July 30, 2023 – Bible Doctrine 9 – Results of Salvation

Lesson Date: July 30, 2023

Focal Scripture Passage: Romans 3:24-28; 5:10; 8:14-17; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jude 1:1, 24

AIM: To lead students to discover four things that happen when Jesus saves us, and to thank God for salvation and look for opportunities to tell others how they can be reconciled to God.

Before class: Read the chapters containing the focal passages several times during the week.  Get enough copies of the Lesson Outline handout for your anticipated attendance.

INTRODUCTION (Create Learning Readiness): Tell the students to imagine for a moment that they are guilty of a crime and standing trial.  Read or tell the following:

There is no question you are guilty, and no doubt about what the verdict must be.  When it comes time for the verdict to be read and the sentence to be imposed, you are called to stand before the judge.

Then, your defense attorney does a strange thing.  He asks that you be declared not guilty, and that the verdict and sentence be imposed on him.  To your amazement, the judge grants this strange request.  Your record is cleared and you are set free.  Your defense attorney, however, is placed in handcuffs and taken away to serve your time in prison.

The prosecuting attorney protests, insisting that you must be punished for your crime.  The judge asks, “What crime?”  He goes on to declare that you are completely innocent of any wrongdoing, but that your defense attorney is now a convicted criminal, taking your place in prison.

Ask: “How would you feel?  You know you committed a crime, but you have been declared not guilty.  Your defense attorney, who was innocent, willingly paid the price for your wrongdoing.  How would that make you feel?”  Allow time for responses.

Ask: “How often would you think about what your defense attorney did for you?  Would you tell other people about it?”  Allow time for responses.

Tell the class the title of today’s lesson is Results of Salvation.  Tell them as we study several Bible passages, we will discover four things that happen when Jesus saves us.

HEART OF THE LESSON (Bible Study):

1. Review.
   • Remind the class that we are studying important Bible doctrines.
   • Ask: “What was last week’s lesson about?” (God’s Plan and Method for Man’s Salvation; we learned about man’s need for salvation and God’s gracious provision of salvation through Jesus Christ).
   • Ask if any volunteer would recite last week’s memory verse (John 3:3).
2. JUSTIFIED – Declared Not Guilty.
   • Ask everyone to turn to Romans 3, and then ask a volunteer to read Romans 3:24.
     • Ask: “What did Jesus do for us ‘freely by His grace’?” (He justified us).
     • Tell the class when Jesus saves us, we are JUSTIFIED.
     • Explain that the word justified comes from the legal world; it means to be declared not guilty: to be acquitted of a crime; someone who has been declared not guilty is set free and faces no punishment.
     • Ask: “What does that verse say we must DO to be justified?” (nothing: it is a gift of God’s grace).
     • Tell the students that justification is a gift of grace.
   • Read Romans 3:25.
     • Explain that the word propitiation is a payment for sin.
     • Ask: “How did Jesus pay for our sins?” (with His blood).
     • Tell the students that we are justified because Jesus paid for our sins with His blood.
   • Read Romans 3:26-28.
     • Ask: “According to verse 26, what must we do to be justified?” (believe in Jesus).
     • Ask: “According to verse 28, how are people justified?” (by faith, without works).
     • Tell the students that we are justified through faith, not works.
   • Summarize: All genuine Christians have been JUSTIFIED: declared not guilty of sin. Justification is a gift of grace, paid for with Jesus’ blood, and available only through faith.
3. RECONCILED – Made Right With God.
   • Ask everyone to turn to Romans 5, and then ask a volunteer to read Romans 5:10.
     • Ask: “What happened when we were enemies of God?” (we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son).
     • Tell the class when Jesus saves us, we are RECONCILED to God.
     • Explain that the word reconciliation means to make hostile parties friendly.
     • Jimmy Millikin stated it this way: “The Greek word … described the bringing together again [of] people who have been estranged” (Christian Doctrine for Everyman, p. 71).
     • Ask everyone to look back at Romans 5:10.
     • Ask: “How were we reconciled to God?” (by the death of His Son).
     • Ask everyone to turn to 2 Corinthians 5, and then read 2 Corinthians 5:18.
     • Ask: “How were we reconciled to God?” (by Jesus Christ).
     • Tell the students that we are reconciled by Jesus’ death.
   • Ask a volunteer to read 2 Corinthians 5:19.
     • Ask: “What does this verse say about our trespasses (sins)?” (because Christ reconciled us, God does not impute, count, or hold our sins against us).
     • Tell the class that because we are reconciled, God does not hold our sins against us.
   • Ask: “According to the end of verses 18 and 19, what has God given us?” (“the ministry of reconciliation” and “the word of reconciliation”).
     • Read 2 Corinthians 5:20.
     • Ask: “What does that verse say we are?” (ambassadors for Christ).
     • Tell the students that we are to urge others to be reconciled to God.
   • Ask a volunteer to read 2 Corinthians 5:21.
     • Ask: “Who is the one ‘who knew no sin’?” (Jesus).
     • Ask: “What did Jesus become for us?” (sin).
     • Explain that when Jesus was on the cross, He not only bore our sin and paid the price for our sin, He also was made to be sin for us.
     • Ask: “What did He make us to be?” (the righteousness of God in Him).
     • Tell the students that Christ took our sin to make us righteous in God’s sight.
     • Stress the marvel of this: even though we are flawed, sinful humans, if we belong to Jesus, God views us as righteous as His own Son!
   • Summarize: All genuine Christians are RECONCILED – made right with God through the death of Jesus. Christ took our sin to make us righteous, He does not hold our sins against us, and He commands us to urge others to be reconciled to God.
4. ADOPTED as Children of God.
   • Ask everyone to turn to Romans 8, and then ask a volunteer to read Romans 8:14-15.
     • Ask: “What does verse 14 call us?” (sons of God).
     • Ask: “According to verse 15, what have we received?” (the Spirit of adoption).
     • Tell the class when Jesus saves us, we are ADOPTED as children of God.
     • Explain that the word adopt means to take a child that is not yours by natural birth and make him or her legally yours, with all the rights and privileges of a natural-born child.
     • Tell the class the word Abba is an intimate term for a father, similar to the way many children call their father “Daddy.”
     • Tell the students that we are beloved children of God.
   • As a volunteer to read Romans 8:16.
     • Ask: “What proves that we are children of God?” (the Holy Spirit living within).
     • Tell the students the fact that we are children of God is confirmed by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
   • Read Romans 8:17.
     • Ask: “Since we are children of God, what does that make us?” (heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ).
     • Tell the students that we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.
     • Explain that since we are joint-heirs with Christ, the only way we could ever lose our inheritance in heaven would be if Jesus also lost His!
   • Summarize: All genuine Christians are ADOPTED children of God. We have been given close fellowship with the Father, our adoption is confirmed by the Holy Spirit, and we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.
5. PERSEVERE – Kept to the End.
   • Ask everyone to turn to Philippians 1, and then ask a volunteer to read Philippians 1:6.
     • Ask: “Who began the good work of salvation in us?” (God, through Jesus).
     • Ask: “What can we be confident about?” (that God will continue to work in us until He takes us home to heaven).
     • Tell the class when Jesus saves us, He causes us to PERSEVERE.
     • Explain that the word persevere means to continue steadily to completion; this means once Jesus saves us, we can never lose our salvation, and God will continue to work in us to bring us to completion and maturity.
     • Tell the students that God will complete His work in us.
   • Ask everyone to turn to 1 Peter, and then read 1 Peter 1:3-5.
     • Tell the class verses 3 and 4 tell that God saved us through His mercy and has an inheritance reserved for us in heaven.
     • Ask: “What does verse 5 say God does for us?” (keeps us by his power).
     • Ask everyone to turn to Jude 1, and then ask a volunteer to read Jude 1:1.
     • Ask: “This verse says we are sanctified by God, ______________ in Jesus Christ, and called.”
     • Tell the class that God keeps and preserves us.
   • Ask a volunteer to read Jude 1:24.
     • “What will God do for us one day?” (make us faultless).
     • Tell the students that God will one day make us faultless.
   • Summarize: All genuine Christians will PERSEVERE to the end. God continues to work in us, keeps us and preserves us, and will one day make us faultless.

PERSONAL APPLICATION: Remind the students that today’s lesson is about the Results of Salvation, and we’ve discovered four things that happen when Jesus saves us.  Give everyone a copy of the Lesson Outline handout.  Review the lesson by reading the main points and subpoints from that outline, stressing the fact that these wonderful things apply to us if we belong to Jesus:

Results of Salvation

JUSTIFIED – Declared Not Guilty

• • A gift of grace – Romans 3:24
  • Jesus paid for our sins with His blood – Romans 3:25
  • Through faith, not works – Romans 3:26-28

RECONCILED – Made Right With God

• • Reconciled by Jesus’ death – Romans 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18
  • God does not hold our sins against us – 2 Cor. 5:19
  • Urge others to be reconciled to God – 2 Cor. 5:18-20
  • Christ took our sin to make us righteous – 2 Cor. 5:21

ADOPTED as Children of God

• • We are beloved children of God – Romans 8:14-15
  • Confirmed by the indwelling Holy Spirit – Romans 8:16
  • Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ – Romans 8:17

PERSEVERE – Kept to the End

• • God will complete His work in us – Philippians 1:6
  • God keeps and preserves us – 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jude 1:1
  • God will one day make us faultless – Jude 1:24

Ask: “How does it make you feel to realize that if you are saved, Jesus has justified you, reconciled you, adopted you, and will cause you to persevere to the end?” (grateful and thankful).

Remind the students that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation and should urge others to be reconciled to God through Jesus.  Ask: “Do you know someone who needs to be reconciled to God?  Will you tell that person how to come to Jesus?”

Ask everyone to bow their head and close their eyes.  Tell them to silently thank God for salvation, and to ask Him to give them opportunities to tell others how they can be reconciled to God.  After a few moments of silence, voice a closing prayer.

CONCLUSION: Ask everyone to memorize Philippians 1:6.  Tell them to thank God every day for continuing to work in them.  Tell them to keep the Lesson Outline handout in their Bibles so they can refer to it again later.  Tell them next week’s lesson is about living the Christian life.