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RECOGNIZE
THAT WE SIN AND NEED SAVING
Why
is humanity lost? In Salvation is Forever,
Robert Gromacki lists six reasons:
1. Because of rejection of biblical revelation
• The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And
their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (Psalm
19:1)
• …and yet He did not leave Himself without
witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven
and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and
gladness. (Acts 14:17, quoting Paul)
• …because that which is known about God is
evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,
being understood through what has been made, so that they
are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)
2.
Because of disobeying our own consciences.
• For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively
the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law
to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written
in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their
thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the
day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets
of men through Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:14-16)
3.
Because of our relationship to the world
• And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
in which you formerly walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of
the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
(Ephesians 2:1-2)
• … do you not know that friendship with the
world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
(James 4:4)
• Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not
from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing
away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of
God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
4.
Because of our relationship to Satan
The idea of a supernatural being who is bent of the destruction
of humanity is difficult in a world that often rejects the
supernatural, but the Word of God is clear that Satan (sometimes
referred to as “the god of this world”) is living
and active in deceiving His children. In fact, Satan even
tried to deceive Jesus.
• Again, the devil took Him [Jesus] to
a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the
world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All
these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship
me.” (Matthew 4:8-9)
• Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you
would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God,
for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent
Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because
you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil,
and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because
there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
(John 8:42-44)
• And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled
to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this
world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they
might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
• By this the children of God and the children of
the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness
is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
(1 John 3:10)
• We know that we are of God, and that the whole
world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)
5.
Because of our relationship to sin
• Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No
one! (Job 14:4)
• Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth
who continually does good and who never sins. (Ecclesiastes
7:20)
• And He was saying, “That
which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil
thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds
of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality,
envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things
proceed from within and defile the man.”
(Mark 7:20-23)
• Therefore, just as through one man sin entered
into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread
to all men, because all sinned… (Romans 5:12)
• So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord,
that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in
the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding,
excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them, because of the hardness of their heart…
(Ephesians 4:17-18)
Note that God does not really differentiate among types of
sin—it’s not an issue of being “bad”
or “good” in worldly terms. While an individual
may not be as bad as s/he could be, s/he is still as bad off
as s/he can be.
6.
Because of our relationship to God
• “He who believes in
the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son
will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
(John 3:36)
• Remember that you were at that time separate from
Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. (Ephesians 2:12)
• He who has the Son has the life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:12)
• These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded,
devoid of the Spirit. (Jude 1:19)
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