Objective:
In this class, we will explore what it takes to be a Christian.
Textbook: The Bible
We
all need salvation!!
What
is salvation?
What
is sin? (I John 5:17, James 4:17)
What
does sin do? (Romans 6:23)
Who
has sinned? (Romans 3:23)
Who/what
pays for our sin?
Old
Testament times: (Leviticus 1-5)
New Testament times
(NOW!): (Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians
2:1-10; I John
4:10, Hebrews 10:1-18)
How
do we get salvation?
Salvation
is like a ticket to a special event. In
order to get into a sold-out basketball game, you have to give the person at
the door a ticket. Once you give them
the ticket, you can go in. Someone had
to pay for that ticket. If your friend
bought the ticket, but you forgot to pick it up, you can’t get in the door.
In life, Jesus has paid
for your ticket to heaven in advance.
But, in order to get into heaven you must ACCEPT the ticket from
Jesus. Once we accept him, we get our
ticket to heaven. Whenever God calls us
to heaven, we have our ticket to get in!
Our “ticket” is SALVATION.
There
are five basic steps to becoming a Christian:
1. Believe
John 3:16-18; Hebrews 11:1,6; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:14
We must believe in God. Or course, before we can believe we must
hear! We must believe that he sent his son, Jesus, to pay for our sins on the
cross. We must believe that he is our
Lord and our Savior. This is called
faith.
2. Repent
II Peter 3:9; Acts 17:30,31; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Luke 13:3,5
Repentance is not only
to stop doing something wrong, but to start doing things right. It’s a complete turn around. Instead of walking one way, you turn around and
start walking the other way. Repentance
is recognizing your sin, being truly sorry for you sin, admitting your sin, and
quitting that sin.
3. Confess
Matthew 10:32,33; Matthew 16:14-17; Matthew 10:32-33;
Romans 10:9-10
We are also told we must
confess who God is. We must be able to
tell other people, in public, that God is the one true God, that you believe in
him, and accept him as your Lord and Savior.
You must tell other people that Jesus is the son of God, and was sent
for the forgiveness of your sins.
4. Baptism
Mark 16:16;
Galatians 3:27; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36-39; I Peter 3:21;
Romans 6:1-11
Baptism is a time we remember the death of
Jesus on the cross. It symbolizes
death. No, your body doesn’t die when
you’re baptized, but you do quit breathing, if only for a second. You go down into the water, much like a
person would go down into a grave. At
this point, your sinful self dies. This
is a “spiritual death”, where your sinful thoughts die. But, you come back up out of the water, like
a new person...without sin. This is
what people call being “born again.”
When you are born, you have no sin since you don’t know right from wrong
just yet. So after you’re baptized,
just like when you were born, you are without sin. Jesus told us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins, so that you may receive a gift: the
Holy Spirit.
Baptism is often a controversy between
different kinds of churches. The Bible
is clear that in baptisms, the people “came up out of the water.” So, sprinkling or pouring is not the same as
baptizing. Complete immersion should
take place. The verb “to baptize” in
Greek is the same verb that was used to describe how sword makers cooled their
finished product. To make a sword, they
would heat up a long piece of metal, and they would pound it with hammers into
the shape they wanted. The metal would
not bend or shape unless it was extremely hot.
When the sword maker was satisfied with the shape, he would baptize, or
immerse the sword into cold water to make the shape permanent. If the sword maker had poured or sprinkled
water on the metal, it would become deformed.
When a person should be baptized is also
controversial in some churches. Some
churches baptize babies. Again, the
Bible is very clear on when someone should be baptized. Before being baptized, you must first
repent. Now, in order to repent, you
have to be sorry for what you have done wrong.
Thus, you shouldn’t be baptized until you’re old enough to know that you
did something wrong, and have repented and confessed.
5. Christian Life
Acts 2:42-47; I Corinthians 10:31 - 11:1; Matthew 28:18-20; Romans
6:11-18; II Peter 3:18; I John 3:9-11; Hebrews 10:25; I John 1:5-10
Once we’ve become a
Christian, we must keep living it! God
provides us with grace, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. But the Bible tells us that we should not go on sinning, and allow
grace to go on and on and on. God has
told us through his book, the Bible, how we are to live. We must continue to ask for forgiveness when
we sin. We can’t possibly go through
the rest of our lives without sinning. Satan
will tempt us. In I Corinthians 10:13, God promises us that we will not be tempted
beyond what we can stand, and that he will provide a way out of every
temptation. If we give into that
temptation, we sin. We must then ask
for forgiveness for that sin. Of
course, if we resist the temptation in the first place, it’s that much easier
because then we don’t have to deal with the sin. In any case, we must keep in contact with the blood that Jesus
shed for our sins.
I Corinthians 11:17-34; Luke 22:7-20; Acts 2:42
Communion is a time each week that we take time to look inside ourselves, and to remember Jesus. When you are baptized, the death of Jesus pays for your sins. You stay in touch with his death by participating in communion. Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of him. The Bible tells us that the followers of Jesus met on the first day of the week to break bread together and to pray together. All these events were a part of the beginning of the Christian Church.