Victory Over Sin

Easter means Victory over Sin [See full sermon notes]

Paul writes, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

If there is no Easter, we’ve got a problem: You’re still in your sins.

But, since Christ has been raised, just the opposite is true: You are no longer in your sins!

How is Easter and the resurrection connected to that? Let’s think through it.

What is sin? Sin is all the ways we have gone against God, either directly or indirectly by not doing what he has commanded, like loving our neighbor. This disobedience to God can happen through the things we think, say, do, or leave undone. That is sin.

And sin is a kind of debt. In fact, when people sin against each other, we often use this language of debt. We say stuff like, “How can I make it up to you?” In sinning against them, we intuitively feel we have taken something from the other person (e.g., respect, love, obedience) that we now owe them. And the Bible likewise speaks of sin as a kind of debt to be paid (Col. 2:14).

So what do we owe God to pay this debt? A perfect life. Think about it. Adam, the first person, was given a perfect life, but he wrecked it. And we’ve been living in the fallout ever since. If you wreck a brand new car, you owe a brand new car. So we owe God a perfect life. But for all of human history, no one has been able to pay off this original debt.

So what happens if you cannot pay the debt? Eternal death and punishment. 

Now, here’s where it gets interesting and hopeful.

Jesus, as the Son of God, actually had a perfect life. He knew no sin. And, rather than condemn all of us sinners, he said he would give his perfect life for our sake. The only person who ever lived who could pay this debt, agreed to pay this debt! This is what the cross is all about. Jesus said he would go to the cross willingly as our substitute. Like all those Old Testament sacrifices for sin that could never really atone for human sin, Christ would offer himself as the sacrifice that could actually pay off the debt and deal with our sin record once and for all. 

Great! That is truly amazing! But, how would you know if it worked? Well, do you remember what the penalty for the unpaid debt was? It was eternal death and punishment. So, if someone could pay the debt, eternal death and punishment would be canceled, right? That’s how that works. If you have unpaid speeding tickets and they’re threatening jail time, when you pay the tickets the jail time goes away. So, if Jesus gave his perfect life to pay our debt, and if it really worked, you would expect eternal death and punishment to be canceled. 

And friends, that’s what Easter means! That is why Easter is so important and such wonderful news! The resurrection of Christ proves that he did in fact pay our debt. His resurrection confirms that the work of salvation really is done. You’re no longer in your sin! 

And that’s such wonderful news! Because our sin was separating us from God. And it would separate us from God eternally in hell if we never dealt with it. So by Christ putting away our sins, our relationship with God can be restored. It means we can go home.

So, when we see the resurrected Jesus, we celebrate for him and for ourselves because we have victory over sin and we have the promise of heaven forever with God.