The Father and Son—Equal in Power and United in Purpose

The Doctrine of God the Father

How can we understand what God is like? God the Father, the author of creation, can only be known and understood through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.1 The unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit represents a mystery that transcends human understanding. Jesus came to earth to reveal His Father’s heart and accomplish His work of redemption on our behalf. Out of abounding love, Christ’s costly sacrifice made a way for sinners to enjoy restored fellowship with their Creator. Believers delight in calling God “Abba, Father,” the same name for God that Jesus Himself used.2

Failure to look to Christ for salvation means living life and facing eternity with a broken relationship with God. Our heavenly Father created every human with an eternal soul designed for communion with Him. Words cannot fully capture the present and eternal loss that results from rejecting God’s love through Christ. You cannot know God without receiving Christ as His Son and your Savior.

God created all people in His image—made to be in relationship with Him. Knowing, worshiping, and glorifying God represents your highest calling and greatest joy. You can intimately know God’s immeasurable greatness, unconditional love, and amazing grace when you come to Him through His Son. How has Jesus opened your eyes to His provision of rich fellowship with God the Father? In what ways does Jesus’s sacrifice reveal God’s infinite majesty to you? The Holy Spirit awakens our hearts to embrace Jesus’s sacrifice, which opens the way for rich fellowship with God the Father. What amazing truth! What an amazing God!

1. Jesus reveals the Father: Matthew 11:27; John 1:14, 18; 14:6-11; Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 2:9-10; Hebrews 1:2-3
2. Abba, Father: Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 7, The Gospel of John

God’s Lavish Blessings to the Undeserving

The Doctrine of Grace

Everything God does reflects all that He is. His actions toward humanity reveal His character. By nature, God is gracious—inclined to offer blessings and favor to the undeserving. God’s grace refers to His bestowing of benefits that are not earned or merited by human effort. By God’s grace, the beauty of His creation reveals His creative power and majesty to all humanity. Believers and unbelievers alike experience sunrises, sunsets, and rain that waters dry ground. The most powerful expression of God’s grace is seen in the sacrifice of God’s Son to redeem people enslaved by sin and death. God extends grace to the unworthy by offering salvation and spiritual blessings that cannot be earned.

Salvation in Christ comes by grace through faith.1 If human goodness or works could earn salvation, it would not be by grace. Because God is the author of salvation and provides everything a sinner needs to receive eternal salvation, all the glory goes to Him. Sinners are saved because of God’s unmerited favor toward us in Christ—which cannot be earned.2 God’s grace not only brings sinners salvation, but also sustains them in life and for eternity.3

To fail to understand or appreciate God’s grace means living life trying to earn God’s favor or completely ignoring Him. Because the best we can offer God is flawed and inadequate, attempts to earn His favor will always come up short. We try to feel better by comparing ourselves to others we deem worse than we are. Without seeing God as inherently gracious, we wrongly think He is harsh and punitive rather than kind and welcoming.

God’s posture toward humanity is utterly gracious. He knows the depth of our neediness. He moves toward us to meet us where we are and give us what we need. To relish God’s grace, we must realize we deserve nothing but judgment. When God opens our eyes to recognize His grace, we see His ongoing care and provision in salvation and daily life. Proper understanding of God’s grace regularly moves our hearts toward humility and worship. We experience peace because of God’s grace. We depend on God’s grace and trust Him for all we truly need. By grace, when God looks at a believer, He sees only Christ’s imparted righteousness, which cannot be earned. All praise and glory belong to the God of all grace!

1. Grace in salvation: Romans 3:21-24; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 2:11
2. Salvation cannot be earned: Romans 4:1-8
3. Sustaining grace: John 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 4:16; 2 Peter 3:18

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 6, The Gospel of John

Transformed Into New Life - Part 2

The Doctrine of Redemption

The Samaritan woman lived an empty life carrying an empty jar. Then she encountered
Jesus—the One who offers life to the full. Enslaved by her sin and seeking fleeting
satisfaction, this outcast woman’s life seemed to offer little value in a broken world. Yet Jesus found this woman precious in His sight, and He graciously gave of His time, His love, and His life. Like this woman, all people are broken by sin and ripe for redemption.

The term “redemption” comes from the ancient world of commerce where enslaved people were bought and sold. Jesus has purchased, or redeemed us, from sin’s slavery. Jesus died in our place. His blood frees us from sin’s penalty and power—and ultimately sin’s presence. He transforms our lives, declaring us righteous in His sight.

The Old Testament story of Hosea’s purchase of Gomer exemplifies this transaction.1 In the New Testament, Peter advances this truth in 1 Peter 1:18-19: “It was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” At the moment of our redemption, we become Christ’s possession.2 We are redeemed from our empty lives and for belonging to Jesus.

Failure to accept Christ’s redemption leads to an empty life void of God’s forgiveness and unable to experience God’s love or wisdom. Those who refuse Christ’s sacrifice remain under God’s wrath and will live separated from God forever.3

Understanding the price Christ paid for our redemption magnifies His grace for sinners. God did not abandon us to our helpless estate.4 Only through faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, can our lives be redeemed and transformed. The Holy Spirit seals and indwells believers, who are reborn into a new life and can live a life filled with joy even in the most difficult circumstances. God’s children live as salt and light on earth,5 sharing the good news of the gospel. The redeemed are assured they will worship in God’s presence forever.

1. Hosea and Gomer: Hosea 3:1-2
2. Christ’s possession: Romans 6:22- 23; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 1:7
3. Eternal separation: Mark 16:16; John 3:18, 36; 5:28-29; 8:24; 15:6; Revelation 21:8
4. God did not abandon us: John 3:16-18
5. Salt and light: Matthew 5:13-16

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 5, The Gospel of John

From the Darkness of Death to the Light of Life

The Doctrine of Salvation

Nicodemus did not realize he was a man in need of Jesus’s salvation. Nicodemus and all people enter the world as sinners deserving death. Jesus, our only hope, died in our place. As we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive God’s gift of salvation. The sins for which Jesus died will never rise to accuse or haunt believers again.1 Salvation in Christ brings freedom from sin’s penalty, power, and presence. Sin results in death:2 physical death and spiritual death—eternal condemnation by God and separation from Him. Through His death on the cross, Jesus bore sin’s death penalty for all who place their faith in Him. 

Salvation from sin’s power describes the present dimension of salvation. The Holy Spirit works within a believer to recognize and overcome sin in daily life.3 This gradual victory over sin’s power will not be complete until we are glorified. Although we still struggle on earth with sin’s pull and power, all Christians anticipate a future day when Jesus ushers in a new creation and they are forever delivered from sin’s presence.4

To ignore or reject Jesus’s gift of salvation means you must bear sin’s penalty and live under its present bondage without hope of eternal deliverance. If Jesus does not pay the price for your sin, you must bear that burden yourself. Purpose in life and assurance regarding eternity rest on Jesus Christ and His gift of love. Without faith in Jesus’s atoning sacrifice and resurrection life, the grave beckons without hope.

God did not ignore our perilous state as sinners but sent His own Son to die a death He did not deserve to give us life we could not earn. Because of Jesus, believers face the challenges of life and the certainty of physical death with unquenchable hope. Sin’s cost is paid. Sin’s tyranny is broken. Sin’s stranglehold will end. The glory of Christ and the wonder of His love bring a heart of humility and gratitude for such an indescribable gift. Jesus came to earth so we could walk in the light with Him. What a wonderful Savior!

1. Sin forgiven: Psalm 103:11-12; Isaiah 38:17; Jeremiah 31:34
2. Sin’s wages: Romans 6:23
3. Overcoming sin’s power: Romans 6; 8:1-17; Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:13-14.
4. Sin’s presence removed: Revelation 21:1-8

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 4, The Gospel of John

Transformed Into New Life - Part 1

The Doctrine of Regeneration

God created human beings for an eternal relationship with Him. However, beginning in the garden, sin fractured that sacred bond with our Father and Creator.1 Because God is completely holy and perfectly righteous,2 sin is incompatible with His presence.3 In our natural sinful state, we are like a heart that is not beating—dead to God. We can do nothing to revive ourselves and restore our relationship with Him. No noble act, payment, right thinking, or self-help program will do what only God can do.4

Only God regenerates. In mercy and love, God sent His Son to die on the cross and pay sin’s penalty for us.5 Through faith in who Jesus is and what He did, the Holy Spirit regenerates those dead in sin to life everlasting. God brings new, eternal life to those born again as only He can. Like the empty jars at a wedding in Cana or the cleansed temple court in Jerusalem, Jesus regenerates a dead heart and a meaningless, empty life into one filled with peace, joy, celebration, worship, and a renewed, eternal relationship with Him.

A dead heart cannot turn to Jesus for salvation. Without the Spirit’s regeneration and creation of spiritual life within, you will not seek God or recognize the depth of your sin.6 Your feeble attempts to clean up your life and be a better person can never satisfy God’s righteous standard.

Only God can spark spiritual life and regenerate a dead heart. The Holy Spirit awakens us to new hope and vitality. Jesus died so we do not remain dead in our sin. God raised Jesus from the dead so He could raise you from sin and death to live a vibrant new life in His power.7 Jesus’s life-giving power regenerates dead hearts with new life.8

1. Sin’s damage: Genesis 3; Ephesians 2:1-6
2. God’s holiness: Isaiah 6:1-6
3. Incompatibility with sin: Psalm 5:4
4. No human effort: Ephesians 2:8-9
5. Jesus died for us: John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 8:32
6. Dead in sin: Romans 3:10-18
7. New life: Romans 6:1-14
8. Jesus’s regenerating power: John 3:6-7; 4:10; 5:24

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 3, The Gospel of John

What is Speaking in Tongues?