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What We Believe
I. Of the Scriptures
We believe in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Bible,
consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, as
originally written; that it was verbally and plenarily inspired and is
the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore is infallible and
inerrant in all matters of which it speaks. We believe the Bible to be
the true center of Christian unity and the supreme standard by which
all human conduct, creed and opinions shall be tried. 2 Tim. 3:16, 17;
2 Pet. 1:19-21.
II. The True God
We believe there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite
Spirit, the Maker and supreme Ruler of Heaven and earth; inexpressibly
glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and
love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection
and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of
redemption. Ex. 20:2, 3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Rev. 4:11; Matt. 28:19; 3:16, 17.
III. The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the
Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in
the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He
restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled; that He
convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; that He bears
witness to the truth of the gospel in preaching and testimony; that He
is the Agent in the new birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches,
witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer. John 14:16, 17; Matt.
28:19; Heb. 9:14; John 14:26; Luke 1:35; Gen. 1:1-3; John 16:8-11; Acts
5:30-32; John 3:5, 6; Eph. 1:13, 14; Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16;
Luke 24:49; Rom. 8:14, 16, 26, 27.
IV. The Devil, or Satan
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan, the Devil; and that
he was created by God as a angel but through pride and rebellion became
the enemy of his Creator; that he became the unholy god of this age and
the ruler of all the powers of darkness and is destined to the judgment
of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. Mark 4:1-20; 2 Cor. 4:4;
Rev. 20:10.
V. Creation
We believe the Biblical account of the creation of the physical
universe, angels, and man; that this account is neither allegory nor
myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate
creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man was
created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms
of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and
Eve, first parents of the entire human race. Gen. 1; 2; Col. 1:16, 17;
John 1:3.
VI. The Fall of Man
We believe that man was created in innocence (in the image and likeness
of God) under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression Adam
fell from his sinless and happy state, and all men sinned in him, in
consequence of which all men are totally depraved, are partakers of
Adam's fallen nature, and are sinners by nature and by conduct, and
therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. Gen.
3:1-6; Rom. 3:10-19; 5:12, 19; 1:18, 32.
VII. The Virgin Birth
We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous
manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can be
born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God and God, the Son.
Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14.
VIII. Salvation
We believe that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and
wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father, voluntarily took
upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, and honored the divine law by
His personal obedience, thus qualifying Himself to be our Savior; that
by the shedding of His blood in His death He fully satisfied the just
demands of a holy and righteous God regarding sin; that His sacrifice
consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but
was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner's place, the Just
dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body
on the tree; that having risen from the dead He is now enthroned in
Heaven, and uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies
with divine perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable,
a compassionate and an all-sufficient Savior. We believe that faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation. Repentance is
a change of mind and purpose toward God prompted by the Holy Spirit and
is an integral part of saving faith. Jonah 2:9; Eph. 2:8; Acts 15:11;
Rom. 3:23, 25; John 3:16; Matt. 18:11; Phil. 2:7, 8; Heb. 2:14-17; Isa.
53:4-7; 1 John 4:10; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:24.
IX. Resurrection and Priesthood of Christ
We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ and in His ascension
into Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our
High Priest interceding for us. Matt. 28:6, 7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27;
1 Cor. 15:4; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-6, 51; Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 3:21; Heb.
8:6; 12:2; 7:25; 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2:1; Heb. 2:17; 5:9, 10.
X. Grace and the New Birth
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that
the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is
instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in
trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and
receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is
brought about by our sovereign God in a manner above our comprehension,
solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth,
so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; that its proper
evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith and newness of
life. John 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 John 5:1; Acts 16:20-33; 2 Pet. 1:4;
Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13; John 3:8.
XI. Justification
We believe that justification is that judicial act of God whereby He
declares the believer righteous upon the basis of the imputed
righteousness of Christ; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of
any work of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith
in the Redeemer's shed blood. Rom. 3:24; 4:5; 5:1, 9; Gal. 2:16; Phil.
3:9.
XII. Sanctification
We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the
believer unto God accomplished in a threefold manner; first, an eternal
act of God, based upon redemption in Christ, establishing the believer
in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts the Savior; second, a
continuing process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of
God to the life; third, the final accomplishment of this process at the
Lord's return. Heb. 10:10-14; 3:1; John 17:17; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor.
1:30; Eph. 5:25-27; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4; 5:23, 24; 1 John 3:2; Jude 24, 25;
Rev. 22:11.
XIII. The Security of the Saints
We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father
for Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:6; John 10:28, 29; Rom. 8:35-39; Jude 1.
XIV. The Church
We believe that a local church is an organized congregation of immersed
believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the
gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; and
exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His
Word; that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications,
claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe the
true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all
men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the
absolute right of self-government free from the interference of any
hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that the one and only
Superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is Scriptural
for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the
faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; that each local church is
the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; that on
all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of
benevolence, the will of the local church is final. 1 Cor. 11:2; Acts
20:17-28; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Acts 2:41, 42. We believe in the unity of all
New Testament believers in the Church which is the Body of Christ. 1
Cor. 12:12, 13; Eph. 1:22, 23; 3:1-6; 4:11; 5:23; Col. 1:18; Acts
15:13-18.
XV. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
We believe that Christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer
in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our
identification with the crucified, buried and risen Savior, through
Whom we died to sin and rose to a new life; that baptism is to be
performed under the authority of the local church; and that it is
pre-requisite to the privileges of church membership. We believe that
the Lord's Supper is the commemoration of His death until He come, and
should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. We believe that
the Biblical order of the ordinances is baptism first and then the
Lord's Supper, and that participants in the Lord's Supper should be
immersed believers. Acts 8:36, 38, 39; John 3:23; Rom. 6:3-5; Matt.
3:16; Col. 2:12; 1 Cor. 11:23-28; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:41, 42.
XVI. Separation
We believe, in obedience to the Biblical commands, to separate
ourselves unto God from worldliness, ecclesiastical apostasy, and "New
Evangelical" compromise. 2 Cor. 6:14 - 7:1; 1 John 2:15, 16; 1 Tim.
6:3-5; Rom. 16:17; 2 John 9-11; 1 Thess. 3:6-15.
XVII. Civil Government
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the
interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be
prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed; except in those things
opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the only Lord of
the conscience, and the coming King of kings. Rom. 13:1-7; 2 Sam. 23:3;
Ex. 18:21, 22; Acts 23:5; Matt. 22:21; Acts 5:29; 4:19, 20; Dan. 3:17,
18.
XVIII. Israel
We believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God's eternal
covenant people, that she is now dispersed because of her disobedience
and rejection of Christ, and that she will be regathered in the Holy
Land and, after the completion of the Church, will be saved as a nation
at the second advent of Christ. Gen. 13:14-17; Rom. 11:1-32; Ez. 37.
XIX. Rapture and Subsequent Events
We believe in the premillennial return of Christ, an event which can
occur at any moment, and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall
be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be given
glorified bodies without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to
meet the Lord in the air before the seven years of the Tribulation. 1
Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 51-54; Phil. 3:20, 21; Rev. 3:10. We
believe that the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the Church,
will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory
to sit upon the throne of David and to establish the millennial
kingdom. Dan. 9:24-27; Matt. 24:29-31; Luke 1:30-33; Isa. 9:6, 7;
11:1-9; Acts 2:29, 30; Rev. 20:1-4, 6.
XX. The Righteous and the Wicked
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the
righteous and the wicked; that only those who are justified by faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly
righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in unbelief are in
His sight wicked and under the curse; and this distinction holds among
men both in and after death, in the everlasting felicity of the saved
and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the lake of
fire. Mal. 3:18; Gen. 18:23; Rom. 6:17, 18; 1 John 5:19; Rom. 7:6;
6:23; Prov. 14:32; Luke 16:25; Matt. 25:34-41; John 8:21; Rev. 20:14,
15.
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Welcome to the Web Home of Berean
Baptist Church
6889
Belleville Rd., 
