1. “A Matter of Life and Death!” Romans 6:15-23

2. Officer Lee Brown responded immediately with red lights and siren as the dispatcher gave directions. Brown knew this was a matter of life and death...

3. “What’s the matter, officer?” The voice came from a man sitting atop a large earthmoving machine...

4. Brown was able to force an object from the baby’s throat onto the floor. It was a button... The baby then screamed, turned red and flung his fist. He was angry, but very much alive.

6. Purpose: to see that eternity is a matter of life and death

7. ITHE MATTER OF DEATH A.Death is the Natural Result of Sin

8. Nothing less than the Cross of Christ proves this…

9. Genesis 2:17 “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

10. Romans 8:6 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

11. ITHE MATTER OF DEATH A.Death is the Natural Result of Sin B.Death is the Ultimate Wage of Sin

12. We know what wage means don’t we?... So the idea of earning is accurate here...

13. Death is the result of being “out of gear” with Christ...

14. ITHE MATTER OF DEATH A.Death is the Natural Result of Sin B.Death is the Ultimate Wage of Sin C.Death is the Ultimatum of Sin

15. Mark 9:47-48 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell; where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”

16. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 “…dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

17. IITHE MATTER OF LIFE A.Life is a Gift

18. Life is a gift made possible only through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross... Grace is free but it’s not cheap!

19. IITHE MATTER OF LIFE A.Life is a Gift B.Life is of God

20. Man’s attempt to “make life” continues to do one thing = DISAPPOINT!

21. Bob and Elizabeth Gathercole thought “to live” meant getting away from it all...

22. IITHE MATTER OF LIFE A.Life is a Gift B.Life is of God C.Life is in Jesus Christ as Lord

23. Conclusion and Summary Remember the story with which we opened? Like to tell you the remainder of that true event... Christian – you have an opportunity to make a difference in peoples’ lives. Never take lightly the privilege and urgent call to be “ambassadors for Christ”... Non- Christian – you have a choice... Remember, when one is lost it is earned, but when one is forgiven/saved it is a gift!