School of Leaders Level ONE

Doctrine: FOUNDATIONS
Teacher’s Notes

1 SALVATION
LESSON

TEACHING OBJECTIVE
The student must understand the importance of salvation and the atoning work of Christ.

STUDENT OBJECTIVE
 The student must be able to explain what grace is and what it is to be transformed by it.
 The student must be able to explain why each person needs salvation.

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONAL REFERENCE

John 3:16-21

CORRESPONDING BIBLICAL FOUNDATION

Ephesians 2:8-9 Galatians 6:14
Acts 8:20 Romans 5:8
Genesis 6:5-8 Romans 10:9-10
Romans 3:20,24,28 Romans 4:4-5
Romans 10:4 Philippians 4:13
Psalm 85:10-11 Romans 7:14
1 Corinthians 1:30 Colossians 2:14

KEY TEXT
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to
save the world through him.” (John 3:16,17)

PURPOSE
One day we were having dinner with a group of friends in a restaurant and the people at the table next to
ours began to recount an experience that they had while crossing the mighty Magdalena River on a small
boat. They talked about how the experience quickly turned deadly as the boat they were on capsized,
throwing them into the waters leaving them floating about helplessly. At this point, they had almost no
hope of being rescued, however one of them, out of desperation began to scream out for help with all of
his might. Miraculously, God sent someone who helped them to be saved. Thanks to the wisdom of this
man the travelers were rescued and were able to receive any necessary medical treatment.
 This experience illustrates the need mankind has to be rescued from the enslavement of sin. This
condition leads him to a spiritual death and it does not allow him to enjoy the riches that God has
destined for him.
 When God saw that man was lost, He decided to establish a plan to free him from the oppression of
sin. The sacrifice of His own son, Jesus Christ, became necessary for this to be fulfilled.
 In this lesson you will see a clear picture of salvation, the reasons why to take hold of it and the role
that the Son of God played in it. May all of this become a reality in your life as well as your family’s.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUBJECT

I. ABUNDANT GRACE
We cannot negotiate our salvation. We cannot buy it or sell it (Ephesians 2:8-9). When Simon the magician
offered Peter money to receive the anointing that the apostle had, Peter’s answer was, “May your money
perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money.” (Acts 8:20)

A. WHAT IS GRACE?
Grace God’s mercy given to those who don’t deserve it. It is the most amazing God-given gift to everyone
who desires to receive it and it’s priceless.
 School of Leaders Level ONE
Doctrine: FOUNDATIONS
Teacher’s Notes
B. DESCRIPTION OF GRACE
Grace comes from the Greek term CARIS, which means beauty or attractiveness. Grace originates within
God, He does not see us in our miserable condition. He always looks upon us favorably. This produces the
miracle of transformation. A good example for this is the time when God decided to destroy the earth
with a great flood because of man’s wickedness and corrupt ways. The only thing that preserved
mankind’s existence was that “... Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6: 5-8).
In his letter to the Romans, Paul said: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by
observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin (Romans 3:20). To that Paul adds
“... and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans
3:24)
Paul also reaffirmed to the Romans: “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for
everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). This means that He grants to those who believe in Him what we
sometimes want to achieve in our own strength.

C. JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE
The law made up part of the Word of God. It exposed divine righteousness in the people of Israel. But with
Christ’s death on the cross, the law died and grace was reborn. The psalmist said: “Love and faithfulness
meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other, Faithfulness springs forth from the earth and
righteousness looks down from heaven” (Psalm 85:10-11).
God’s severe righteousness is exact, fair and objective therefore it does not allow anything that is not
perfect. When Jesus was on the cross, the proclamation that, “the sinner will die” met with the divine
mercy that said: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Indeed God had to punish the sinner but in His mercy, He chose to chastise His own Son instead, in order
to save all lost humanity.
Paul said: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:28).
“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift but as an obligation. However, to
the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as
righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5).
Some people think that in order to yield their lives to the Lord they must first become better than what
they already are, so they continue on their futile way, preparing, trying to convince themselves that,
“tomorrow I will change.” What is interesting about faith is that the Lord does not demand anything from
us but our belief! Faith allows us to be able to declare that “All the chastisement that I, a sinner,
deserved, fell on that man Jesus, who had committed no sin. And all the good that Jesus should have
received came to me instead; just because I believed in Him, God looks at me through His Son, Jesus and I
communicate with God through Jesus Christ as well.”
By this grace we give Jesus all our weaknesses while we accept all His strength for ourselves:
 We surrender our sins and accept His salvation.
 We surrender our sicknesses and accept His healing.
 We surrender our needs and accept His provision.
 We surrender our anguish and accept His peace.
 We surrender our will and accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
 We surrender our human knowledge and accept His wisdom.
By grace we have absolute trust in the Lord Jesus Christ so we can say as Paul did: “I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

D. GRACE AND SIN

Paul said: “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (Romans 7:14).
Our problem is not that the law is spiritual. Our problem is that we have a carnal nature and we are slaves
to sin.
In Rome, slaves were put up on a platform and placed against a post that had a spear nailed to it. This
spear protruded over their heads as an indicator that that particular slave was for sale. Whoever bought
the slave had total rights over him and the slave had no say at all; he could not chose who would buy him
and become ruler and master over him.
 School of Leaders Level ONE
Doctrine: FOUNDATIONS
Teacher’s Notes
The same thing happened to us because of sin. We were displayed in Satan’s market and the spear over
our head was the adversary’s accusing finger. It was necessary for us to be bought by someone. That is
why Jesus purchased us with His blood when He died on the cross.
The apostle Paul said: “having canceled the written decree, with its regulations, that was against us and
that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). What is the written
code or decree? It is an accumulation of all the accusations that the adversary has recounted of the times
that we walked in his territory. He uses it against us to capture us using a word said, a thought we had, or
a negative situation that we experienced in the past; if we allow sin in our lives Satan has that legal right.
If we do not destroy every one of the arguments we have raised, taking them to the cross of Calvary,
Satan will continue to have that legal right because of sin (Revelations 12:10).
The cross is so powerful that the apostle Paul said: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

II. WHAT IS SALVATION?

SALVATION IS EQUIVALENT TO RESCUE.
As we use the term salvation, we are saying that a ransom will be exchanged, in order to set a person free
from enslavement imposed on them by someone or something; it may even be because of a system or an
oppressive situation. In this sense, salvation can be defined as redemption, which clearly implies that a
price is to be paid for freedom to become a reality and for enslavement to disappear altogether.

SUMMARY
Salvation is the process by which man is ransomed from the enslavement of sin through the atoning work
of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
There are four parts to God’s plan for salvation:
 Justification
 Regeneration
 Sanctification
 Redemption
(Elaborate simply on each one).

“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is, our
righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1Corinthians 1:30).

In order to receive regeneration we need:

 The permanent living Word of God (1 Peter 1:23)
 The work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8)
 Faith in Jesus (Acts 3:16)

CONCLUSION
His saving grace is so precious that God, with all His power, could not find any other way to redeem us but
through the blessed blood of his own Son. Through Jesus everything that man lost in Paradise was restored
back to him through faith. However, no man will be able to enjoy life and spiritual riches without first
admitting his condition as a sinner, accepting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and believing in Him.

APPLICATION
Examine your life thoroughly to see if there are any sinful ways that remain unconfessed to God. If there
are any, renounce them and put forth every effort to live free from sin and embrace a life of salvation
that has been planned just for you.

STUDENTS’ ASSIGNMENT
Make a list of people who are close to you, such as relatives or acquaintances that have not yet opened
their hearts to Jesus. Pray for them and ask the Lord for an opportunity where by you can share the plan
of salvation with them, so that they can also share in God’s Grace.