Unit 16 – Deliverance From Egypt
Lesson 47 – What Other Deliverance? – Lessons on Salvation
Preparation for the Teacher
1. Aim: To lead the people to know how they can trust Christ as their Savior for the forgiveness of their sins and find assurance of salvation.
2. Explanation of the Aim: Jesus once taught His disciples how few people actually make the right decisions enabling them to go to heaven. Our Lord Jesus said,
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:13,14)
This does not mean that it is difficult to become a Christian but that there is only one way to eternal life and that is by placing saving faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Very few people make correct decisions for Christ during their lifetimes and so decide to spend eternity in hell.
Illustration: Every forty seconds, approximately 100 people die on the earth. 32% of those 100 people are traditional religionists, secularists or atheists. 20% of those 100 individuals are Muslims. 15% are Hindus who mainly reside in India. 5% come from Buddhist religious groups. 28% come from all types of Christian religions. Of the 28% representing Christians 16% come from Roman Catholic religious views. 12% of Christians represent all Protestants, but only half of Protestants are born again Christians according to John 3:3.
Jesus statement was exactly correct because approximately a mere 6% of the six billion people on the earth are on their way to heaven while the rest will go to hell.
It is imperative that we learn how to find eternal life through saving faith in Jesus Christ. Moreover, it is vital that we learn how to lead others to faith in Christ so they will not have to endure eternal torment in hell.
3. The Bible Story: To be delivered from sin, hell and eternal judgement we must trust Christ as the substitutionary payment and forgiveness of our sins. It is by grace we are saved through faith and not by our own efforts. Salvation is a free gift of God and cannot be earned through good works. Let us explore some of the key verses in the New Testament that teach us how to find eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
4. Prepare to Teach: The INTRODUCTION is to be used to find out if all the people know how to become a born-again Christian. Ask one child to briefly share how they would lead a friend to find salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Allow other people to add or make corrections to the presentation. Allow a child to share their testimony of how they became a Christian.
The BIBLE STORY seeks to explore key verses in the New Testament that teaches us what are essential requirements for personal salvation.
The MEANING FOR OUR LIVES allows the people to make applications from the lesson. Find out if there are any people who are yet to know where they will spend eternity – in heaven or hell. Lead the willing people in a prayer so they can trust Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and invite Him into their heart. (Rev. 3:20) Allow some of the people to explain how they know that they have assurance of salvation. Let one of the people explain how they might lead another person to faith in Christ.
Introduction
Find out if all the people know how to become a born-again Christian. Ask one child to briefly share how they would lead a friend to find salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Allow other people to add or make corrections to the presentation. Allow a child to share their testimony of how they became a Christian.
The Bible Story
One day Thomas said to Jesus, “How can we know the way to heaven?” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:5,6) Many people falsely assume that they will get to heaven because they have been a good person. Others believe that since they were born in a Christian family they will eventually find their way into heaven. However, Jesus teaches us that the only way to heaven is by trusting in Him to be a substitutionary payment for the forgiveness of our sins.
When a person places saving faith in Christ they ask Him to forgive their sins, to come into their life and make them the kind of person God wants them to be. The moment the Holy Spirit takes residence in your life you have eternal life because of what Christ did by dying on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins.
Five essential facts need to be understood for someone to lead another person to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
First, trust that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) It is not enough to just have faith in God. James wrote, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.” (James 4:19) It is not enough to just say you believe in Jesus Christ. You must trust Him with your whole heart to forgive, cleanse and make you into a child of God by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)
Second, people who want to go to heaven must accept the free gift of salvation by faith through the grace offered to them in the Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “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.” (Eph. 2:8,9)
Grace is God’s life transforming gift of favor to those who do not deserve it. The gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins is available for everyone who through faith accepts His grace revealed in Jesus Christ. However, many miss out on the gift because they rely on themselves and try to earn grace by keeping the law.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Only Jesus, being God in human form, could die in order to save sinners from the guilt and power of sin. When we receive Christ He removes our guilt and we receive forgiveness for our sins. We immediately begin a new life with his resurrection power and we have a future assurance that we will spend eternity in heaven with Him.
Third, if you want to have assurance of your salvation it is necessary to believe that Christ will never leave you, abandon you or disown you as His child. Jesus said, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become people of God.” (John 1:12) Once you become a child a God the Lord will never disown one of His own. John wrote, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (I John 5:13)
You do not have to question whether you are going to heaven if you have wholeheartedly trusted Christ to come into your life, forgive your sins and change you into the kind of person He wants you to be. Born again Christians are those who have experienced the new birth through Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)
Christians are brand new people inside. The Holy Spirit gives you new life through saving faith in Christ. When a person is converted they do not merely turn over a new leaf, they start a new life.
In summary, you can lead a person to faith in Jesus Christ by leading them in a three step prayer:
1). Ask them to repent of their sins to God – “Lord, please forgive me of my sins.”
2). Place saving faith in Jesus Christ as the substitutionary payment for the forgiveness of their sins – “Lord I trust you to be the substitute that will pay for all my sins.”
3). Receive Christ by asking Him to come into your life, make you the kind of person God wants you to be and give you the free gift of eternal life. – “Lord, I ask you to come into my life, make me the kind of person you want me to be and give me the free gift of eternal life.”
Memory Verse: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (I John 5:11,12)
The Meaning for Our Lives
Allow the people to make applications from the lesson. Find out if there are any people who are yet to know where they will spend eternity – in heaven or hell. Lead the willing people in a prayer so they can trust Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and invite Him into their heart. (Rev. 3:20)
Allow some of the people to explain how they know that they have assurance of salvation. Let one of the people explain how they might lead another person to faith in Christ.
Response:
Song: Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me your great salvation so rich and free.
Prayer: Ask the Lord to come into your life, forgive you of all your sins and make you the kind of person He wants you to be. Thank Him for giving you the gift of eternal life through saving faith in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.
At Home: Ask your parents if they have trusted Christ to be their Savior and Lord.
