In 1982, "ABC Evening
News" reported on an unusual work of modern art: a chair affixed to a
shotgun. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into
the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at a
undetermined moment within the next hundred years.
The amazing thing was that people
waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell's path! They all knew that the
gun could go off at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling
that the fatal blast wouldn't happen during their minute in the chair.
Yes, it was foolhardy, yet many
people who wouldn't dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling
that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the
inevitable self-destruction. -- Jeffrey D. King, Parma, Ohio. Leadership, Vol.
4, no. 4.
Contrary to popular opinion, sin is not what you want to do but can't;
it is what you should not do because it will hurt you--and hurt you bad. ...
God is not a policeman; He is a Father concerned about His children. When a
child picks up a snake and the father says, "Put that down right this
minute!" the child thinks he's losing a toy. The fact is, he is not
losing a toy; he is losing a snake. --
Steve Brown in Key Life (July-August 1994).
Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 11.
Scripture
Text: Romans 6:1 (NIV)
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. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his
death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we
know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone
who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe
that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised
from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10
The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he
lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to
God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin,
as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who
have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him
as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because
you are not under law, but under grace.
Romans 6:21
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now
ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 But now that you have
been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap
leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Life in Adam vs. Life in
Christ.
Shall we go on sinning? What is Sin? Why
is it so powerful in our lives?
Romans
3:23 for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God,
We are all sinners.
Jesus said in John 3:3, “You must be born again.”
Have you? If not then sin
fully rules your life. In sin you
live and you will die in your sin without Christ.
Unless, you receive the free gift of God called salvation.
Salvation is Jesus. He wants to come into your life and save you from
your sin and the results of it. He
doesn’t want you to die. He
wants you to live. Now that
you have been saved from your sin and the results of it should we go on
sinning? Paul says:
By No Means!
No Way!! We died to sin.
Baptism is the symbol of
our new life. Baptized into
Christ. The
old man is buried and the new man is raised.
Christ broke the power of
sin.
Sin has a power over all of humanity and this power leads to death.
When Jesus lived without sinning, died for our sin, and rose from the
dead, he broke the power of sin. Sin’s
power lead us down a road of life that ended in eternal death in hell. But Christ broke that power and gave us the opportunity to
live and live forever with Him in heaven.
This new life begins now.
The old man is dead and
now we have a new life through Christ.
We have a new life.
What is the best to keep the old
and not take the new?
After buying a new car, how
many of us would keep the old around and drive it instead of the new?
How many of us would keep the old way of living when the new is far
better? We are dead to sin, but
alive to Christ. As in Adam all
die, so in Christ all will live.
Will we offer ourselves to
God? We are no longer under
the curse of Adam, but we are under the blessing of Christ.
The blessing is life everlasting and the opportunity to live our lives
with Him, now and forever. Let us
give ourselves to Christ continually and enjoy daily our relationship with our
Heavenly Father who wants to give us the best of life eternally.
On the TV show Hee Haw, Doc
Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. The doc replies, "Well then, stay out of them
places!" He may have
something there. We cannot
regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected.
When faced with the problem of temptation, we need to take the good
doctor's advice and "stay out of them places."
-- Craig Wagganer, Leadership,
Vol. 10, no. 1.
One day, my son Jonathan came
home from preschool with a picture of Adam and Eve he had colored. He began to
tell me the story of creation, and it seemed as though he had his facts down
pretty well. "Adam and Eve disobeyed God because they ate the fruit God
told them not to eat," he explained. Impressed by how much he knew, I
pointed to the picture and asked, "What's this place called?"
Jonathan replied earnestly, "The Garden of Eating."
-- Laura Groves, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart."