Starting Out - Becoming a Christian (Study 1)

Becoming a Christian

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Are you a Christian’? This is the most important question you will ever have to answer However, many people are confused by this question because they do not really know what the Christian message is The purpose of this study is to clarify this point, and to show how you can become a real Christian Here is an outline of the Christian message:

1. GOD’S PLAN

God wants us to have the best He has to offer. In the beginning God made a good world to live in:

Genesis 1 v.31 (NKJV)
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

He still wants us to have the best He has for us:

John 10:10 (NIV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

2. OUR PROBLEM

In order that we can enjoy the full life God wants us to have, we must be in a right relationship with Him and live as He intends. Here lies the problem our relationship with God is in ruins Why’? God is the rightful Ruler of the world, but we have all rebelled against His rule This is what the Bible means by sin We have lived our way instead of God’s way:

Romans 3:23
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

What do you think is meant by this passage?

The consequences are devastating, we are cut off from God:

Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

We now live under God’s judgement and the result is death - eternal death:

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

People try to find God in various ways, but are powerless to restore their relationship with Him We cannot undo our rebellion and we are incapable of living as we should. We simply cannot stop sinning.

3. GOD’S SOLUTION

Although we cannot make our own way back to God, He has not given up onus. God’s love for us is so great that He has found a way to mend our broken relationship - at great cost to Himself As God’s justice is perfect, it is impossible for Him to pretend that our rebellion never happened - that would not be true. Instead, God dealt with the rebellion as justice demanded, but without destroying us. He sent His Son into the world to die in the place of all who believe, and to come alive once the penalty was paid:

Compare:
1 Cor. 15:3-4 (NIV)
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,

With:
1 Peter 2:24
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.

What do you think is meant by these passages?

God has declared that forgiveness and new life are available through Jesus Christ, and that all who become Christ’s followers will receive the Holy Spirit:

Compare:
Acts 2:36
"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

With:
Acts 16:31
So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

What do you think is meant by these passages?

Christ has paid the debt we owed, and now the way to God is open God will forgive all those who are willing to return to Him

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