What We Believe
THE
HOLY SCRIPTURES. We believe the Holy Scriptures to be
the verbally inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, infallible,
and God breathed. We believe that all the Scriptures center about the
Lord Jesus Christ in His person, and work in His First and Second
Coming, and therefore that no portion, even of the Old Testament is
properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. We also believe
that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction.
(Mark 12:26, 36; 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16; 17:2-3;
18:28; 26:22-23; 28:23; Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 2:13; 10:11; II
Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21). [top]
THE GODHEAD. We
believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in essence, equal in power and
glory and having the same attributes and perfections. (Matthew
28:18-19, Mark 12:29, John 1:14, Acts 5:3-4, II Corinthians 13:14,
Hebrews 1:1-3, Revelation 1 :4-6). [top]
THE
TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF 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, became alienated from God, and is totally
unable to regain its former position. We believe that the human race is
dead in trespasses and sins and under the power of the devil; and that
every child of Adam, the Man Christ Jesus Alone being excepted, is born
into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of
divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine
grace. (Genesis 1:26, 2:17, 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3, 51:5; Jeremiah 3:6,
5:40, 6:53; Romans 3:10-19, 8:6-7; Ephesians 2:1-3; I Timothy 5:6; I
John 3:8). [top]
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 of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin
Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. We
believe He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross
as a substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that our redemption and
salvation is guaranteed to us by His literal physical resurrection from
the dead. (John 1:1, 14, 18; Luke 1 :35; Romans 3:2426, 4:25). [top]
SALVATION ONLY THROUGH CHRIST.
We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no one can enter
the kingdom of God unless born again; and that no degree of reformation
however great, no attainments in morality however high, no culture
however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administered
can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new
nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit
through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those
thus saved are sons of God. We believe also, that our redemption has
been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was
made to be sin and was made a curse for us, dying in our room and
stead; and that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good
resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and
regulations of any church, nor all the churches that have existed since
the days of the Apostles can add in the very least degree to the value
of the Blood, or to the merit of the finished work wrought for us by
Him who united in His person true and proper deity with perfect and
sinless humanity. (Leviticus 17:11; Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 26:28; John
3:5, 18; Romans 5:6-9; II Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 3:13, Galatians
6:13-15; Ephesians 1 :7; Philippians 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; I
Peter 1:18-19, 23). [top]
We believe that the new birth of the
believer comes only through faith in Christ, and that repentance is a
vital part of believing, and is in no way, in itself, a separate and
independent condition of salvation; nor are any other acts, such as
confession, baptism, prayer or faithful service, to be added to
believing as a condition of salvation. (John 1: 12, 3: 16, 18, 36,
5:24; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Romans 1:16-17, 3:22, 26, 4:5, 10:4; Galatians
3:22). [top]
PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
We believe the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin,
righteousness and judgement. He also in the present age, regenerates
believers in Christ, baptizes them into the church, the body of Christ,
indwells them permanently, seals them into the day of redemption,
bestows spiritual gifts upon each one, and fills those yielded to Him.
(John 15 :2627, 16:7-15, 3:8; I Corinthians 12:4-11, 12:13, John 14:16;
Ephesians 4:30, 5:18). [top]
THE
ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER. We believe that all
true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever (Romans
8:1, 29-30, 3839; John 10:27-30; Philippians 1:6). [top]
THE CHURCH. We believe
that the true Church, the body and bride of Christ is a spiritual
organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age
irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations. We
believe that clear distinction should be made between the Local,
visible church and the invisible church, the Body of Christ (Ephesians
1:22-23, 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12: 12-13). [top]
THE
CHRISTIANS RESPONSIBILITY. We believe that we are called
with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,
and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. But the flesh with its fallen, Adamic
nature, which in this life is never eradicated, being with us to the
end of our earthly pilgrimage, needs to be kept by the Spirit
constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its
presence in our lives to the dishonor of our Lord. (Romans 6:11-13,
8:2, 4, 12-13; Galatians 5:1623; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 2:1-10;
I Peter 1:14-16; I John 1:4-7, 3:5-9). [top]
We believe that it is the obligation
of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the
Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the gospel to all the world
(Acts 1 :8).
We believe that it is the
responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in
prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered
them (I Corinthians 16:2). [top]
THE
BLESSED HOPE. We believe that, according to the Word of
God, the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the
coming of the Lord in the air to receive unto Himself into heaven both
His own who are alive and remain unto His coming, and also all who have
fallen asleep in Jesus, and that this event is the blessed hope set
before us in the Scripture, and for this we should be constantly
looking. (John 14:1-3; I Corinthians 15:51-52; Philippians 3:20; I
Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14). [top]
THE
TRIBULATION. We believe that the translation of the
church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel's seventieth week
(Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6:1-19, 21), during which the church, the body
of Christ will be in heaven. The whole period of Israel's seventieth
week will be a time of judgement on the whole earth, at the end of
which the times of the Gentiles will be brought to a close. The latter
half of this period will be the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7)
which our Lord called the great tribulation (Matthew 24:15-21). We
believe that universal righteousness will not be realized previous to
the second coming of Christ, but that the world is day by day ripening
for judgement and that the age will end with a fearful apostasy (II
Timothy 3:1 -5). [top]
THE
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. We believe that the period of
great tribulation will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the earth as He went, in person on the clouds of heaven, and
with power and great glory to introduce the millennial age, to bind
Satan and place him in the abyss, to lift the curse which now rests
upon the whole creation, to restore Israel to her own land and to give
her the realization of God's covenant promises, and to bring the whole
world to the knowledge of God. (Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Ezekiel 37:21-28;
Isaiah 11:9; Matthew 24:15-25, 46; Acts 15:16-17; Romans 8:19-23,
11:25-27; I Timothy 4:1-3; II Timothy 3:1-5; Revelation 20:1-3). [top]
THE
ETERNAL STATE. We believe that the souls of those who
have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death
immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss
until the resurrection of the body at His coming for the Church, when
soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory;
but the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery
until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the
millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of
fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting
separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power. (Luke 16: 19-26, 23 :43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23;
II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15). [top]
CHURCH
ORDINANCES. We believe that the Lord Jesus instituted
the ordinance of baptism and the Lord's Supper to be observed by all
believers until His return. (Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-26).
[top]
[Pine Crest Bible Church, Constitution,
Article II, Section I, Statement of Doctrine]
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