Shall We Go On Sinning? Series

INTRO.- ILL.- I like what Chuck Swindoll wrote many years ago in His book, “Seasons of Life.” He wrote: Comic caveman B.C. leans on a boulder. The rock is inscribed, “Trivia Test.” And B.C. is administering the exam to one of his deadpan prehistoric buddies.

He says, “Here’s one from the Bible. What were the last words uttered by Lot’s wife?” Without a moment’s hesitation his skin-clad friend replied, “The heck with your fanatical beliefs, I’m going to take one last look!”

Swindoll wrote: “She may not have said it, but that’s what she was thinking or worse.” And we know what happened to Mrs. Lot when she took that one last look. Genesis 19:24 She became a pillar of salt. SHE WAS NO MORE IN THE FLESH!

Swindoll said, “The bottom line of Mrs. Lot’s philosophy could have been etched on her salt-block gravestone: THERE’S NO NEED TO TAKE GOD SERIOUSLY.”

Swindoll wrote, “I know of no philosophy more popular today.” And it’s that thinking and doing that gets people into trouble in life and even more so, in trouble with God!

We all need to take God seriously, which also means we should take His word very seriously! There are many people, even many Christian people who refuse to listen to the Word of God and obey His commands just like water off a duck’s back. And when it comes to sin, we need to take God seriously, because it is our sin that separates us from God on an ongoing basis and for some, it will separate them eternally. They prefer to enjoy the pleasures of sin in this life, but suffer for it in the next life and often, they know better but they don’t want to do better. They don’t want to repent and seek the Lord.

In our text, of course, Paul was writing to Christian people and he asks the pertinent question, “Shall we go on sinning?” As in “Shall we go on sinning now that we are in Christ?”

PROP.- Paul answers the question of “shall we go on sinning?” Here is how he answers that question.

1- No to sin - Because we died to sin

2- No to sin - Because we live with Christ

3- No to sin - Because we are liberated

I. NO TO SIN - BECAUSE WE DIED TO SIN

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

ILL.- A man, reading about an "eat-all-you-want" diet, said to a friend: "I knew there'd be a catch to it. You have to run seven hundred miles a day!"

That’s sort of like sin. Eat-all-you-want, do-all-you-want, do anything you want, BUT THERE’S A CATCH TO IT. You can’t outrun sin or out-distance yourself from your sins except through the Lord Jesus Christ! He is the only escape there is.

Romans 6:23 stands true for eternity. “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Our only hope, our only escape from sin is found in Jesus. But I have a dilemma! Since trusting Christ as my savior and surrendering to Him in faith and obedience, I have discovered that I still sin. OH NO! OH YES!

ILL.- C. S. Lewis: "If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man's outward actions - if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before - then I think we must suspect that his 'conversion' was largely imaginary."

A missionary friend in Germany, read this quote on my facebook page and wrote, “kill the old man.” And he’s right.

ILL.- It’s like the old story about the African convert to Christianity. He was given a position of trust by the missionary but he violated that trust and stole something. The missionary asked, “Why did you take something that didn’t belong to you?” The native replied, “It wasn’t I who stole. It was grandfather in the bones!”

That was his way of saying it was his old sinful nature. In time, however, that native grew stronger in his faith. When asked, “How is grandfather in the bones?” He would reply, “Well, grandfather isn’t dead yet, but he doesn’t get around like he used to.”

Hopefully, this is true for you as well. As we yield to Christ and walk with Him on a daily basis, grandfather in the bones will get weaker and weaker and we’ll do better in life.