Salvation Part 1, God is Free, Men Are Sinners

Ok, Ok, I know. The previous post was a bit vague. After this morning's sermon, I'm ready to go. Lynne preached a sermon that led a woman to come and recieve Christ. Lynne is preaching through an outline based upon our Confession of faith which is a form of the 1833 New Hampshire Confession of Faith. So I think I am now ready to start where Paul started in Romans.

Before I get to the nature of man and why he needs a Savior, Paul tells us that God is the Creator. This is fundamentally important. If evolution is true (macroevolution), then there is no need of a Creator. But Paul assumes, as all the Bible writers do, there is a Creator, hence, everything is created. Therefore, when God creates He creates with a purpose so that everything and every event is created by God for a purpose. The nature of God is also plainly seen by what has been made so that we are without excuse.

Paul then tells us that all men know about God, but this knowledge does not save man. This knowledge only condemns man. Therefore, man does what he does while lost in his sin. He surpresses the truth of God and exchanges the truth for a lie.

I now want to be clear here. Man is a sinner. Man is a God hater. There is NO God seeker. All men sin and fall short of God's glory. You may say that you know a lot of non-Christian people who are very religious and seek God's truth. Notice that I did not say before that "man is not religious", for he is. But men reject the true Creator/creature relationship. He does so by his choosing and his sinful bent. Man's total inability to obey God could not be better expressed than when Jesus stated, "no one is able to come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day."

Man is dead in sin. Man is in rebellion. Man is a slave of sin. There is no "cooperating power" in man to assist God. There is no "prevenient grace" that helps every single individual ever to choose or not choose Christ. Men do not have an autonomous free-will.

I am not saying that every individual is as bad as they could be. For God has restrained men in their evil passions. The law of God as enforced by governments has been the main reason man has not been as bad as he could be. Nations that have no restraint on evil are nations under God's judgment.

When we allow the Bible to speak to us and tell us who God is and what man is, then we may come to a solid foundation for understanding how salvation works.