OUR THEOLOGY | Grace Doctrine Churc

THE THEOLOGY OF GRACE DOCTRINE CHURCH

GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION

Eternal life is available to you, right now. In the privacy and freedom of your soul, you can tell God the Father that you are believing in Jesus Christ, and that is the moment of eternal life. God has done His part of salvation—the Father sent the Son; the Son went to the cross. Now you appropriate the grace of God for salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [salvation] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Faith is a nonmeritorious system of perception based on confidence in the authority, veracity, and ability of God to provide salvation. Grace is the gift of salvation; faith is the means. The object of faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, has all the merit.

As Jesus Christ hung between heaven and earth, God the Father imputed our sins to Him and judged them.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.

1 Peter 2:24a

Jesus Christ paid the penalty of sin. He became our substitute.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf [as our substitute], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Because of the work of Jesus Christ, salvation is available to everyone.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [uniquely born] Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved...”

Acts 16:31a

Your attitude toward Jesus Christ determines your eternal future. You can either believe in Christ for eternal life or reject Him for eternal condemnation. The choice is yours!

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey [believe] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

John 3:36

DOCTINES AND TENETS

The following basic doctrines contained in the Holy Scripture are adopted:

1. The Holy Scriptures

We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, and God breathed (II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:20, 21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12, 13).

2. The Godhead

We believe in one triune God existing in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14).

3. 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 retrieve his lost condition (Genesis 1:26, 27; Romans 3:22, 23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:12).

4. 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; that He accomplished our redemption through His spiritual death on the Cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead (John 1:1, 2, 14; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24, 25; 4:25; I Peter 1:3-5); that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where, as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1, 2).

5. The Personality and Work of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who convicts the world of sin, indwells all believers in the present age, baptizes them into the Body of Christ, seals them unto the day of redemption, and that it is the duty of every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13, 14; 5:18).

6. Salvation

We believe that salvation in every dispensation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose efficacious death on the Cross provided man's reconciliation to God (Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-10; John 1:12).

7. The Eternal Security of Believers

We believe that all believers are kept secure forever (Romans 8:1, 38, 39; John 10:27-30; I Corinthians 1:4-8).

8. The Church

We believe that the Church, which is now the Body and shall be the Bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this age irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations (Ephesians 1:22, 23; 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12:12-14).

9. The Personality of Satan

We believe in the personality of Satan who is the open and declared enemy of God and man (Job 1:6, 7; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17).

10. The Blessed Hope

We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the Rapture and Translation of the Church (I Corinthians 15:51-57; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14).

11. The Tribulation

We believe that the Rapture of the Church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel's seventieth week, the latter half of which is the time of Jacob's trouble, the great Tribulation (Daniel 9:27; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 6-19).

12. The Second Coming of Christ

We believe that the great Tribulation will be climaxed by the (premillennial) return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 24:15-25; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:6).

13. The Eternal State

We believe that the soul and human spirit of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in the conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul, human spirit, and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in the 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 destruction 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; Jude 6, 7; Revelation 20:11-15).

14. The Responsibility of Believers

To “grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,” to the end that their lives are consistent with the Lord's plan, thus bringing both blessing to the believer and honor to the Lord (II Peter 3:18).

15. Church Ordinances

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Lord's Supper to be observed until His return (Matthew 28:19, 20; I Corinthians 11:23-26).

16. Sovereignty

We believe that God, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is sovereign and exercises supreme and absolute rule over all creation as a part of and consistent with the essence and attributes of Deity (I Chronicles 29:11,12; Daniel 4:35; Psalms 24:1; Ephesians 1:11; I Timothy 6:15).

17. Spirituality

We believe that spirituality is an absolute condition in the life of a believer in this dispensation wherein he is filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit, walking in love and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that spirituality is distinct from maturity, that a believer becomes carnal through any act of mental, verbal, or overt sin, and that spirituality (fellowship with Christ) is restored solely by personal confession of that sin to God the Father (John 15:7,8; II Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; Romans 6:11-13; I John 1:5, 9; 2:2; I Corinthians 11:30, 31).

18. Spiritual Gifts

We believe that God the Holy Spirit in grace and apart from human merit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts to believers in this dispensation. Some of the permanent spiritual gifts which exist today are pastor-teacher, evangelist, missionary and administrator. We further believe that the temporary spiritual gifts ceased with the completion of the canon of Scripture, and these were apostleship, prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, healing, and working of miracles (I Corinthians 12, 13; Ephesians 4:7-12; Romans 12:4-8). Any member practicing these temporary gifts shall be subject to immediate dismissal.