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THE ESSENTIALS WE BELIEVE: (continued from page 1)
5. ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS
We believe that man was created in the image of God, in a state of innocence under the law of His maker but, he voluntarily sinned and fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently, he incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. We believe that all human beings are sinners not only by inheritance, but by choice, and are, therefore, under God’s just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that without exception every man and every woman is totally depraved and needs a Savior.
Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-6; Romans 1:18, 32; 3:10-19, 23; 5:1-2)
6. ABOUT SALVATION
We believe that, “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.” (John 3:16 NIV)
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that each person who receives, by faith, Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is born again of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, becomes eternally secure as a child of God. We believe that justification means that a person is declared righteous in the sight of God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation and that there is no second baptism of the Holy Spirit.
John 1:12; Romans 3:21-26; 8:37-39; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:13; 2:8-10
7. ABOUT ETERNAL SECURITY AND PERSEVERANCE
We believe that because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot “lose” it. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security. However, this is not a license to sin and live disobediently. Those who are born of God’s Spirit through Jesus Christ persevere in the faith; they will not fall away because God is faithful to His people and has promised them the necessary grace and strength to persevere in the faith.
Matthew 13:13; John 15:4–8; John 10:29; I Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:16; 2 Timothy 1:12, 2:10–13; Hebrews 7:25, 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 John 4:13; 2 John 9
8. ABOUT HEAVEN, HELL AND THE RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the “blessed hope”: the personal, pretribulational, premillenial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. His imminent return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved are raised to eternal, conscious bliss in heaven while the lost will be raised to judgment and eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God.
Matthew 8:11; 10:28; 13:49–50; Matthew 25:34; Mark 9:47–48; Luke 12:5; John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; Revelation 20:11–15; 21:8
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