Our Beliefs
Ecclesiology
Heritage Baptist Church exists to glorify God by proclaiming and obeying the whole counsel of the Word of God.
We, the members of Heritage Baptist Church believe a New Testament church to be a local, organized, self-governing assembly of immersed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are associated through a voluntary covenant to the Lord and to each other to seek to make and mature disciples beginning in its own Jerusalem and reaching into all nations through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We submit to Christ as our head and to the written Word of God as our only rule for faith and practice. The local church is the primary vehicle for the carrying out of God’s work in this age.
Bibliology
We believe that the Bible, exclusively comprised of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament canon, is the Word of God. Every word of Scripture is inspired (verbal - 1 Cor 2:13, Matt 5:18), and all Scripture is equally inspired (plenary - 2 Tim 3:16). Inspiration is that supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit whereby the sacred writers were divinely supervised in their production of Scripture, being restrained from error and guided in their choice of words.
God prepared the writers (Jer 1:5), communicated facts and ideas to them through the Holy Spirit (Heb 1: 1-2; 2 Pet 1: 21), resulting in authoritative truth-claims via the convergence of Divine/human authorship.
Scripture emphasizes the finished product of the creative breath of God (2 Tim 3:16). Since the Bible is God-breathed, it is both inerrant (without error) and infallible (incapable of error).
Believers are able to recognize the authority of God’s Word through the illumination of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20-21; 1 Cor 2:4-5).
Theology
We believe in the one true and living God eternally existing in three self-existent, uncreated persons of one and the same essence, equal in divine attributes, yet distinct in personality (Deut 6:4; Jer 10:10; 2 Cor 13:14; John 4:21-23; Gen l:2; Job 5:23).
God is the infinite and perfect Spirit in whom all things have their source, support, and end. The Bible does not attempt to prove the existence of God, it is assumed (Gen 1:1). God must disclose Himself to man, or He will not be found. There is a general revelation of God available to all men through Creation (Rom l :20; Psa 19: 1-6) and conscience (Rom 2:14-15).
Therefore, all men know that they are dependent on God (Acts 17:25-28), responsible to God (Rom 1 :32), and need acceptance by this God. All men, however, suppress this knowledge of God and are without excuse (Rom l: 18; John 1:9). Furthermore, God has specifically disclosed knowledge of Himself through direct revelation, visions (Ezek 1: l), dreams (Dan 9), mighty acts (Ex 5: 1-2, 6:1), Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2-3), and the Bible (Heb 1:1; 2 Pet l:21).
Thus, the central affirmation of Scripture is not that God is (such is assumed in Gen l: l), but that God has spoken.
God exists wholly and indivisibly, simultaneously and eternally in three persons: Father (Eph 4:6), Son (Heb 1:1-2; 4:14), and Holy Spirit (John 14:26; Matt. 28:19). These three persons exist in one divine essence, are identical in nature, having the same attributes and perfections are equal in power and glory, and are worthy of all honor, worship, and adoration (Gen 1:26; Acts 5:3-4; Rom l:7; Heb 1:8).
God supernaturally and instantaneously created the universe out of nothing in six, normal, twenty-four-hour (24) days (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9; Ex 20:l1). God’s creation was perfect and complete at the end of the creative week (Gen1:31; Gen 1:12, 20-25, 30). God preserves his creation with all its laws, properties, powers, and processes (Col l: 17; Acts 17:28). God providentially controls His creation efficaciously (Gen 50:20) and permissively (Job l: 12; 2:6) in bringing the Universe to its predetermined goal and design (Ps 148:8).
Christology
We believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the eternal Son of God (Luke 20:13; John 3:16; Gal 4:4; John 8:58; Ps 2; Heb 13:8; Rom 1:3-4), is the second person of the Triune Godhead (John 17:5; Phil 2:5-7). As God the Son He exists eternally (Isa 9:6; John 1:1; Col 1:17; Rev l: 17) being coequal (John 10:30) and coeternal (John 6:38) with the Father who makes common the undivided, eternal essence of Himself to the Son (John l: 18; 3:16; Heb 11:1-7).
Christ was the channel of creation (John l :3; Col l:16; Eph 2:18) and manifested Himself in the Old Testament as the Angel of Yahweh (Gen 16:10-13; Exo 3:24; Zech 1:12-13).
Jesus Christ by necessity of His sinlessness and personhood was conceived and born of a virgin through the
supernatural work of the Holy Spirit (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:18-25; Luke 1:34-35). Though truly God, Christ became incarnate in human flesh/blood (John 2:21; Matt 26:26, 28), human form (Matt. 16:13-14) and sinless human nature (Heb 2:14; Rom 5:15; Matt 1:11; l John 5:27).
As the God-man John 17:23), Jesus exists forever as the one theanthropic person (John 8: 18, 58; Heb 7 :24) consisting of the
hypostatic union of two distinct natures (complex of attributes), fully there remains no further purpose for the miraculous gifts in this church-age (Eph 2:20; Heb 2:1-4; Rev 22:19). The present day Charismatic/tongues / healing movement have no biblical basis and are certainly not a product of the Holy Spirit.
Angelology
We believe that God created the whole company of angels in the opening moments of the first day of creation (Gen 1:1; Job 38:6-7). Each angel had a direct creation (Ps 148:2, 5; Matt 22:30), and all were originally created in an unconfirmed state of holiness (Gen 1:31). Angels are finite, spirit beings (Isa 6:3; Heb 1:6, 14; Luke 8:2) possessing all the qualities of personality (1 Pet 1:2; Luke 15:10; Job 1:6; 38:7; Isa 6:3). Their powers greatly exceed that of human beings (2 Pet 2:11).
Angels fall into two general categories: elect (Matt 25:31; 1 Tim 5:21) and evil (2 Pet 2:4). The good angels are practically innumerable (Heb 12:22) and are classified as: archangels Michael (Dan 10:l3; Jude 9) and Gabriel (Dan 9:21; Luke 1 :11); Cherubim who proclaim and protect the presence and sovereignty of God (Gen 3:24; Ex 25:17ff; Eze 41:18), and Seraphim who proclaim the holiness of God and man’s need for cleansing (Isa 6:1-7). Good angels praise, worship, and serve God (Ps 148:1-2; 29:1; 103:20) and Jesus Christ, His Son (Matt 2:13; Luke 22:43; Matt 25:31). In addition, they watch over the affairs of nations (Dan 4:17; Dan 10:21) and minister to the saints (Heb 1:14).
Satan
We believe in the existence of Satan as a distinct personality, who was originally created perfect and holy though finite and creaturely. Satan, because of pride and ambition (1 Tim 3:7), fell through an act of rebellion after the end of creation (Gen 1:31). He is now the “god” of this present age (2 Cor 4:4), the prince of the world (Eph 2:2), the archenemy of God and believers.
He endeavors to frustrate the divine plan (Gen 3:4-5; Job 1-2, Matt 4:1-11), oppose believers (Rev 2:10; 12:10), sow tares among the wheat (Matt 13:39), and tempt believers to sin (1 Cor 7:5). When he fell, other angels (now called demons or evil angels) fell with him and were cast out of heaven (Matt 25:41; 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6).
Satan will be cast down to earth during the Tribulation (Rev 12:7-9), cast into the abyss during the Millennium (Rev 20: 1-3), and finally consigned forever along with his fallen angels to the lake of fire as the execution of his sentence at Calvary (John 16:l l; Rev 20:10).
Anthropology
We believe that God on the sixth, twenty-four hour day of creation, directly and immediately without secondary causation, created man’s body from inorganic material and inbreathed man’s spirit into Adam by a direct act of the creative breath of God (Gen 1:26-27; 2:7; 2:22; Job 33:4; Matt 19:4) resulting in a living soul from the union of body and spirit (Gen 2:7). The first woman, Eve, was likewise created supernaturally and directly from the bone and flesh of Adam and had no ancestry of any kind, but has an intrinsic organic unity with Adam (Gen 1:27; 5:1, 28-29; 2:21-22; 1 Tim 2:13; 1 Cor 11:8, 12). The entire human race descended from Adam and Eve by procreation with the exception of Christ (Gen 3:20; Acts 17:26; 1 Cor 15:47).
The first man, Adam, was created in the image of God in untested creaturely holiness (Gen 1:26-27, 31; Eccl 7:29). Man replicates his God personally on a finite level, which includes self-consciousness, self-determination, intelligence, emotion, reason, human language, creativity and aesthetic appreciation (Col 3:9-10).
Man, like his God, is a spiritual and moral being including a capacity for fellowship, worship, eternal human (l Tim 2:5) and fully divine (Col 2:9; John 1:18; 20:28; Rom 9:5; Heb 1:8) without confounding the natures nor dividing the person (Acts 20:28). By virtue of His indivisible person (John 14:30; Heb 1:11-12), Christ is totally without sin (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:1.5) and eternally incapable of sin (impeccability - Heb 13:8).
At the incarnation, Christ temporarily and voluntarily gave up the independent use of His divine attributes and prerogatives (Phil 2:5-8; John 17:5). In the kenosis Jesus willingly set aside the unqualified use of his divine prerogatives and took on the form of a servant, voluntarily restricting Himself in order to achieve His objectives in redemption (John: 10:10; Gal 4:4; John 8:28-29).
God’s plan to provide salvation determined to accomplish redemption through the sacrificial death and shed blood of His own Son (Heb 2:10, 17; 9:23; Gal 3:10, 13). The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself freely on the cross, bore the sin of the world, suffered the complete wrath of God against sin (1 John 2:2; Rom 1:32; Heb 2:2), obeyed the Law in our stead (Phil 2:8; Rom 5:19), and provided an infinite, unlimited atonement (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2) for the sins of the whole world applicable only to those who receive Christ with repentant faith (Rom 3:25-26; Heb 9:22, 26; Lev 17:11).
His death was both substitutionary and vicarious (Rom 3:25-26; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13) in that He died in the place of and for the benefit of sinners and redeemed man from bondage (Matt 20:28) as well as reconciled man to God (2 Cor 5:18-19). His death sufficiently paid once for all the penalty for the sin of all men (1 Tim 2:6; Heb 2:9), makes salvation available to all men (John 3:16; Titus 2:11), provides for a general call to all men (John 12:32), and restrains sin in common grace for all men (Matt 5:45; 2 Thess 2:7), but Christ’s death is efficient for believers alone (1 Tim 4:10; John 3:36).
Christ physically rose again from the dead the third day in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died (Luke 24:36-43; l Cor 15:3-4). After His post-resurrection ministry was complete. Jesus ascended visibly and bodily into heaven (Acts 1:11) and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father as the head of the church (Col l:18), and as advocate and intercessor for the saints as our great High Priest (Heb 7:25). Christ will return to rapture His saints (1 Thess 4:13-18) and later establish His millennial kingdom (Rev 19:11ff; 20:3-6).
Pneumatology
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune God, coequal, coexistent, and coeternal with both the Father and the Son (Matt 28: 19; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor 13:14). In the Administration of the Godhead the Father is First (source), the Son is Second (channel) and the Spirit is Third (agent) (1 Cor 8:6; Eph 2:18). Since the Holy Spirit is Himself God (Acts 5:3-4) and possesses all the essential characteristics of personality such as life (Rom
8:2), intelligence (l Cor 2:10-11), freedom (2 Cor 3:7), emotion (Eph 4:30), self-consciousness (1 Cor 2;11), and purpose (l Cor 12:11). He must be a person (John 16:7-14) and not a force, energy, or abstract power (Zech 4:6).
The Holy Spirit was the active agent in creation (Gen l :2; Job 26:13; Eph 2:18), inspiration (2 Pet l :20-21), and conception of the human nature of Christ in the virgin birth (Matt 1:18; Luke 1:35). He operates in the world today by restraining sin and enabling the positive accomplishment of civic righteousness and good among all men [common grace] (Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:6-8; Luke 6:33), convicting (prove, convince) men of sin, judgment, and righteousness by the Word of God (John 16:8-11; John 3:20), and regenerating those who believe (Deut 5:29; Eph 4:18 cf. Psa 116:10; Tit 3:5; John 3:3, 5-8).
In the life of the believer, the Holy Spirit indwells (Num 27:18; Gen 41:38; Prov l:23; l Cor 6:19), baptizes (1 Cor 12:13), seals (Eph 4:30), guarantees (Eph 1 :13-14), illumines (1 John 2:27), fills (Acts 13:52; Eph 5: 18 cf. Luke 5:26; 6:11), sanctifies (2 Thess 2:13), produces fruit (John 15:16; Gal 5:22-23), bestows gifts (1 Cor 12:11), and resurrects (Rom 8:11).
The Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts upon believers for service within the ministry of the local church (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:12; l Pet 4: 10; Rom 12:6). A spiritual gift is a sovereign, God-given, Holy Spirit-energized ability, naturally inherited or miraculously endowed, temporary or permanent, and quickened for spiritual service in the local church at regeneration and Spirit-baptism.
Every church-age believer has been gifted and is Scripture bound to serve for the edification and ministry of the church (1 Cor 12:27; l Pet 4: 10).
God will sovereignly and providentially bring each believer’s gift to light as he seeks to obey God’s command to exercise it. Certain miraculous gifts such as tongues (including interpretation), prophecy, and the working of miracles have ceased having served their original purposes of attesting, authenticating, and accrediting God’s messengers and their new revelation (2 Cor 12: 12; Heb 2: 1-4). Since the apostles have died, the church established, Israel dissolved, and the Scriptures have been completed.
Soteriology
We believe that mankind is spiritually dead (Eph 2:1) and stands justly condemned before God (John 3: 18). Man is lost (Luke 19:10), and he is blind to his lost condition (2 Cor 4:3-4). Man is unable to respond of himself (apart from the grace of God) to God in any way (Rom 3:11-12).
God made provision for the salvation of all men through the cross-work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8, 1 John 2:2, 2 Peter 3:9). Salvation is wholly of grace, a gift of God (Eph 2:8-9), and cannot be merited by any virtue or work of man. The gift of salvation must be personally appropriated through faith (Eph 2:8).
God’s plan to provide salvation determined to accomplish redemption through the sacrificial death and shed blood of His own Son (Heb 2:10, 17; 9:23; Gal 3:10, 13). The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself freely on the cross, bore the sin of the world, suffered the complete wrath of God against sin (1 John 2:2; Rom 1:32; Heb 2:2), obeyed the Law in our stead (Phil 2:8; Rom 5:19), and provided an infinite, unlimited atonement (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2) for the sins of the whole world applicable only to those who receive Christ with repentant faith (Rom 3:25-26; Heb 9:22, 26; Lev 17:11).
His death was both substitutionary and vicarious (Rom 3:25-26; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13) in that He died in the place of and for the benefit of sinners and redeemed man from bondage (Matt 20:28) as well as reconciled man to God (2 Cor 5:18-19).
His death sufficiently paid once for all the penalty for the sin of all men (1 Tim 2:6; Heb 2:9), makes salvation available to all men (John 3:16; Titus 2:11), provides for a general call to all men (John 12:32), and restrains sin in common grace for all men (Matt 5:45; 2 Thess 2:7), but Christ’s death is efficient for believers alone (1 Tim 4:10; John 3:36)
Eschatology
We believe that the next event of God’s prophetic calendar is the imminent rapture of the church (1 Thess 4:13-18). The rapture will be visible, personal, premillennial (2 Tim 4:1; Rom 11 :25-27), and pretribulational (1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; 2 Pet 2:7, 9; John 14:1-3; Rev 3:10; 4:4; 13:6; Jer 30:7; Dan 9:24-27). Following the rapture, God will turn again to Israel (Rom 11:25-27). The events of the tribulation are not part of God’s program for the church but for Israel (Jacob’s trouble in Jer 30:7; Dan 9:24-27). The church will be in heaven during the tribulation at which time the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:8-10; Rom 14:10-12) and the Marriage of the Lamb (Rev 19:1-10) will take place.
Following the rapture of the church, the antichrist will be revealed (2 Thess 2:7-8). He will become the leader of the revived Roman Empire (Dan 7:20, 24) and will sign a treaty with Israel (Dan 9 :26-27). The signing of the treaty will begin the seven year period known as the tribulation. At the midpoint of the tribulation, the antichrist will break his treaty with Israel (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15), Satan will be cast down to earth (Dan 12:l; Rev 12:7-12), and the world will experience a time of unprecedented wrath and judgment. (The Great Day of the Lord Zeph 1:14-18; Great Tribulation, Matt 24:21). The Great Tribulation will culminate with the return of Christ. The Lord will return, with the church believers, to defeat Satan and his armies (Dan 7:13-22; Zech 14:3 9; Rev 19:11-19). The beast and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20), and Satan will be bound for 1000 years (Rev 20:1-2). Preparation will then be made for the millennial reign of Christ. The Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs will be resurrected (Dan 12:2-3; Rev 20.4); Israel will repent (Zech 12:9; 13:2); there will be a mass conversion of Gentiles (Zeph 3:8-10); both Israel and the nations shall be judged (Eze 20:33-38; Joel 3:1-3); and the Millennial Temple will be constructed (Eze 40-48). The Millennial Kingdom will be inaugurated, and Christ will rule and reign for 1000 years.
At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be loosed to deceive the nations and lead them in a final revolt (Rev 20:7-9), God will destroy them with fire and cast Satan into the lake of fire (Rev 20:9-10). Then the unsaved of all ages will be resurrected and judged at the Great White Throne. They will be eternally consigned to conscious torment in the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15). The present heavens and earth will be destroyed, and a new heaven and earth will be made in which the redeemed of all
Ages will dwell eternally with God (2 Pet 3:10; Rev 21:1 - 22:5).