Summer Break 1 // Be Good

Ephesians 2:8-9 | “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

1) I’m a “good person.” Do I really need salvation?

• 81% believe humanity is inherently good
• 75% believe they are basically (fundamentally) good
• 46% believe they are better than others
• Romans 3:10, 23 | “There is no one righteous, not even one…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

2) I’m not a bad person. Is my sin really that bad?

• Almost everyone considers themselves to be “relatively” better (less bad, less sinful, and less depraved) than others and so forgive themselves for their “relatively” minor sins.
• Romans 6:23 | For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3) I’m too bad to be saved. How can there be any hope for me?

• Those who don’t consider themselves better than others often consider themselves to have missed the mark, with so many sins stacked up on their side of the scale, that there’s no hope for them.
• Romans 5:8 | But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

4) How can I be saved?

• The concept of salvation by faith is alien to our human nature, we want to do something to earn our salvation, but the task is too great for us, we need divine intervention.
• Romans 10:9-10 | If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

5) Will God accept me?

• After a person has come to Jesus Christ for their personal soul salvation, it is extremely common for them to doubt their salvation, to doubt that God will keep his promise, that they are safe in Christ.
• Romans 10:13 | Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.
• Romans 8:1, 38-39 | Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reflection Questions

1. Pastor Mark shared some statistics about how people tend to see the goodness of humanity in light of their own personal sense of righteousness. Is there one that surprised or shocked you? What do you think about how the Bible says no one is righteousness?
2. The Bible teaches that the wage for sin is death. How do you read and understand that verse?
3. Have you ever feared that you’re too far gone to be saved? What kind of behavior does that illicit? How does God’s promise of salvation strike you when you think about the worst things you’ve done?
4. We don’t frequently like the idea of salvation being a free gift. Why is that? Why do we tend to behave as though our behavior is what saves us? So, what about how we are to respond because of our salvation?
5. Do you ever worry that your salvation is conditional? What will you do now?