First Church of god in Harvey
Sunday Morning – October 2nd, 2011
Let us pray
Welcome..
This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it…....
Last Sunday we talked about Jonah, a prophet of God who was given a command by God, but Jonah chose to disobey God and was on the run. In our Bible class on Wednesday night we were told that Jonah was displeased when God brought revival to the city of Nineveh, and in his displeasure he wanted to die. Jonah was given a second chance by God, because of the mercy of God, and we are here today, because we too were given a second chance. How many of you are thankful for a second chance? Are you really, really thankful? I heard that last week a young girl was killed by a car that crashed into her house while she was sleeping. What an awful thing to happen……
All of us here today make decisions ”based on the options that we are faced with.” When we are tempted, we make a decision based on the two or more options we have, and we chose one of them to act upon. If you and I can control the options we give ourselves in a given situation, “then we can control the possible outcomes that the situation will have.” As Christians, as children of God, we need to control the options that we give ourselves “so that sinning is not a possible outcome.” Today we are asked the question, Is Sinning An Option?
Our scripture reading will be taken from Romans 6 verses 1 through10.
Our topic for today is, Is Sinning An Option? Do we have to sin? There is a misconception that apparently is being held both inside and outside of the church that gives the excuse that we have to sin, because there is grace, the grace of God. So in our defense we will quickly go to Romans 5: 20b, But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
In our text for today, the apostle Paul starts off by asking two questions, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Does grace give a person a free reign to sin? Can a child of God just go ahead, and do what he or she wants “expecting God to forgive him.” There are many people, even believers who somehow thinks that “if we are forgiven by grace and not by law and doing good, then sin does not matter that much.” They tend to believe that, “we do not have to worry too much about the law of God and righteousness, just so we do a fair amount of good.” There is the belief we can do “pretty much what we want, for God is going to forgive us anyway.” Christ died for our sins, no matter what we do he is going to forgive, all we have to do is ask him, but what if we did not get the chance to ask him. That young girl who was killed by a car that crashed into her house while she was sleeping, what if she did not know the Lord, and did not have the chance to say, Lord forgive me. Thank God for grace, and we should not continue in sin, because sinning is not an option.
It seems to me that in the church today, there are two words we do not like to talk about anymore. I believe these two words are sin and hell. It seems that there is a popularity contest going on in some churches, and so the words sin and hell are not popular words. You see, some people like to hear how to prosper. Some people like to hear something that will give excitement. Some people like to hear something that will make them feel comfortable, but to speak about sin or about hell that’s the old fashion gospel, but someone has said that old time religion is good enough for me.
In our Unity service last Sunday, the speaker mentioned that churches are using all kind of gimmicks to get people to come, but we are commissioned to go and tell others about the Lord. I want to encourage everyone here today to tell someone about Jesus. If your husband or wife is unsaved, tell them about Jesus. If your son or daughter is unsaved, tell them about Jesus. If your co-workers are unsaved, tell them about Jesus. If your boss is unsaved, tell your boss about Jesus. Tell them the stories of Jesus, stories that I trust they would love to hear Tell them how God’s Son left his glory and came to this sinful world because of his love for man. Tell them, how he took upon himself man’s sin, and died on a cross so that man could be saved. Tell them, how he was buried, but he rose again, and he is alive for ever more. Tell them because Jesus died, they can repent of their sins, and accept Him as there personal Savior, and become a new person in Christ. People all around are waiting to hear from you, and from me, so let’s get out and tell them about Jesus. Talking about baseball is good. Talking about football is good, but somebody is waiting to hear us talk about Jesus……..…
Is sinning an option? What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Pastor, I am a little bit confused, can you break it down a bit, and explain, what is sin? I am glad you ask, so the question is, what is sin? Here are a few definitions as to how the Bible defines sin. In 1 John 3: 4b, for sin is the transgression of the law (transgression means, the violation of a law, command or duty); 1 John 5: 17a, all unrighteousness is sin; James 4: 17, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Pastor what you said sounds good, but could you explain it a little bit more, I am a bit slow today. If I did not know a thing to be wrong, and I did it, did I sin? According to man, man says, “ignorance to the law is no excuse, “ so if I don’t know what the law says, and I do what I did not know was wrong, did I sin?
Let me tell you what happened to me a few months ago. I was on the Indiana Turn Pike on my way to the camp meeting in West Middlesex. As I traveled along a state trooper had someone pulled over on the side. The truck in front of me switched lanes, but I continued in my lane. Shortly after, I was stopped by this same state trooper and he asked me if I knew why I was pulled over, and I said no. He then went on to explain to me what the law said, but I was ignorant of the law.............................................................
Did I break the law? Yes. Did I sin? No. Did I have to pay a penalty for breaking the law? Yes. Man’s law says one thing, but there is a higher law than man’s law, and that is God’s law. Permit me to quote from “Christian Theology” written by Russell R. Byrum. “The Old Testament describes a sin of ignorance, but the New Testament teaches that when there is no law, there is no transgression. (Romans 4: 15) In other words, only as one knows he is doing sin against God, does God impute it to him as sin…….It would be unjust to punish one for that which he did unknowingly or for which he is not responsible. Moral principles allow that one is punishable only to the extent he is responsible. His guilt or innocence depends only to the extent he is responsible……….Then a violation of the law through ignorance is not sin in the true New Testament sense…”
So, did I break the law when I did not change lane on the highway? Yes. Did I sin? No. Now, if after being told by the State trooper that changing lane is the right thing to do under the given condition, and I refuse to change lane when faced with the same circumstances, the questions is, did I break the law? And the answer is yes. Did I sin? And the answer is yes. I am no longer ignorant to the law, because I now know the truth of the law. Once truth has been revealed to us, we should walk in it.
So again the questions are asked, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Is sinning an option? Paul answers the question. “God forbid!” Don’t even think about it. Away with such a thought. Where did that come from? “How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Saints of God, we are dead to sin; sinning is not an option. Sinning is not the lifestyle of a child of God. We who have been born again, we who have repented of our sins, and have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior cannot continue or practice sin, because that believer is dead to sin, and a dead man, a dead woman, a dead boy or a dead girl, “cannot do anything: he or she cannot think, speak, or move.” It is utterly impossible for a dead man to live any longer in sin. If you find yourself continue practicing sin, then death needs to take place.
Listen very carefully, when a man turns to God, that man turns away from sin. It is said that, “God’s grace does not bring a man to God so that he can be free to sin more; God’s grace brings a man to God so that he can be free from sin and its guilt and judgment. Grace does not give license to sin any more, than a dead man is able to move about and sin.”
I would like to make reference to an article entitled “the law and the Gospel,” and I quote, “The relationship of the law to the gospel has given rise to many errors and misunderstandings in Christian teaching and practice from the days of the apostle down to the present day……..The law in its essential nature was written on man’s heart at creation and still remains there to enlighten man’s conscience….The law pronounces man a sinner on the basis of man’s disobedience; the gospel pronounces man righteous on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ……The law promises life on terms of perfect obedience, a requirement now impossible to man; the gospel promises life on terms of faith in the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. The law is a ministration of death; the gospel is a ministration of life. The law brings a man into bondage; the gospel brings the Christian into liberty in Christ. The law writes God’s commandments on tables of stones; the gospel puts God’s commandments in the believer’s heart. The law sets before man a perfect standard of conduct, but it does not supply the means whereby that standard may now be attained; the gospel supplies the means whereby God’s standard of righteousness might be acquired by the believer through faith in Christ. The law puts men under the wrath of God; the gospel delivers men from the wrath of God.” End of quote.
Is sinning an option? No. Sinning is not an option, because Number One in verses three through five of our text, the believer has been immersed in Jesus Christ. When a true believer, I am talking about one who is serious about serving the Lord, is immersed, that believer is proclaiming to the world that he is identified with Christ. Being immersed does not bring about salvation, but being immersed brings about ones identification with Christ. By being placed under the water, that believer is proclaiming that he has died and been buried with Christ, By being raised up from the water, that believer is proclaiming that he has been raised up from the dead with Christ to live a new life. A person who gets baptized and is not save, is just getting wet, it really means nothing
If death took place in the believer when Christ died, then that believer has died to sin and is freed from sin and its penalty and punishment. It is said that when a person really believes in Christ, “then God takes the person’s faith and counts it as the death of Christ. That is, God counts the person as participating in Chrsit’s death, God counts and considers the person. .to have died in Christ’s death…to be a partaker of Christ’s death…to be bound with Christ death. So the apostle Paul was able to write in Galatians 2 verse 20, I am crucified with Christ; (I was not there on the cross with him, but I am identified with Christ’s death) nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. Saints of God, we are alive because of what Christ has done for us. Aren’t you glad not only to be physically alive, but spiritually alive? .......…
Because Christ died for you and for me, because we have trusted him as our Lord and Savior, because a change has taken place on the inside, because we are now new creatures in Christ, it means we no longer live in sin; we no longer practice and desire sin, we no longer have to play hide and seek when we see the saint coming. Instead, we desire and practice living right, seeking to please God in all that we do. How many of you here today desire to please God in all that you do? Because we have been freed from sin, because we have quit the sin business, because sinning is not an option, I can hear Bro. Paul saying in Romans 8 verse 1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
Saints of God, hold your head high, be joyful because you are a child of God. Do not allow anyone to bring you on a guilt trip, because you have repented of your sins, you have confessed Christ as Savior and Lord, you are obeying his word, and as a result there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Is sinning an option? No. Sinning is not an option, because in verses 6 through 7 of our text, Number two, the believer’s old man was crucified. Dearh occurs when crucifixion takes place. The King James Version reads, that our old man is crucified, but in the NIV it says the our old self was crucified. I understand that in the Greek the past tense is used, was instead of is. Jesus Christ, God’s only son, our Lord and Savior he took our old man to the cross with him when he died. When we say old man we are talking about that old sinful life without God. We don’t want to remember the kind of persons we used to be, we were all lost, we were all going in the wrong direction,. We were all under condemnation, but one day through the grace and mercy of God, we were given a second chance, and our old man was crucified.
Because our old man was crucified this was done “to enable and to empower the believer to renounce sin. ’The believer is not to serve sin but to renounce; or we could say to give up; reject, disown. The believer is not to serve sin because he is dead, he has been crucified with Christ, and a dead man is freed from sin. When a person dies physically that person is freed from those obligations, no mortgage to pay; no credit cards to pay, no loans to pay etc. When the old man is crucified, death has occurred, and so the sin business has to stop, because the believer is dead and freed from sin.
Is sinning an option? No. Sinning is not an option., because in verses 8 through 10, Number three, the believer shall live with Christ both now and forever. You know something, it seems to me every body wants to go to heaven, but it seems nobody wants to die. If I should ask how many of you wants to go to heaven, it is quite possible all of you would raise your hands, but if I should ask you how many of you wants to die; somebody would say, what’s the rush, not right now…..Whether we accept it or not, unless Christ returns, we all are going to die. We don’t like to talk about death, but think for awhile about some of your friends you went to school with; or worked with. Some of those in your family or those in your church, I was passing through Cleveland in August of this year to visit some friends, and I was fairly close to one of my old friends home, a co-worker, and I wished I could stop by, but could not do so. When I came home I decided to do a people search, only to find out that my former co-worker had passed away several years before… ..
Christ has conquered death, once for all. Christ has already died, “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” We are to know that Christ died unto sin once, and he now lives in the presence of God forever. Christ now lives unto God “in an unbroken devotion and service to God.” The believer, that born again child of God, that one who has quit the sin business, and is now living a righteous life before God, “is to live to God through all eternity, beginning right now, from the moment of his conversion. Death hath no more dominion over him.”
One of these days it will all be over. One of these days we shall leave this world of trouble and sorrow. One of these days we shall say good-bye to suffering, good-bye to hard times, good-bye to being unloved, good-bye to being forsaken, good-bye to our friends and loved ones, and we shall fly away and be at rest. Not rest just for a day; not rest for a couple of days, but eternal rest. Now are you longing to go home? I knew a dear mother that was always longing to go home, and she went home a few months ago.
One of these days you will hear that pastor Thompson has left, and someone might ask, where is he gone. Tell them as far as you know he has taken a flight, it might be an early flight, it might be an afternoon flight, it might be a night flight. Tell them he has left his wife and daughter at home. Tell them he has left a son and daughter in law in New York. Tell them he has left a son and daughter in law in Oak Park and 2 grandchildren. So, where is the pastor gone, tell them he has boarded a flight……
As I was preparing my message , it seems God started to bring something to my mind that I never thought about, and I fell on my knees and started to cry out to God. It is possible somebody is hearing the Word of God for the last time. Its is possible God is giving somebody a second chance It is possible God is saying something to me personally…….........
As I close, where is the pastor gone, tell them he has boarded a flight, a non stop flight from earth to heaven.. “Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away. To a home on God’s celestial shore I’ll fly away. I’ll fly away , oh glory, I’ll fly away, When I die, hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away.
Is sinning an option? No. Sinning is not an option. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? He that is dead is freed from sin, and if we are dead to sin, then sin no longer is an option……….....(As God leads, meet others at the altar……….)
Lets us stand
Call to discipleship
Closing son/prayer
