Sermon Central
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The Unvarnished Truth
Contributed by Kenneth Trent on Nov 15, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Scriptural support in setting forth Jesus Christ as the only Savior and how the hindrances to faith can be overcome.
THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
I. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO BE SAVED!
"Jesus said to him, ’I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
"I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9
"He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." I John 5:12.
II. MAN IS NOT NATURALLY INCLINED TO SEEK JESUS!
"As it is written: ’There is none righteousness, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God….there is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3:10-11, 18.
"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." I Corinthians 2:14.
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:44. (See Romans 8:29-30).
III. SIN IS THE GREAT BARRIER KEEPING MAN FROM GOD!
But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear." Isaiah 59:2.
"But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death." James 1:14-15.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23.
IV. HOW THE SIN PROBLEM CAN BE RESOLVED.
Confess it: "I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ’I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and Thou forgave me the iniquity of my sin." Psalm 32:5 (Read I John 1:9)
Forsake it: "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." Proverbs 28:13.
Replace it: "To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:19. In Matthew 12:43-46, Jesus tells of the peril of an "empty soul".