.

It’s not a secret.

It’s not hard to figure out.

All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death.

What is Paul talking about here?

Scholars have debated whether Paul is referring to Spirit baptism or water baptism.

Water baptism is supposed to be that outward picture of an inward reality.

We know that baptism doesn’t save, but it is a public declaration of our faith in Christ.

It is supposed to symbolize our union with Christ.

Spirit baptism is invisible and occurs at the moment of conversion.

The Holy Spirit baptizes us, not such that we speak in tongues or other such nonsense, but such that he places us into the body of Christ and joins to Christ.

Water baptism symbolizes that union.

When we are placed under the water, that is a picture of us dying to our old selves, dying to sin.

As we are raised up out of the water that shows us being raised with Christ and given new life.

When Paul says that those of us who were baptized were baptized into his death, that is what he speaks of.

We were joined with him in death.

He died so that we might die to ourselves and our sin.

Our old self was crucified on the cross and our spirit baptism accomplishes that and our water baptism symbolizes it.

So Paul is saying to us....guys.

You died with Christ to your sin.

You died to it.

Why would you keep living it?