The Road to Salvation
Friend understand that God loves you! John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Then…
1.) Admit you are a sinner.
• Romans 3:10- As it is written, there is none righteous no not one:
• Romans 3:23- For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
• Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Romans 5:12- Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Dear friend, the Bible clearly shows that everyone is a sinner and all have sinned. The wage or payment for that sin is also clearly defined in the scriptures: DEATH. This speaks of a spiritual death to spend all eternity in a place called hell. This topic many times produces an excellent question. How does a loving God send anyone to hell, a place where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not (Mark 9:39-50)? The answer is HE DOES NOT send anyone to hell, man chooses to not believe in Jesus.
John 3:16-18- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
2.) Believe on Jesus
Romans 5:8- But God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 10:9-10- That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Stop believing or trusting in your own way to get to heaven (church membership, baptism, being good, ….) and believe in the Way. John 14:6 ”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.”
3.) Call on Him.
Romans 10:9-10- That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13- For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.
The action of prayer is not the saving agent it is the attitude with which we pray: We must realize we are sinners, and there is nothing we can do of our own accord to save ourselves. We repent from whatever else we are believing in as our hope for life after the grave and believe fully in the finished work of Jesus Christ: His death, His Burial, and His resurrection.
Today, will you admit, believe, and call on Him as your Saviour? If not, why would you reject such a great gift given out of pure love and chose to be an unbeliever?
The Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Bible, “as it is in truth, the Word of God…” (I Thessalonians 2:13). We believe in verbal, plenary inspiration in the original writings, and God’s preservation of His pure words to every generation. (II Timothy 3:16, Psalms 12:6-8) The Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Received Text of the New Testament (Textus Receptus) are those texts of the original languages we accept and use; the King James Version of the Bible is the only English version we accept and use. The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice.
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14)
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6, 7:14; Philippians 2:5-8; Galatians 4:4-5) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His finished work on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24, 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2)
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Person who reproves the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, indwelling all believers and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; II Corinthians 3:6; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14) We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit and that ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayer of believers for physical healing. (II Corinthians 12:12; I Corinthians 13:8; Hebrews 2:3-4; Mark 16:17-20; I Corinthians 1:22, 14:21-22)
Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.(Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12) The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image and is mindful of him, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every individual possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. (Psalm 8:4-9; Colossians 3:9-11)
The Way of Salvation
We believe that the clear message of salvation is “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Acts 20:21) We believe that salvation is “by grace” plus nothing minus nothing. We believe that men are justified by faith alone and are accounted righteous before God only through the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; I Peter 1:18-19) We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that eternal life is the present possession of every believer. (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5; Jude 1, 2).
The Church
We believe that the New Testament church is a local assembly of baptized believers who have voluntarily joined themselves together to carry out the Great Commission. The Lord is doing His work in this world through local churches. The establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11) We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control. Christ is the only head of the church.(Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4; I Corinthians 3:9,16; 5:4-7,13; I Peter 5:1-4)
The Ordinances of the Church
We recognize the ordinances of baptism by immersion in water and the Lord’s Supper as a Scriptural means of testimony for local churches in this age. (Matthew. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:18; I Corinthians 11:23-26) Biblical Separation We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God.(II Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 12:1-2, 14:13; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1)
The Return of Christ
We believe the “Blessed Hope” of our Lord’s return is literal, personal, visible, imminent, premillennial, and pretribulational. Believers will caught up to be with the Lord prior to the seven years of tribulation, and at the end of the tribulation Christ will return with His saints to establish His thousand-year reign on the earth.(I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; I Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-6; Psalm 89:3-4)
Our Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, 29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13) We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17) We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment. (Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15)
churchtrac