Sermon Series: The Five Most Important Teachings of Scripture (Message 2 of 5)
MAN NEEDS A SAVIOUR! (Sermon 2 of 5)
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
August 27, 2023
INTRODUCTION:
1) Last week we began a new series of messages titled the five most important teachings in the Word of God.
A) Last week in our first message we looked at the doctrine that this world has been created by a loving God.
B) I said that basically in this world there are only two different views on how this world came to exist though there are variations of each.
ba.) We looked at a few of the arguments that prove the doctrine of evolution as false teaching.
2) Today, I want us to at the reality we need a Saviour as another of the most important teachings of all the Word of God.
I) MAN NEEDS A SAVIOUR BECAUSE ALL HAVE SINNED.
1) Most of us think we are pretty good people.
A) By our own standards it would be easy to feel that we are good enough we do not need a Saviour.
aa.) This is perhaps especially true for those of us who have been raised in the church and for the most part are reasonably good people.
ab.) The problem is that the perception which allows us to judge ourselves in that manner if both flawed and viewed from our own fallen nature.
ab.) When we look at others they are also flawed and contaminated with a sinful nature because we have all chosen to enter sin.
aba.) We may see others as a bit more or less soiled than we are, but the standard we use is a wrong standard.
.01) We can therefore believe we are better in the eyes of God than we are.
B) The only true standard the standard of Almighty God seen in the person of Jesus the Christ.
ba.) It does not matter how we compare with others, but how do we compare with Jesus Christ?
baa.) It is only when we look at the holiness of Jesus Christ that we can truly see how defiled and unholy we really are before the presence of God.
bab.) In that light even if all we had ever committed was one sin in our entire lives we would be defiled, and unworthy to be in the presence of God.
.01) Even if we do not look there but take an honest look at ourselves, we know in our hearts that we are unworthy, and therefore need a Saviour.
2) You see, Pretty good does not count for anything.
A.) Pretty good may seem adequate in comparison to others, but in comparison to the perfect holiness of God it is not enough, and in fact reveals we are very wicked.
II) MAN NEEDS A SAVIOUR BECAUSE IN SIN WE LOST THAT PERFECT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
1) God is perfectly holy, and pure from any stain of sin.
A) James 2:13-14 “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He himself tempts no man.”
B) There is not so much as a spot or speck of sin in the person of God.
ba.) This is something that may amaze us, but sin is so far from the person and character of God that he cannot have even the smallest amount of sin.
2) We are not perfectly holy; Scripture makes it clear that we need a Saviour who can through Himself restore the holiness of God within us.
A) We could never restore what we have lost on our own.
aa.) In the Garden of Eden God told man that if he sinned, he would die.
aaa.) When sin happened there was a spiritual death.
.01) Even before God had said anything, Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God.
.011) They hid because in their hearts they knew that spiritual death had occurred, and they were separated from that fellowship with God.
.02) God in fact did bring judgment on that first couple, and eventually their bodies, and the bodies of every human being would come to death because of sin.
.03) When God kicked them out of the Garden of Eden, they felt that complete separation, but even before this they knew the separation was there from the terror, they had at the sound of God walking through the garden.
B) From that point on animals were sacrificed for man’s sin.
ba.) Animals gave a small measure of the grace of God, but no animal could ever restore what we have lost.
C) We could only restore what has been lost through one who as God is perfectly holy, and through a man equal to ourselves, but who has not fallen into sin.
III) MAN NEEDS A SAVIOUR BECAUSE THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN IS ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD.
1.) Scripture makes this very clear.
A) Romans 3:23
B) Romans 6:23
ba.) In both passages the answer to our problem is Jesus Christ.
IV) MAN NEEDS A SAVIOUR WHO CAN TAKE AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD.
1) John the Baptist came as a forerunner to prepare the way for Jesus.
A) Up until the coming and sacrificial death, and resurrection of Christ, nothing could adequately deal with sin.
B) John brought the message to the world that this curse that had been on humans from the time of Adam onward could be dealt with in Jesus.
ba.) No gift, sacrifice, blood offering, act of service or worship, nothing, and nobody could take away sin.
C) Notice the words of John the Baptist concerning Jesus:
ba.) John 1:29-37
D) Sometime after this statement of John the Baptist Jesus was crucified for our sins, and on the third day raised again to life.
da.) Several years after that day, the writer of Hebrews wrote about the greatness of the sacrifice of Christ.
daa.) Hebrews tells us that the sacrifice was a better sacrifice than the sacrifices made by the Jewish priests.
.01) Hebrews 9:11-14
dab.) The writer of Hebrews also goes on to tell us that the sacrifice of Jesus was so much superior to that of the sacrifices under the Jewish system, that there would never be need for another sacrifice to ever be given.
.01) Hebrews 10:4-14
.02) This passage of Scripture speaks of Jesus sitting down at the throne of God after offering himself as a sacrifice.
.021) This was a luxury not afforded to the priests.
? In fact, as soon as they had offered their sacrifices they had to go out from that holy place.
? Jesus, on the other hand sat down at the right hand of God because from that day forward the work of redemption was done.
? From that day forward, Man’s sins had been redeemed, and those who would accept the offer of God were freed from sin’s curse.
CONCLUSION:
1) I want to close this message with the story of a boy who had built a toy boat.
A.) The boy had his boat on a string and was playing with it in a stream.
B.) The string broke, and he lost his boat.
C.) Later on the boy saw this same boat in a store.
ca.) The went into the store and told the storekeeper that was his boat.
cb.) The storekeeper told him that he had bought the boat, but it could be the boy’s if he wanted to buy it.
cc.) The boy saved up his money and was able to buy the boat back.
D.) After the boy bought the boat from the storekeeper, he declared this is twice my boat.
da.) It was mine because I had built it.
db.) Now it is mine because I have bought it.
E.) Last week I said that the doctrine of creation is one of the greatest teachings in all the Bible.
ea.) In that message we declared that we are God’s because he has made us.
eb.) Today we have looked at what I call the second great teaching of Scripture that man needs a Saviour.
eba.) We belong to God because he has created us.
ebb.) We also belong to God because Jesus came to be our Saviour and has purchased us with his own blood.
2) Next week we will look at what I am labelling as the third great teaching of Scripture: Jesus is both our God and Our Saviour.
