Fundamentals Of The Faith - Week 1 - What It Means To Not Be A Christian. Series

(The Reality of Being One of the LOST)

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." He spoke of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor 4:3 "And even if our gospel is veiled, (hidden) it is veiled to those who are perishing."

The term perishing is used to describe the position or standing before God of every human being prior to personal salvation. It is God's assessment of the natural person, how God looks at us from His viewpoint. It implies that you and I are in a desperate condition and that there is nothing we can do to rescue ourselves from this dilemma. The unsaved person is totally unaware of their spiritual lostness until they are convicted of this reality by the Holy Spirit.

In this study you will discover why those who don't believe in and receive God the Son, Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord are considered lost.

I. THE REJECTION OF DIVINE REVELATION CONDEMNS HUMANITY.

A. God has revealed Himself through nature.

1. Psalms 14:1 "The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good."

2. Psalms 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

3. Psalms 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

4. Romans 1:19 "since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

5. Romans 1:18 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness."

a. Paul stated that Gods existence, His power and intelligence can be known by every one through nature. But, because of our desire to sin instead of following God we "suppress the truth by our unrighteousness." To admit the existence of a God who created us would imply a moral responsibility to that God. And this is what we do. We suppress the truth because we don't want to change our behavior.

B. God has revealed truth about Himself through our personalities.

1. Gen. 1:26,27 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

2. Gen. 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man."

a. God created us in His own image. Therefore, the image of God in us must reflect some of the truth about the nature and character of God. This image still remains even after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

b. This also refers to our immaterial being, our soul and/or spirit and that we are a moral (understanding right and wrong) personality through our intellect, emotions and will. This we also call our conscience.

C. God has revealed Himself through special revelation. This is God’s written word the Bible.

1. 2 Tim 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."

2. 2 Pet 1:20-21 "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

a. All scripture is inspired "breathed out" from God. It is what God would say directly to us if He were standing physically in front of us right now. God directed men from the past what to say in the written commandments, "The law of Moses, the Pentateuch". Israel was given these laws, so they became, (and still are) more accountable to God if they don't follow those Laws. And today, Christians are just as accountable to God because we have the complete, finished Bible. Even those who live in the deepest part of the African jungles, or the most remote parts of the world are in the same dilemma as the sophisticated American intellectual.

3. Rom 1:22-25 "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen."