What We Believe

THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, “ by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense the holy men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the very word of Scriptures.  We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings – historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical – as appeared in the original manuscripts.  We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him.  We also believe that all the scriptures were designed for our practical instruction. (Mark 12:26, 36, 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44;  John 5:39; Acts 1:16, 17:2-3, 18:28, 26:22-23, 28:23; Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 2:13, 10:11; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter
1:21). 
 
 THE GODHEAD
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three person – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience,  (Matt 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor 13:14; Heb 1:1-3; Rev 1:4-6).
 
 THE FIRST ADVENT
We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this world that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy, and become the Redeemer of a lost world, to this end He was born of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless human nature,  (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:18, 3:16; Heb 4:15). 
 
We believe that, on the human side, He became and remained a perfect man, but sinless throughout His life; yet He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time very God and very man, and that His earth-life sometimes functioned within the sphere of that which was human and sometimes within the sphere of that which was divine. (Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil 2:5-8). 
 
We believe that in fulfillment of prophecy He came first to Israel as her Messiah-King, and that, being rejected of that nation, He, according to the eternal counsels of God, gave His live as a ransom for all.  (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-44; 1 Tim 2:6). 
 
We believe that in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world, bearing the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose.  His death was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense – the just for the unjust – and by His death He became the Savior of the lost.  (John 1:29;  Rom 3:25-26; 2 Cor 5:14; Heb 10:5-14; 1 Peter 3:18). 
 
We believe that, according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers. (John 20:20; Phil 3:20-21). 
We believe that, on departing from the earth, He was accepted of His Father and that His acceptance is a final assurance to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished. (Heb 1:3). 
 
We believe that He became Head over all things to the church, which is His body, and in this ministry He ceases not to intercede and advocate for the saved. (Eph 1:22-23; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1).
 
SALVATION ONLY THROUGH CHRIST
 
We believe that owing universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; and that no degree of reformation however great, no attainments in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administered, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are sons of God.  We believe, also that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin and was made a curse for us, dying in our room and stead; and that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulation of any church, nor all the churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles can add in the very least degree to the value of the blood, or to the merit of the finished work wrought for us by Him who united in His person true and proper deity with perfect and sinless humanity. (Lev 17:11; Isa 64:6; Matt 26:28; John 3:7-18; Rom 5:6-9; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13, 6:15; Eph 1:7; Phil 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 23). 
 
We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and that repentance is a vital part of t believing, and is in no way, in itself, a separate and independent condition of salvation; nor are any other acts, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service to be added to believing as a condition of salvation. (John 1:12, 3:16, 18, 36, 5:24, 6:29; Acts 13:39, 16:31; Rom 1:16-17, 3:22, 26, 4:5, 10:4; Gal 3:22). 
 
ASSURANCE
We believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation from the very day they take Him to be their Savior and that this assurance is not founded upon any fancied discover of their own worthiness or fitness, but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written word, exciting within His children filial love, gratitude and obedience. (Luke 10:20, 22:32; 2 Cor 5:1, 6-8; 2 Tim 1:12; Heb 10:22; 1 John 5:13).