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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 42
18 March 2007
STATEMENT OF FAITH
of
Brisbane Bible-Presbyterian Church
As Brisbane
Bible-Presbyterian Church has the same mind, spirit, beliefs, stand and
convictions based on God’s Word, the Holy Scripture, as True Life
Bible-Presbyterian Church and the Far Eastern Bible College in
Singapore, we also have the same Statement of Faith, which shall be in
accordance with that system commonly called “the Reformed Faith” as
expressed in the Confession of Faith as set forth by the historic
Westminster Assembly together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.
In abbreviated form,
the chief tenets of the doctrine of the Church, apart from the Apostles’
Creed, shall be as follows:
1.
We believe in the divine, Verbal Plenary
Inspiration (Autographs) and Verbal Plenary Preservation (Apographs) of
the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and
infallibility, and as the perfect Word of God, the supreme and final
authority in faith and life (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:20-21, Ps 12:6-7, Matt
5:18, 24:35).
1. We
believe the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament underlying
the Authorised (King James) Version to be the very Word of God,
infallible and inerrant.
2.
We uphold the Authorised (King James) Version
to be the Word of God—the best, most faithful, most accurate, most
beautiful translation of the Bible in the English language, and do
employ it alone as our primary scriptural text in the public reading,
preaching, and teaching of the English Bible.
3.
The Session of
the Church
shall affirm their allegiance to the Word of God by taking the Dean
Burgon Oath at every annual
general meeting:
“I swear in the Name of the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit that
I believe “the Bible is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth
upon the throne. Every book of it,
every chapter of it, every verse of it, every word of
it, every syllable of it, every letter of it, is the direct utterance of
the Most High. The Bible is none other than the Word of God, not some
part of it more, some part of it less, but all alike the utterance of
Him that sitteth upon the throne, faultless, unerring, supreme.”
2.
We believe in one God existing in three
co-equal and co-eternal Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Deut 6:4,
1 John 5:7).
3.
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son
of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and
is true God and true man in complete and direct fulfilment of Isaiah
7:14 (Matt 1:20-23, John 1:1, 14, Col 2:9).
4.
We believe God created the whole universe
ex nihilo (out of nothing) by the Word of His mouth, and all very
good, in the space of six literal or natural days (Gen 1:1, Exod 20:11,
Ps 148:5, John 1:3, Col 1:16, Heb 11:3).
5.
We believe that man was created in the image
of God, but sinned through the fall of Adam, thereby incurring not only
physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God
and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and become
sinners in thought, word and deed (Gen 1:26-27, Rom 3:19-20, 5:12,
6:23).
6.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died a
propitiatory and expiatory death as a representative and substitutionary
sacrifice, and that all who repent of their sins and believe in Him are
justified before God on the grounds of His shed blood (Rom 5:8-11, 1
John 2:2, 1 Pet 1:18-19).
7.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in His ascension into Heaven, and in His exaltation
at the right hand of God, where He intercedes for us as our High Priest
and Advocate (1 Cor 15:1-4, 15-19, Phil 2:9-11, Heb 3:1, 4:14-16).
8.
We believe in the personal, visible and premillennial return of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ to judge this world, restore His chosen nation Israel to
greatness, and bring peace to the nations as King of kings and Lord of
lords (Jer 3:17, Zech 14:9, Acts 1:6, Rom 11:26, Rev 20:1-7).
9.
We believe that salvation is by grace through
faith alone, not by works, and that all who repent and receive the Lord
Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour are born again by the Holy Spirit
and thereby become the children of God (Rom 5:1, 8:14-16, Eph 2:8-10, 1
Tim 2:5, Tit 3:5).
10. We
believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ and to convict and regenerate the sinner, and indwell,
guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service
(John 16:7-14, Rom 8:1-2).
11. We
believe that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Baptism for believers
and their children and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, which
sacraments shall be observed by His Church till He comes (Matt 28:19, 1
Cor 11:23-26).
12.
We believe in the eternal security, bodily
resurrection and eternal blessedness of the saved, and in the bodily
resurrection and eternal conscious punishment of the lost (John
10:27-29, 1 Cor 15:51-53, 1 Thess 4:13-18, Rev 20:11-15).
13. We
believe in the real, spiritual unity in Christ of all redeemed by His
precious blood and the necessity of faithfully maintaining the purity of
the Church in doctrine and life according to the Word of God, and the
principle and practice of biblical separation from the apostasy of the
day being spearheaded by the ecumenical movement, charismatic movement
and other false movements that contradict the Holy Scriptures and the
Historic Christian Faith (2 Cor 6:14-7:1, Jude 3, Rev 18:4).
14. We
maintain that Scripture teaches a separation that is based on the
holiness of God, producing purity in all of life, personal and
ecclesiastical.
***************
Our
Lord Jesus Christ and God’s Word
(Message delivered by Pr Hien
Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Mar 11, 2007)
Text:
John 17:14-17
What
is our attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s Word?
Jesus Christ Is Lord
There
are many today who do not believe in the Lord Jesus. They even ignore Him,
reject Him, despise Him, and blaspheme His Name. Many professing Christians
may profess that Jesus is Lord with their lips but are not submissive to Him
as their personal Lord, not wanting Him to have full control over their lives.
Our Lord Jesus says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of
my
Father which is in heaven”
(Matt 7:21).
The
Bible also confirms “that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Furthermore, “unto the
Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom… And, Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works
of thine hands” (Heb 1:8, 10).
How
about you and me? Do we exalt the Lord Jesus as our Lord and King from our
hearts with full submission and dependence? Do we seek His will and approval
in what we think, say, do, believe, worship, read, watch, eat or drink, and
all to His glory? It is the Holy Spirit who can transform our lives, subdue
our sinful nature, and help us submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ (1
Cor 12:3). Shall we not wisely submit ourselves to our mighty and wise Saviour
and Maker, who loves us so much that He humbled Himself and came to this world
to die for our sins and rose again to be our loving and living Lord and
Saviour? In the end, when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back, “every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
(Phil 2:11).
God’s Word Is Truth
Our
Lord Jesus lives by His Father’s Word, saying, “Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt
4:4), and faithfully ministers God’s Word to His followers, praying to His
Father, “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and
they have received them… I have given them thy word… Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:8, 14, 17).
In
Jesus’ days on earth, there were no extant original manuscripts (autographs)
of the Old Testament except copies (apographs) of them. Jesus, the all-knowing
and perfect God, did not see any “discrepancies” in the copies of the Old
Testament concerning the dates, the numbers, the names and so forth, nor
questioned, nor criticised, nor cast doubt on the Scripture like many modern
“scholars” do nowadays. On the contrary, our Lord Jesus was assured of the
verbal and plenary preservation (VPP) of His verbally and plenarily inspired (VPI)
Word, and strongly confirmed that “the scripture cannot be broken”
(John 10:35), and that “till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt 5:17-18),
and that “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away” (Matt 24:35; Mark13:31; Luke 21:33). He challenged the Jewish
leaders, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he
wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings (only copies), how
shall ye believe my words” (John 5:46-47).
My
friends, only God’s Word is Truth, which is able to transform our lives,
regenerate and sanctify us (John 17:17; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23) and help us
know the truth about God and man and His will concerning our beliefs and
practices, our lives and our worship.
Conclusion
Whether you and I believe it or not, Jesus Christ is still the Lord, and God’s
Word is Truth. May God help us to submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and God’s Word alone, all to His glory. Amen.
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