SALVATION

Why do all men need to be saved?

All men need to be saved because they are blind.

1)  The unbeliever is blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4).

In 2 Corinthians 4:4 the devil is called by what name?_________________________________ (Note: the word "world" should be translated "age"). This verse teaches us that Satan blinds certain people in order that the light of the gospel might not shine unto them. Are these people believers or unbelievers? ____________________. In verse 3 there is a word that describes this same group of people. What is that word? ___________ According to these verses, does Satan want people to understand and believe the gospel? _____________ (Note: the Gospel is the Good News about the Lord Jesus Christ--see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.) Read Luke 8:4-5 and Luke 8:1l-12. According to Luke 8:12 circle the two things that Satan does not want people to do:

1. Live religious lives.

2. Believe the Word of God.

3. Go to church.

4. Become saved.

5. Give money to the poor.

6. Draw pictures of the devil with horns and a long red tail.

2)  The unbeliever is blinded by his inability to understand God’s truth. It is impossible for the unsaved man to understand the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Who is the perfect Teacher that Jesus spoke about in John 14:26? _________________________ What are the two names that this Teacher is called in John 15:26?

1) __________________________________________
2)___________________________________________

Note: the name "Comforter" means "Helper." The Holy Spirit is the One who comforts and helps and encourages and teaches the believer.

Jesus promised His disciples (the apostles) in John 16:13, that this Teacher would guide them into what? ____________________ As we read 1 Corinthians 6:19 we discover that the _____________    _______________ lives and dwells in every believer. Read Romans 8:9. If a person does not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within, does he really belong to Christ? ________ Who dwells in every true believer according to Romans 8:11? _______________________________According to Romans 8:15-16, what did we receive the moment we were saved? _________________________ Therefore, how many Christians have the Perfect Teacher, the Spirit of Truth, living in them? ______________________

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 (All Men Are Spiritually Blind)

Verse 9--How can we learn about the things that God has prepared for believers? Can we learn about such things by using our eyes? ________  by using our ears? _______ by thinking and using our minds?  _______

Verse 10--The only way we can learn God’s truth is by (circle the correct answer):

1. Going to college for 4 years (especially a Bible College)

2. Reading books about religion and the Bible.

3. Having God’s truth revealed to us by God.

4. Watching beautiful sunsets.

5. Thinking and meditating for long periods of time.

We learn from 1 Corinthians 2:10 that God reveals His truth to us by (through) _____    _______________. Is there anything about God or about God’s truth that the Holy Spirit does not understand? _______ [Remember, the Holy Spirit is God--see Acts 5:3-4, and as God He is all knowing or omniscient]. According to 1 Corinthians 2:10, who is it that really understands the deep truths and the deep things of God? _______________________

Verse11--Without the Lord’s help, is it possible for a man to know and understand the things of God? _______ Who does know the things of God according to this verse? ______________________  Read Isaiah 55:8-9. Are God’s thoughts far above and far greater than your thoughts? __________Read Romans 11:33-34. Do you think the Lord needs a teacher?_______ Is there anything that the Lord does not know? ______Is there anything that you do not know? _______ Do you need a teacher? ________ Who must this teacher be?_______________________

                Circle the sentences that are true:

1. I can learn God’s truth without the Lord’s help.

2. It is impossible for me to learn any truth about God and about His Word unless He reveals it to me and teaches me.

3. Unless the Lord shows me and teaches me what the Bible really means, I will never really understand it.

4. I can understand the Bible on my own, although with the Lord’s help I would probably learn much more.

Verse 12--What does every believer receive the moment he is saved? ___________________________ This verse teaches us that God wants us to _____________ the things that are freely_____________ to us of God and that is why He has given to us the Holy _____________ to be our Teacher. Do you think that God wants you to know His truth? _______ Read 1 Corinthians 14:20. When it comes to understanding His truth, does God want us to be babies or grown up men? _________________________________________________________________

Verse 13--Do we learn God’s truth by our own wisdom or by the Holy Spirit teaching us? __________________________________________

Verse 14--The "natural man" is the unsaved person. This verse teaches us that unsaved men and women, boys and girls are blind when it comes to God’s truth. Can the natural man receive the truths of God’s Word? _______ Can he know and understand them? ________ What one word in this verse shows us what the unsaved man really thinks about God’s truth? ___________________________ Therefore, when you share something from the Bible with an unsaved person, should you be surprised if he should make fun at you? _______ Should you be surprised if he can’t really understand God’s Word? ________ [Do you remember when you were unsaved?  Did you understand the things of God or were you blind? _________________________  The word that is translated "natural" in 1 Corinthians 2:14 is the same word that is translated "sensual" in Jude 19. Thus as we look in the book of Jude, verse 19, we learn that the natural (sensual) man is the man who does not have the _________________. From what we have learned already, who is the only Person who can teach us and reveal to us God’s truth? _________________

If a person does not have the Teacher, can he learn the truth? ______ Does the natural man (the unsaved man) have the Teacher? __________ Read 1 Corinthians 1:18. Does the natural man understand what Jesus did for him on the cross? _______ What one word best describes the way the unsaved person feels about the cross? ____________________________ If you share with a person that the only way he can be saved is by believing in a crucified Saviour, should you be surprised if he thinks you are a fool? ________ According to 1 Corinthians 1:18 what kind of person really understands the meaning of the cross? ___________________________

Only God can open the eyes of the blind. The natural man is spiritually blind and he cannot understand truth. Only God can open the eyes of a natural man through the miracle of the new birth (John 3:3-5). The moment a person is born again (by believing in Christ as Saviour) he receives the Holy Spirit, and as a newly born baby, he begins to desire the pure milk of the Word of God so that he might learn and grow (see1 Peter 2:2). The Holy Spirit is now his Teacher!

Verse 15--The spiritual man is the person who has the Holy Spirit (he is a believer in Christ) and who allows the Spirit to teach him. The spiritual man loves the Word of God (Psalm 119:97) and his constant prayer to God is this:  "___________ thou mine _________, that I may behold ____________________    _________________ out of thy ________" (Psalm l19:18).

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