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Hear Don’s personal faith story
Group Discussion and Reflection Questions. Click each question to read the Author’s Thoughts
1. Read John 3:1-3. A religious leader named Nicodemus had a private conversation with Jesus. It is clear that he believed in God. Nevertheless, what did Jesus say was missing in his life? Discuss.
Author’s Thoughts: He lacked “new life from above” (being born again by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit). Becoming a Christian is not “turning over a new leaf’, getting ‘religion,’ or ‘getting our act together’! It is the miracle of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Morality is important but all the good works in the world cannot take away our sin and secure our ticket to heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9). Furthermore, it is clear that Nicodemus’ belief in God was not adequate to “see [enter, Jn. 3:5] the kingdom of God” (v. 3) without being “born again.”
2. Read John 8:33-47. It is apparent that the Jewish leaders believed in God (v. 41). If so, what was still missing in their lives to be saved? Discuss.
Author’s Thoughts: They believed that they could “perform” righteousness – that they could become good enough to earn heaven. Jesus, the Savior, was missing from their life, and so was the new creation by the Holy Spirit (see vv. 42 and 47). From this exchange, we would have to conclude that If you have not embraced through faith Jesus the Son of God, then you don’t have the Father either!
3. Why isn’t just believing in God enough to be saved and go to heaven? Discuss.
Author’s Thoughts: There is no redeemer (Hebrew Go’el) to remove the sin that separates us from a holy God and thus our sentence to eternal spiritual death. See Psalm 49:7-9 and Romans 5:6.
4. What qualifies Jesus to say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Discuss.
Author’s Thoughts: He is the only human in the universe without sin, thus the only one whose righteousness could satisfy God the Father to pay our unrighteous debt and bring us back to God (1 Peter 3:18). To qualify as our Go’el he had to become ‘flesh’ (John 1:14) and give His life a ransom and substitute for our sin and death (Mark 10:45; John 5:24).
5. What are the two most common misunderstandings that many people around the world have about going to heaven? Discuss.
Author’s Thoughts: The first is: 1) people go to heaven if they believe in God. The second is: 2) people go to heaven if they are good enough. Both are false! These have both been refuted by quotations from the Bible in the previous questions (see Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 16:30-31). The second falsehood is reinforced by every religion other than Cbristianity. They all teach some form of self-works that “pay off” our sin debt and “earn’ us heaven. This falsehood is accepted as true by many in the world. Christianity alone contends that salvation is by faith alone through grace alone.
6. If you have never sincerely admitted before God that you are a sinful person by nature and action, and thereby separated from Him and from heaven after death, why not? Discuss.
Scripture for reflection: 1 John 1:8-10; Luke 15:7; 24:47; Mark 1:15; 2 Peter 3:9
