DEATH, BURIAL, RESURRECTION:
A THREEFOLD PROCESS FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM

SERMON TEXT: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”(Romans 6:11)

SERMON THESIS: The resurrection gives the believer assurance of eternal life.                       

INTRODUCTION: Today, on this Easter Sunday, we have the unique privilege to both hear and see the gospel (death, burial, and resurrection) proclaimed.  We will first hear the gospel preached, and then see a visual proclamation of the gospel through baptism.  In the baptismal ceremony, the threefold process of passing from spiritual death to spiritual life is symbolized.  Baptism, you see, is an outward sign of an inward change.  A change that takes place in the human soul when conversion is experienced.

In the passage of Scripture under our consideration, Romans 6:1-11, the Apostle Paul borrows the expression of baptism to show the death and resurrection of Christ, and the effect this spiritual transformation has on an individual life that is transformed by the saving power of God’s grace.

Today, I invite you to listen intently and observe fully that which you hear and see to make sure that you have died to sin, and that you have been made alive to God.

The threefold process from slavery  to freedom begins with . . .

I.  DEATH - Death as it is used here is not physical but spiritual.  What kind of death is it?

1) Death to the old sinful nature.  You see, you and I are depraved.  That means we were born with a sinful nature.  It was king David who said . . .

 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”(Psalm 51:6).

How do we die to this old sinful nature?

2) With Jesus on the cross.  Again this is a spiritual death and not a physical death.  Paul uses  the expression of baptism to reveal this truth.  Paul asks, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”(v 3).

The reader would have understood Paul’s language . . .

For you and me, when we repent of our sin, and by faith invite Jesus into our life, we are crucified with Christ on the cross.  That is to say, our sins have been nailed to the cross with Him, as expressed in this great old hymn . . .

“My sin- O, the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin- not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it not more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O my soul.”

This truth is symbolized most vividly in believers baptism . . .   When Jesus died on the cross, He died for the sins of the world, yours and mine; past sins, present sins, and future sins.  In verse six, Paul writes . . .

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is free from sin (acquitted).”  Herein lies FREEDOM!

Second, comes . . .

II.  BURIAL - When a loved one dies as painful as it is, we must take their body to the cemetery. I have made that painful journey  to the cemetery with both the bodies of my Father and  Mother. Countless other times, as a pastor, I have made that journey with bereaved families and friends.

Following Jesus’ agonizing death on the cross He was buried.

Read John 19:31ff . . .

Continuing with our baptismal motif, the converted sinner enters the baptismal waters,symbolizing his/her death to sin and, symbolically, like Jesus, is buried in the watery grave.

The Apostle Paul coined it in these words, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death . . .”(v 4a).

 The saddest part about the burial is that we must leave the body of our dear loved one in the cemetery.  They cannot get up and walk away with us.  The burial really brings the reality of death to a sad ending. 

Perhaps you have heard of a famous magician named Harry Houdini!  He was a magician who specialized in spectacular escapes.  As a matter of fact, he was said to have laughed at locks and sneered at fetters.  They said Harry had the flexibility of an eel.  He had the lives of a cat.

They did all kinds of things to try and incarcerate him.  They could seal him in coffins.  He would escape.  They riveted him into a boiler.  He escaped.  They sewed him up in canvas bags.  He escaped.  They locked him in a milk can.  He escaped.  They  sealed him in a beer barrel.  He escaped.  They put him in a maximum  security prison.  And ole Harry somehow got out.

However in October 1926, ole man death laid his hands on Harry Houdini and put him in a grave.  As a mater of fact, he told his wife, ‘If there is any way out, I’ll find it.  If there is any way out, I’ll make contact with you on the anniversary of my death.’ For ten years she kept a light burning over his portrait.  At the end of ten years, she turned out the light.  Death had Harry, and he couldn’t escape.

 -credit is given to Dr. Adrian Rogers for the above story

Oh, how sad it would be indeed if the grave was the end!  BUT thank God, the gospel message does not end with the burial.  NO!  There is . . .

III.  THE RESURRECTION - You see, my friends, death laid its cold icy hands on the Lord Jesus also.  But death could not contain Him.  And because He lives, we shall live also.

Paul did not stop with the phrase, “ . . . we have been buried with Him through baptism into death.”(v 4).  He went on to say, “ . . . in order 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   (first class conditional sentence = since) we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection”(v 5).

It was because of the resurrection that Carolyn and I could walk into the preparation  room at the Wilson Funeral Home in Church Hill, Tennessee, view the cold, still body of my Dad, and put my hand on his soft hair and say, “This is where my Daddy use to live . . .”

Observing the act of baptism, we get to view the threefold presentation of the gospel message in its entirety - death, burial, and resurrection.  And even though it is symbolic now, one day your resurrection and mine will become a literal reality . . .

Read I Thess. 4:13-18

Paul also wrote, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him”(v 8).

CONCLUSION: Do you know that you have died to sin, and that you are alive to God?  If not, you can know today!  Will you put your trust in the risen, resurrected Lord?