Confession of Faith

I. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the infallible and inerrant Word of God, and the only rule of faith, obedience and practice.

II. We believe that there is but one only living and true God; that there are three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are equal in nature, power, and glory; and that the Son and the Holy Ghost are as truly and as properly God as the Father.

III. We believe that, before the world began, God did elect a certain number of sinners unto everlasting salvation, whom He did predestinate to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, of His own free grace, and according to the good pleasure of His will; and that, in pursuance of this gracious design, he did contrive and make a covenant of grace and peace with His Son Jesus Christ, on behalf of those persons, wherein the Savior was appointed to reconcile them to God in redeeming, justifying, and sanctifying them by His blood and righteousness; and all spiritual blessings provided for them through the Lord Jesus Christ alone; and also that their persons, with all their grace and glory, were put into the hands of Christ, and made His care and charge.

IV. We believe that God created the first man Adam after His own image, and in His likeness; an upright, holy and innocent creature, capable of serving and glorifying Him; but, he sinning, all his posterity sinned in him, and came short of the glory of God; the guilt of whose sin is imputed, and a corrupt nature derived, to all his offspring, descending from him by ordinary and natural generation: that they are by their first birth carnal and unclean, averse to all that is good, incapable of doing any, and prone to every sin; and are also by nature children of wrath, and under a sentence of condemnation, and so are subject not only to corporal death, and involved in a moral one, commonly called spiritual, but also liable to an eternal death, as considered in the first Adam, fallen sinners; from all which there is no deliverance but Christ the second Adam.

V. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, being set up from everlasting as the Mediator of the new covenant, and He, having engaged to be the Surety of His people, did, in the fullness of time, really assume human nature, and not before, neither in whole nor in part; His human soul being a creature existed not from eternity, but was created and formed in His body by Him that forms the spirit of man within him, when that was conceived in the womb of the virgin; and so His human nature consists of a true body and soul; both which, together, and at once, the Son of God assumed into union with His divine Person, when made of a woman, and not before; in which nature He really suffered and died as their Substitute, in their room and stead, whereby He made all that satisfaction of their sins, which the law and the justice of God could require, as well as made way for all those blessing, which are needful for them both in time and eternity.

VI. We believe that eternal redemption which Christ has obtained, by the shedding of His blood, is special and particular, that is to say, that it was only intentionally designed for the elect of God, and sheep of Christ, who only share the special and peculiar blessings of it.

VII. We believe that the justification of God’s elect is only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, without the consideration of any works of righteousness done by them; and that the full and free pardon of all their sins and transgressions, past, present, and to come, is only through the blood of Christ according to the riches of His grace.

VIII. We believe that the work of regeneration, conversion, sanctification, and faith, is not an act of man’s free will and power, but of the mighty, efficacious, and irresistible grace of God, through the preaching of the Gospel and the inner work of the Almighty Holy Spirit of God.

IX. We believe that all those who are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Spirit, shall certainly and finally persevere, so that not one of them shall perish, but shall have everlasting life.

X. We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust; and that Christ will come a second time to judge both the quick and dead, when He will take vengeance on the wicked, and introduce His own people into His kingdom and glory, where they shall be forever with Him.

XI. We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances of Christ, to be considered until His second coming; and that the former is absolutely requisite to the latter; that is to say, that those only are to be admitted into the communion of the Church, and to participate of all ordinances in it, who upon profession of their faith, have been baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

XII. We believe in the liberty of the believer in matters of conscience; that all who are in Christ are free from the doctrines and commandments of men and all that is contrary to the Word of God; that it is a privilege and responsibility to worship, serve and glorify God; that all true believers shall by the Holy Spirit be led to glorify God and promote the good of His people in the exercise of this liberty.

XIII. We believe the preaching of the Gospel to be the God-ordained means by which the God-ordained end is accomplished; that the Holy Spirit reveals Christ and all spiritual blessings in Him to God’s elect and brings them to repentance and faith in Him through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified; that we must with every opportunity and means and in every place afforded us by the providence of God, proclaim the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ; that in the Gospel, His sheep will by the Holy Spirit, hear His voice and follow Him.

XIV. We believe that God has ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN,  and therefore Grace Baptist of Ruston and their Pastor will only perform marriage ceremonies for or recognize marriages between one biological man and one biological woman.  This statement on Marriage and Sexuality specifically gives Grace Baptist of Ruston the RIGHT and AUTHORITY to restrict use of any Church facilities or properties to uses consistent with the Bible, our Articles of Faith (see above), and our Statement On Marriage and Sexuality, as solely determined by Grace Baptist of Ruston.