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THE BIBLE is the inspired and inerrant Word of the Living God which contains everything we need to know regarding salvation, all Christian beliefs (2 Tim. 3:15) and What Are Christian Beliefs
how to behave in order to please God (1 Thess. 4:1-8). It is final authority and is completely sufficient in itself for all matters dealing with doctrine and practice (2 Tim. 3:16,17). His Word is forever standing (Matt. 24:35). All correction and teaching must, therefore, be backed by the Bible to be valid.
THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD (1 Cor. 8:6; Jam. 2:19), yet the Father is shown to be God (Jn. 3:17 cf. 5:23; etc.), the Son is shown to be God (Jn. 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1; Col. 2:9; Isa. 40:3 cf. Matt. 3:1-3) and the Holy Spirit is shown to be God (Acts 5:3,4; Ex. 17:2,7 cf. Heb. 3:9; Jer. 31:31-34 cf. Heb. 10:15-17). Furthermore, the Father is NOT the Son (Jn. 8:17,18; 14:23; 17:1; 1 Tim. 2:5; 2 Jn. 9; Rev. 5:9; etc.) or the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26) and the Son is NOT the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16). They are three separate and distinct persons. So the Trinity is Scripturally verified.
JESUS CHRIST eternally existed before coming to earth as God (Micah 5:2; Jn. 1:1 cf. 1:14; etc.) and became man when born of a virgin (Matt. 1:23; 1 Tim. 2:5). He lived a sinless life (1 Pet. 2:22), shed his precious and cleansing blood on the cross for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3; Col. 1:20), died there (Lk. 23:46 cf. Jam. 2:26a) and was bodily raised on the third day (Lk. 24:39; 1 Cor. 15:4). He afterwards ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:11) and will return to earth again (Rev. 19:11-21). The Lord's work on the cross, where He obtained our complete redemption by himself (without the help of Mary) (Jn. 19:30; 1 Pet. 2:24), was both INFINITE and final (Heb. 10:10-12) and was for every single person who ever lived (Rom. 5:6; 1 Jn. 2:2). The fact that Jesus has over one hundred names, titles and offices shows his awesome importance in everything and answers the question, Who is Jesus.
MANKIND is sinful (Rom. 3:23) and in desperate need of salvation (Jn. 3:36; Eph. 2:12). Without personal salvation, one is dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1), spiritually blinded (2 Cor. 4:4), under the control of his sinful nature (or flesh) (Rom. 7:5), addicted to sin (Rom. 6:6; 6:16-18; 6:20-22) and on his way to eternal fire (Matt. 25:41) and eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46).
SALVATION is by grace and not by works (Eph. 2:8,9). In other words, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ (Acts 4:12; 10:43; etc.). Repentance is necessary for forgiveness and salvation (Lk. 13:3; Acts 3:19; 20:21). Repentance is not just a change of mind, for Jesus equated it to turning from one's evil ways (Matt. 12:41 cf. Jonah 3:10). At the point of instant salvation (Lk. 19:9) one is declared righteous (Rom. 4), given the gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23) and is made a child of God (1 Jn. 3:2). His heart is purified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:9) and he is set free from all his sin addictions (Rom. 6:17-22). At the point of initial salvation the Christian gets on the road to life, which is both hard and narrow, as well as traveled by the minority of people (Mt. 7:14).
"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24).True grace teaches us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives (Titus 2:12). In contrast, there exists a false and dangerous "grace" message which gives a license for immorality (Jude 4) and breeds arrogance through a false security (Rom. 11:19-23) and sets one up for a spiritual fall (1 Cor. 10:12).
THERE WILL BE A BODILY RESURRECTION for all mankind -- one for the saved and one for the wicked.
"Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned" (Jn. 5:29).See also Rom. 2:6-11. While those who endure to the end will be saved (Matt. 10:22), reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12) and enter the kingdom of God (Rev. 21:1-7), the wicked (comprising the vast majority of mankind, Matt. 7:13,14) will in the end be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15) where they will experience conscious torment forever (Rev. 20:10 cf. 21:8).The overcoming Christian will get a glorified, imperishable and immortal body like the one the resurrected Lord Jesus has (Phil 3:21; 1 Cor 15:53). It will never age, get sick, be injured or die (Lk. 20:36; 1 Cor. 15:53). It will be a tangible body of flesh and bones (Phil. 3:21 cf. Lk. 24:39). With that type of body the Lord entered a room with locked doors, without going through that door (Jn. 20:19) and ate the same kind of food we do now (Lk. 24:42,43)! His body is also adapted to heaven, for he is at the right side of the heavenly Father reigning with him in that flesh and bone, glorified body (Acts 7:55,56).
The ones forever lost and in the lake of fire will also have a body, which will be destroyed (Mt. 10:28; John 5:29) but never annihilated (Rev. 20:10 cf. 20:15) as they suffer in special fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25:41).
THE BELIEVER'S SECURITY IS CONDITIONAL (Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 6:9,10; 15:2; Col. 1:22,23; Gal. 6:8,9; Rev. 2:10,11). We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first (Heb. 3:14). We have eternal life only if we have Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 5:12). If we disown Jesus, he will likewise disown us before the Father (Matt. 10:33; 2 Tim. 2:12) and the angels (Lk. 12:9). We can become an enemy of God again after initial salvation (Jam. 4:4b) and raging fire will consume the enemies of God (Heb. 10:27). We are to keep ourselves pure (1 Tim. 5:22), from the spiritual pollutants of this world (James 1:27) and from idols (1 Jn. 5:21), which doesn't always happen.
"The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap ETERNAL LIFE. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Gal. 6:8-10).Eternal security is a counterfeit grace message (or "another gospel") which must be exposed and refuted with Scripture like any other similar false teaching (Eph. 5:11 cf. Titus 1:9; Jude 3,4).A true Christian (or righteous person) can die spiritually because of sin (Ezek. 33:18; Rom. 8:13; James 1:14-16; Lk. 15:24; etc.) fall away (Lk. 8:13; Heb. 6:4-6; etc.) and never again return to Jesus, just as the Apostle Judas Iscariot and Solomon didn't return after they turned from the faith.
A true Christian (or righteous person) doesn't have to "practice" sin, such as adultery or murder, before he loses his salvation, since it only takes one act of adultery to make a person a Bible-defined adulterer (Lev. 20:10) and one act of murder to make him a Bible defined murderer (Number 35:16). Rev. 21:8 is clear in stating such people are headed for the lake of fire because of their sins. Because King David sinned the way he did, he is a clear example of a righteous man who lost his salvation (died spiritually) for a time, due to adultery and murder.
All sins are not the same in their effect on our souls. Some sins are greater than others (Jn. 19:11). There is eternal sin (Mk. 3:29), while others are not. Another type of sin is uniquely against our bodies, while other sins are outside our bodes (1 Cor. 6:18). 1 Jn. 5:16 declares there is a sin that does not lead to death while there is a sin that leads to death. Sins such as worry (Phil. 4:6), unthankfulness (Col. 2:7, 3:15; Lk. 17:11-18) and not being completely humble and gentle (Eph. 4:2) are not included in any of the lists of sins that will send people to the lake of fire, even if they were once saved. However, other sins certainly will send any person to hell if they die unrepentant, even a person who was once saved. (See 1 Cor. 6:9,10; Rev. 21:8; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5,6; Jude 7; Rev. 22:15; etc.).
Because of the way eternal security teachers declare what imputed righteousness is, multitudes have been mislead into thinking that God does not see one's sin after getting born again. All he instead sees is the blood of Jesus and Christ himself. This is very clearly refuted when one would read and ponder Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Jesus could see their sins, that they forsook their first love, that they became lukewarm, and that they were spiritually asleep. Based on the above truths, to say that a Christian is clothed in Jesus' righteousness to the point where God can only see Jesus and not sins, etc. is a dangerous lie. Furthermore, it also becomes apparent from Revelation chapters 2 and 3 that the Christian's future sins are not already forgiven before they are committed and Jesus is not automatically pleased with a Christian just because he previously had his moment of true faith when he was regenerated.
We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8,9) but we can fall from grace (Gal. 5:2-4). We are justified by faith (Rom. 5:1) but our faith can become shipwrecked (1 Tim. 1:19,20) and cease to exist (Lk. 8:13; Rom. 11:19-23). We are not under the law (Rom. 6:14, 15) but if you live according to the sinful nature you will die (Rom. 8:13). Paul taught against legalism (Gal. 5:3,4) but he also taught that no immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Eph. 5:5-7). We are not saved by works (Eph. 2:8,9) but to reap eternal life and not destruction you must sow to please the Spirit and not the sinful nature (Gal. 6:8,9). God is faithful to us (1 Jn. 1:9; 1 Cor. 10:13) but we must be faithful to him to the very end of our lives to escape the lake of fire or second death (Rev. 2:10,11). God surely loves us (Jn. 3:16; Mk. 10:21; Rom. 8:35-39) but those who inherit the kingdom of God love God (Jam 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:9) and to love God means to obey his commands (Jn. 14:15; 1 Jn. 5:3). We have freedom in Christ (Gal. 5:1) but this freedom is not to indulge the sinful nature (Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet 2:16). These Christian beliefs are all Bible-based and evangelical.
TRUE, BIBLICAL UNITY must be distinguished from the counterfeit unity of our day. Please see our article, Christian Unity.
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