Buried Alive

This weekend, we are talking about baptism.

And if you have a Bible, I want you to turn to Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

It's the only chapter, the only passage I'm gonna have you turn to because we're gonna read a lot of Romans 6.

There are a ton of scriptures in this message, and uh kind of uh in light of last week's message, and in honor of Pastor Robert's message last week, this week my message has 25 points.

And contrary to last week, there will be no fancy schmancy PDF on the website.

I expect all of you to keep up and take good notes.

I'm not smart enough to have 25 points.

There are only three.

Now, I don't know if you think this way about baptism, but I personally believe that baptism is one of the most romantic things we do in the Christian life.

And I believe it's something that we don't talk about that often.

My prayer is that by the end of this message, if you don't see baptism as unbelievably romantic, that in less than 30 minutes, you'll change your perspective.

Because baptism is incredibly romantic.

Baptism has in the New Testament two different meanings.

It has a literal meaning and a figurative meaning.

The literal meaning of the word baptiso in the New Testament means to immerse, to put under.

The figurative meaning means to be identified with.

Now, you've probably heard people speaking about baptism say this.

Baptism is a symbol.

You'll hear him say, baptism is just a symbol.

Now, baptism is a symbol, but it's not just a symbol.

Baptism is not simply symbolic, it is incredibly extravagant.

It is a God moment that we have the opportunity to share with him.

Now, if I were going to teach my children about love, there's several different ways that I could do it.

I could sit them down and with a with a piece of paper and get a pen and draw a heart and say, this is the universal symbol for love.

Boys, if you want to express your love for a young lady, at the end of the school year, grab her yearbook and write, I heart you, BFF.

I could teach them by drawing a symbol, or I could do it my way.

Here's how I would teach my children about love.

I'd sit them down and I'd tell them the story about the day when Daddy fell madly in love with mommy.

And daddy saved up all the money that he could to buy mommy a ring.

And he flew to Phoenix to surprise mommy and got down on one knee and begged mommy.

He begged mommy to give him the chance to love her all the days of his life.

Now, in the first scenario, I don't have to actually have love to draw its symbol.

But in the second scenario, it's very symbolic.

Proposing is very symbolic.

Getting down on one knee is symbolic.

Putting a ring on a finger is symbolic.

Very symbolic, but it's not simply symbolic.

You see, the second instance is a demonstration.

It is a declaration of the love that I have in me for that woman.

Baptism is exactly the same thing.

It is a public demonstration or declaration of the love I have in me for my God.

This message is titled Buried Alive.

And if you're there in Romans chapter 6, let's read it and find out why.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 6, starting in verse 1.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

Of course not.

Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death?

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.

And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

There are three points in this message this weekend.

And they basically answer the question: what's so important about baptism?

Here's the first point we die with him.

We die with him.

All believers believe that Christ died for them.

It's part of becoming a believer.

We believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sin.

He died for us.

But I wonder how many believers actually understand that not only did Christ die for them, but they died with him.

We die with Christ.

Keep going in Romans chapter 6, now verse 5.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

For if we've been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him.

That the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Underline that right there.

No longer slaves of sin.

We're going to come back to that in just a moment because this is very important.

The slaves of sin before salvation.

Galatians chapter 2, verse 20.

Galatians 2:20

You probably know this.

I have been crucified with Christ.

Therefore I no longer live, yet Christ lives in me.

I've been crucified with Christ.

Galatians 5 24 says, those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

Now, Paul, all throughout the Pauline epistles, talks about the fact that before salvation we are slaves to sin.

And in Romans 6, down in verse 19, he begins to explain why he uses this illustration.

So look down there in Romans chapter 6 at what he says.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Because of the weakness of our your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this.

Previously you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin.

Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living, so that you will become holy.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.

And what was the result?

You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God.

During slavery, freedom was very rare, except in the case of death.

During slavery, many slaves felt that the only way to freedom was escaping slavery via death.

What a horrible thought.

Physically, what a horrible thought to think that someone would be in such bondage that the only way out of it would be to die.

Spiritually, what a romantic thought.

That God would think so much of me that He'd say, Preston, I'm not going to ask you to beat this.

I'm going to ask you to die to this.

Because Preston, you have a tendency to get up.

Every time sin walks by, there's a part of you that wants to walk up.

Just get up and walk off.

I'm going to make sure you die to sin.

Now, let me explain something.

New believers innocently sometimes believe that once they get saved, that they'll no longer be sinful.

Maybe you were like this.

You got saved, and you said to Jesus, the moment you got saved, you said, I am never sinning again.

God, I will never sin again.

30 minutes later.

I'm so sorry, God.

I didn't mean it.

See, the enemy wants to convince us that it that our salvation comes down to whether or not we sin.

It has nothing to do with whether or not I sin.

Listen to me.

We are dead to sin.

What would it change when we're struggling with temptation if we understood the fact that we are dead to sin?

We're not sinless.

As long as we're in these bodies, we'll have the compulsion to sin.

I'm not saying that we'll be sinless.

What I'm saying is sin no longer has the power to reign over us.

That is good news.

Over the years, in counseling, uh, I've heard many times people say, as they talk about, you know, besetting sin, sin that they've struggled with for years.

Here's what they say.

Well, as long as there's sin in the world, I'll probably struggle with it.

Listen, first, that's a curse.

Don't speak that over yourself.

Do not speak that over yourself.

You are dead to sin.

It doesn't mean you won't sin, but you're dead to it.

You're dead to the power of sin.

And as long as we misunderstand that, sin will always overtake us.

But when we understand sin doesn't have the right to reign over us any longer, it's amazing how much easier it is to say no.

Dead people have no problem saying no.

I'm just saying.

Christians are people who have died.

And their baptism emphasizes that death.

Here's the second point.

We're buried with him.

We are buried with him.

Romans 6, 4, we've already read it.

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.

Colossians 2, 11 and 12, when you came to Christ, you were circumcised, but not by physical procedure.

Christ performed a spiritual circumcision, the cutting away of your sinful nature.

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized.

The Christians' baptism is a burial.

Baptism puts our human bodies in an environment that cannot sustain life.

We are buried with Him in baptism.

Charles Spurgeon says this: while the dead man is indoors, the passers-by do not know that he is dead.

But when the funeral takes place and he is carried through the streets, everybody knows that he's going into the ground.

This is what baptism ought to be.

When I was growing up, I was a pastor's kid, and my grandfather, who is here in the service, was in ministry for over 50 years.

Had an uncle who was a pastor, have an aunt that has served with a messianic Jewish ministry for over two decades.

So my five cousins and two younger brothers, we grew up around ministry.

While everyone else was playing doctor or playing businessmen, we were playing church.

And so when we were younger, we would get together during the summers, and my aunt and uncle had a pool in their backyard.

So when we played church, we'd have baptism services.

So we created this fictitious character called Brother Neon.

Some of my cousins are here.

They remember this very well.

I'm the second oldest cousin.

My oldest cousin Chad, who's here today, he would always be Brother Neon first.

And Brother Neon, we kind of invented him to be this uber charismatic, unbelievably hickish, like Jeff Foxworthy type preacher.

And he loved to baptize people.

But inevitably, when Brother Neon started baptizing people in my aunt and uncle's pool, he would always get a little aggressive.

And because I was the second cousin, I always felt like Brother Neon had it out for me.

So my cousin, I mean Brother Neon, would hold me under a little extra.

Here's what's so dangerous about that.

I got to be Brother Neon next.

And if there's one thing I learned about Brother Neon, Brother Neon loved revenge.

So, when it was my turn to be Brother Neon, I would go to my oldest cousin first, and I would hold him under, and I would emphasize emphatically that in baptism we are buried with Christ Jesus.

Don't get up, son, you are buried with Christ Jesus.

Stay down.

I don't know if you know this, but as pastors, every once in a while we're tempted to do this in the baptism.

So, FYI, don't ever send me an email to someone who baptizes because we will hold you under a little longer.

Now I'm making jokes about the burial, but listen to me.

I believe very strongly that the burial has fallen off of our radar theologically.

The burial of Christ is extremely significant.

Extremely significant.

And listen, here's how we know it's fallen off of the radar.

Look around Easter time.

Listen to the way people talk.

You hear them saying, We are celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We come on Easter Sunday and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

It's great.

I am obviously not minimizing that, but I am reminding us we celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now here's why that's so significant.

Dead people need only be revived.

Buried people can only be resurrected.

Dead people need only be revived, but buried people can only be resurrected.

I have a sister-in-law who's a registered nurse, and she has brought several people back to life in the operating room.

I'm sure we have some doctors here on all of our campuses, nurses, who have revived people back to life in the operating room.

But I don't see those doctors walking through cemeteries unearthing dead bodies, going, get up, I got you on this one.

Why?

Because someone who's dead is still close enough to life they can come back.

Just shock them in the heart.

Give them CPR.

It happens every day.

But we don't see people getting up out of cemeteries, walking in new life.

Why?

Why is burial so important?

Listen to me, we have a lot of Christians trying to play dead.

Many believers let their bodies go under the water.

Fewer believers let their flesh go into the ground.

Burial is extremely significant.

And let me say this this is something that's so beautiful about burial.

Sin lies on the other side of the grave for those who have in Christ died to it.

I'll say it again.

Sin lies on the other side of the grave for those who have in Christ died to it.

Let me explain.

Let's say I'm going about my business one day and I'm just doing my thing, probably like you do, and uh I'm in the zone, and then all of a sudden I get that tap on the shoulder.

Maybe you've gotten there before, that tap of temptation.

The devil's just trying to tempt you with something.

Here's what this means: sin lies on the other side of the grave for those who haven't Christ died to it.

That means the moment I turn around to even see what the devil is tempting me with, before I can even fix my gaze on the temptation, I first am distracted by my own corpse.

And I look, before I even trip over it, at the headstone that reads, Here lies Preston, who gave his life to Jesus.

And in doing so, died with him, was buried with him, and was raised to live new life in him.

Before I can even get trapped in temptation, I must first trip over my own corpse.

Can you imagine how much easier it would be when the devil tempts us if we would be reminded of the fact that it's not as easy as yes or no?

Because the enemy comes to us and says, You will struggle with this for the rest of your life.

I've gotten you every time I tempt you with this.

Listen, here's what the enemy's doing.

He wants you to focus on the temptation.

Stop focusing on the temptation and focus on the corpse you have to trip over.

No, no, see, the old me was struggled with that.

I was raised to live new life in Christ.

I'm gonna walk in that new life.

I'm not even gonna look at what you're tempting me with.

I'm gonna read this headstone until I fall asleep at night.

I'm gonna read his word until I fall asleep at night.

Because his word reminds me that sin has no power over me anymore.

Burial certifies the reality of death, and baptism is the public demonstration of that burial.

In my house, we're teaching our children about forgiveness, apologies, and we've been doing this for years.

And if you have more than one boy in your house, you probably have lots of fights in your house, wrestling matches.

And uh just like when I was younger, how Brother Neon would get slightly aggressive, my boys get slightly aggressive, you know, somebody pushes that red button and then it's like four alarm fire.

And so we've been teaching our children for years about forgiveness, and maybe your children responded the same way that mine did when I told them they needed to start asking for forgiveness.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

It doesn't even take 0.3 seconds.

I'm sorry.

No, Tyler, you need to say why you're sorry.

I'm sorry I punched you in the eye and pulled out your hair.

So in trying to teach my children forgiveness, the Lord gave me something.

And I hope you never forget this.

I said to my son, don't settle for daddy's forgiveness when daddy is waiting for your repentance.

You see, forgiveness says I'm sorry.

Repentance says I'm sorry, that won't never happen again.

The definition of repentance in the original language is to burn up so as to never revisit again.

And listen, in the same way, forgiveness is to repentance, what death is to burial.

Stop settling for Christ's death when God is waiting for your burial.

Yes, Christ died for us, and it's wonderful, and clearly I'm not minimizing that, but I think some of us forget the fact that our response is death and a burial of our own.

I don't want to be revived.

I don't want my flesh to be revived.

I want my flesh to be starved out.

And the best way to starve my flesh is to bury it in the ground.

The burial is important.

Baptism demonstrates this burial.

Here's the third point.

We are raised to live new life.

We are raised to new life.

Acts chapter 2, verse 24 says, But God released him, Jesus, from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

Acts 2:24

Someone, please say amen.

Death could not keep him in its grip.

For a brief time, death, as the executor of sin, held Jesus.

But not for long.

Here's why.

Because Jesus was not guilty of personal sin.

Death had no right to hold him indefinitely.

I'll give it to him.

I'll give it to the devil.

The cross was brilliant.

Brilliant.

Putting Jesus on the cross was brilliant.

And I'm sure on the day of Christ's crucifixion, the devil was dancing and the demons were singing.

But in the middle of their song, here's what I know.

I know God at some point looked down and said, I know you think you got him, but let me say this: what you thought would go this way, I'm gonna turn and it's gonna go my way.

The cross was sin's strongest and smartest move, but the resurrection was God's checkmate.

As the enemy danced and celebrated Christ's death on the cross, God chuckled and said, Check and mate.

It is finished.

So what does this new life look like?

I'm just gonna read you a bunch of scriptures and we're gonna go through them quickly, but I want you to see this new life in Christ.

Romans 6.5, we've already read it.

Since we've been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.

1 Peter 2.24 says he personally carried our sins in his body on the cross, so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.

Colossians 2.12 says, For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized, and with him you were raised to new life, because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead.

Second Corinthians 5.15 says, He died for everyone, so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.

Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

Two verses later, in verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 5, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone, a new life has begun.

Colatians 3 26 and 27 says, For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, and all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like putting on new clothes.

Colossians 3 9 and 10 says, Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.

Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.

In God's redemptive plan, burial always follows death, resurrection always follows burial.

Christians are not reformed, rehabilitated, or re-educated.

They are recreated.

We are new creations in Christ Jesus.

And listen, I know some of you who you may have been saved for just a little while and you're saying, But Preston, I'm not very good at living this new life.

Understand something.

The onus for living this new life is not on your power to perform it.

The onus for living this new life is on the power of God who gives new life.

How extravagant that not only would God send his son to die for you, be buried for you, and then raise him up.

How extravagant that God gave you a chance to do it with him.

I told you baptism is one of the most romantic things I believe in the Christian life.

And I told you a little bit about how I would, if I were teaching my children about love, I would tell them the story of how Daddy fell in love with mommy.

When I fell in love with my wife and knew she was going to be the woman I would spend the rest of my life with, I set aside as much money as I could.

It was$2,400 at the time.

And I bought a ring for her.

$2,400 doesn't go that far with jewelry.

Men, I know you know this.

The thought crossed my mind, ladies, to just take that$2,400 and buy a cubic zirconia and make the thing just look huge.

But I didn't.

I bought a 0.71 highly stained little diamond.

And when I knew I was gonna propose to her, I flew to California to ask her mother and father for her hand in marriage.

Holly was living in Phoenix at the time, and so the next day on the way back through, I was flying to Phoenix to surprise her and propose to her, and I was having a conversation with the Lord, and I said, God, now listen to me.

You made me to be a communicator, so words are very important to me.

You know, at 21 you think you're the best with words, and I said, and I'm pretty good with my words.

But I I want your words when I ask her to marry me.

And immediately he gave me Ruth chapter one.

So I landed in Phoenix and had it arranged where some friends brought Holly to their home, and I came in.

She had just come from volleyball practice.

She was a high school volleyball coach at the time, and her hair was soaking wet.

She was wearing one of my extra large sweatshirts and ratty gym shorts.

It was exactly the way she pictured being proposed to, I'm sure.

And I walked into the room, and the moment she saw me, she started crying.

And I got down on one knee.

And I said, babe, I have no idea what the future holds.

I don't know where I'll be ten years from now.

I don't know how much money I'll make.

I have no idea what I'll be doing, but I do know this.

I will spend the rest of my life loving you.

And then I quoted Ruth chapter one.

And I said, entreat me not to leave you.

Wherever you go, I will go.

Your people will be my people.

Your God will be my God.

Where you die, there I will be buried.

If anything less than death separates me from you, let something far worse than death be my punishment.

Please marry me.

I don't know if you know this.

But in baptism, we are saying to Christ, don't ever ask me to leave you, Jesus.

Wherever you go, I will go.

Your people will be my people.

Your God will be my God.

Where you die, I will die.

Where you're buried, I'll be buried.

If anything less than death separates me from you, let something far worse than death be my punishment.

Jesus, I don't know where I'll be 10 years from now.

I don't know how much money I'll make.

I have no idea where I'll be, but I do know this.

I will spend the rest of my life loving you.

So here's my question for you.

Have you been baptized?

First, we must be saved before we're baptized.

If you haven't been saved, you're gonna get a chance to meet the most romantic person you will ever meet in your life.

It is God Almighty.

And let me tell you something.

God has been practicing his proposal speech since the beginning of time, and today is your day.

For those of us who are saved, have you been baptized?

And if you have been baptized, did you merely go under the water?

Or were you buried with Christ in baptism?

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.