How to Teach Your Kids About Salvation

The following is part of my exposition on the Home Discipleship Catechism, written to equip parents to disciple their kids.  Each week I plan to release a new chapter.  You can download the Home Discipleship Catechism HERE.  You can find more resources for parents HERE.

Question 11:  Is there any way to be saved from the punishment for sin? 
 
Yes.  We must repent of our sins and have faith in Jesus Christ.
 
We learned from Question 11 that the punishment for sin is hell.  Since we are all sinners, hell is what we all deserve (Rm 3:23; 6:23).  But God loves us so much that He has provided a way for us to be saved. 
 
What is the way to salvation?  Most people think it is a life of good works.  Let’s call this idea the performance plan.  The belief is that when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, He will compare your good deeds to your bad deeds, and as long as you have more good than bad you will be saved and given a place in heaven.  In other words, as long as your performance is good enough, then you will be saved.  But there are several problems with this view.  First, the performance plan is unbiblical.  The Bible does not command us or tell us that it is possible to earn our way to heaven by good works.  In fact, it very clearly says that good works cannot save us (Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-5).  Second, the performance plan is unclear.  How can you ever know if you have been good enough?  How can you know for certain that your good deeds outnumber your bad deeds?  The best you can do is hope for the best.  But this would lead to a life of fear and worry, and the Bible tells us that those are two things God doesn’t want us to do (2 Tim 1:7; Phil 4:6).  As well, the Bible tells us that God wants us to know for sure that we are saved (1 Jn 5:13).  A third problem with the performance plan is that it is unjust.  Sin incurs the wrath of God.  Doing good deeds does not make up for sin; they are simply our duty.  No matter how many good deeds we do, our sin still needs to be punished.  A just God cannot ignore sin.  The performance plan will lead to hell. 
 
God’s plan of salvation was to send His Son into the world to perfectly fulfill the law, and then to die for our sins, in our place, as our substitute (Jn 3:16), and then to rise from the grave on the third day.  Now, when we repent of our sins and place our faith in Jesus Christ, God forgives our sins and gives us the promise of eternal life.  This is called the faith plan.  Rather than trusting in our good deeds, we must trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the way to salvation.
 
Jesus was qualified to die for our sins for several reasons.  First, Jesus was perfect.  He never sinned by breaking God’s commands, or by failing to do every good work.  If Jesus had any sin, He would have had to be punished for His own sin; but because He was perfect, He could die for the sins of others.  Second, Jesus was qualified to die for our sins because He was fully human.  When Jesus came to earth, He took a human body.  Without a human body He could not have been killed.  Third, Jesus was qualified to die for our sins because He was fully God.  As God, He was able to die not merely for the sins of one person, but for the sins of the world.  And because He was God, death could not defeat Him.  He was able to rise from the grave in order to give us eternal life.
 
Good deeds cannot save us.  Only the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can save us.  And to receive the gift of salvation we must turn from our sins and have faith in Jesus Christ.  You can be saved today by admitting your sin, believing in the death and resurrection of Christ, and calling on Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.
 
Questions for Discussion:
  1. What is the punishment for sin?
  2. Who deserves the punishment for sin?
  3. How can we be saved from the punishment for sin?
  4. What is wrong with the performance plan?
  5. Why was Jesus uniquely qualified to die for our sins?
  6. What is the faith plan of salvation?
For Further Study:
  1. John 3:16
  2. Ephesians 2:8-9
  3. Romans 5:1
  4. Romans 5:8
  5. 2 Corinthians 5:21
  6. Titus 2:14
  7. Titus 3:4-5

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why You Shouldn't Be A Swiftie

Image
America has gone Taylor Swift crazy!  Adoring fans even proudly refer to themselves as Swifties.  But if you are a Christian, and if you are a Christian parent, then there are good reasons why you shouldn't be a fan of Taylor Swift, and why you shouldn't let your daughter be a Swiftie.   Maybe you don't know about Taylor Swift beyond her music.  Take a look at this short list of things she has said and done recently.  If you can still enjoy singing along with her music, watching her videos, and paying big bucks for her concerts, I'm shocked.   She accused Donald Trump of “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency.”  Source She accused Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of being a “homophobic racist” and “Trump in a whig” in her Netflix documentary "Miss Americana."   Source She has publicly opposed state laws that protect children from irreversible transgender medical procedures, including hormone therapy and genital transmogrific
Read more

Should Christians Attend Gay Weddings?

Image
The well-known preacher Alistair Begg was recently dropped by the American Family Radio for advising Christians to attend gay weddings.  Is he right or wrong?  Well, let's talk about it.   Christians should NOT attend gay weddings.  Why?   First, a wedding is marriage ceremony (Merriam-Webster).  According to the Bible, marriage is the union of one man and one woman for a lifetime.  In other words, gay marriage is not actually marriage, and a gay wedding is not actually a wedding.  Therefore, it is impossible to attend gay weddings because according to the Bible they don't exist.   Second, a gay wedding is the celebration of a homosexual marriage.  The Bible says that homosexuality is a sin against God.   As Christians, we cannot celebrate what God condemns.   Third, we attend weddings to show our love for the people getting married.  However, does a Christian have to attend a gay wedding to show their gay friend that they love them?  Of course not.  Let's say that your no
Read more

Are We Approaching Armageddon?

Image
The short answer is no.  For the longer answer, keep reading. When you hear the word, “Armageddon,” what comes to mind?  Many think of it as the final, catastrophic world war at the end of the world before Christ comes back.  “Prophecy experts” have always claimed that Armageddon was going to happen in their own generation.  They’ve always been wrong.   What does the Bible say about Armageddon?  The Bible only mentions the word Armageddon one time (Rev 16:16).  The context of the passage is not the end of the world, but the final destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, almost 2,000 years ago. In Revelation 16 we find the bowl judgments.  Seven angels pour out seven bowls of God's wrath.  One of the bowls is Armageddon.  To understand Armageddon, it is essential to understand the context of Revelation 16, which is about God's judgment on first century Jerusalem for rejecting the Messiah and instead worshiping the Roman emperor. What evidence is there that the seven bowl judgments are
Read more