I Would Like To Begin by Talking With You - New Believer - About Your Conversion

1.
Let’s Review Your Conversion
I would like to begin by talking with you — new believer — about your conversion
Celebrate your decision
See if you have any basic questions
Perhaps fill out your understanding of what happened when you became a child
of God
What we will do for the next half hour
Unsure of anything I say
Ask the person you are with
Understand that over the next 11 weeks I will be filling out today’s talk.
Jesus’ most famous verse — John 3:16
1. Conversion www.biblicaltraining.org page 1 of 6

Life is a Journey; Your First Steps with God
1. “For God so loved the world”
Starting point: fact that there is a God
Not some impersonal force like “fate” or “Mother Nature”
Personal — God who loves
This loving God created the world
Then he created people to live in the world
In his image so that (among other things) we could live in relationship with our
Creator — a dog can't do this
Parents — Adam and Eve — walked in the Garden with God (Genesis 1-2)
Creation is no accident — you are not some freak chance of nature
Created by God, with purpose and meaning — fellowship
Something terrible happened to the world
(God was not surprised — he knew it was coming)
God had given Adam/Eve one rule — don’t eat
Gen 3 — Adam and Eve deliberately chose to break that one rule — “sin”
Consequence of that sin is separation from the holy God
Physically kicked out of the Garden
Hearts — separated; hostile; alienated
Isa 59:2
Punishment of living separated from God is death—eternal separation—Rom 6:23
What was true for Adam/Eve is now true for all people — Rom 3:23
Our Creator is a God of justice
Sin against a holy God must be punished

2. Good news: God is also as loving as he is just …“That he gave his only Son”
“Gave” gave his Son by sending him to earth to die on the cross
What actually happened on the cross — more than a man dying
Jesus committed no sin — his death could not be payment for his sin — ours
Because his death paid the penalty for our sin, forgiveness available
Isa 53:4-6
Romans 5:8 “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Forgiveness available
He bridged the chasm, between God and us, that sin had created
Made forgiveness/relationship with God available
Made it possible to go home to the Garden
How is that possible? How can one man’s death pay penalty for the sins others?
Don’t fully know — 2 parts of the answer
1. Buried deep in the mercy of God
Salvation is nothing we deserve
Mercy: death of an innocent sacrifice pay penalty of another’s sin
OT sacrificial system
2. Only possible because Jesus is fully God and fully Human (“Incarnation”)
Even if I lived a sinless life, my death could not cover your sins
Fully God (“divine”) — could therefore bear the sins of the world
When Jesus hung on the cross, he was made to be the sins of the
world (of all people of all time)
Fully human — bear the sins of people — Heb 2:17

3. Our response: “that whoever believes in him”
Whoever
No one is beyond Jesus’ ability to save
Cried out from the cross, “It is finished” — task was fully complete
If you cry out for forgiveness — no matter what you have done, or will do —
God is able to forgive
“Him” — Christianity is not a religion or philosophy or a set of doctrines
It is not a church building—religious organization—religious way of thinking
It is not a list of does and don’ts
Not a “spiritual spasm” — saying a magical prayer or raising an emotional hand
It is a relationship w/ God made possible by Christ’s life and death on the cross
Return to the Garden — walk once again with our Creator/God
Not simply “believe”
Biblical faith is not intellectual assent to certain doctrinal truths
Theism: believing that God exists — demons believe
Believing God will take care of your hurts and pains
God can change your life — give you purpose and joy
These things are true, but they are not central to conversion
“In” — John breaking the rules of Greek grammar to make a point — “believe into”
Biblical belief means that you no longer believe/trust in yourself, but transferred
your trust out of yourself into Jesus
Make a commitment to trust Jesus and not yourself — throw yourself into Jesus’
merciful arms — fully trusting him for everything — forgiveness; salvation;
protection; life itself
Psalm 23

Consequences: understand that salvation is not something we earn — earn favor
Salvation is by faith (believing into Jesus; trusting) — and faith alone
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).
We are saved, not by what we do, but by believing that God has done in Christ
what we could never do for ourselves
Faith — Eph 2:8-9
Song
Become a disciple/follower/Christian, not by doing religious things to earn God’s

favor
Believing Jesus is who he says he is, and that he did what he said he would do
Who he is: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father … ”
What he did: “It is finished” — provided forgiveness of sin
4. “Should not perish but have eternal life”
Perish
Hell is a very real place — tastes of it here on earth
Really don’t want to go there
Eternal life
Death is the passage to true life lived forever in full fellowship with Creator
We enjoy many of the benefits of eternal life here and now
Born again — new Father, family — aliens; citizenship in heaven
Still pain, suffering — even persecution for our new faith — friends not
understand
New life with true joy—sees beyond circumstances — emptiness of our soul has
been filled with Jesus

Before you made the decision, Jesus called you to count the cost
Absolutely free and undeserved, and yet it will cost you everything
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your
body” (1 Cor 6:19-20).
Price? “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold
that you were redeemed from the empty way of life … but with the precious
blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
You counted the cost and made the decision to follow Jesus
God’s Holy Spirit came to live in your life
Regenerate — supernaturally made into a new person (born again)
Guide; direct — empower to change
Goal: look more like Jesus — glory — “fruits of the Spirit”
Tyranny of sin is now broken — no longer your master
Free to love/serve God
You have taken your “First Steps” in this new life of discipleship
God made the world, loved the world, gave his Son for the world,
His Son died for the sins for the world
So that those who have placed their trust in(to) Jesus will live with God forever.
Welcome to the family of God, my new brother/sister

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1.

Let’s Review Your Conversion

Celebrate your decision

See if you have any basic questions

What we will do for the next half hour

Unsure of anything I say

Ask the person you are with

Jesus’ most famous verse — John 3:16

1. Conversion www.biblicaltraining.org page 1 of 6

1. “For God so loved the world”

Starting point: fact that there is a God

Not some impersonal force like “fate” or “Mother Nature”

Personal — God who loves

This loving God created the world

Then he created people to live in the world

Creation is no accident — you are not some freak chance of nature

Created by God, with purpose and meaning — fellowship

Something terrible happened to the world

(God was not surprised — he knew it was coming)

God had given Adam/Eve one rule — don’t eat

Consequence of that sin is separation from the holy God

Physically kicked out of the Garden

Hearts — separated; hostile; alienated

Punishment of living separated from God is death—eternal separation—Rom 6:23

Our Creator is a God of justice

Sin against a holy God must be punished

1. Conversion www.biblicaltraining.org page 2 of 6

What actually happened on the cross — more than a man dying

Made forgiveness/relationship with God available

Made it possible to go home to the Garden

Don’t fully know — 2 parts of the answer

1. Buried deep in the mercy of God

Salvation is nothing we deserve

Mercy: death of an innocent sacrifice pay penalty of another’s sin

Fully human — bear the sins of people — Heb 2:17

1. Conversion www.biblicaltraining.org page 3 of 6

3. Our response: “that whoever believes in him”

No one is beyond Jesus’ ability to save

“Him” — Christianity is not a religion or philosophy or a set of doctrines

It is not a church building—religious organization—religious way of thinking

It is not a list of does and don’ts

Not a “spiritual spasm” — saying a magical prayer or raising an emotional hand

Return to the Garden — walk once again with our Creator/God

Not simply “believe”

Biblical faith is not intellectual assent to certain doctrinal truths

Theism: believing that God exists — demons believe

Believing God will take care of your hurts and pains

1. Conversion www.biblicaltraining.org page 4 of 6

Consequences: understand that salvation is not something we earn — earn favor

Salvation is by faith (believing into Jesus; trusting) — and faith alone

Faith — Eph 2:8-9

Become a disciple/follower/Christian, not by doing religious things to earn God’s

What he did: “It is finished” — provided forgiveness of sin

4. “Should not perish but have eternal life”

Hell is a very real place — tastes of it here on earth

Really don’t want to go there

We enjoy many of the benefits of eternal life here and now

Born again — new Father, family — aliens; citizenship in heaven