1 Jn 5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. How many people have lost family or friends they would like to see saved before the Second Coming?
2. The greatest surprise is that eternal life, which is a free gift, is refused by so many people. (Jn 1:9-12)
1- The Natural Man Is Hopelessly Separated From God; Brought Close In Christ.
Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Eph 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Col 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.
*Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
1. The “Normal” or “man of the world” is separated from God by his sinful inclination which results in sinful actions of disobedience toward God.
2. His sin is an offense to the very nature of God
3. All of us belonged to this “kingdom” of rebellion at one time.
4. Those who have received Christ “Supernaturals” have been “justified by faith” and have an intimate access to the Father through the Son.
2- Man Without God Is Spiritually Dead In Sin; Brought To Life In Christ.
Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
1. The “death” of Adam in Gen. 3 was more than physical death.
2. His death was even more spiritual in its nature.
3. Those who are in Christ are brought back into spiritual life – resurrected into a new being. 2 Cor. 5:17
3- The Natural Man Is Hostile Toward God; Peace Is Made In Christ.
Rom 8:7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
1. As “naturals” we all have a bent or a leaning toward hostility with God.
2. Isn’t it amazing that just the mere mention of the name of Jesus all manner of resistence comes?
3. This in and of itself is supernatural. You can mention “God”, “Buddha”, or “Allah” and not much happens, but speak the name of an Satan is stirred to action.
4. This very thought is one of the reasons that C. S. Lewis believed in Christ. He found this phenomenon unexplainable without the assumption that some universal supernatural force was at work behind it.
5. There is power in the Name of Jesus!
4- Man Without God Is Under the Power of Satan; Under the Power of God In Christ.
2 Co 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Tim 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
1. Every Unsaved Person Is Blinded By Satan
2. Every Person Without God is Enslaved to do Satan’s Will.
3. Every Person In Christ Comes Under the Power of God and is turned from the “power of Satan to the power of God”.
Acts 26:17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
a) Believer’s - Take the lost world’s condition seriously!!!
b) Those without Christ -
(1) In sinful state must man must stand before God in judgment.
(2) The other hand: God is loving and doesn’t want you to perish - He draws you to His Son.
Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper," wrote Marshall, "the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged."
