Seeking once again the help of
God, I would like us to turn together to the chapter that
we read together, Romans chapter 6, and the text you'll find in
verse 23. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. As we remember today the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we looked this morning of those
ladies who were eyewitnesses of the death of the Lord Jesus,
along with so many others they saw the centurion or the soldier
pierce the side of the Lord Jesus Christ and they witnessed him
being taken down from the cross and wrapped in spices and in
a linen cloth and laid in the grave. As they rested on the
Sabbath day, as they obeyed the law of the Sabbath day, the Pharisees
and Sadducees were conspiring to seal the tomb of the Lord
Jesus Christ to prevent anyone taking him away or to prevent
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see that
as they woke up on the first day of the week very early in
the morning and loaded themselves with spices and went to the grave,
they asked that question, who shall roll us away the stone? As they arrived At the graveside
there they saw the stone had been rolled away and they were
reliably informed by the angel that he is not here. He has risen
as he has told you, come and see the place where the Lord
lay. And all of this was done by the
Lord Jesus Christ to bring about the salvation of his people.
It wasn't done haphazardly. It was a plan of Almighty God
from the beginning of before the foundation of the world.
to bring about the salvation of his people. The Lord knew
that mankind would fall into sin. The Lord knew that Adam
would rebel against him, would cause the human race to plummet
into rebellion against God. And the Lord prepared a way by
which his people would be able to be redeemed. would be able
to escape the curse of the law, they would be able to escape
the wrath of God which would be justly deserving for the punishment
of their sins. And so the scriptures tell us
here that the wages of sin is death. in chapter 4 and verse 25 going
on to chapter 5 it says or 24 but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences and was raised
again for our justification, therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
through his perfect life, through his death on the cross, through
his raising again from the grave, was bringing about the salvation
of his people. He was paying, as it were, their
wages. He was receiving, sorry, their
wages but the wages of sin is death. Anybody who works in any
place receives wages. Wages is that which is due to
you. You have laboured, you have given
your time, you have done a job and at the end of the day, at
the end of the week or at the end of the month you receive
your wages. It's that which is due to you.
It is an agreement that you have made between your boss and yourself
There's an arrangement made, the time at which you are going
to work, the type of work that you are going to do, but also
the money that you are going to receive. Both people know
what is expected. If you don't do what you have
been required to do, your boss will understandably be annoyed
because you have entered into an agreement. If you turn up
late or if you are lazy, then there is that he has a right
to punish you because you have entered into agreement. You're
going to work. You're going to do this. And
at the end of the day, you are going to receive your wages. Both people know what is expected
of each other. the wages of sin it is death. We turn to the gospel according to Matthew
and we have there a parable told by the Lord Jesus Christ regarding
the kingdom of heaven being like a householder someone who owns
a property they own a vineyard and they go into the market and
they go to agree they're going to find some laborers they agree with those labourers
that they are going to work for the day. And the scripture tells
us in verse 2, when he agreed with the labourers for a penny
a day he sent them into his vineyard. And as the day goes on the The householder goes into the
marketplace again and again and again and he finds others standing
idle and he says to them, why stand ye idle all the day long? Go ye also into my vineyard and
whatsoever is right that ye shall receive. And so there was that
agreement made at the beginning that those labourers at the beginning
of the day they were going to receive a penny for the day.
Later on, he says, I'll give you what is right to those who
were found throughout the day. And there were some even at the
11th hour of the day, they were told to go into the vineyard
and they would be given what was right. And so when the evening
was come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, call the
labourers and give them their hire, beginning from the last
unto the first. And when they came, that were
hired at the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But
when the first came, they supposed that they should have received
more, and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they
had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house,
saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made
them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat
of the day. But he answered one of them and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong, didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? Take what is thine and go thy
way, and I will give unto this, last even as unto thee. Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? is thine
eye an evil, because I am good. So the last shall be first, and
the first shall be last, for many are called, but few are
chosen. But what I wanted us to see there,
there was an agreement made. With the labourers at the beginning
of the day, they agreed to work for a penny for that day. And when they came to the end
of the day, they grumbled and they complained. They believed
that the agreement should be changed. because others had just laboured
for one hour and they still received a penny. But the Lord, the householder
says, didst thou not agree with me for a penny? That was the
agreement, that was the wages that they were going to receive
and they agreed to that. And so the wages of sin, it is
death. and it has been agreed from the Garden of Eden and it
is known Adam knew that the consequences of rebellion against God would
be death. If he lived in obedience to the
commands of God it would be eternal life. It would be life. He would
be able to eat from the tree of life. And God said to him,
if you take of the tree of knowledge and of good and evil, you will
die. And so the wages of his sin, it was agreed that if you
eat of this tree, you will die. And we all know what happened. the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden God said you shall not eat of it
neither shall you touch it lest you die. God the creator giving
the command to his creation setting a law you step over this line
you do what I do not want you to do the consequences of your
actions will be death then comes the serpent and the
serpent which is satan said unto the woman you shall not surely
die for god does know that in the day that you eat thereof
then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods knowing
good and evil And when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food and it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat
and gave to her husband who was with her and they did eat and
both and their eyes and the eyes of them both were opened and
they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. Immediately they received their
wages. Immediately as they sinned against
God they received the wages that was due to them. They died spiritually,
they were separated from God and they began to die physically. They received their wages and
if they were to have continued on in their sin they would have
received the ultimate wage which is the eternal judgment of God
that in hell, as we are three times dead, dead spiritually,
dying physically, and then in hell for all eternity. But God in his mercy made a way
of escape that the seed of the woman was promised. The Lord
Jesus Christ was going to come and he was going to overthrow
that curse. He was going to bruise the serpent's
head. He was going to gain a victory
over that sin, over death itself and to bring about a salvation. And so behind all sin is Satan
seeking to draw people away from God. seeking to ruin and to destroy
all that God has created. Sowing seeds of doubt, has God
said? Is God really real? Putting doubts
and rebellion in the minds of people. There is a consequence. There
is a wage to be paid at the end of that rebellious lifestyle.
There's a consequence to that continued listening to the kingdom
of darkness, to walking in disobedience to God, continuing in the broad
road that leads to destruction. The wages will be reaped. And
that wage, it is death. Satan has enslaved millions. Yet so blind are we when we're
in that kingdom of darkness. We don't believe that we are
enslaved. We're even able to convince ourselves
that we're going to live for a long long time. We've been
able to convince ourselves that there is no God, there is no
judgement, we're just going to pass through death and disappear
and nothing will take place. Some convince themselves they're
going to come back as a butterfly, as a rabbit, as some creature. Such is the deceit and the lies
of Satan. that people are blinded to the
fact that the wages of sin it is death and we will receive those wages. In Hebrews chapter 9 tells us there, verse 27, it
is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. And so the wages of sin is death
and after death is the judgment of God. The judgment of God is that we'll
all stand before the judgments of Christ and the Lord Jesus
Christ will separate all the people that have ever lived upon
the face of the earth into two groups, the sheep and the goats. Those who are on the left hand
will receive their wages. They have lived in sin. They
have lived in rebellion against God. They have lived in religious
self-righteousness and rejected the righteousness which is of
God in Christ Jesus. And they will go away and they
will receive that wage which is hell for all eternity. which
is to fall under the wrath of God for all eternity, because
God has said himself, the soul that sins, it shall die. But God created this way by which
salvation could be given. Through the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have sinned against God would
be able to be given eternal life as a gift. There was an account that I was
thinking of with Lazarus and the rich man. The scripture tells us that the
rich man he was fed sumptuously every day. And Lazarus he sat
at the gate filled with sores and the dogs came and licked
his wounds. Then came the day when they both
died. Lazarus was taken into Abraham's bosom. The rich man
was sent into hell to suffer torment And he cried out asking
for just a dip of water to touch his tongue. We see in that parable
that that rich man he was, we see that he was three times dead. One we see by the way that he
lived. We see that he is spiritually
bankrupt. We see that he is spiritually
dead. He is, we could say he's loaded, filled with money, living
a life of luxury and yet the scripture tells us that we're
to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind and our neighbor
as ourselves. At his gate is a poor beggar
who can barely survive And so we see the hardness of man's
heart. We see the fallen condition of
man's heart. We see that he is spiritually
dead and separated from God and that someone is able to live
without any concern for God or for the people of God. We are
selfish by nature. So we are dead spiritually. Lazarus,
he is alive spiritually. Yes, he doesn't have much. Yes,
he's filled with sores and the dogs lick his wounds, but the
Lord Jesus Christ loves him. Yes, they both die. The wages
of sin is death. Our bodies are corrupted by sin. We must fall into the grave unless
the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. But Lazarus goes from the grave
into the arms of Abraham, into the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Death doesn't hurt him. Death is just a doorway into
the arms of the Lord Jesus. But the rich man, the rich man
goes from death to death to death to eternal separation from God.
Receiving the wages that he deserves. As I said, wages are what is
due to us. Wages are what we deserve. Wages
are what we have been agreed, we have agreed to. And so the wages of sin is death.
And God is just. God is just in giving that wage. because we have sinned against
him. But the gift of God is eternal
life. You see, Jesus is able to receive
our wages on our behalf. As we see the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross, as we see the darkness for those three hours as the
wrath of God was poured out upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ, his perfect son. What
was he doing? He was pouring out the wages that were due to his
people. He was pouring out his eternal
wrath upon his perfect son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that which
was due to his people. Because they had sinned against
him, instead of pouring out that anger upon them, instead of paying
them their wages, he paid those wages to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That eternal death. and then the Lord Jesus Christ
died the physical death as he gave up the ghost. Those wages
were not due to him because he was sinless. He had not committed
any sin but he took the punishment for the sins of his people. In Corinthians it tells us there
that Christ took the sting of death. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. verse 55 or we can say from verse
54. So the apostle is speaking about
the time when the Lord Jesus Christ will come again and those
who are on the earth and those who are in the grave, the corruptible
body, were put on in corruption and the and the mortal would have put
on immortality and so this physical body in which we have now, this
mortal body that we have now, this body that is corrupted by
sin which is subject to sickness and death will be put away, will
be transformed in the twinkling of an eye all because of the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he rose again from the grave
and he obtained a victory for his people. so when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put
on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying as
it is written death is swallowed up in victory at the very end
of time when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and draws his people
up to himself when they will enter into glory then ultimately
death and hell will be swallowed up in victory and cast into the
lake of fire in heaven itself. What do we read? No more tears,
no more sadness, no more sorrow and no more death. O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labour is not
in vain in the Lord, And so through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
through him receiving the wages that was due to his people, he
removed the sting out of death. What is the sting that is in
death? Why do people fear death so much? Because of sin. Sin makes death painful. Sin makes death a terrifying
experience. Although we hear of people boasting
that they don't care about dying it's only because they don't
truly understand what is beyond the grave. If they truly understood
what was beyond the grave, if they truly understood that they
would come face to face with their God that they had despised
their whole life, they would be totally petrified. You think
the times in scripture when the Lord descended to earth. Think
of the giving of the law. The people of Israel were terrified
of God. You think of when the Lord Jesus
Christ, as he came to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and
he asked them, who is it that you're looking for? He says,
I am he. They collapsed to the floor. You see, people should be terrified
of death if they're outside the Lord Jesus Christ. It should
be the most terrifying thing that you think about. Because death is so final. There's
no return. We're not cats. We don't have
nine lives. We've only got one. And after
death, it is face to face with your maker and my maker. It is
face to face with God. And we will receive our wages. And if we've lived a life full
of sin or full of self-righteousness then we will be cast from his
presence and we will receive the sting of death under the
strength of the law of God and we'll experience the full wrath
of God forever and ever and ever and ever without any end. But Christ has removed the sting
of death by removing the sin of his people by bearing that
pain and that punishment and that sting himself. As he died upon the cross at
Calvary it was though God stung him and he bore that sting and he
dealt with that sting he rose again from the grave
proving that he had done away with that sting. I think I've said to you before
about the children in Kenya who play with scorpions. The scorpion sting is worse than
a bee sting. It will continues through the
whole day. Sometimes you would see those
children playing with scorpions. And what they had done is they
had pulled off the sting so they could hold the scorpion in their
hand. And death is a bit like a scorpion. It is a frightful
foe when it has a sting. And it's even terrifying to the
believer when the sting has been removed and you are in Christ.
We become terrified of it and concerned about it. And we're
filled with unbelief. And we don't appreciate all that
the Lord Jesus Christ has done upon the cross. Death is indeed
the last enemy of the Lord's people, the last trial of their
faith. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
removed that sting. And you have received the gift
of God. Christ has taken your wages. And the Lord now gives you a
gift. Something that you don't deserve whatsoever. the unmerited
grace of God bestowed upon his people through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that is eternal life. Your wages bring death, but God's
gift brings eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that eternal life has already
began. That eternal life began when
you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It began the moment you
were born again, for you died. Your sinful self died and you became a new creation
in Christ Jesus. And that's why you were baptised. You were baptised or you should
be baptised because you're telling people that I have died to myself. I died with the Lord Jesus Christ
and I am now rising again in newness of life. It tells us here in our chapter,
God forbid, How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer
therein? We died to sin in Christ. Know ye not that so many of us
were baptised into Jesus Christ, we were baptised into his death. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified
with him and that the body of sin might be destroyed and henceforth
we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ We believe that we shall also
live with him. And so our eternal life has begun
already. The sting of death has been removed.
Christ has dealt with that. He has given to us an eternal
life and that eternal life began at the moment you believed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Your soul was saved. Yes, your
body may die. unless the Lord Jesus Christ
comes again. But even if your body is left
to die, your soul will soar to be with Christ, which is far
better. Your body will lay in the grave,
it will decompose. But then when the Lord Jesus
Christ comes again, your body will rise out of the grave and
you will be given a glorified body, like under his body. He is the first fruit of the
resurrection. And so we have eternal life through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we pass through
the waters of baptism demonstrating that we have died to self and
rise again in newness of life and we desire to live a life
that is walking in accordance with that newness of life. We
no longer serve sin. We no longer serve Satan. We
now are servants or bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ, desiring
to please him, walk in obedience to him, knowing that he has given
us that perfect gift that can never be repaid, that gift of
eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, yes, death
is our last enemy. Yes, we pass through this life
filled with trials and difficulties, but we have the prize already,
we have the gift already. We have eternal life, which is
of more value than this whole world put together because this
world is passing away. The eternal life never passes
away, secure in Christ Jesus. And as we come to that point
in our lives when maybe we must face death, as our last enemy,
as the last trial that we go through, the last test, the ultimate
test of our faith. We are not to fear. We are not
to worry. Because we have an empty tomb. He is risen. He is not here.
Behold, I go to prepare a place for you. why we don't need to worry. Christ
has walked the pathway of death before us. He has gone through
it and out the other side and proved to us that there is eternal
life. He's given us his Holy Spirit,
the Comforter to enable us to pass through much tribulation,
through all life's experiences We have a high priest who's seated
at the right hand of the Father whoever lives to intercede for
us tried and tested in all points as we are yet without sin and
it has experienced death itself and experienced the sting of
death which you and I will not have to experience. And so when
we come to death We are not stepping into the unknown but we are stepping
into the known. Yes, we are stepping into the
unexperienced. We have not experienced it before
but the Lord Jesus Christ has experienced it on our behalf.
It is known. We know what is beyond the grave.
It is revealed to us in the scripture that when we die We will be with
Christ, which is far, far better. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Well, may it be that we are found
amongst those whom Christ has received our wages on our behalf.
He has taken the sting of death for us, and we have received
and have begun to receive begun to live in the light of that
eternal life and may we have that faith then to testify by walking in obedience to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Tell the world that you have
died and that you've risen again in newness of life and walking
in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord add his
blessing. Amen. We sing in conclusion from Hymns
for Worship, number 82. Number 82. Thine be the glory,
risen conquering sun. Endless is the victory thou or
death hast won. Angels in bright raiment rolled
the stone away, kept the folded grave clothes where thy body
lay. Number 82. Rolled the stone away. Kept the foe, dead, frail. Where thy body lay. Thine be the glory. ? The hour of death has come ?
? Good is Jesus risen from the tomb ? ? Lovingly he greets us,
stands next to us ? For the Lord now liveth, death
has lost its sting. Thine be the glory, risen conqu'ring
King. ? Glorious Prince of Life ? ? Life
is no quiver bleed ? ? Made us demons strife ? ? Made us more
than conquerors ? ? Through thy death-led strife ? to thy home above. Thine be the glory, risen conquering
star, endless is the victory, thou o'er May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God the Father, the fellowship and communion
of the Holy Spirit to be with us each now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.