Something has drastically changed about us, so we must consider ourselves to be radically connected to Christ's death and resurrection, making us dead to sin and alive to God (11). This consideration process makes the historical fact of the resurrection beautiful for life today. We must pause to consider who we are. What happened to Jesus changed us. The gospel has changed us. The true you is dead to sin and alive to God because Jesus Christ died and rose again.

When Jesus rose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene in the garden outside the tomb. He told her to tell the other disciples that he was going to ascend to his Father and their Father, to his God and their God (John 20:17). It is his death and resurrection that secured God as theirs, making him their Father in heaven. And it is Jesus' death and resurrection that secure us that same position with God, that transfers us from the realm of sin to the realm of God. Every one of us here today—if we've trusted Christ—has been moved by the resurrection power of God into his realm.