you can be saved


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SERIES: UNFAILING

SESSION EIGHT, WINTER 2017

YOU CAN BE SAVED John 3.16-17: For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

THE MISSION OF JESUS: SALVATION Luke 19.10: The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

THE NAME OF JESUS: SALVATION Matthew 1.21: She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Jesus (“Yeshua” in Hebrew) means “the Lord __________.” 1. YOU ___________ TO GOD. John 3.16: For God so loved the world. Matthew 7.9-11: Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 2. YOUR __________ IS DESPERATE. If our lives matter to God, then it matters to God what we do with our lives. If God has given us the lives we have, then when we fail to choose his ways, we don’t just sin against ourselves or others, we sin against him.

WE HAVE ALL SINNED Romans 3.23: For all have sinned and fallen short. Isaiah 53.6: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. I John 1.8: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Romans 3.10: There is none who are righteous, no, not one … Just because we don’t _______ our guilt doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It is very easy to be unaware of our failures and our sins. We often feel good about ourselves, not because we’re righteous, but because we are ______________ to how often and how deeply we do wrong.

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Can’t God act like our sins don’t matter? Only if he’s willing to say _____ don’t matter. Only if he’s willing to quit caring about us can God refuse to care about our sins. Richard John Neuhaus: We could not bear to live in a world where wrong is taken lightly and where right and wrong finally make no difference. Spare me a gospel of easy love that makes of my life a thing without consequence. … Atonement is not an accountant's trick. It is not a kindly overlooking; it is not a "not counting" of what must count if anything in heaven or on earth is to matter. God could not simply decide not to count without declaring that we do not count. HOW BIG A DEAL IS IT THAT WE HAVE SINNED? God is holy. Sin not only destroys the beauty of his creation, it __________ and contradicts his very nature. He cannot act as if sin does not matter unless he is willing to deny who he is.

John 3.16: … should not perish … Perish means “to be lost” or “to be destroyed.” And here it is used to describe the human soul being plunged into a dark and ___________ eternity, destined forever to be without God who is the source of life and all goodness. Romans 6.23: The wages of sin is death. John 3.16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son … “Desperate times require desperate measures.” If the “measure” required for your salvation is the death of Jesus, how desperate is your condition without him? 3. YOU MUST ____________ WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU. 2 Corinthians 5.21: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Christianity is not a code of ethics that tells us how to be __________. Christianity is not a philosophy to explain our place in the universe. Christianity is not a religion that provides objective facts about God. Christianity is not a self-help methodology for ___________ men who still haven’t come to grips with the reality that their condition is desperate – in fact, so desperate that they cannot solve their biggest problem or fulfill their biggest need. Christianity is (1) Good News about what God, out of his love, has done for us in Jesus Christ and (2) an ______________ to receive the gift of forgiveness and redemption bought for us by the death of Christ on the cross.

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Like every gift, the gift of salvation must be received. John 1.11-13: He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who accepted him, to those who believed in his Name, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

HOW D O W E B ECOM E R IGHT

W ITH

G OD ?

Human Nature

The Gospel

1. Our merit 2. Our goodness 3. Our virtuous works for God 4. Something we earn 5. Religion 6. Do

1. God’s mercy 2. God’s grace 3. The work of Christ on the cross for us 4. Something we’re given 5. Relationship 6. ________

The Gospel does not say: Achieve it. The Gospel says: Receive it. God’s way of salvation is ___________ and because of their pride, some men can’t accept it. 1 Corinthians 1.21-23: God has used the “foolish” Gospel we preach to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. You can either have your pride or you can have ________, but you can’t have both. John 3.16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that whosoever believes in him … “Believe” in the New Testament is more than mental assent to a propositional truth. It means that we _______ something or someone. It means that we believe someone to the point that we are willing to act on our belief and live our lives based on who he is or what he says. 4. YOU WILL LIVE IN ________________ WITH GOD FOREVER John 3.16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The Greek word for “eternal” carries the sense of “everlasting” or “unending.” But it’s more than that – it refers to a __________________ of life. It’s the kind of life that exists in God, and it can be experienced in the “here and now,” not just after death in the “there and then.” The Woodlands United Methodist Church www.thewoodlandsumc.org