Abundant LIFE Lessons - Clover Sites
Abundant LIFE Lessons
Track 1 – Essentials to Christian Living
Lesson #2 – Man’s Spiritual Condition
Objective – This lesson is designed to give the student a fundamental understanding of man’s spiritual condition.
Format – The format is an individual daily exercise of reading and answering questions concluding with a weekly discussion in a LIFEgroup setting. (There is no reading or questions for Sunday.) The LIFEgroup leader will take role and keep track of the disciple’s progress and faithfulness. Each disciple must recite the scripture memory to the LIFEgroup leader at the LIFEgroup meeting. Those who complete each track will receive a Certificate of Completion at an awards ceremony on a weekend service.
Note – It may be a wise investment to hole-punch the left hand side of the lessons and organize them in a three-ring binder. Write questions in the margins during your devotional time to ask at LIFEgroup. Take notes during discussions for future reference so you can use them when you disciple another new believer in the future.
Scripture Memory
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. ” (Ephesians 2:8–10)
Day #1 Reading
One of the key misunderstandings of society is that Heaven is the default destination of most people after they die—unless they have done something really bad. This is called a “fallacy of generalization.” Just because “everybody” thinks so, doesn’t make it so. What we need to understand is what God has revealed to us in the Bible about where people spend eternity after this life. In our first reading today, we will look at an overview of this revelation and briefly discuss the big picture. Each following day we will examine, in a little more depth, the essence of each principle of the big picture.
In the first place, the Bible tells us that all mankind has a basic knowledge of God from seeing the creation of the world. Look up and read Romans 1:18-20. Mark it for future reference. In the second place we learn that all mankind whether uncivilized or cultured has rejected God. Continue reading and marking Romans 1:21-23 & 2:1-22. In the next place we see that that all mankind is guilty of sin and stands condemned before God. Read Romans 3:9-19. Lastly, we learn that no one can be saved from the penalty of their sin and be reconciled to God except through Jesus Christ. Read and mark Romans 3:21-26.
What we have learned in this brief overview is very depressing until we reach the final principle where we learn that God has, in his mercy and graciousness, provided help for us when we did not deserve it. We can only be saved by God through faith in his son. Look up and read this week’s memory verse, Ephesians 2:8-10.
Day #1 Questions
1. What is the generally accepted place of rest for all humanity when they die?
2. What does the Bible say about the default location of all people when they die?
(Hint: Look up and Read Romans 6:23 & Revelation 21:8)
3. Does every person ever born have a general knowledge of God?
4. Do people in remote and uncivilized regions reject the knowledge of God more or less than those who live in cultured regions?
5. Who is guilty of sin and condemned in the eyes of God?
6. What other means is there for salvation outside of Jesus Christ?
Write out your Scripture Memory
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Day #2 Reading
In our study about the Bible last week we talked about a concept called general revelation. This is the understanding that everyone can know of God’s existence and power through His creative purposes. Consider Psalm 19:1–6, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, Where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, And his circuit unto the ends of it: And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” Look up Romans 1:18-20 again.
God is not abstract as many would like to make Him. He is real, alive and personal. He gives life and desires a relationship with His most glorious of all creations, mankind. However, in the beginning of time, shortly after Creation, our distant relatives, Adam and Eve, sinned by disobedience and therefore plunged the entire human race into condemnation. Look up and Read Genesis 3. Afterwards, everyone born of flesh inherited a sinful nature from our father, Adam. Consider Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man(Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ” That’s why the natural tendency of all people is to run from God, reject God or replace the true God with a god of their own making. Mankind is born with a spiritual defect that effects in him a lust to be his own god—without authority and without accountability. This is called sin nature.
Day #2 Questions
1. Where can we look to see the existence and power of God?
2. According to Romans 1:21 what is the “first cause” of man’s rejection of God?
3. What is the deeper issue in the heart of man that causes him to reject God?
4. From whom did we get our sin nature according to Romans 5:12?
5. What was the lie the devil told about God in Genesis 3?
Write out your Scripture Memory
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Day #3 Reading
Sometimes people struggle to believe that all human beings are condemned equally. The argument usually develops with the idea that people in remote places do not have equal opportunity for eternal life through Jesus Christ. However, an understanding of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians helps us to understand that all men (and women) reject God, equally. Read again Romans 1:21-23 & 2:1-22. It does not matter if it is a people group in the most obscure regions of the world or one in the most cultured and civilized. The passage from chapter one references the heathen and the passage in chapter 2 is referencing the religious and moral man (Paul had the Jew in mind). The problem does not lie in his environment. The problem lies in his heart, and the heart of all men and women from birth. Recall yesterday’s reading and consider Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ” The problem is the sin nature—of all humans.
God reveals himself through creation and ungrateful man rejects God because his heart is selfish and evil (corrupt). It is a desperate and hopeless situation, because man cannot help himself or change his nature. Consider Jeremiah 13:23, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. ” The bottom line is this: Every one is a sinner and has to some degree rejected God!
Day #3 Questions
1. Is God unjust in condemning those living in obscure regions equally with those in civilized regions?
2. Where does man’s rejection of God lie, if not in his environment?
3. What is the condition of man’s heart?
4. What can man do about his situation?
Write out your Scripture Memory
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Day #4 Reading
Because of his heart condition, man does not seek God. Further, he lives as his own god and transgresses the law of Creator God. He is therefore a sinner as described in Romans 3:9–19, “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ”
Look up and read Romans 6:23 & Revelation 21:8. The entire world is guilty and all sin must be punished. That is the demand of a righteous and holy God. That is the hopelessness of sinful man. The fact is, contrary to the popular misconception that man will go to Heaven by default when he dies, man will by default go to Hell when he dies! Hell is an eternal place of suffering prepared for the devil and his angels and the entire population of people who reject God will spend eternity there. Look up and read Matthew 25:41.
Day #4 Questions
1. How many people in this world have rejected God?
2. How many people in this world are sinners?
3. What is the default location for humanity after death?
4. What is another term for the “lake of fire?”
5. For whom was Hell originally prepared?
Write out your Scripture Memory
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Day #5 Reading
In our last reading we left off in a pretty hopeless condition. But today we will learn a term that brings hope to our hopeless state. First read Romans 3:20-26 once again. The term is justified. The word justified means to prove or show one conformable to the law; to vindicate as right; to declare free from guilt or blame. Since we are all sinners, we are not justified and therefore must be cast out into Hell at the judgment.
But there was one person who was just (justified). It was Jesus Christ. Remember back in Genesis 3? In verse fifteen, God promised to provide an innocent One to die for the guilty. That is why 2000 years ago Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead. The Bible tells us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ” (Romans 5:8). He provided Jesus, the innocent One, for the guilty ones. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: ” (1 Peter 3:18). Martin Luther, a famous Christian and founder of the Lutheran Church, called this “the great exchange.” After Jesus died, he also rose again to life for our justification. Look up and read Romans 4:25. The resurrection is significant because it demonstrates Jesus’ deity, the fact that He is God. If Jesus had not been virgin born He would have been able to die for our sins, because He would have had a sin debt of his own. If He would have remained in the grave, He would have been just like others before Him who were taken captive by death. His resurrection proved He was God, victorious over sin, death and Hell; and he can save all that call upon him for salvation. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. ” (Hebrews 7:25). The gift of salvation was paid in full by Jesus Christ and his righteousness was given to those who believe as the means of justification in God’s holy eyes. There is nothing left for you to do but receive the gift! Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 & Romans 10:9-13.
Day #5 Questions
1. What does justification mean?
2. Is there any natural man or woman just in the eyes of a holy God?
3. Who is just in the eyes of God?
4. How did Jesus provide justification for us?
5. What must we do with the gift of justification offered to us?
Write out your Scripture Memory
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Day #6 Reading
Let’s review and summarize what we have read this past week. First, the Bible is very clear that God may be known through His creation (Psalm 19:1 & Romans 1:18-20). But, all mankind has inherited a sin nature from his father, Adam; and, therefore has rejected God no matter where they have lived or what their environment was like. At the heart level man is a sinner and has chosen to make himself the god of his own life and that is revealed in his sinful choices. God is Sovereign, just and holy and must punish sin, entirely. However, God is also gracious and merciful and has therefore provided an acceptable means of adequately judging sin and saving the sinner. He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to live a perfect life and fulfill the law and then die on a cross and suffer the penalty of all mankind’s sins in his own body. After three days, He rose from the dead and offers salvation to all that will by faith repent of their sinfulness and depend on Him for salvation. Read these following passages of Scripture in order: Romans 3:10-19,23; 5:12; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13.
Day #6 Questions - Write out your salvation testimony. (If you do not understand what has been discussed and whether or not you are going to heaven when you die, it is imperative that you speak to your LIFEgroup or Bible study leader. They will be happy to explain anything you don’t understand and help you to know for sure that Heaven will be your eternal resting place.)
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