Lesson 1: The Good News about Eternal Life

For God so loved the World ...

Welcome to the Good News Bible Study Series.

Begin by filling in the blanks using a King James Version of the Bible.   Then, when you have completed the lesson, fill in your name and email address at the bottom of the page, and press the "submit" button to email it back to us.    

 

1. What are we saved by?   Ephesians 2:8-9.

Answer: By God’s and not by any good that we can do.


Grace Is God’s unmerited favor toward us. In order for us to be saved by our works or good behavior, we would have to live a perfect life from the moment of conception until death without committing one single sin in thought, word, or deed! But according to the Bible, no one but Jesus has ever done that!

2. Galatians 2:21 tells us that If we could be saved by the , then Jesus in .


If it were possible for us to save ourselves by perfectly obeying the Ten Commandments, then Jesus died on the cross for nothing! But it is BECAUSE we cannot perfectly obey the law in our unconverted state that Jesus came!  He lived a perfect, sinless life that will be credited to our account if we accept Him as our Savior and Substitute.

3.  What Is "sin"?   1 John 3:4.

Answer: "Sin is the of the ."


There is no sin that we can commit that is not in some way transgression of one of the Ten Commandments!  They are God’s guidelines for successful living.  Yet without the Spirit of Christ living in us, we are powerless to truly obey His laws.

4.  Romans 3:23 tells us that all have and fall of the glory of God.


We are all sinners, and as sinners, we fall short of what God requires for eternal life. But Jesus did not fall short!  His obedience can be credited to our account through faith!

5. What are the wages of sin, and what is the gift of God?   Romans 6:23.

Fill in:   "The wages of sin is but the gift of God is through Jesus Christ our Lord."


We all have earned the death penalty because we all have sinned.  We can only do one of two things to pay this penalty. We can die for our sins and forfeit eternal life, or we can accept, by faith, Jesus’ death in our behalf, as our substitute, in order that we may be forgiven.  At Calvary, Jesus suffered capital punishment in our place! God’s gift to us is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We cannot "earn" a gift. It must be given to us freely to be a gift. If we paid for it, it would no longer be a gift, but rather our "wages. The wages we have earned is death, but through Jesus, we can have God’s "gift" of eternal life!

6. What must happen to a person before he or she can "see" the kingdom of God?   John 3:3.

Answer:  He or she must be .


Jesus said we MUST be born again.  We need a change of heart!

7. What is the promise found in 1 John 1:9?

Fill in:  If we our , He is faithful and just to us our sins, and to  us from all ."


The gospel has two parts: forgiveness and cleansing.  Not only does Jesus forgive us of our sins, but He begins a process of sanctification in us by which we are cleansed from our sins and no longer wallow in the slough of despondency.  The gospel will affect the whole of our life.  It will clean our clothes, wash our face, comb our hair, straighten up our life, and put us on the straight and narrow path that leads to the kingdom Of God!

8.  In the Old Testament sanctuary service (which pointed forward to Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary's cross), a person who sinned was instructed to take an unblemished lamb or other animal to the sanctuary where the priest offered the animal as a substitute sacrifice that died in the sinner’s place.  What did the sinner have to do to this animal sacrifice?  Leviticus 3:7-8.

Fill In:  "If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the Lord.  And he shall his upon the of his offering, and it before the tabernacle of the congregation, and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle the thereof round about the altar."


The sinner confessed his sins while holding his hands upon the head of the innocent animal.  This was done to show that symbolically, his sins were transferred to the innocent one who died in the sinner’s place.   This is what Calvary was all about!  Jesus, the unblemished Son of God died the death that the sinner deserved, so that the sinner can be forgiven and walk away free from eternal death!

9. What did John the Baptist call Jesus?   John 1:29.

Answer:  The of God.


John knew that all the Old Testament sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus.  He was the ‘Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’!   Our heavenly Father gave the sanctuary service to ancient Israel to help them understand the substitutionary death of the Messiah to come.  They were saved by faith in the Messiah that was to come just as we today are saved by faith in the Messiah who HAS come!  All who will ever be saved, of all ages, will be saved by faith in what Jesus has done!

Now faith has two parts.  Those two parts are belief and trust.  For example, I may believe that a chair on the other side of the room is capable of supporting my weight, but I will never know for sure until I go and sit in the chair!   In much the same way, we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that if we, by faith, put the weight of our sins on Him, He will take the weight and give us rest.  But we will never experience this until we are willing to put ourselves totally in His care!  We must be wiling to surrender ourselves to Him!

10.  What happens to a person when he or she accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior?   2 Corinthians 5:17.

Answer:  They become a .

11.  Is it possible for us to KNOW right now, at this very moment, that we have eternal life?  1 John 5:12-13.

Answer:  .


If you have Jesus, the Son of God as your lord and Savior, then you have eternal life!  As long as you maintain that connection with Him, then you have life eternal!  You need not guess about your destiny.  Give yourself to Jesus and you KNOW that your sins are forgiven, and that you have eternal life!

12.  When we ask Jesus to be our Substitute, and accept His death on our behalf, what do we have with God?   Romans 5:1.

Answer: .

13. How does a person go about asking Jesus to be their personal Lord and Savior?  Romans 10:9.

Fill in:   "That if thou shalt with thy the Lord Jesus and shalt in thine that God hath Him from the dead, thou shalt be ."

14. What is Jesus asking us to do right now?  Revelation 3:20.

Answer:   Open the of our to Him.


Right now, while Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart, why not follow your Bible instructor in the simple prayer of faith to make sure of your standing with God?   He will accept you just the way you are, and He will change your life for the better!  Just repeat the simple prayer of faith as the person sharing this Bible study with you leads out.  Even if you have given your life to Christ in the past, why not renew your commitment again just now?  Let's pray.

If you are taking these lessons by correspondence, or by yourself, you just need to pray the following simple prayer of faith to receive Jesus as your personal Savior.  If you are sincere when you make this prayer, you will receive forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life!  No one has ever regretted asking Jesus Christ into their life!  Here is the prayer of faith:

"Dear Father in heaven, forgive me of my sins.  I accept your Son Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.  Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for me.  I receive the free gift of eternal life.  In your name I pray.  Amen."

15.  Do you know now that you have eternal life?

Answer: 


Praise the lord!  If you have prayed the prayer of faith and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and Savior, you are now a part of His spiritual family!  You have the assurance of eternal life as long as you maintain your relationship with Him!  He will never leave you or forsake you, and now, through the Holy Spirit, He lives in you!

16.  What does the Lord want you, as a Christian, to do?   2 Peter 3:18.

Answer:  in .

17.  How do we GROW spiritually?  1 Peter 2:2.

Answer:  By the sincere of the of God.

18.  Are you willing to continue these studies so that you will grow in grace and knowledge? 

Answer:  .

 



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