Foundations of our Faith

Phil Benedict

Tahlequah, Oklahoma

United Indian Mission

Greeley, Colorado

These guides are designed to help you to study, to learn, to understand, and to live what God teaches us in his Word, the Bible. God gave us the Bible to teach us how to know and to walk with Him. We can enjoy God’s blessings forever, rather than experiencing his judgement. His Word is eternally true. Take time to carefully read and think about the Scriptures used in this guide. Meditate on them and the truths they teach. Learn to love God and his Word. Regularly ask God for a right understanding of Scriptural truths and then make them part of you. Absorb them. If you go over the material too quickly without much thought, it will have little or no lasting impact on your life. Commit yourself to making Biblical truths the foundation of your life and to putting them into practice every day of your life.

The greatest truth of all time is that you and I, even though we are sinners, can know and walk with the holy God. Even if we were "the worst of all sinners", all our sin can be totally forgiven. Even greater than that, God will credit his own goodness to our account and our record before God can be absolutely clean. He will even adopt you and me as his own children, and we can be the children of God!!! You can’t get any greater honor than that. The God who created and sustains the universe will make us his child and we can walk and talk with Him. God offers all this as a free gift to anyone who will come to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is extremely important. At stake is not only our ability to walk with God, but also where we will spend eternity. If we know God, we will spend an eternity with God. If we do not know Him, we will spend eternity separated from Him, suffering God’s wrath in hell.

There are a number of terms that are used to describe the experience of coming to know God. Being saved, accepting Jesus, believing on Jesus, calling on the Lord, becoming a son of God, and coming to know God are all terms that can be used. They all are referring to the same salvation experience.

As you go through this lesson you should examine your own faith. Are you a genuine child of God or are you trusting in a false hope? Are you genuinely "saved" or have you had some kind of an experience that is not genuine salvation? Have you come to God on his terms or have you come on your own terms? There is only one way and that is God’s way–through the Lord Jesus Christ. Many, many people are confused and have false ideas as to what God has said in the Bible about knowing Him.

The purpose of this guide is to clearly explain, from the Bible, God’s plan of salvation, or stated in another way, the purpose of this lesson is to explain from the Bible how we can know God.

To begin, let’s look at what knowing God or being "saved" is not.

It is not being "religious".

It is not being "sincere"or being a "good" person.

It is not attending or joining a church.

It is not "going forward" in church.

It is not being baptized.

It is not keeping the Ten Commandments or following any other set of rules.

It is not giving all your problems to Jesus.

It is not having a "spiritual experience" or a "spiritual awakening".

It is not "seeing the light".

It is not just saying a prayer, or praying for help, or "praying through".

It is not "speaking in tongues".

It is not when your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds.

It is not "turning over a new leaf".

It is not taking communion or the "sacraments".

It is not having an uncle who is a Baptist preacher.

To know God you have to come to Him on his terms, not our own way or any other person’s way. According to the Bible there is one and only one way to genuinely know God. The way is simple and the Bible is clear on how to come to God and be saved from the wages of sin.

Very carefully read and think through each of the following Biblical truths. Each of these Biblical teachings must be accepted before one can know God and be forgiven of his sin.

Romans 3:23 " For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

Do these verses accurately describe you?

Do you feel that, although you may have sinned, you are not really a bad person?

Does it make you angry to admit you are a sinner?

There is a huge moral gap between the holy God and sinful man. We will never be able to come to God on the basis of our own goodness. Even "little" sins keep us from God.

Romans 6:23a " For the wages of sin is death..."

Romans 5:12b "...death came to all men, because all have sinned."

In Scripture there are two kinds of death. Both are the consequences of sin.

A. Physical death. All of us (saved and unsaved) will die a physical death. Physical death is a result of sin. If man had not sinned, there would be no death.

B. The "second death", or "spiritual death". The second death is to spend eternity in hell, separated from God. This is true of non-believers only.

See Revelation 20:11-15 and Revelation 21:6-8.

What is the "second death"?

Read Luke 16:19-31 and the two passages just mentioned from Revelation. From these passages, how would you describe hell?

3. Because God loved us, Jesus Christ (God’s Son) died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Romans 5:8b "...While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."

Jesus was absolutely sinless. Therefore He did not have to die. However, He chose to die anyway so that He could pay the penalty for our sin. What a blessing that is!!! Because Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin, we can escape the judgement of death that was given us. We do not have to spend eternity in hell, separated from God.

Why did Jesus choose to die on the cross?

After Jesus died on a cross paying the penalty for our sin, his body was taken down, prepared for burial and then buried in a tomb. On the third day after He died, God brought Jesus back to life. His body was resurrected from death and Jesus came to life again. See Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead proved beyond any doubt that the death of Jesus was not a normal death. The truth is that He died paying the penalty for our sin.

Do you accept the Biblical account of the resurrection of Jesus?

4. The death of Jesus Christ is full payment of the penalty for our sin.

Ephesians 1:7 "In Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace."

2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made Him (Jesus Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

What is available to us because of the death of Jesus Christ?

God made Christ to be ________________ so that we could become______________________.

5. There is absolutely nothing you can do to earn or to be worthy of God’s forgiveness of your sin and the removal of the penalty for your sin. You can only accept the death of Jesus Christ and God’s forgiveness as a free gift.

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved."

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast."

Romans 4:4-5 "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."

In these verses we are described as being "dead in__________________________________".

What can a dead person do to gain forgiveness of sin?

We can only receive salvation as a free _____________________.

It does absolutely no good to try to improve yourself or to "clean up your act" before you come to God for forgiveness. We are all sinners and we cannot change that. We can only come to Jesus exactly as we are---sinners.

Acts 16:31 ... "Believe (put your trust in) in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved..."

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith (trust) -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works..."

In the Bible, the words "believe", "trust", and "faith" all have basically the same meaning. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to make a deliberate personal choice to put your trust in his death on the cross as the payment for your own sin. You can either pay the penalty yourself by spending an eternity separated from God, or you can accept his death as the payment for your sin and have eternal life with God. The choice is yours!!!

Do you understand what has been said so far in this lesson?

Are you trusting in Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for your sin?

Are you trying to be a good person to be saved from this penalty, or are you accepting eternal life with God as a free gift?

7. Be willing, with God’s help, to turn from a lifestyle of sin and live for the Lord Jesus Christ. This does not mean that you will be perfect or sinless, but it does mean that you will commit yourself to following and serving the Lord Jesus.

Acts 3:19 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,"

Luke 13:3b and 5b. "...but unless you repent, you will all perish."

You will never be saved by your own efforts. Your own efforts will gain you nothing before God. However, after putting your trust in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then, with God’s help, you turn away from a lifestyle of sin and dedicate yourself to living a life that honors the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not a light decision. In fact, it is the most important decision of your whole life. It is a total change in your life. In the past you served yourself; now you will serve the Lord Jesus Christ. In the past you freely sinned; now you are committing yourself to becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. We, as humans, cannot possibly do this without the strength that God’s Holy Spirit gives us after we make the choice to accept Him.

If you, to the best of your understanding, strongly want to be saved from the penalty for your sin (hell) and to live for God, then pray a prayer like the following. The exact words are not what is important---it’s the choice you make to trust Him, and your attitude that count.

If you, to the best of your understanding, honestly and sincerely prayed this prayer, you are now forgiven and have a clean record with God. You are saved from the penalty for sin. You are now God’s adopted child. Wow, what a truth!!!

Now read the following verse several times. Its promises are true. You can put your own name in this verse.

Knowing God is not a matter of feeling saved or some other kind of good feelings. It is a matter of trusting or putting your faith in what God has said in his Word, the Bible. Feeling good or bad is no indication of whether or not you are saved.

Have you heard the Word and believed (put your trust in) God?

If so, what do you have?

Is eternal life a present or future possession?

Will a person who has eternal life ever be condemned or sent to hell?

Those who have believed have crossed over from _________________to ______________.

What if a few days from now you don’t feel saved? Are you still saved?

Is being saved dependent on our feelings or on God’s truthfulness and faithfulness?

Once you are saved, do not expect instant maturity. That comes with growth and faithfulness over time. Expect Satan to oppose your commitment to serve God. Expect your faith to be tested. Be faithful and make the right decisions, even when you don’t feel like it.

1. Tell someone else that you have made the choice to put your faith in Jesus Christ as the payment for your sin. Tell them that you have made the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life. Find a solid Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, Bible-practicing church and make your decision to be saved known to them.

2. Be baptized. This is important. Baptism is not part of being saved, but it is a first step of obedience to God. To not be baptized is to rebel against God.

3. You must begin regularly reading the Bible, and begin regular patterns of prayer. This is extremely important. If you do not develop these habits, you will not grow as a follower of Jesus Christ. You will not lose your salvation, but you will feel spiritually dry and you will be ineffective and unproductive in your walk with God.

The next study guide will give you help in getting started right in your walk with God.

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October, 2002