Shall we continue in sin so that God's grace may abound? God forbid.

1. December 5, 2010 Friday, January 7, 2011 7:00 PM Gospel Baptist Tabernacle www.rossvillechurch.com www.blainebowman.com

2. Romans 6 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Human logic takes us to the false idea that if grace abounds to forgive sin, Then sin is good; it reveals the grace of God. Looking back to : 5 20b … But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

3. So many Christian leaders fear the concept of grace. They fear that, if we teach the Grace of God in its fullness , people will think they can sin with impunity (without consequences) . A person truly born of the Spirit of God no longer desires to sin. He is a new creation; old things are passed away ; All things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

4. How many of you got up this morning hoping for a chance to sin today? I can tell you with certainty that not one child of the Living God got up hoping to sin. God's dear children desire to live lives that are pleasing to our Father. We do so with varying degrees of success, But it is our heart's desire .

5. 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid . How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Where once we enjoyed sin, Christians find the temptation to sin to be a burden. There is no longer life or joy in sin. Sin brings only guilt and shame to a Christian.

6. 3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized 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. In the moment of salvation, we were baptized by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ. We took part in His death, burial, and resurrection. Water baptism is simply a testimony of that which has already taken place in the Spirit .

7. We were born of the Spirit of God into the Family of God . God is our Father , & Jesus Christ our elder brother . We know that one who lives in sin is dead while he lives. 1 Tim 5:6 But Christians have a new life in which to walk, free from the power of sin over us.

8. That doesn't mean that it's impossible for a Christian to sin. A Christian can choose to sin. But neither the devil nor the sin itself has any power over a Christian. We are born of the Holy Spirit of God. He is in us and we are in Him . That gives us --

9. Deuteronomy 11 26-28 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the Commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the Commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

10. Deuteronomy 30 19 I call Heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death , blessing and cursing : therefore choose life , that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His Voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life , and the length of thy days: … We who love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, desire to obey Him. We know that His Way is Good .

11. God is our life. His Way is the Path of Life. There is no other Path of Blessing. Proverbs 14 12-13 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.

12. 5 For if we have been planted together in the like-ness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: When Jesus died , we died in Him and were buried with Him. When He rose from the dead, we rose in Him.

13. 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin . 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. There is no pleasure in sin for a dead man. It's over. When we accept Jesus into our heart, we take part in His Crucifixion . That old man , who so enjoyed sin, is dead. The new man is born of God and hates sin .

14. Water baptism is only significant for a true believer. If one has not been baptized by the Holy Ghost into the body of Jesus Christ, If he has not died unto sin and is not alive unto God , Then he is not being baptized; he is just getting dunked .

15. Too many people make a profession of faith, Go down to an altar and shed a few tears, But they don't repent from sin. They don't : You must be born again; born of the Spirit of God into the family of God.

16. Salvation through Jesus Christ will change your life. 2 Corinthians 5 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold , all things are become new. Behold -- you can see the difference.

17. God has not told us all of this so that we may judge one another . "He's not a Christian or he wouldn't do that." God has taught us this Truth so that we may be certain of our own salvation. 1 John 2 3 And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments. Christians only doubt our own salvation when we are walking in our own hardheaded way . An obedient child of God is a confident child.