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JESUS ... I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY

December 15, 2002 AM

Sermon Outline

1 Jno 5:20

INTRO: I love to tell the story because I know tis true; it satisfies my longing as nothing else can do. The old, old story ... Jesus and His love! And, yes, I know its true. Over 2000 years since His birth, there have come along so many outlandish things about Jesus. The source? Well, no doubt they have come from the fertile imaginations of human beings. But what I can know about Him is revealed in scripture. My thought this morning is to touch briefly on sound doctrine about Jesus.

I. HERE ARE SOME POINTS OF DOCTRINE ...

A. Jesus is Diety

1. 1 Jno 5:20 This is the true God ...

2. Jno 1:1-5 ... and the word was God

3. He did not become God; He was not created (as men and angels); He is not simply the highest ranking angel

4. He is God ... Eph 2:9

B. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God

1. Jno 3:16not the only Son ... but only begotten Son

2. Heb 1:5not an angel ... but the Son

3. Lk 1:34,35 the miraculous begetting - v.31

4. efforts to make Jesus just a supremely good man, or an exceptional prophet seek to obscure this essential point of doctrine

C. Jesus did take human form to dwell here

1. Jno 1:14 ... but why?

2. Jno 14:8-10 to show us the Father

3. Jno 2:1,2 to be perfect atoning sacrifice

4. Heb 4:14-16 to be our great High Priest ... who, while He did not commit sin, was tempted ... and can intercede with the Father perfectly

D. Jesus was crucified and raised from dead

1. 1 Cor 15:1-4our hope rests here

2. Gal 1:4 for our sins ... the place of the incomparable offering of God was the cross

3. Acts 2:23,24 God raised Him

4. among the religious of the world, only Christianity places its confidence in a living Savior!

E. Jesus will be our Judge

1. 2 Cor 5:9,10

2. Rom 14:9,10

3. Heb 10:29since He is the judge, we can appreciate why He will look with displeasure, disfavor on any who reject His offer or abuse His privilege

4. if He is not your Savior, He will still be your judge

II. GOING FURTHER ...

A. We must unite with His atoning death

1. his dying at Calvary must never be just history

2. his dying at Calvary must be very personal

3. each of us must claim the sacrifice for himself

4. Rom 6:3 baptized into His death ... an action in which one participates believing!

5. v.5 notes the uniting with His death

6. only if the uniting has occurred can we be restored to life ... sound doctrine

B. We must live as members of His body

1. 1 Cor 12:13 baptized into one body

2. 1 Cor 12:27members of the body

3. and this living in the body necessarily implies faithful functioning

4. one cannot be a member in absentia, a diseased member, etc. and enjoy bodys benefits

5. sound doctrine insists that one live faithfully in the body of Christ

CLOSE: Sound doctrine? Yes. But doctrine must make its impact in the practice of the faith.

Cecil A. Hutson

15 December 2002

God's Plan of Salvation

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)

You must believe and have faith in God because "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called "Sinner's Prayer" that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the "Sinner's Prayer" to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus "Lord of your life." Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just "accept Jesus as your personal savior." We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God's grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God's grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)