The Doctrine Of Salvation

The Doctrine Of Salvation
We believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Eph. 2:8-9). Salvation is a gift from God (Rom. 6:23), purchased by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28) when He died on the cross for our sins (Rom. 5:9; 1 Cor. 15:3). Salvation is received by faith apart from any works of the law, human merit, or religious ritual (Tit. 3:5-7). Nobody would receive Christ as Savior and Lord without the Holy Spirit first doing a work in the human heart. (John 1:12,13; 6:44, 64-65; Acts 13:48) As a result of our regeneration, we are born-again (John 3:3,5; 1 Pet. 1:3,23), justified in God’s sight (Rom. 3:23,24), sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30), forgiven of our sins (1 Pet. 3:18; 1 John 2:2), delivered from our guilt (Psa. 103:11,12), reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18), saved from God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9), adopted into God’s family (Eph. 1:5), given access to God (Eph. 2:18), and, in Christ, we have peace with God. (Rom 5:1) Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  (2 Cor. 5:17)

We believe there are three aspects to our salvation:

• Justification [Past tense] ~ This is the moment God declares the guilty sinner “not guilty.” (Rom. 8:29,30).  Most believers refer to this moment as the moment of their salvation. Through “justification” we are saved from the penalty of our sin.
• Sanctification [Present tense] ~ This is the lifelong process of being set apart for God and becoming more like Jesus (Phil.2:12). The sanctification process begins at the moment of regeneration and continues throughout the rest of our lives on earth.  Through sanctification we are delivered from the power of sin over our lives.
• Glorification [Future tense] ~ This is the consummation of our salvation when sin will be absent, and we will be in the presence of the Lord for all eternity (1 John 3:2). At the moment of glorification, we will be delivered from the presence of sin.

NOTE: We believe in a sovereign God, however the sovereignty of God does not eliminate or minimize human responsibility (Acts 2:38).