SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

 

Introduction

            Due to the various different religious organizations which profess to take the Bible as their guide as we do, yet differ with us in doctrine, faith, and practices, we feel constrained to set forth a distinctive declaration of what we believe; not as a substitute for the Holy Scriptures, but as exponents of what are conceived to be fundamental doctrines of the Word of God.

 

 

I.  THE TRUE GOD

 

            We believe that there is one, and only one living and true God[1] - an infinite[2], intelligent[3], sovereign[4] Spirit[5] whose name is JEHOVAH[6], the Creator[7] and Supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth[8],  inexpressibly glorious in holiness[9], and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love[10], that in the unity of the Godhead there are three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit[11], equal in every Divine perfection[12] and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption[13].

 

 

II.  THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

 

            We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired[14], and is the perfect treasure of heavenly instruction[15]; that it has God for its Author[16], salvation for its end[17], and truth without any mixture of error for its matter[18]; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us[19]; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union[20], and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried[21]; and that the King James Version is the most accurate and best translation available.

 

 

III. THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

 

            We believe that the Genesis account of creation is to be accepted literally and not figuratively or allegorically; that God created man in His own image[22], and not by or through the process of evolution from lower species; that all animals and vegetable life was likewise directly created[23] and placed under God’s inviolable law that they should bring forth only after their kind[24].

 

 

IV.  THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN

 

            We believe that the Devil or Satan is a personal evil spirit[25], formerly a holy angel[26], from which estate he by transgression fell[27], drawing a host of angels as their leader[28], being the prince of the power of the darkness of this world[29], that he is the enemy of God[30], the tempter[31], and accuser of the saints[32], the possessor of the power of death[33], as allowed by God, that he is the author of all evil and of all false religions[34], the chief power back of the present apostasy[35]; and that he is destined to final defeat and destruction in the lake of fire[36].

 

 

V.  THE FALL AND DEPRAVITY OF MAN

 

            We believe that man was originally created upright[37]and finitely perfect[38] but by voluntary transgression he fell from his happy and holy estate[39] in consequence of which disobedience and threatened death was then and there inflicted[40] and he totally lost all holiness unto spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins and becoming subject to the power of the Devil; that sin of Adam was imputed to his entire race[41], and that the corrupt nature has been transmitted to all his posterity by ordinary generation[42]; and hence every descendant of Adam is by nature a child of wrath[43], totally destitute of “spiritual life”[44], at enmity with God[45], wholly inclined to evil[46] and without strength[47] or hope[48] unless saved by Christ[49] and made alive by the Holy Spirit[50].

 

 

VI.  THE WAY OF SALVATION

 

            We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit[51] in a miraculous manner, born of the virgin Mary[52], without a human father[53]; that He by the appointment of the Father freely took upon Himself our form, yet without sin[54], honored the Divine law by perfect obedience[55], and by His vicarious death made full atonement for all of the sins of all the elect[56]; that having risen from the dead He is now enthroned at the right hand of God in Heaven[57]; and uniting in His wonderful Person the most tender sympathies with divine perfections, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate and an all-sufficient Saviour[58]; that the full benefit of which is received by faith alone[59] in the shed blood of Christ[60] and that no repentance, no faith, no feeling, no resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to rules and regulations of any church, no baptism, nor any other such thing can in the least way add to the value of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ[61].

 

 

VII.  THE GRACE Of REGENERATION

 

            We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated, or born again[62];  that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind[63]; that it is effected in a manner above our comprehension by the power of the Holy Spirit, in connection with divine truth[64], so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel[65]; and that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance[66], faith[67], and newness of life[68].

 

 

VIII.  THE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL

 

            We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ secures to those who believe in Him is salvation; that it includes all the Divine redemptive acts of God on behalf of the elect, such as effectual calling, which is the Divine act of God effectually and irresistibly calling the elect to obtain the salvation which Christ purchased for them by His atonement[69]; justification, which is the Divine act of God whereby He purchased by the shed blood of Christ[70], and by His mighty power, the freedom of the believer from the power and dominion of sin[71]; grace, the Divine disposition of God wherein He saves, not upon any merit of their own[72], but wholly by the work and merit of Christ[73]; propitiation, the Divine act of God in offering Christ as the sinner’s substitute[74]; imputation, the Divine act of God whereby He imputes or counts the righteousness and excellencies of Christ to the believer[75]; forgiveness, the Divine act of God by which He remits the sins of a believer[76]; sanctification, the Divine act of God whereby He imparts His holiness to the inner man[77], or newly born one, and sets apart the entire man to the service of God[78]; glorification, the Divine act of God whereby that element or part of man which is mortal will be changed into a state and condition of immortality[79] being made like Christ.

 

 

IX.  THE WORK OF MISSIONS

 

            We believe that Jesus Christ gave the New Testament church as an institution a world-wide and an age-lasting commission[80] to make disciples of all nations; that the gospel is to be preached to every creature[81]; that all men everywhere are responsible to repent and believe the gospel[82]; and that no person will be saved without hearing and receiving the gospel[83]; that the heathen without the gospel are lost and will be judged by the light of nature and conscience[84]; that it is the duty of every New Testament Baptist Church (as they are directed by the Spirit of God and the majority vote of the whole congregation) to support missionaries who are sent out by the authority of a local church, who meet the Bible qualifications of a missionary[85], who furnish a doctrinal statement, and a disclosure of how mission funds are used.

 

 

X.  REPENTANCE AND FAITH

 

            We believe that repentance and faith are sacred duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God[86]; whereby being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and helplessness[87], and of the way of salvation by Christ[88], we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy[89]; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and relying on Him alone as the only and all-sufficient Saviour[90].

 

 

XI.  THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

 

            We believe that such only are real believers as endure unto the end[91]; that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial professors[92]; that a special providence watches over their welfare[93]; and that they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation[94].

 

 

XII.  THE HARMONY OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

 

            We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government[95]; that it is holy, just, and good[96]; and that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfill its precepts, arises entirely from their love of sin[97]; to deliver them from which, and to restore them through Jesus Christ to unfeigned obedience to the holy law, is one great end of the gospel, and of the means of grace connected with the establishment of the New Testament Church[98].

 

 

XIII.  THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

           

            We believe that a New Testament church is a local, visible, congregation of scripturally baptized believers[99], associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel[100]; observing the ordinances instituted by Christ[101], its only Head[102]; governed by His laws alone[103]; that such an assembly is the body of Christ in its locality[104], with which all the regenerated should affiliate, for this is the only kind of true church in the world today; that its officers of ordination are pastors[105] and deacons[106]; that each assembly has the absolute right to self-government as led by the Holy Spirit, free from any interference whatsoever from any organization, group, convention, association, or individual; that it is scriptural for assemblies to cooperate with each other for the furtherance of the gospel and the doctrines of the Word of God[107], but that each church is the sole human judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; that only sound New Testament Baptist churches today preserve the essential apostolic faith and practice; that Christ’s promise to build His church has been fulfilled in only these kind of churches, the first of which He organized during His earthly ministry[108] and gave to it, and to others that should descend from it the Great Commission; that these true churches on earth alone possess Divine authority[109]; therefore, we brand as unscriptural open communion, alien baptism, pulpit affiliation with heretical ministers, mission boards, ecumenicalism, unionism, modernism, modern conventionism and associationism, one-church dictatorship, preacher-dictatorship and all kindred evils arising from these practices.

 

 

XIV.  THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM

 

            We believe that Bible baptism is the dipping into water[110] of a penitent believer[111] by the Divine authority of a true New Testament Baptist Church[112] in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not in order to obtain the remission of sins, but to declare that the believer has already been saved by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ[113] and to picture in a most solemn emblem His death to sin and resurrection to walk in newness of life; that it is a prerequisite to membership in the church and participation in the Lord’s Supper[114]; that the ceremonial washing of sins is only pictorial[115]; therefore, all valid baptism must be administered by the authority of a true New Testament Baptist church, and any so-called Baptist church which knowingly receives alien immersion is not a Scriptural Baptist church, and its ordinances are not valid.

 

 

XV.  THE LORD’S SUPPER

 

            We believe that the Lord’s Supper is not a sacrament, but a solemn symbolic ordinance placed in the church by our Lord[116], in which the members of the one church observing the ordinance[117], by the use of unleavened bread and wine, commune not with one another, but the Lord[118]; that it shows forth not their love for one another, but their Lord’s death till He comes[119]; that the one loaf of the supper points to the unity of the body observing it[120], which unity is essential to the scriptural observance of the ordinance[121].

 

 

XVI.  THE LORD’S DAY

 

            We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day[122]; that it is to be kept sacred to religious purposes[123]; that Christians should refrain from all secular labor and worldly recreations[124]; that they should devoutly use all the means of grace, both private and public, by which they may be drawn closer to God and provoked to holier living[125], and in preparation for the rest which remains for the people of God[126].

 

 

XVII.  CIVIL GOVERNMENT

 

            We believe that civil government is of divine appointment and arrangement, for the best interests and good order of human society[127]; and that magistrates are to be prayed for[128], conscientiously honored and obeyed[129] except in matters opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ[130]  who is the only Lord of men’s conscience, and the Prince of the kings of earth[131].

 

 

XVIII.  GODLY LIVING

 

            We believe that born-again believers should abstain from all appearance of evil[132]; that they are to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world[133]; that they are to be careful to maintain good works[134]; that they are to seek in every possible way to serve Jesus Christ[135] and to walk worthy of their high and heavenly calling[136]; that failure to do this will result in chastisement[137]; and that continued disobedience proves one is a stranger to the saving grace of God[138].

 

 

XIX.  THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

 

            We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked[139]; that such only as are regenerate, being justified through faith in Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem[140]; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are, in His sight, wicked, and under His righteous judgment[141]; and this distinction holds among men both in life and after death[142].