GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION

ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES

 &  Bible quotations will be from the New International Version.  &

  1.       How does God feel toward you (if you’re not afraid to ask)?  Does He even care one way or another about you?  The answer:

•  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) 

2.       What does God want for you?  

• ....God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:3b-4)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9) 

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10b) 

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.  And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (I John 1:3)  

“God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (I Corinthians 1:9)  

“...for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time...” (Titus 1:2)  

3.       How well do you rate with God?  What is your standing with Him?

•  “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 1:10b) 

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10)  

“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17) 

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” (I John 3:4) 

4.       What will happen to you? 

• “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, emphasis added.)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power...” (II Thessalonians 1:8-9) 

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36) 

5.       What is salvation? 

• “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

   OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14) 

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. (I Thessalonians 5:9-10)  

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater then all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29)   

6.       Can you save yourself?   

• “The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’  Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:26-27)

   OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“...but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:23-24) 

“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.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21)   

7.       Will God save you?  

• “All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:37-39, emphasis added.) 

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12) 

“Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13b-14)  

8.       How will He save you? 

• “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.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7) 

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (I John 5:11-12)   

“We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)  

“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. (Romans 4:4-5)   

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”  (II Corinthians 5:17)  

9.       Does God offer any other provision for our salvation?  

• “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) 

“No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (I John 2:23)   

 10.   Who is Jesus Christ?    

• “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” (Colossians 2:9)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that had been made.” (John 1:1-2, emphasis added.)  “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, em-phasis added.)   

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the universe.  The son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being...”  (Hebrews 1:1-3a, emphasis added.)   

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11, emphasis added.)   

 11.   What did He do, and why did He do it? 

• “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.  He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit...” (I Peter 3:18, emphasis added.) 

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION   

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” (I Corinthians 15:3-8, emphasis added.)   

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (I Peter 2:24)   

“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”  (Romans 4:25)  

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21)  

 12.   How do we receive Christ?  

• Do we accept him in our own way, or does God show us in the Scriptures how He wants us to respond?

• Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  (Acts 2:38)

  OPTIONAL FURTHER EXPLANATION 

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30)   

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (II Corinthians 7:10)   

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15, emphasis added.)  

“In reply, Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’  ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked.  ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’  Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.’” (John 3:3-5)   

“And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16) 

             CHRISTIAN LIVING   

“Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”  (II Timothy 1:19c) 

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:8-9, emphasis added.)   

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.  Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.  For if you do these things, you will never fail, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 2:5-11, emphasis added.) 

“Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’  ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, o Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  There is no command-ment greater than these.’” (Mark 12:28b-31, emphasis added.)