“New Life”
April 8, 2007
Resurrection Sunday
Romans 6:1-14
Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
Jesus Christ didn’t stay dead.
Oh yes, He was crucified. He was murdered. He was killed. He was dead. Flatlined. No brain-waves. No breathing. No heartbeats.
He died on the Cross. And He was buried. He was placed in the tomb.
But, as we have sung this morning with all our hearts and lungs, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”
Jesus Christ didn’t stay dead.
He was resurrected–to a new life.
And that’s what I want to talk about today. “New Life.”
Jesus’ New Life and Ours.
In just a few minutes, we’re going to witness the baptisms of Rusty & Chris Maines.
And I’m so excited! There is no better day to do baptisms than Resurrection Sunday.
You know why? Because every baptism is what I call a “mini-resurrection.”
A miniature resurrection.
As Rusty and Chris go down into the waters, they are symbolizing and signifying death and burial. And as they come up out of the waters, they are symbolizing and signifying resurrection and new life!
And there is no better place in the Bible to see this than Romans chapter 6.
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 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–because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 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. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
There are way too many details in Romans 6 for me to explain them all. I could preach for a year on the wondrous truths of Romans 6 through 8, and someday, Lord-willing, I will. But I don’t have time this morning to show you even half of what is here.
Instead, I want to point out three simple life-changing things that this passage teaches us that directly relate to baptism, resurrection, and new life.
And then I want to briefly apply these truths to our lives.
These points are so simple, I don’t need the overhead this morning. You’ll pick them up very easily.
#1. If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have died.
If you are taking notes this morning, you might want to write down “Truth #1. I have died.”
Did you hear all of the DEATH in these verses?
V.3 “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
V.4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death...”
V.5 “We have been united with him like this in his death...”
V.6 “We know that our old self was crucified with him...”
If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have died.
That’s what baptism signifies–being united with Jesus in His death.
When Jesus died, you and I died, too.
Somehow, mysteriously, because of the power of God, when Jesus died, you and I died, too.
V.5 “We have been united with him like this in his death...”
For those of us here who have put their faith in Jesus and Jesus alone, we have been united to Jesus and therefore we have died with Him.
Died in what way?
The key way that Paul is pointing out here is died to sin.
We have died to the penalty and enslaving power of sin.
If we have been united to Jesus, then the penalty that our sin deserves has been paid for in His death.
And more than that, the enslaving power of sin has been broken, as well–decisively!
Dead men don’t sin. V.7 “Anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
And that’s what we are in Christ, dead people.
You have died.
When Rusty and Chris go down under the water, they are proclaiming that they have been “baptized into His death.”
You have died.
But just as that was not the end of the story for Jesus, it’s not the end of the story for us, either.
Truth #2. If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have a new life!
If you’re taking notes this morning, you might want to write down “Truth #2. I have a new life!”
We’re not going to keep Rusty and Chris under the water.
We’re going to bring them up out of the water symbolizing resurrection and new life.
That’s in this passage, as well.
V.4 again. “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. [King James, “walk in newness of life.”]
If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have a new life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
You have a new life.
You didn’t just die with Christ, you came to life with Christ, too.
You aren’t the same person you were before you were united to Jesus.
You’ve been given a new life.
A new life that is no longer characterized by enslavement to sin–doing whatever sin says to do.
But a new life that is like Jesus’ life. A life of righteousness, of living the right way, God’s way. A life lived for God.
You have a new life.
I know it doesn’t always feel that way. Verse 11 tells us that we have to remind ourselves that this is the truth, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
But this is the deepest truth about us who are believers in Jesus Christ and is symbolized and signified in our baptisms–we have a new life!
Does it get any better than that?
Actually, it does!
Because the new life that we experience now is just a down-payment on the new life that is coming for us when Jesus Christ returns.
Truth #3. If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you will live forever!
If you’re taking notes, you might want to write down “Truth #3. I will live forever!”
This truth is found in the future tense of both verse 5 and verse 8.
Verse 5. “If we have [past tense] been united with him like this in his death, we will [future tense] certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
Verse 8. “Now if we died with Christ [past tense], we believe that we will also live with him [future tense].”
Paul is not only talking about a new way of living–a righteous way of living, but a new body to live in.
Did you know that you have a new body “on order?”
Jesus was resurrected into a new body with indestructible properties.
It was the same body He died in, but it was also new.
And the Bible promises His faith-followers, new bodies like His.
Philippians 3:20–“We eagerly await a Savior from [heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you don’t just have new life, you will live your new life–forever!
V.5 “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
What a glorious truth!
On Resurrection Sunday, we have to remind ourselves that we have a resurrection coming for us!
Death was not the end for Jesus, and it won’t be the end for us, either!
Truth #1. You have died.
Truth #2. You have a new life!
Truth #3. You will live forever!
And baptism symbolizes and signifies these wonderful truths.
Let me suggest 4 simple and direct points of application.
#1. Get Saved.
Because all three of these truths are not yours if you are not united to Jesus.
You have not died.
You do not have a new life.
You will not live that new life in a body like Jesus’ forever.
You must be saved.
And the way to be saved, the way to die and be given new life and be promised a new life forever is to trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
The rest of the book of Romans (and the rest of the Bible) says that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
Paul says it very succinctly in Ephesians 2:8&9: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Baptism does not save. It symbolizes and signifies what does save.
Jesus saves, and we trust Him to do it.
Are you saved?
Do you know it 100% for sure?
Do you know that you have died with Christ and been given a new life?
I challenge you right now, right here to make sure you are right with God.
Jesus Christ died on the Cross to save sinners, and He invites you to put your faith and trust in Him and Him alone to save you.
You must turn from your own way of doing things and trust in Him and what He did on the Cross.
If that is the desire of your heart, then tell Him.
Tell Him that you are a sinner needing saving and you are trusting in Him.
Tell Him that you want to receive Him as your Rescuer and King and want to begin following Him by faith.
Tell Him that you want to have died with Him to sin and have a new life that is lived to God.
And tell Him that you want to live with Him forever in a body like His.
...And He will not turn you down!
Get saved. I challenge you today, right now, right here to make sure that you are right with God.
#2. Get Baptized.
If you haven’t already, as a believer, I challenge you to get baptized.
Notice that Paul just expects that everyone who is a believer at Rome has been baptized!
His whole argument about their new life hinges on the fact that they’ve been baptized!
Now, don’t get baptized to get saved. It doesn’t work that way!
Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality.
Putting on the outward sign doesn’t create the inward reality.
But if you have the inward reality, you ought to put on the outward sign.
Have you been “buried with [Christ Jesus] through baptism into death?”
My guess is that there are a number of people here who profess faith in Christ, but haven’t yet been obedient to follow Him in believer’s baptism.
And you know who you are.
What are you waiting for?
If you are saved, get baptized.
Baptism, in our culture right now, isn’t seen as a big deal.
But it was in the early church.
Timothy George writes this in the book, The Mark of Jesus:
If you haven’t already, as a believer, I challenge you, too, to spit in Satan’s face and get baptized.
Application #3. Live a New Life.
That’s Paul’s major application in this passage.
He teaching them all of this to help them to live godly lives that are different from the lives that they lived before.
There were some people who thought that if Jesus saves by grace through faith, then you might as well sin some more so that grace would increase even more.
But Paul says, “May it never be!” You can’t do that! You have been united to Jesus, have died, and have a new life. You can’t live your old life now!
So he says, V.11, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
V.12 “Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires.”
V.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 (as baptism symbolizes) from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”
What he’s saying is basically, “Be what you are.”
Live out your new life.
You have a new life–live it!
As you know, Blair as been discipling Rusty.
And one of the things that he tells him when Rusty tells him what he used to do and how he used to act which we’ll hear about in a little bit is, “Well, that was the old Rusty. This is the new Rusty.”
And that’s right.
That was the old Chris. And this is the new Chris.
That was the old Matt. And this is the new Matt.
Turn to the person next to you and say, “You’re talking to the new me.”
You have a new life–live it!
Change is possible because you are united to Christ.
Recently, I have been convicted of having given up on my battle with gluttony.
As I have said before, I have an “extra-plate addiction.”
And recently, a few of my closest friends have been confronting me on that problem.
And I have [in my head, not out loud!] said, “Well, that’s seems to be just who I am, I can’t change.”
But that is not true, is it?
That’s not what my baptism says!
I have died.
I have a new life in Christ!
I can change.
I can “not let sin reign in my mortal body so that I obey its’ evil desires.” Sin is not my master. I can live a new life.
What area of your life needs to change because you have a new life?
Your baptism says that you can change.
You have a new life–live it!
And #4. Look Forward to Life Forever.
Get Saved.
Get Baptized.
Live A New Life.
And Look Forward to Life Forever.
Because this life is not all there is.
There is a whole other life to come.
Resurrection is on the way!
And faith-followers of Jesus Christ don’t live for today.
We don’t live for tomorrow.
We live for That Day!
Paul says in the Resurrection Chapter of 1 Corinthians 15:
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Look Forward to Life Forever.
That’s what your baptism says.
Romans 6:4&5–“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. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
April 8, 2007
Resurrection Sunday
Romans 6:1-14
Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
Jesus Christ didn’t stay dead.
Oh yes, He was crucified. He was murdered. He was killed. He was dead. Flatlined. No brain-waves. No breathing. No heartbeats.
He died on the Cross. And He was buried. He was placed in the tomb.
But, as we have sung this morning with all our hearts and lungs, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”
Jesus Christ didn’t stay dead.
He was resurrected–to a new life.
And that’s what I want to talk about today. “New Life.”
Jesus’ New Life and Ours.
In just a few minutes, we’re going to witness the baptisms of Rusty & Chris Maines.
And I’m so excited! There is no better day to do baptisms than Resurrection Sunday.
You know why? Because every baptism is what I call a “mini-resurrection.”
A miniature resurrection.
As Rusty and Chris go down into the waters, they are symbolizing and signifying death and burial. And as they come up out of the waters, they are symbolizing and signifying resurrection and new life!
And there is no better place in the Bible to see this than Romans chapter 6.
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 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–because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 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. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
There are way too many details in Romans 6 for me to explain them all. I could preach for a year on the wondrous truths of Romans 6 through 8, and someday, Lord-willing, I will. But I don’t have time this morning to show you even half of what is here.
Instead, I want to point out three simple life-changing things that this passage teaches us that directly relate to baptism, resurrection, and new life.
And then I want to briefly apply these truths to our lives.
These points are so simple, I don’t need the overhead this morning. You’ll pick them up very easily.
#1. If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have died.
If you are taking notes this morning, you might want to write down “Truth #1. I have died.”
Did you hear all of the DEATH in these verses?
V.3 “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
V.4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death...”
V.5 “We have been united with him like this in his death...”
V.6 “We know that our old self was crucified with him...”
If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have died.
That’s what baptism signifies–being united with Jesus in His death.
When Jesus died, you and I died, too.
Somehow, mysteriously, because of the power of God, when Jesus died, you and I died, too.
V.5 “We have been united with him like this in his death...”
For those of us here who have put their faith in Jesus and Jesus alone, we have been united to Jesus and therefore we have died with Him.
Died in what way?
The key way that Paul is pointing out here is died to sin.
We have died to the penalty and enslaving power of sin.
If we have been united to Jesus, then the penalty that our sin deserves has been paid for in His death.
And more than that, the enslaving power of sin has been broken, as well–decisively!
Dead men don’t sin. V.7 “Anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
And that’s what we are in Christ, dead people.
You have died.
When Rusty and Chris go down under the water, they are proclaiming that they have been “baptized into His death.”
You have died.
But just as that was not the end of the story for Jesus, it’s not the end of the story for us, either.
Truth #2. If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have a new life!
If you’re taking notes this morning, you might want to write down “Truth #2. I have a new life!”
We’re not going to keep Rusty and Chris under the water.
We’re going to bring them up out of the water symbolizing resurrection and new life.
That’s in this passage, as well.
V.4 again. “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. [King James, “walk in newness of life.”]
If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you have a new life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
You have a new life.
You didn’t just die with Christ, you came to life with Christ, too.
You aren’t the same person you were before you were united to Jesus.
You’ve been given a new life.
A new life that is no longer characterized by enslavement to sin–doing whatever sin says to do.
But a new life that is like Jesus’ life. A life of righteousness, of living the right way, God’s way. A life lived for God.
You have a new life.
I know it doesn’t always feel that way. Verse 11 tells us that we have to remind ourselves that this is the truth, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
But this is the deepest truth about us who are believers in Jesus Christ and is symbolized and signified in our baptisms–we have a new life!
Does it get any better than that?
Actually, it does!
Because the new life that we experience now is just a down-payment on the new life that is coming for us when Jesus Christ returns.
Truth #3. If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you will live forever!
If you’re taking notes, you might want to write down “Truth #3. I will live forever!”
This truth is found in the future tense of both verse 5 and verse 8.
Verse 5. “If we have [past tense] been united with him like this in his death, we will [future tense] certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
Verse 8. “Now if we died with Christ [past tense], we believe that we will also live with him [future tense].”
Paul is not only talking about a new way of living–a righteous way of living, but a new body to live in.
Did you know that you have a new body “on order?”
Jesus was resurrected into a new body with indestructible properties.
It was the same body He died in, but it was also new.
And the Bible promises His faith-followers, new bodies like His.
Philippians 3:20–“We eagerly await a Savior from [heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
If you are a faith-follower of Jesus Christ, you don’t just have new life, you will live your new life–forever!
V.5 “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
What a glorious truth!
On Resurrection Sunday, we have to remind ourselves that we have a resurrection coming for us!
Death was not the end for Jesus, and it won’t be the end for us, either!
Truth #1. You have died.
Truth #2. You have a new life!
Truth #3. You will live forever!
And baptism symbolizes and signifies these wonderful truths.
Let me suggest 4 simple and direct points of application.
#1. Get Saved.
Because all three of these truths are not yours if you are not united to Jesus.
You have not died.
You do not have a new life.
You will not live that new life in a body like Jesus’ forever.
You must be saved.
And the way to be saved, the way to die and be given new life and be promised a new life forever is to trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
The rest of the book of Romans (and the rest of the Bible) says that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
Paul says it very succinctly in Ephesians 2:8&9: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Baptism does not save. It symbolizes and signifies what does save.
Jesus saves, and we trust Him to do it.
Are you saved?
Do you know it 100% for sure?
Do you know that you have died with Christ and been given a new life?
I challenge you right now, right here to make sure you are right with God.
Jesus Christ died on the Cross to save sinners, and He invites you to put your faith and trust in Him and Him alone to save you.
You must turn from your own way of doing things and trust in Him and what He did on the Cross.
If that is the desire of your heart, then tell Him.
Tell Him that you are a sinner needing saving and you are trusting in Him.
Tell Him that you want to receive Him as your Rescuer and King and want to begin following Him by faith.
Tell Him that you want to have died with Him to sin and have a new life that is lived to God.
And tell Him that you want to live with Him forever in a body like His.
...And He will not turn you down!
Get saved. I challenge you today, right now, right here to make sure that you are right with God.
#2. Get Baptized.
If you haven’t already, as a believer, I challenge you to get baptized.
Notice that Paul just expects that everyone who is a believer at Rome has been baptized!
His whole argument about their new life hinges on the fact that they’ve been baptized!
Now, don’t get baptized to get saved. It doesn’t work that way!
Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality.
Putting on the outward sign doesn’t create the inward reality.
But if you have the inward reality, you ought to put on the outward sign.
Have you been “buried with [Christ Jesus] through baptism into death?”
My guess is that there are a number of people here who profess faith in Christ, but haven’t yet been obedient to follow Him in believer’s baptism.
And you know who you are.
What are you waiting for?
If you are saved, get baptized.
Baptism, in our culture right now, isn’t seen as a big deal.
But it was in the early church.
Timothy George writes this in the book, The Mark of Jesus:
“Baptism...involved a decisive transition from an old way of human life to a new and different way. Baptism was an act of radical obedience in which a specific renunciation was made and a specific promise was given. The renunciation part, the act of publically saying, ‘No!’ became prominent in the baptismal liturgy of the early church, as we read in documents from the late second century such as Terullian’s On Baptism and Hyipplytus’s Apostolic Tradition. From these sources we learn that baptism was often done on Easter eve, following a period of intensive preparation that included fasting, prayer, and the reading of Scripture. When at last the time for baptism itself arrived, the candidate would be called upon to renounce the Devil and all his pomp. Facing westward, the direction in which the sun went down, he would exclaim, ‘I renounce thee, O Satan, and all they works!’ Then he would deliberately spit three times in the direction of darkness, signifying a complete break with the power of evil and all their former claim on his life. Next, turning towards the sunrise, he would say, ‘And I embrace Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ!’ This would be followed by immersion three times in the name of the triune God, the receiving of a new robe, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, and participating in the Lord’s Supper. Baptism was not a private ritual to be performed in secret. It was a public confession of allegiance to Jesus Christ” (The Mark of Jesus, pg. 33-34).
If you haven’t already, as a believer, I challenge you, too, to spit in Satan’s face and get baptized.
Application #3. Live a New Life.
That’s Paul’s major application in this passage.
He teaching them all of this to help them to live godly lives that are different from the lives that they lived before.
There were some people who thought that if Jesus saves by grace through faith, then you might as well sin some more so that grace would increase even more.
But Paul says, “May it never be!” You can’t do that! You have been united to Jesus, have died, and have a new life. You can’t live your old life now!
So he says, V.11, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
V.12 “Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires.”
V.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 (as baptism symbolizes) from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”
What he’s saying is basically, “Be what you are.”
Live out your new life.
You have a new life–live it!
As you know, Blair as been discipling Rusty.
And one of the things that he tells him when Rusty tells him what he used to do and how he used to act which we’ll hear about in a little bit is, “Well, that was the old Rusty. This is the new Rusty.”
And that’s right.
That was the old Chris. And this is the new Chris.
That was the old Matt. And this is the new Matt.
Turn to the person next to you and say, “You’re talking to the new me.”
You have a new life–live it!
Change is possible because you are united to Christ.
Recently, I have been convicted of having given up on my battle with gluttony.
As I have said before, I have an “extra-plate addiction.”
And recently, a few of my closest friends have been confronting me on that problem.
And I have [in my head, not out loud!] said, “Well, that’s seems to be just who I am, I can’t change.”
But that is not true, is it?
That’s not what my baptism says!
I have died.
I have a new life in Christ!
I can change.
I can “not let sin reign in my mortal body so that I obey its’ evil desires.” Sin is not my master. I can live a new life.
What area of your life needs to change because you have a new life?
Your baptism says that you can change.
You have a new life–live it!
And #4. Look Forward to Life Forever.
Get Saved.
Get Baptized.
Live A New Life.
And Look Forward to Life Forever.
Because this life is not all there is.
There is a whole other life to come.
Resurrection is on the way!
And faith-followers of Jesus Christ don’t live for today.
We don’t live for tomorrow.
We live for That Day!
Paul says in the Resurrection Chapter of 1 Corinthians 15:
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Look Forward to Life Forever.
That’s what your baptism says.
Romans 6:4&5–“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. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
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