Confession of Faith

CONFESSION OF FAITH OF LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH, ANTIGO, WISCONSIN

Liberty Baptist Church is dispensational in theology, premillennial in eschatology, fundamental in position, and has been founded and shall be perpetuated on the following doctrinal basis:

Article 1: The Bible

We believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible,¹ the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament canon which, being inerrant in the original manuscripts,² is the final authority on all matters of faith and practice and any other subject on which it touches.³ We believe in a dispensational understanding of the Bible, an approach to Scripture based on the progressive unfolding of the divine mysteries or new revelation from God which results in various dispensations or distinguishable administrations/stewardships of God’s revealed truth,⁴ such as Promise,⁵ Law,⁶ Grace,⁷ Kingdom,⁸ among others. This approach recognizes a fundamental distinction between Israel and the Church⁹ in origin, purposes, and destiny.

¹ 1 Cor 2:13; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21; Rev 22:18-19

² Matt 5:18; 24:35; John 10:35; 17:17

³ Isa 8:20; Matt 5:18; 24:35; John 10:35; 2 Tim 3:16-17

⁴ Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 4:1; Eph 3:2-4, 9; Col 1:25-27; Heb 1:1

⁵ Gen 12:1-3; Gal 3:17; Heb 6:15; 11:9

⁶ Deut 5:2; John 1:17

⁷ John 1:17; Rom 6:14; 10:14; Heb 7:11-12; 8:6-13

⁸ Eph 1:10

⁹ 1 Cor 10:32

Article 2:  The Godhead

We believe there is only one true God,¹ eternally existing² in three uncreated Persons,³ God the Father,⁴ God the Son,⁵ and God the Holy Spirit.⁶ These three are of one and the same essence though distinct in personality,⁷ equal in every divine perfection and attribute,⁸ and function in perfect harmony to accomplish the manifold works of God.⁹

¹ Deut 6:4; Isa 45:21-22; John 5:44

2 Exod 3:14; Jer 10:10

3 Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14; Jude20-21

4 John 4:21, 23; Rom 15:6

5 Matt 3:17; Rom 1:3-4

6 Gen 1:2; Matt 1:18; 12:32

7 2 Sam 23:2-3; John 6:27; Heb 1:8

8 John 5:23; 16:15; Acts 5:3-4

9 Eph 2:18; Heb 9:14

Article 3:  God the Father

We believe in God the Father, the First Person of the eternal Trinity,¹ being the Father because of His personal relationship to the Son,² whom He sent into the world,³ and who, together with the Son, sent the Holy Spirit.⁴ While these three persons are identical in essence and equal in every divine perfection, there is an economical order or priority of function among them.⁵ In this sense there are the First, Second, and Third Persons of the Triune God. The Father is the ultimate source of all things,⁶ the sustainer of all things,⁷ and the controller of all things.⁸ He enters into a Fatherhood relationship with men spiritually through the new birth,⁹ indwells believers,¹⁰ forgives their sins,¹¹ and answers their prayers.¹²

¹ John 17:5; Rom 16:26

2 Ps 2:7; 2 John 3

3 John 3:16-17; 1 John 4:10

4 John 14:26; 15:26

5 John 14:28; 15:26; 1 Cor 11:3

6 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 3:9

7 Neh 9:6; Ps 104:19-22; John 5:17

8 Ps 103:19; 148:8; Prov 19:21; 1 Cor 10:13

9 John 1:12; Gal 3:26; 4:5-6

10 John 14:23

11 1 John 1:9

12 John 16:23

Article 4:  Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the eternal Son of God,¹ that He is both God² and man,³ the two natures being inseparably united in one glorious Person through the incarnation.⁴ We believe in His virgin conception and birth,⁵ His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind,⁶ His bodily resurrection from the tomb,⁷ and His ascension into heaven⁸ as the believer’s High Priest and Advocate before the throne of God.⁹

¹ Isa 9:6; Matt 16:16; John 10:36; 17:5

2 John 1:1; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:8; 1 John 5:20

3 Matt 20:28; John 8:40; 1 Tim 2:5

4 John 1:14; Rom 1:3-4; Heb 10:5

5 Isa 7:14; Matt 1:18-25

6 Isa 53:1-12; John 1:29; 1 John 2:2

7 Matt 28:5-7; Luke 24:1-7; 1 Cor 15:3-4; Rev 1:18

8 Luke 24:51; Acts 1:2, 9-11

9 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 1:3; 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1; Rev 3:21

Article 5:  The Holy Spirit

We believe in the eternal deity and personality of the Holy Spirit¹ whose ministry it is to convict of sin,² bear witness to Jesus Christ,³ and baptize the repentant, believing sinner into the Body of Christ.⁴ At the new birth the Spirit imparts spiritual life (regeneration),⁵ permanently indwells the believer,⁶ and becomes the seal of divine ownership and earnest that guarantees the final salvation of the believer.⁷ We believe in the filling of the Holy Spirit the controlling of the believer by the Spirit in proportion to his yieldedness and obedience to God and the Word⁸that is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in the life.⁹

¹ 2 Sam 23:2-3; John 16:7-8; 1 Cor 3:16; Heb 9:14

2 John 16:8-11

3 John 15:26; 16:14-15

4 1 Cor 12:13

5 John 3:3, 5; Titus 3:5

6 John 7:37-39; 14:16; Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 3:16

7 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:13-14; 4:30

8 Acts 2:4; Rom 6:13; 12:1-2; Gal 5:16; Eph 4:30

9 John 15:16; Gal 5:22-23; Col 1:10

Article 6:  Creation

We believe in the original direct creation of the universe, a voluntary act of God whereby for his own glory and according to His eternal counsel, in six successive days of twenty-four hours each, He gave existence to all things in distinction from Himself. We oppose all forms of the evolutionary hypothesis of origins, whether theistic or atheistic.

Gen 1-2; Exod 20:11; Ps 19:1-6; 33:6, 9; 90:2; Isa 40:28; 1 Cor 8:6; Heb 11:3; Rev 4:9-11

Article 7:  The Fall of Man

We believe that man was created directly by God on Day Six of the creation week,¹ in His image² (a finite, creaturely replication of the infinite Creator), and in a state of sinlessness or innocence, righteousness, and holiness.³ We believe that originally man freely chose to transgress the expressed will of God⁴ and thereby mankind incurred sin,⁵ condemnation,⁶ and physical and spiritual death,⁷ so that man is a sinner by nature and by choice,⁸ and is totally depraved, destitute of any moral good, and utterly unable to merit God’s favor or contribute to his salvation.⁹

¹ Gen 1:26-31; 2:7-25

2 Gen 1:26-27; 1 Cor 11:7; Jas 3:9

3 Ecc 7:29; Eph 4:24; Col 3:9-10

4 Gen 3:1-7; 1 Tim 2:14

5 Ps 51:5; Rom 5:12, 19

6 Rom 5:16, 18

7 Gen 2:17; Rom 5:12, 14, 15, 17, 21; 6:23; 1 Cor 15:21-22; Eph 2:1

8 Gen 8:21; 1 Kgs 8:46; Isa 53:6; Jer 17:9; Rom 3:10, 12, 23; 1 John 1:8, 10

9 Isa 64:6; Matt 19:25-26; Rom 4:5-6; Eph 2:9; Titus 3:5

Article 8:  Salvation

We believe in the salvation of sinners through Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, who is the only Savior of men¹ by virtue of His shed blood,² i.e., His substitutionary death for sinners.³ We believe that salvation is completely dependent on the grace of God,⁴ is a free gift of God⁵ that man cannot earn or merit in any way,⁶ is applied by the work of the Holy Spirit using the instrumentality of the Word of God,⁷ and is appropriated by repentance⁸ and faith in the resurrected Son of God.⁹ We hold that in salvation the believer is called,¹⁰ regenerated,¹¹Spirit baptized into union with Christ,¹² justified¹³ (including the forgiveness of sin¹⁴ and restoration to favor with God through the merit or righteousness of Christ¹⁵), adopted,¹⁶ sanctified,¹⁷ and glorified.¹⁸ We believe that God secures and guarantees the final salvation of every true believer,¹⁹ and that the genuine believer must and will persevere finally in his faith and Christian life until he meets the Lord.²⁰

 

1 John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5

2 Rom 3:25; 5:8-10; Eph 1:7; Heb 9:14-15, 22; 1 Pet 1:18-19

3 Isa 53:4-6, 8-9, 11-12; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; 1 Pet 2:24

4 John 6:65; Rom 4:16; Eph 2:8

5 Rom 5:15-17; 6:23; Eph 2:9

6 Eph 2:9; Titus 3:5

7 John 16:8-11; Eph 5:26; Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23

8 Matt 3:2, 8; Acts 3:19; 20:21; 26:20; Heb 6:1

9 Acts 16:31; Rom 4:5, 16; Eph 2:8-9; Heb 6:1

10 John 5:25; Rom 8:28, 30; 1 Cor 1:9, 24; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 1:9

11 John 1:13; 5:25; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 1:3, 23

12 Rom 6:3-10; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27-28

13 Rom 4:1-5, 25; 5:1, 18-19

14 Acts 10:43; Eph 1:7; 4:32; Col 1:14; 2:13; 1 John 2:12

15 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21

16 Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5

17 1 Cor 1:2, 30; 6:11; Heb 10:10, 14

18 Rom 8:30

19 John 6:39; 10:27-30; Rom 8:35-39; 1 Cor 1:8-9; Phil 1:6; Jude 24

20 John 8:31-32; 1 Cor 15:2; Col 1:23; 2 Tim 2:12; Heb 3:14; 4:14; 6:11-12; 12:14; 1 John 2:19; 5:4; Jude 21-24

 

Article 9:  Sanctification

We believe that the sanctification of the believer means to be separated from sin and set apart unto God, and has three aspects. First, there is positional sanctification by which the believer is given a perfect standing before God, i.e., the status of a saint.¹ Second, there is experiential or present sanctification by which the believer is cleansed of the daily defilement of sin and is progressively brought into conformity to the image of Christ.² After the new birth the believer still has a sinful nature (unsubdued tendencies to evil and a complex of sinful attributes) which is in constant and life-long conflict with the spiritual nature (a set of righteous attributes and propensities to and desires for holiness which came with the new spiritual life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit).³ While the believer’s addiction to sin is gone, the presence of sin and its tendencies are not. Present sanctification is the progressive elimination of sin in the believer’s life and a gradual conformity to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through the means of the Word of God and prayer,⁴ faith,⁵ obedience,⁶ self denial,⁷ and an active resistance against sin and Satan.⁸ Third, there is final sanctification when the believer will be fully conformed to the image of Christ and sin will be eliminated forever from his experience.⁹

¹ Acts 26:18; 1 Cor 1:2; 6:11; Heb 10:10, 14

2 John 13:10; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Thess 5:23

3 Rom 7:22-23; Gal 5:17

4 Mark 14:38; John 17:17; 1 Pet 2:2; Jude 20-21

5 Rom 6:11

6 Rom 6:12-14, 12:1-2; Jas 4:7-8

7 Rom 8:13; Col 3:5; Titus 2:12; 1 Pet 1:14-15

8 1 Cor 6:14, 18; Heb 12:1; 1 John 3:3

9 Phil 3:21; 1 Thess 3:12-13; Heb 9:28; 1 John 3:2; Jude 24

 

Article 10:  Spiritual Gifts

We believe that a spiritual gift is an ability or a capacity to serve the Lord through an aspect of the life of the local church. While God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His spiritual gifts,¹ every believer has a function to serve in the church and has been gifted by God accordingly.² Gifts were given for the common good of the church,³ the edification of the church,⁴ the service work or ministry of the church,⁵ and the attestation or accreditation of God’s messengers and their new revelation for the church age.⁶ We believe that certain gifts prevalent in the church in the first century were miraculous in nature, such as speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and the working of miracles. They were foundational and transitional, having served the church in its infancy and immature stage. These gifts have ceased, being no longer needed because the nation of Israel has dissolved, the Scriptures have been given, the church has been launched and divinely certified, the transition from Law to Grace has been made, and the apostles have gone to their eternal reward.⁷ Tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers. Explaining further, he says explicitly that all tongues are for the sake of unbelievers. In other words, that gift has no purpose in the church when everyone present is a believer. And once the sign served its purpose to pronounce judgment or cursing on Israel, and the judgment fell, the purpose ceased along with the sign gift.⁸ The blessing of that sign was that God would build a new nation of Jews and Gentiles to be his people,⁹ to make Israel jealous and someday repent.¹⁰ The sign was thus repeated when Gentiles were included in the church.¹¹

¹ Rom 12:6; 1 Cor 12:11, 18, 28-31; Eph 4:7-8; Heb 2:4

2 1 Cor 12:27; 1 Pet 4:10

3 1 Cor 12:7

4 1 Cor 14:12

5 Eph 4:11-12

6 2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:4

7 1 Cor 13:8-12; Eph 2:20; Heb 2:1-4

8 1 Cor. 14:22

9 Gal. 3:28

10 Rom. 11:11-12, 25-27

11 Acts 10:44-46

Article 11:  Satan

We believe in the reality of Satan as a distinct personality,¹ who, though having been created in a state of perfection and enjoying a heavenly abode with God,² was prompted by pride to rebel against God and fell from his original exalted state,³ leading a multitude of other angels in his revolt, over whom he is king.⁴ Satan is the acknowledged god of his world⁵ and the archenemy of God and believers, whose purpose and work are to thwart the divine counsels,⁶ accuse and oppose believers,⁷ incite persecution against believers,⁸ sow counterfeits among the believers,⁹ tempt believers to sin,¹⁰ among others. Satan will be cast down to earth during the Tribulation Period,¹¹ bound in the abyss during the Millennium,¹² loosed after the Millennium for a little season to provoke the final rebellion of mankind against God,¹³ and finally consigned forever to the lake of fire as the execution of his sentence of judgment at Calvary.¹⁴

¹ 1 Chron 21:1; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Matt 4:1-11; 2 Cor 12:7

2 Ezek 28:12-15; Rev 12:3-4

3 Isa 14:12-15; Ezek 28:17; 1 Tim 3:6

4 Matt 12:24; 25:41; Rev 9:11; 12:3-4, 7

5 John 12:31; 2 Cor 4:3-4

6 Gen 3:4-5; Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5; Matt 4:1-11; 2 Cor 11:13-15

7 1 Pet 5:8; Rev 12:10

8 Rev 2:10

9 Matt 13:39

10 1 Cor 7:5

11 Rev 12:7-9

12 Rev 20:1-3

13 Rev 20:7-9

14 John 16:11; Rev 20:10

Article 12:  The Church

We believe that the Church as set forth in the New Testament has both a universal and a local aspect. The church as the Body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head,¹ is an organism composed of genuine believers in Jesus Christ, the total number of Spirit baptized believers of this age regardless of location or circumstances.² We believe that a local church is the visible expression of the body of Christ in a particular time and place,³ being an organized body of immersed believers,⁴ sharing a common faith or body of truth,⁵ observing the ordinances of baptism⁶and Lord’s Supper,⁷ meeting at regular and stated times⁸ for worship, preaching and teaching, fellowship, and prayer,⁹ carrying out the Great Commission,¹⁰ and whose biblical offices are pastor(s)¹¹ and deacons.¹² We believe that the local church is an autonomous body solely responsible to preserve its internal unity,¹³ maintain pure doctrine and practice,¹⁴ elect its own officers, leaders, and messengers,¹⁵ settle its own internal affairs,¹⁶ and determine the extent of its cooperation with other churches.¹⁷ We believe that the institution of the local church is God’s ordained instrument for His work and witness in this age.¹⁸

¹ Eph 1:22-23; 5:23; Col 1:18, 24

2 1 Cor 12:13; Eph 2:11-22

3 Acts 13:1; Rom 16:1, 5; 1 Cor 1:2; 1 Thess 1:1; Phlm 2

4 Matt 28:19; Acts 2:41, 47

5 Acts 2:42; 2 Thess 3:6; Jude 3

6 Matt 28:19; Acts 2:41; 10:47-48; 16:15, 33; 18:8; 19:5; 1 Cor 1:16

7 Matt 26:26-30; Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor 10:16-22; 11:23-32

8 Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Heb 10:25

9 Acts 2:42, 47

10 Matt 28:19-20; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8

11 Acts 20:17, 28; Eph 4:11; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5; 1 Pet 5:1

12 Acts 6:1-6; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:8-13

13 Rom 12:16; 1 Cor 1:10; 2 Cor 13:11; Phil 4:2

14 1 Tim 3:15; Jude 3; Rev 2-3

15 Acts 6:1-6; 11:22; 13:2; 15:3, 4, 22; 1 Cor 16:3; 2 Cor 8:19

16 Matt 18:15-17; 1 Cor 5:4-5, 12; 6:1-5; 2 Cor 2:6; 2 Thess 3:6

17 Acts 15:2-32; 2 Cor 8:19; Col 4:16

18 1 Tim 3:15

 

Article 13:  The Second Coming

We believe in the literal return of Jesus Christ that will take place in two stages. The first stage is the Rapture, or His personal,¹ imminent,²and pretribulational³ coming for all saints of the church age.⁴ The second stage is the Revelation or the Second Coming in Glory, which is His personal and public coming at the close of the Tribulation Period to establish the messianic, Millennial Kingdom on the earth⁵ when Israel will be restored to covenant favor with God⁶ and to her land in faith⁷ and the Church will reign with Christ for the thousand years.⁸ After the Millennium there will be a new heaven and earth wherein God will dwell eternally with His people.⁹

¹ 1 Thess 4:16; 2 Thess 2:1; 1 John 3:2

2 Rom 13:12; 1 Cor 1:7; 1 Thess 5:6; Titus 2:13; Jas 5:8-9; 1 Pet 4:5; 2 Pet 3:12; Jude 21; Rev 22:10

3 1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; Rev 3:10

4 John 14:1-3; 1 Cor 15:51-52; Phil 3:20-21; Col 1:4; 1 Thess 4:16-17

5 Dan 7:9-14; Zech 14:1-4; Mal 3:1-2; Matt 24:29-30; Acts 1:11; 2 Thess 2:8; Rev 1:7

6 Jer 30:31-34; 31:28; Ezek 36:11; Joel 3:1; Amos 9:14; Mic 4:7-8; Zech 10:6; Rom 11:25-27

7 Gen 13:14-17; 15:18; Deut 30:1-11; Isa 11:12; 14:2; Jer 32:37-41; Ezek 34:10-16; 37:14; Amos 9:15; Zech 10:9-10; Matt 24:30-31

8 2 Tim 2:12; Rev 3:21; 20:1-6

9 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1-3

 

Article 14:  The Resurrection

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, though occurring at separate intervals.¹ The souls of those who trust in Christ go immediately into His presence at death² where they remain in a state of conscious bliss until the resurrection of the just, at which time they will receive their glorified bodies,³ and thereafter spend eternity serving the Lord in unending fellowship and love.⁴ The souls of unbelievers go immediately into a state of conscious torment and punishment at death,⁵ where they remain until the resurrection of the unjust, when they will be cast into the lake of fire to endure eternal suffering as a just retribution for their sin.⁶ The resurrection of the just begins at the Rapture of the Church and is completed at the conclusion of the Tribulation Period.⁷ The resurrection of the unjust is after the Millennium.⁸

¹ Dan 12:2; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15; 1 Cor 15:21-24

2 Acts 7:59-60; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:21-23

3 Rom 8:11, 23; 1 Cor 15:22-24, 35-38; Phil 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2

4 1 Cor 13:13; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1-7, 9-27; 22:1-5, 14

5 Deut 32:22; Luke 16:23-25

6 Matt 8:12; 18:8; 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43-48; Rev 14:10, 11; 20:14-15; 21:8

7 Dan 12:2; 1 Cor 15:23; 1 Thess 4:16; Rev 11:11-12; 20:4-5

8 Rev 20:5, 11-15

 

Article 15:  Separation

We believe in both personal and ecclesiastical separation. The doctrine of separation is grounded in the character of God Himself. Holiness carries the basic idea of separation or apartness. God is holy in that He is separate or apart from all that is created and finite¹ and from all that is sinful or morally unclean,² and He demands that His people be holy or separated.³ God constituted the nation of Israel a holy or separated people who were to be separated from the customs and practices of the surrounding heathen.⁴ God commands His people today to be personally separated from the world,⁵ the transient system of evil led by Satan,⁶ organized against God and His will,⁷ that has its own philosophies, goals, life styles, amusements, habits, and practices. Ecclesiastical separation is the refusal to collaborate with a church, ecclesiastical organization, or religious leader which does not hold to the fundamental, cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith,⁸ and a like refusal concerning those who maintain connections or are content to walk with those who do not hold to the fundamental, cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.⁹

¹ Ps 99:1-3; Isa 57:15

2 Isa 6:3, 5; Matt 6:9-10; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 Pet 1:15; 1 John 1:5

3 Matt 5:48; Rom 12:1; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:15-16; 1 John 2:1

4 Exod 19:5-6; Lev 20:24-26; Deut 7:1-6; Ps 135:4

5 Rom 12:2; Eph 5:11; Jas 4:4; 1 John 2:15

6 John 12:31; 2 Cor 4:4; 1 John 2:17; 5:19

7 John 7:7; 15:18; Jas 4:4

8 Matt 7:15; Rom 16:17-18; 2 Cor 6:14-18; Gal 1:18-19; 1 Tim 6:3-5; 2 Tim 2:16-21; Titus 3:10-11; 2 John 10-11; Rev 2:14

9 2 Thess 3:6, 14