The apostle Paul writing to the Christians that were at Rome said, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God for forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2 ) There were some Christians at Rome that had the same ideal that many of our denominational friends have. They believed that the more that one sinned, the more God’s grace would abound to cover that sin.

We can all understand that if we have the ability to move forward for the cause of Christ then there would also be the possibility of one going backward, returning to the former state of sin and digression. Notice the warning which Paul gives to the Hebrew brethren, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

In any institution, we must have a standard of authority. In money, we have the dollar as our standard. In determining measurements, we have feet, gallons, miles, cups, and such, or we may use the metric standard. In religion, this fact also remains true. We must have an authority to our practices, and we should be able to discern between human and Godly authority.

Give us something practical is a statement we hear many times relative to preaching and teaching. Practical is any expressed thought good or bad and is likely to be repeated many times because most people do not think for themselves they are led by others. This statement is being used in an effort to get away from the doctrinal and fundamental items of the faith. The usage of this kind of statement spells danger to the church and to Christianity.