By E. L. Thornton
Sermon 39
Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”
I ask a profound, thought provoking, abstruse, and a perplexing question, “Why Will You Continue In Sin?”
In view of what sin has done to this world
In view of what sin has done to this nation
In view of what sin has done to humanity
In view of what sin has done to us
I hate cancer. I hated it more when I seen what it did to my Daddy, and to others, whom I love. I Hate sin. But I hate it more when I understand what it did to Jesus.
In view of the disastrous effects of sin on our lives I ask you, “Why Will You Continue In Sin.”
I do not ask you, Why were you born in sin? For I know the answer to that question. When David said, (Ps. 51:5) “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” he did not mean to suggest that his Mother was engaged in illicit activity. He meant he was born just like every human being, he was born a sinner by nature. (Romans 5:12) “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
I do not ask you, Why have you lived in sin up to this point? For I know the answer to that question. You have not been able to help yourself. (Romans 6:16) “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; ——.” Yes I surely know why you have lived in sin up to this point. Because you have let Satan deceive you and therefore you have become a servant to sin.
But Paul encourages us in Romans 6:12 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
The question is, “Why Will You Continue In Sin?”
To continue in sin is to continue driving on a sharp curving road at a high speed, ignoring the signs along the way. To continue in sin is to continue swimming in shark infested water after being warned. To continue in sin is to dive from an airplane with a parachute that doesn’t work knowing you will not have a safe landing. To continue in sin is to walk into a burning inferno without the protection you need for survival. The question is, “Why Will You Continue In Sin?”
Sin has destroyed better men than I. Why will you continue in sin?
Sin has devastated the American family. Why will you continue in sin?
Sin has corrupted our government. Why will you continue in sin?
Sin has ravaged our educational system. Why will you continue in sin?
Sin has contaminated the youth of America. Why will you continue in
sin?
Sin has ravished people of truth and morals. Why will you continue
in sin?
Yes the question I ask you is, Why Will You Continue In Sin?
I. IS IT BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT SIN IS?
By making this statement you will stand convicted by your own
conscience. There isn’t a man, woman, boy, or girl, that hasn’t,
or want be, faced with the question of wrong or right. You may call
it what you like, but there is a compulsion, there is a pressure,
on you to do right.
There was a time in all our lives when we were innocent. I don’t
know at what age a person reaches, that they know right from wrong, but
it comes. You cease to be innocent. You know what sin is because of your
conscience. God places that little silent reminder within.
John 8:4-9 “They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
You stand condemned by your own testimony. For there’s not a person in this house that hasn’t, at one time or another, criticized another’s walk with God. But every time you criticize a church member’s life, you have demonstrated to man, and to angels, and to God, that you know what is right. In your criticism of your neighbor you confirm you know what is right and demand others to do it. We stand convicted by our own lips.
There is not a man here that does not know it’s wrong to curse, swear, drink, lie, cheat, or steal. It is wrong to continue to do all those things that has been the habit of our life to do.
You full well know what sin is. Sin is anything, ANYTHING, ANYTHING, that is against God. The question is, Why Will You Continue In Sin?
II. IS IT BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN:
You only have to scan the pages of the Bible to find out what the consequences of sin is.
Sin drove Adam from the Garden of Eden and the peaceful presence of God, and slammed the gate shut behind him, preventing him from ever feeling the peaceful presence of God again.
Sin brought the flood upon the world and drowned the human race, all but Noah and family, proving that God will judge sin.
Sin brought a burning inferno on Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plains of Jordan, telling us that men can go too far in sin.
Sin caused the earth to burst open and swallow up Korah and his band, telling us that God will not always child with man.
Sin caused 180 thousand sturdy soldiers of Sennacherib’s army to fall under the blaze of an Arch Angels hand, teaching us that you don’t play with the things that are Holy.
Sin cause Annanias and Sapharie to drop dead at the alter because they came with sin in their life.
When a man, in this enlightened age, looks over the past and sees the lost in the flood, Adam walking away from a paradise, and the burning inferno which destroyed those wicked cities, an earthquake getting Korah, Sennacherib’s army destroyed by an Angel of God, Annanias and Sapharie’s pale, lifeless body laying at the alter in death, we ought to ask ourselves, if God did this to people then, what will he do to me if I obey not the gospel.
1 Cor. 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
1 Pet. 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
It don’t take much reading from the Bible to understand what the consequences of sin will be. And if we had some way of knowing, there’s many things that has happened around us, that is a direct result of sin.
Sin will blast your character. Yes! Blast your character.
Sin will burn your conscience into a state of numbness.
Sin will bury your benighted soul in the flames of hell.
The question is, Why will You Continue In Sin?
III. IS IT BECAUSE YOU ARE INDIFFERENT TO IT:
You would be amazed at the number of indifferent people that walk the streets today. They know the consequences of sin. They know what sin is and they know what they are. But they are indifferent to it.
God help the man who can look at all the facts, look at all the truths connected with his condition, and yet be indifferent, as if he has no soul to save, as if he has no heaven to gain, as if he has no hell to miss.
Man treats sin indifferently, God treats sin seriously.
Man indifferently say, sin is an accident, God says it is an abomination.
Man says it’s beautiful, God says it’s debase.
Man says it’s chance, God says it’s choice.
Man says it’s delightful, God says it is dangerous.
Man says it is error, God says it is erroneous.
Man says it is fun, God says it is folly.
Man says it is good, God says it is ghastly.
Man indifferently says it is horseplay, God says it is hellsplay.
Man says it is a joke, God says it is jeopardy.
Man say it’s a kick, God says it’s a kill.
Man says it’s a laugh, God loathes it.
Man says it’s a mistake, God says it’s a menace.
Man says it is okay, God says it is odious.
Man says it is play, God says it is poison.
Man says it is right, God says it is ruin.
Man says it is satisfaction, God says it’s suicide.
Man says it is tempting, God says it’s terrible.
Man says it vivacious, God says it’s vice.
Man says it is wonderful, God says it’s wickedness.
And it’s indifference that’s damning the universe to hell.
Indifference is spiritual recklessness. Oh, the recklessness of this world. Men go through life without shame, curses, blasphemies, falling from their lips and heard by all. Brother; when recklessness
possesses a men he is a fool! Stark raving mad.
In a Texas town there was a dipsomaniac, he would go off for two to three weeks on a drunk. On night he was sitting on the platform of a train depot and said to his buddies, “Boys when that old midnight express
comes around the bend and goes into that cut, I’m going up those tracks and grab the engine and throw it in the ditch.” And true to is saying, and to the surprise of his friend, when they heard the whistle blow, up he got and up the track he went. When the engineer saw him he blew the whistle hard to warn him of the danger. The drunk ran, meeting the engine, and made as if to throw it off the tracks but it only crushed him under its large wheels.
But I tell you brother, the man who runs up to a speeding locomotive engine, to toss it into a ditch, is a philosopher and a wise man compared to the man who rushes up into the presence of God having spurned His cause of love. A man who rushes up into the presence of God unprepared is the biggest fool man has ever looked upon. God pity the men who are reckless and in a hurry to be damned.
Indifference and recklessness has sent men to an untimely grave that ought to be here listening to me preach. It is an insult to God to practice your sin when at any time, in the twinkling of an eye, your defenseless, guilty soul may leap out of your body into the presence of God Almighty.
Oh, the recklessness of men who practice their sin under the blaze of Bible truth and under the very shadow of the church.
The question is, Why Will You Continue In Sin.
Friend, while you are here and feeling what you feel, you need to settle this question once and for all. Settle it now for time and eternity.
( End )
