Dennis Priebe. Everlasting Gospel. RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITHorWhat Is the Real Gospel?
By Dennis Priebe Introduction Salvation is simple. At least, it should be. What is the Real Gospel? Lesson 1 - TWO DEFINITIONS OF SIN. Before we begin our study of the Bible, we have to lay out some basic issues which will guide all of the studies to come.
The pivotal issue in any study of the gospel is the simple question, What Is Sin? What did Jesus come to do? "And thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. " Matthew 1:21 (A) _____ Jesus came to be a good teacher. Lesson 2 - Result of Sin and Penalty of Sin. Before we can understand what sin really is in our personal experience, we need to look back to what happened when Adam and Eve sinned in the beginning of this world's history.
What did God do in that emergency, when all of God's plans for the human race were being altered by the choices of His first created beings? What was the penalty for their sin? "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. " Genesis 2:17 (A) _____ They would suffer pain. This is a puzzling verse, because we know that Adam and Eve did not die immediately. Why didn't Adam and Eve die immediately? Lesson 3 - Sin As Choice. Is it really true that guilt is the result of one's personal choice and is not the result of our birth as children of Adam?
Does the Bible teach that sin and guilt and condemnation come from choice, not from the fact that we are born into the human family beset with the inherited results of sin? How do we know what sin is? "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet....For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. " Romans 7:7-9. What About Original Sin? If the Bible does not teach that we are sinners by nature, condemned and lost because we are born in a world of sin, why has original sin become the majority belief among most Protestant and Catholic Christians?
As is true for most errors in doctrine, there are some texts which seem to support the doctrine of original sin. This final lesson will look at these texts, to see if they really teach that we are born condemned and lost. What does "in sin" mean? "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. " Psalm 51:5. THE WORD BECAME FLESH. Why should we study the subject of Christ coming into our world as a human being at this point?
Because just about everything we need to know about salvation and righteousness by faith can be learned by a careful study of the life of Christ. Most of the misunderstandings about how a person is saved can be easily cleared up by studying how Christ came into our world, how He lived on a day-to-day basis, and how He met the temptations of Satan. Lesson 6 - Christ Took Our Nature. Much debate has centered on whether Jesus took our fallen nature or Adam's nature before the fall.
Lesson 7 - No Sinful Habits. As important and comforting as it is to understand that Jesus took our fallen nature when He came into our world, there is another aspect of the Incarnation that we must study if we are to correctly understand how He lived while taking human form.
Jesus really was different from us in several ways, and we must understand these differences if we are to have a balanced picture of the Incarnation. Modern errors in the study of the Incarnation have usually been the result of overemphasizing either the ways in which Christ was like us or the ways in which He was different from us. Where did Christ come from? "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:...and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. " Isaiah 9:6. Lesson 8 - How Was Jesus Tempted? On the basis of the previous three lessons, we can now come to some practical conclusions.
We want to know what difference all of this makes for our daily lives. I am tempted constantly, both by outward and inward temptations. How does Jesus' life help me with my daily struggles? Lesson 9 - Justification Declared. We are all sinners.
Not by birth or by inheritance or by bad luck, but by our own choices to do things our way instead of God's way, the only way of happiness and peace. This means that all of us, no matter how cultured or refined we may we, are condemned, lost sinners. It is only when we recognize this basic fact of life in a fallen world that we have any hope of anything better. By our own choices we deserve to be excluded forever from the life that was originally planned for the human race. Lesson 10 - Justification Experienced. Just as with every crucial aspect of salvation, Satan has provided a counterfeit justification, by which salvation is promised but not delivered. Just as there were false gospels masquerading as the truth in Paul's day, so we have false gospels today promising what they cannot deliver.
And multitudes of sincere Christians have bought into Satan's version of the gospel, because it sounds so good. Lesson 11 - Sanctification Declared. Justification and sanctification are terms to describe two parts of the process of salvation. It is critically important to understand their relationship to each other and to the status of the one who wishes to be saved by the atoning death of Jesus Christ. What part does sanctification play in the saving process? Two different gospels arise from two answers to this question. Let us examine the inspired evidence regarding sanctification. What does "sanctify" mean? "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. " (A) _____ Adam sanctified the seventh day. Lesson 12 - Sanctification Experienced. What we studied in Lesson 11 about sanctification is not the usual understanding of sanctification that comes to our mind.
In this lesson we will examine the second aspect of sanctification which is much more familiar to us. Most often we think of sanctification as the growing process in which we walk with Christ on a daily basis after we have been converted. We will study this more familiar aspect in this lesson. What is God's will for us? "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more....For this is the will of God, even your sanctification. " 1 Thessalonians 4:1,3. Lesson 13 - Is Perfection Really Possible? Perfection is a troublesome word. Lesson 14 - Victory Over Sin. While definitions are very important in understanding perfection, it may be even more important to search the Bible for realistic, practical ways of experiencing what the Bible promises.
It is at this point that we need to have that faith, that complete trust in God that will believe what God says even though it sounds impossible. We know enough about our weakness and our failures. What we want to know is God's power and His promises. What can Christ do? "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. " (A) _____Christ can keep us from falling into sin. Lesson 15 - The Final Generation. Lesson 16 - Why Is It So Important?