The Meaning of Life

The meaning of life is to know God, obey Him, and to make Him known.

Declared Righteous Despite Our Sin

The Doctrine of Justification 

Jesus’s death on the cross accomplished more than our minds can conceive. Jesus paid sin’s price on behalf of all who look to Him for salvation. When Jesus died, He bore the sins of the world. Jesus opened the way for repentant sinners to be justified—declared right with God. 

A legal term, “justification” refers to God’s gracious act in forgiving and declaring righteous the sinner who believes in Jesus Christ.1 God does not overlook anyone’s debt of sin but accepts Christ’s payment for sin on behalf of the believer.2 God attributes Christ’s perfect righteousness to the forgiven sinner. When Jesus died, He paid in full every believer’s debt of guilt and sin. Clothed in Christ’s righteousness, believers enjoy right standing with God. Justified sinners also enter the process of sanctification by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who enables them to live a new life that increasingly reflects Christ.3 

Everyone sins because we are all born with a sinful nature that automatically rebels against God.4 Unless we turn to Christ for salvation, the penalty for our sin remains on us. No one can earn salvation because the best we can offer will never satisfy God’s standard of perfect righteousness. We cannot be justified before God without turning to Christ for salvation. 

How can we express the wonder of justification in Christ? The pain Jesus suffered on the cross represents the price He paid to justify sinners before a holy God. If you are a believer, when God looks at you, He does not see your sin. Instead He sees only the perfect righteousness of Jesus—who never sinned in word, thought, or deed. We do not deserve justification but receive this gracious gift because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf. Believers live in eternal gratitude for the Savior who suffered in their place and the God who has declared them righteous. Justification is God’s gift—not earned but bought. Jesus paid for our justification with His own blood—an amazing gift received by grace through faith in Christ. 

1. Justified: Romans 3:21-26; 4:25; 5:9 

2. Free from sin’s penalty: Romans 5:18-19; 8:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:6 

3. Sanctified: Romans 6:1-4; 8:12-13; 12:1-2; Galatians 5:16-26; Colossians 3:1-17 

4. Sin within: Romans 3:9-18

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 25, The Gospel of John

A Kingdom Not of This World

The Doctrine of the Kingdom of God

Jesus’s conversation with Pilate addressed God’s eternal kingdom. Scripture uses the “kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom of God” interchangeably to describe God’s sovereign rule and reign throughout history. The Old Testament presents God’s established rule over all creation and all earthly kingdoms.1 God promised David that his descendant, the Messiah, would rule a kingdom without end2 —a promise Jesus came to earth to fulfill.3 

The kingdom of God describes both a present and future reality. God rules and reigns over all.4 God’s kingdom comes now as people receive the gospel, believe in Jesus, and embrace God’s rule and reign over their lives. God’s kingdom also awaits future consummation, on a day known only by the Father, when His kingdom will be fully realized. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns at the end of human history, He will reign over all people forever in all glory and honor as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.5 

People fail to recognize Jesus or are indifferent about who He is—the true King who will reign forever. Without God’s righteous reign in view, life presents only chaos in the here and now and a lack of hope for the future. Human leaders fail and human pursuits disappoint. The limitations of self lead to a life void of God’s infinite blessings and eventually to eternal death and separation from God. 

Those who seek God’s kingdom experience fullness of life here on earth as they await the untold blessings of eternity. Seeing God’s sovereign hand over every circumstance and submitting to His rule bring joy and blessings. Life’s disappointments still exist, but God provides hope and strength for every day. With God on His throne, every day we can anticipate a bright tomorrow. God’s children remain steadied by the certain hope of eventually seeing Jesus in all His glory—face-to-face.

1. God’s rule over creation: Genesis 1; Daniel 7:14, 27
2. Enduring kingdom: 2 Samuel 7:16
3. Jesus’s birth: Luke 2:11
4. God’s rule: Revelation 11:15
5. King of Kings: Philippians 2:10-11; Revelation 1:7; 19:11-16

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 24, The Gospel of John

Jesus Died in Our Place

The Doctrine of Substitution 

The truth about the salvation Jesus offers involves several richly immense concepts—all of which are awe-inspiring. The doctrine of substitution expresses the truth that God saved guilty sinners by sending Jesus to die on their behalf. Believers are saved through faith in Christ because He took our place. Jesus willingly drank to the dregs the cup of wrath that every sinner deserves to drink.1 The New Testament epistles expand the concept of Jesus’s substitution, which was also depicted at the Last Supper.2 When Jesus stood in our place, He bore the full force of God’s wrath for our transgressions. 

Only with Jesus as our substitute can we be counted righteous before a holy God and escape the judgment we deserve. Believers are enveloped in Christ and covered with His righteousness.3 Jesus wore a crown of thorns,4 a symbol of sin’s curse, so that we might be crowned with His righteousness.5 

Without Jesus as your substitute, you will bear God’s wrath for your own sin. Unless you recognize that Jesus bore your deserved punishment in your place, you will face God on a coming day without the substitute you desperately need. To fail to recognize personal sin and Christ’s sacrifice is to ignore the greatest gift of love ever offered. 

With Jesus as your substitute, when God looks at you He sees Jesus’s righteousness, not your sin. The record of your sin will never be charged against you because Jesus’s once for-all sacrifice in effect proclaims, “I paid for that!” The only debt believers owe their Savior is a debt of gratitude. Life has hope and eternity’s glory shines brightly because Jesus willingly offered Himself as a substitute for sinners. 

1. Jesus took our place: Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:25-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:17 

2. Substitution taught at Jesus’s Last Supper: Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20 

3. Covered by Christ’s righteousness: John 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Hebrews 2:9; 9:28; 10:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18 

4. Crown of thorns: John 19:2 

5. Crown of righteousness: 2 Timothy 4:8

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 23, The Gospel of John

Personal Conversation with Almighty God

The Doctrine of Prayer 

We often complicate the idea of prayer. Does God expect perfect words, a serene setting, a strategically planned list, or a scheduled appointment when we pray? What if we are struggling to know what to say, fighting a bad attitude, or battling temptation? Most simply, prayer is talking with God. The God who knows everything listens to what we tell Him. The God who cannot be contained by space or time meets us wherever we are. The God of all power hears us and can help us. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, every believer enjoys open access to God and a restored relationship with Him. We can talk to God in prayer, and He wants to hear from us. How amazing! 

When we pray, all three persons of the Godhead participate. We pray to God the Father1 through the Lord Jesus Christ and because of His atoning sacrifice.2 We pray to and through Jesus, who lived as a man and understands our weaknesses, though He never sinned.3 Amazingly, Jesus remains at the right hand of the Father as our intercessor.4 Our prayers are also offered through the power of the Holy Spirit.5 In fact, when we do not know what to pray or lack the strength to even speak, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.6 We call on the Holy Spirit to fill us with God’s power when we struggle, and we seek the Spirit’s illumination as we study Scripture. God’s presence and power work on behalf of His people when they pray. 

What is lost in this life if we ignore or reject God’s gift of prayer? When we fail to pray, we fail to believe that God cares, listens, or can do anything to help us. We disregard who He has revealed Himself to be. Without deliberate words that pierce through this world’s cares to reach for heaven’s hope, we are left with only short-term solutions and a limited perspective on life. Without talking and listening to God, a million confusing voices echo around us. We miss the opportunity to seek truth from our Creator, the author of truth. 

We bow before a God who knows our struggles and cares about us. He hears us when we pray. He has the power and purpose to accomplish the greatest good in every situation. Prayer puts a believer in the posture of seeking God and recognizing His exalted status. God does not seek our eloquence—He longs for our hearts. If Jesus, God’s Son, regularly sought time alone to speak with His Father, shouldn’t we? 

1. Prayer to the Father: Ephesians 1:17; 3:14 

2. Prayer through the Son: Romans 1:8; 5:1-2; Colossians 3:17 

3. Jesus understands our weakness: Hebrews 2:17; 4:15; Acts 7:59 

4. Jesus’s intercession: Romans 8:34 

5. Prayer through the Spirit: Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20 

6. Spirit’s intercession: Romans 8:26-27

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 22, The Gospel of John