The True Gospel of Christ vs. The False Gospel of Carnal Christianity Part 12

Impossible to Continue in Sin

Again, this brings us to Romans 6:2: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” We cannot. Why? Because that word “live” means “to continue and abide.” We see from this that in view of our position (under the reign of grace ), it is impossible that we should continue to live a life of sin! See I John 3:9: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” This profound statement means that whosoever is born of God does not go on in a life of sin; he does not practice it habitually. He cannot go on under the reign of sin because His seed remaineth in him-that is, the new life of grace in Christ. John is not saying that a man born of God can never commit an individual act of sin, for if this were the meaning of the verse, there would be none in heaven, or any Christian on earth today. No, he is saying that such a person cannot go on abiding in the realm of sin. Notice the word “cannot”-it is impossible. Our Lord said concerning this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.” So put together all of these verses, and you will see clearly that it is impossible for a Christian to live in sin, because such a man is under the power and in the realm of this mighty force called grace. Because the saved soul is under the influence and the power of Christ, he cannot continue where he was before; grace makes it impossible.

Now, I am certainly not saying that the Bible teaches sinless perfection, or that our sin nature can be eradicated in this life. For God’s people still have sin in the flesh, according to Romans 8:10. What God’s Word is saying is that as sin reigned unto death before God saved us, now grace reigns through righteousness; and greater is the Holy Spirit Who is in us to cause grace to abound in us than he who is without (that is, Satan) to cause sin to abound in us. The Lord further says in John 8: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (v 36)-that’s an absolute freedom where the Son is concerned, for He came to give us life, and that life to be more abundant in Himself.

This is the true gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, of which Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom 1:16). And this Gospel not only makes salvation possible, but it gives all that is needful for keeping us from here to eternity! So unto us who are saved by the true Gospel and grace of Christ, Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”; for praise our gracious God, we now can and will walk after the Spirit, by His grace!