John Lloyd - Right Relationship With God
/Strengthen Your Core Series
Salvation: How to Have a Right Relationship with God
September 8, 2019
Pastor John Lloyd
Our physical bodies are made up of several core muscles. If kept in shape through exercise, they will function properly. God’s goal for followers is to make us more like Jesus. This happens when we think like Jesus, CORE beliefs, act like Jesus, CORE practices and be like Jesus, CORE virtues. We need to exercise our CORE in order to glorify God. The journey of becoming like Jesus begins by thinking like Jesus. When we start thinking like Jesus, we are well on our way to becoming like Jesus. Today, we will focus on how we come into a right relationship with God.
Acts 2: 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “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. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Key Idea: A person comes into a right relationship with God by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Problem: We are not born into a relationship with God.
The Solution: There is only one solution and our good God provided it.
The Outcome: We have a lasting relationship with our loving God.
How do I come into a relationship with God?
I. We are not born into a __________________________ with God.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
Psalm 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it?
John 2:24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.
Some ways humans try to deal with this problem:
A. It’s something we __________ or _________________.
Galatians 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Ephesians 2:9
B. People ________________ their own way.
Genesis 3:5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
C. ________________ is going to make it. (Universalism)
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (Revelation 20:11-15)
Romans 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart…
Takeaway:
II. There is only one ________________ and God provided it.
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Exodus 12:13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
John 19: 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Acts 2:38)
Acts 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Takeaway:
III. The outcome is a ________________ relationship with God.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
I Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Romans 5:17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Colossians 2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
Takeaway:
Based on your hearing this message on salvation. How strongly do you believe the statements below (1= no belief at all, 6 complete confidence).
____ I believe I will inherit eternal life because of what Jesus has done for me.
____ I believe nothing I do or have done can earn my salvation.
____ I believe salvation comes only through Jesus.
____ I believe people are saved because of what Jesus did, not because of what
they do.
Spiritual Growth Questions for September 8, 2019
(Take one question each day and grow deeper in your relationship with God)
1. Read Genesis 2:8 & 9, 2:15-17, 3:1-24. How would you describe Adam and Eve’s life in the garden before they disobeyed God? What was life with God like afterward? How have modern minds disbelieved this Genesis account? Discuss how freewill allows the possibility of both love and evil?
2. Read Exodus 12:21-31, Hebrews 10:1-14. What are the similarities between the sacrificed lamb and the sacrifice of Jesus? What type of “Passover” has been caused by Jesus’ blood applied to our lives?
3. Study/Discuss the problem of evil. Read Isaiah 1:5, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10 and 3:23. What do these verses teach about the effect of evil? How has evil affected our relationship with God? Read Colossians 2:14-15. What has God done to remedy evil?
4. Discuss what is at stake if I believe I can work or earn my way to heaven. Read Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:21, Acts 15:11. What impact does this view have on the sacrifice of Jesus?
Group Questions:
5. What visible attributes can be found in someone who has received the gift of salvation?
6. Read Ephesians 2:8-9. How would you define the word grace? What is the opposite of grace? What makes grace such a difficult concept to grasp?
7. Read Romans 5:12-21. How did Jesus’ choice overturn the effect of Adam and Eve’s sin in our lives? What do these Scriptures tell you about the character of God and his feelings toward you and all of humanity?
8. How do I have a relationship with God?
9. How is the sacrifice of Christ applied to us individually? What do we do actively and passively?
10. Is there someone in your life who needs to know about salvation by grace through faith in Jesus? What’s stopping you from having that conversation?
Memory Verses: Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.