Hamer Creek Baptist Church

The Holy Scriptures

The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament is the only rule to direct us how we must glorify and enjoy [God].

The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duties God requires of man.

The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.¹  The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and his will that is necessary for salvation.² Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal himself and to declare his will to his church.³  To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing his will to his people have now ceased.⁴

¹2 Timothy 3:15–17; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Ephesians 2:20. ²Romans 1:19–21; Romans 2:14,15; Psalm 19:1–3. ³Hebrews 1:1. ⁴Proverbs 22:19–21; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19, 20.

God

God is a spirit infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. In His being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

The Lord our God is one, the only living and true God.¹  He is self-existent² and infinite in being and perfection. His essence cannot be understood by anyone but him.³  He is a perfectly pure spirit.⁴  He is invisible and has no body, parts, or changeable emotions.^a He alone has immortality, dwelling in light that no one can approach.⁵  He is unchangeable,⁶ immense,^b,7 eternal,⁸ incomprehensible, almighty,⁹ in every way infinite, absolutely holy,¹⁰ perfectly wise, wholly free, completely absolute. He works all things according to the counsel of his own unchangeable and completely righteous will¹¹ for his own glory.¹²  He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and patient. He overflows with goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. He rewards those who seek him diligently.¹³  At the same time, he is perfectly just and terrifying in his judgments.¹⁴  He hates all sin¹⁵ and will certainly not clear the guilty.¹⁶

¹1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; Deuteronomy 6:4. ²Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12. ³Exodus 3:14. ⁴John 4:24. ⁵1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15, 16. ⁶Malachi 3:6. ⁷1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23. ⁸Psalm 90:2. ⁹Genesis 17:1. ¹⁰Isaiah 6:3. ¹¹Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:10. ¹²Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36. ¹³Exodus 34:6, 7; Hebrews 11:6. ¹⁴Nehemiah 9:32, 33. ¹⁵Psalm 5:5, 6. ¹⁶Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2, 3.

God has all life,¹⁷ glory,¹⁸ goodness,¹⁹ and blessedness in and of himself; he alone is all-sufficient in himself. He does not need any creature he has made nor does he derive any glory from them.²⁰  Instead, he demonstrates his own glory in them, by them, to them, and upon them. He alone is the source of all being, and everything is from him, through him, and to him.²¹  He has absolute sovereign rule over all creatures, to act through them, for them, or upon them as he pleases.²²  In his sight everything is open and visible.²³  His knowledge is infinite and infallible. It does not depend upon any creature, so for him nothing is contingent or uncertain.²⁴  He is absolutely holy in all his plans, in all his works,²⁵ and in all his commands. Angels and human beings owe to him all the worship,²⁶ service, or obedience that creatures owe to the Creator and whatever else he is pleased to require of them.

This divine and infinite Being consists of three real persons,^c the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit.²⁷  These three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided.²⁸  The Father is not derived from anyone, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father.²⁹  The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.³⁰  All three are infinite and without beginning and are therefore only one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being. Yet these three are distinguished by several distinctive characteristics and personal relations. This truth of the Trinity is the foundation of all of our fellowship with God and of our comforting dependence on him.

^csubsistences, or individual instances of a given essence
²⁷1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14. ²⁸Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6. ²⁹John 1:14,18. ³⁰John 15:26; Galatians 4:6.

Man

Man is a special creation of God, created male and female (Genesis 1:27), in His own image, in honor, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures (Genesis 1:26-30).

Because of our sin nature, our hearts are naturally wicked and against God, having no inclination towards holiness. Apart from the effectual calling of Christ and His Holy Spirit, we are dead in our sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Salvation

The grace of faith, by which the elect are enabled to believe so that their souls are saved, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts.¹  Faith is ordinarily produced by the ministry of the Word.²  By this same ministry and by the administration of baptism and the Lord’s supper, prayer, and other means appointed by God, faith is increased and strengthened.³

¹2 Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 2:8. ²Romans 10:14, 17. ³Luke 17:5; 1 Peter 2:2; Acts 20:32.

There is no one who does good and does not sin.²  Even the best may fall into great sins and offenses, through the power and deceitfulness of the corruption in them, along with the strength of temptation. Therefore, God has mercifully provided in the covenant of grace that believers who sin and fall will be renewed through repentance to salvation.³

²Ecclesiastes 7:20. ³Luke 22:31, 32.

This saving repentance is a gospel grace⁴ in which those who are made aware by the Holy Spirit of the many evils of their sin, by faith in Christ humble themselves for it with godly sorrow, hatred of it, and self-loathing.⁵ They pray for pardon and strength of grace and determine and endeavor by provisions from the Spirit to live before God in a well-pleasing way in everything.⁶

⁴Zechariah 12:10; Acts 11:18. ⁵Ezekiel 36:31; 2 Corinthians 7:11. ⁶Psalms 119:6, 128.

The Church

The universal church may be called invisible with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace. It consists of the full number of the elect who have been, are, or will be gathered into one under Christ her head. The church is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.¹

¹Hebrews 12:23; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:10, 22, 23; Ephesians 5:23, 27, 32

The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. By the Father’s appointment, all authority is conferred on him in a supreme and sovereign manner to call, institute, order and govern the church.⁷  The Pope of Roman Catholicism cannot in any sense be head of the church; rather, he is the antichrist, the man of lawlessness, and the son of destruction, who exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God. The Lord will destroy him with the brightness of his coming.⁸

⁷Colossians 1:18; Matthew 28:18–20; Ephesians 4:11, 12. ⁸2 Thessalonians 2:2–9.

The members of these churches are saints by calling, visibly displaying and demonstrating in and by their profession and life their obedience to the call of Christ.12  They willingly agree to live together according to Christ’s instructions, giving themselves to the Lord and to one another by the will of God, with the stated purpose of following the ordinances of the Gospel.13

12Romans. 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2. 13Acts 2:41, 42; Acts 5:13, 14; 2 Corinthians 9:13.

To every church gathered in this way, conforming to Christ’s mind as declared in his Word, he has given all power and authority that is in any way necessary to conduct the form of worship and discipline that he has instituted for them to observe. He has also given them commands and rules to use and carry out that power rightly and properly.¹⁴

¹⁴Matthew 18:17, 18; 1 Corinthians 5:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 5:13; 2 Corinthians 2:6–8.

Last Things

God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ,¹ to whom all power and judgment is given by the Father. In that day, the apostate angels will be judged.²   So also, all people who have lived on the earth will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds and to receive a reckoning according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.³

¹Acts 17:31; John 5:22, 27. ²1 Corinthians 6:3; Jude 6. ³2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36; Romans 14:10, 12; Matthew 25:32–46.

God’s purpose for appointing this day is to manifest the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect, and of his justice in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient.⁴ For at that time the righteous will go into everlasting life and receive fullness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards in the presence of the Lord. But the wicked, who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be thrown into everlasting torments⁵ and punished with everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.⁶

⁴Romans 9:22, 23. ⁵Matthew 25:21, 34; 2 Timothy 4:8. ⁶Matthew 25:46; Mark 9:48; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10.

What it Means to Be a Christian

Christians believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is — the only begotten Son of the Holy God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Christians are those who, by the power of the Holy Spirit and by Christ alone, have repented of their sins and who have faith in Jesus and His atoning death on the cross and resurrection from the dead for their salvation. Christians believe that salvation cannot be earned by our works, but comes by faith alone through Grace alone in Christ alone and that once given, salvation cannot be lost. Once saved, it is a Christian’s duty to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18) and be sanctified – made increasingly functionally holy and righteous. Our sanctification is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives and should bear righteous fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). We should, because we are a new creation in Christ, “cultivate blamelessness and purity of life” (John Calvin, paraphrasing Philippians 2:14-15; Romans 6:11-13).