D6 s-o w4: God’s Plan for Salvation

Intro

Get in groups of 3-4 and work together to develop a plan for an event, whatever event you want to plan! It could be a race, a volunteer day, a church event, a school event, the sky is the limit. You need to think through things like, what is the event, what are the goals of the event, and how are you going to accomplish your goals. You have 5 minutes! GO!

*Go around and hear the event plans*

So, when we think of event planning, we know that the only way that an event can be successful is if everyone does their part. It’s kind of like a car, if one part doesn’t work, the car isn’t going to run. Plans are important in life, we have to have plans, even though we know God can overrule them; however, today, we are going to be talking about God’s plan for salvation.

Did you know that God had a plan for salvation years before Jesus was born? The plan didn’t begin when Jesus came to earth, but long, long before!

Apart from Jesus, Everyone is a Sinner

Romans 3:10–12 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

Here, Paul is quoting a few of the Psalms. He is telling us that nobody is righteous, not naturally at least. We all fall short of the glory and standard of God and therefore, have no relationship or fellowship with God. In our sinfullness, we have turned away from God and His design for us and we need to return to Him, but we can’t do it alone; we can’t fix our unrighteousness. Anything good we do reflects not our own goodness, but the goodness of God.

Many people believe their “good” deeds outweigh their “bad” and that makes them okay before God. Is this true? Why or why not?

How does sin make us a slave?

As depressing as this seems, there is hope! The hope we have though isn’t from our own doing, but the cleansing power of God; by taking away our guilt and paying the price for our sin, Jesus is the one who offers hope and salvation. Without salvation, we are rejecting God’s salvation and will be completely separated from Him for eternity.

Why is that so bad?

If you believe in Hell, do your actions demonstrate that?

All of your sin was fully paid for by Jesus Christ, He took on flesh, became your sin and mine on the cross, and died to pay the price you owed for sin.

Why was Jesus’ sacrifice necessary for salvation?

Is there any sin too big for God to forgive?

You know, the wildest part of all of this is: God always knew people were going to sin, yet He formulated a plan to save us anyway. Why do you think that is? (Love). Can we love like that? Do we?

In Christ, we are set free from slavery to sin and can choose to live for God

Without God intervening in our lives, we cannot choose to live good and pleasing lives to God; however, through the power of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, we certainly can! He provides us with the power to choose a life of righteousness that better reflects Him. Romans 6:5 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

This doesn’t just mean that we have a future in heaven, but it means we have power over sin NOW! We can now call ourselves DEAD to sin and ALIVE to live for God.

How does this work?

How do you need to change the way you think about sin’s power in your life knowing this?

God’s salvation delivers us from eternal seperation from Him and gives us a new life of righteousness, holiness, and purpose. Does this mean we are going to be perfect and never sin? Why?

Before salvation, maybe some of you today are ruled by the passion of the flesh. Even when we think we are doing what we want, we are being slaves either to sinful desires or desires after God and in obedience to God. In Christ though, we are set free from those sinful chains and we can choose obedience.

How does being in a community of believers (church) help us life for Christ instead of sin?

We are good at applying this idea to “big sins” like drug use and adultery. How can we also apply it to sins like gossip, lying, not being self-controlled, losing our tempers, and other “everyday” issues?

God’s plan, that was in His mind before the foundations of the earth, but was set into motion the moment Adam and Eve sinned, includes freedom. Salvation isn’t just a list of “no’s” that we have to follow, it is freedom to live for Christ without fear! It is a new life. It is eternally important and I encourage you, start now!

Many people wait for some miraculous sign from Heaven to say “Okay God, I get it now” and then they surrender to Christ, the Bible doesn’t indicate that we need that! If you feel guilt from your sin, you are being called to salvation. If you have finally realized that you cannot live this life without some help, you are being invited to salvation. Listen to the Holy Spirit’s call!

Respond

Who knows what the Emancipation Proclamation did?

Once this was signed into effect, slavery was illegal and slaves were meant to be freed. We know that racism still continues in our country and world, but this was a step in the right direction.

What do you think this Proclamation meant to those in slavery?

They likely celebrated! They were FREE!

This evening, you may be a slave to sin… you can be set free. Let’s celebrate salvation with each other! Listen to that conviction and surrender to Christ today.