Sermon Tone Analysis

1. Scripture, the Word of God Written

1.1 We believe that the Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the infallible Word of God, verbally inspired by God,1 and without error2 in the original manuscripts.

1.2 We believe that God’s intentions, revealed in the Bible, are the supreme and final authority in testing all claims about what is true and what is right.

In matters not addressed by the Bible, what is true and right is assessed by criteria consistent with the teachings of Scripture.

1.3 We believe God’s intentions are revealed through the intentions of inspired human authors, even when the authors’ intention was to express divine meaning of which they were not fully aware, as, for example, in the case of some Old Testament prophecies.3

Thus the meaning of Biblical texts is a fixed historical reality, rooted in the historical, unchangeable intentions of its divine and human authors.

However, while meaning does not change, the application of that meaning may change in various situations.

Nevertheless it is not legitimate to infer a meaning from a Biblical text that is not demonstrably carried by the words which God inspired.4

1.4 Therefore, the process of discovering the intention of God in the Bible (which is its fullest meaning) is a humble and careful effort to find in the language of Scripture what the human authors intended to communicate.

Limited abilities, traditional biases, personal sin, and cultural assumptions often obscure Biblical texts.

Therefore the work of the Holy Spirit is essential for right understanding of the Bible,5 and prayer for His assistance belongs to a proper effort to understand and apply God’s Word.6

2. The Trinity, One God as Three Persons

2.1 We believe in one7 living,8 sovereign,9 and all-glorious10 God, eternally existing in three11 infinitely excellent and admirable Persons: God the Father,12 fountain of all being;13 God the Son,14 eternally begotten,15 not made, without beginning,16 being of one essence17 with the Father; and God the Holy Spirit, proceeding in the full, divine essence,18 as a Person,19 eternally from the Father and the Son.

Thus each Person in the Godhead is fully and completely God.

2.2 We believe that God is supremely joyful20 in the fellowship of the Trinity, each Person beholding and expressing His eternal and unsurpassed delight in the all-satisfying perfections of the triune God.

3. God’s Eternal Purpose and Election

3.1 We believe that God, from all eternity,21 in order to display the full extent of His glory22 for the eternal and ever-increasing enjoyment23 of all who love Him,24 did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His will,25 freely and unchangeably26 ordain27 and foreknow28 whatever comes to pass.

3.2 We believe that God upholds and governs all things – from galaxies29 to subatomic particles,30 from the forces of nature31 to the movements of nations,32 and from the public plans of politicians33 to the secret acts of solitary persons34 – all in accord with His eternal, all-wise35 purposes to glorify Himself, yet in such a way that He never sins,36 nor ever condemns a person unjustly;37 but that His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with the moral accountability38 of all persons created in His image.

3.3 We believe that God’s election is an unconditional39 act of free grace40 which was given through His Son Christ Jesus before the world began.41

By this act God chose, before the foundation of the world, those who would be delivered from bondage to sin42 and brought to repentance43 and saving faith44 in His Son Christ Jesus.

4. God’s Creation of the Universe and Man

4.1 We believe that God created the universe,45 and everything in it,46 out of nothing,47 by the Word of His power.

Having no deficiency in Himself, nor moved by any incompleteness in His joyful self-sufficiency,48 God was pleased in creation to display His glory49 for the everlasting joy50 of the redeemed, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.51

4.2 We believe that God directly created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from his side.

We believe that Adam and Eve were the historical parents of the entire human race; 52 that they were created male and female equally in the image of God,53 without sin;54 that they were created to glorify55 their Maker, Ruler, Provider, and Friend by trusting His all-sufficient goodness, admiring His infinite beauty, enjoying His personal fellowship, and obeying His all-wise counsel; and that, in God’s love and wisdom, they were appointed differing and complementary roles in marriage as a type of Christ and the church.56

5. Man’s Sin and Fall from Fellowship with God

5.1 We believe that, although God created man morally upright, he was led astray from God’s Word and wisdom by the subtlety of Satan’s deceit,57 and chose to take what was forbidden,58 and thus declare his independence from, distrust for, and disobedience toward his all-good and gracious Creator.

Thus, our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original innocence and communion with God.59

5.2 We believe that, as the head of the human race, Adam‘s fall became the fall of all his posterity, in such a way that corruption, guilt, death, and condemnation belong properly to every person.60

All persons are thus corrupt by nature,61 enslaved to sin,62 and morally unable63 to delight in God and overcome their own proud preference for the fleeting pleasures of self-rule.

5.3 We believe God has subjected the creation to futility,64 and the entire human family is made justly liable to untold miseries of sickness,65 decay,66 calamity,67 and loss.68

Thus all the adversity and suffering in the world is an echo and a witness of the exceedingly great evil of moral depravity in the heart of mankind; and every new day of life is a God-given, merciful reprieve from imminent judgment, pointing to repentance.69

6. Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God

6.1 We believe that in the fullness of time70 God sent forth His eternal Son as Jesus the Messiah,71 conceived by the Holy Spirit,72 born of the virgin Mary.73

We believe that, when the eternal Son became flesh,74 He took on a fully human nature,75 so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one Person, without confusion or mixture.

Thus the Person, Jesus Christ, was and is truly God76 and truly man,77 yet one Christ and the only Mediator between God and man.78

6.2 We believe that Jesus Christ lived without sin, though He endured the common infirmities and temptations of human life.79

He preached and taught with truth and authority unparalleled in human history.80

He worked miracles, demonstrating His divine right and power over all creation: dispatching demons,81 healing the sick,82 raising the dead,83 stilling the storm,84 walking on water,85 multiplying loaves,86 and foreknowing what would befall Him and His disciples,87 including the betrayal of Judas88 and the denial, restoration, and eventual martyrdom of Peter.89

6.3 We believe that His life was governed by His Father‘s providence with a view to fulfilling all Old Testament prophecies concerning the One who was to come,90 such as the Seed of the woman,91 the Prophet like Moses,92 the Priest after the order of Melchizedek,93 the Son of David,94 and the Suffering Servant95

6.4 We believe that Jesus Christ suffered voluntarily96 in fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan,97 that He was crucified under Pontius Pilate,98 that He died,99 was buried100 and on the third day rose from the dead101 to vindicate the saving work of His life and death102 and to take His place as the invincible, everlasting Lord of glory.103

During forty days after His resurrection, He gave many compelling evidences of His bodily resurrection104 and then ascended bodily into heaven,105 where He is seated at the right hand of the Father,106 interceding for His people107 on the basis of His all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and reigning until He puts all His enemies under His feet.108

7. The Saving Work of Christ

7.1 We believe that by His perfect obedience to God109 and by His suffering and death110 as the immaculate Lamb of God,111 Jesus Christ obtained forgiveness of sins112 and the gift of perfect righteousness113 for all who trusted in God prior to the cross114 and all who would trust in Christ thereafter.115

Through living a perfect life and dying in our place, the just for the unjust, Christ absorbed our punishment,116 appeased the wrath of God against us,117 vindicated the righteousness of God in our justification,118 and removed the condemnation of the law against us.119

7.2 We believe that the atonement of Christ for sin warrants and impels a universal offering of the gospel to all persons, so that to every person it may be truly said,―God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.120

Whosoever will may come121 for cleansing at this fountain, and whoever does come, Jesus will not cast out.122

7.3 We believe, moreover, that the death of Christ did obtain more than the bona fide offer of the gospel for all; it also obtained the omnipotent New Covenant123 mercy of repentance124 and faith125 for God‘s elect.

Christ died for all, but not for all in the same way.

In His death, Christ expressed a special covenant love to His friends,126 His sheep,127 His bride.128

For them He obtained the infallible and effectual working of the Spirit to triumph over their resistance and bring them to saving faith.129

8.

The Saving Work of the Holy Spirit

8.1 We believe that the Holy Spirit has always been at work in the world, sharing in the work of creation,130 awakening faith in the remnant of God’s people,131 performing signs and wonders,132 giving triumphs in battle,133 empowering the preaching of prophets134 and inspiring the writing of Scripture.135

Yet, when Christ had made atonement for sin, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, He inaugurated a new era of the Spirit by pouring out the promise of the Father on His Church.136

8.2 We believe that the newness of this era is marked by the unprecedented mission of the Spirit to glorify the crucified and risen Christ.137

This He does by giving the disciples of Jesus greater power to preach the gospel of the glory of Christ,138 by opening the hearts of hearers that they might see Christ and believe,139 by revealing the beauty of Christ in His Word and transforming His people from glory to glory,140 by manifesting Himself in spiritual gifts (being sovereignly free to dispense, as he wills, all the gifts of ) for the upbuilding of the body of Christ141 and the confirmation of His Word,142 by calling all the nations into the sway of the gospel of Christ,143 and, in all this, thus fulfilling the New Covenant promise to create and preserve a purified people144 for the everlasting habitation of God.145

8.3 We believe that, apart from the effectual work of the Spirit, no one would come to faith,146 because all are dead in trespasses and sins;147 that they are hostile to God, and morally unable to submit to God or please Him,148 because the pleasures of sin appear greater than the pleasures of God.149

Thus, for God‘s elect, the Spirit triumphs over all resistance,150 wakens the dead,151 removes blindness,152 and manifests Christ in such a compellingly beautiful way through the Gospel that He becomes irresistibly attractive to the regenerate heart.

8.4 We believe the Holy Spirit does this saving work in connection with the presentation of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.153

Thus neither the work of the Father in election, nor the work of the Son in atonement, nor the work of the Spirit in regeneration is a hindrance or discouragement to the proclamation of the gospel to all peoples and persons everywhere.

On the contrary, this divine saving work of the Trinity is the warrant and the ground of our hope that our evangelization is not in vain in the Lord.

The Spirit binds His saving work to the gospel of Christ, because His aim is to glorify the Christ of the Gospel.154

Therefore we do not believe that there is salvation through any other means than through receiving the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit,155 except that infants and people with severe intellectual disabilities and minds physically incapable of comprehending the gospel may be saved.156

9.

The Justifying Act of God

9.1 We believe that in a free act of righteous grace God justifies the ungodly by faith alone apart from works,157 pardoning their sins,158 and reckoning them as righteous and acceptable in His presence.159

Faith is thus the sole instrument160 by which we, as sinners, are united to Christ, whose perfect righteousness and satisfaction for sins is alone the ground of our acceptance with God.161

This acceptance happens fully and permanently at the first instant of justification.162

Thus the righteousness by which we come into right standing with God is not anything worked in us by God, neither imparted to us at baptism nor over time, but rather is accomplished for us, outside ourselves, and is imputed to us.

9.2 We believe, nevertheless, that the faith, which alone receives the gift of justification, does not remain alone in the person so justified, but produces, by the Holy Spirit,163 the fruit of love164 and leads necessarily to sanctification.165

This necessary relation between justifying faith and the fruit of good works gives rise to some Biblical expressions which seem to make works the ground or means of justification,166 but in fact simply express the crucial truth that faith that does not yield the fruit of good works is dead, being no true faith.167

10.

God’s Work in Faith and Sanctification

10.1 We believe that justification and sanctification are both brought about by God through faith,168 but not in the same way.

Justification is an act of God’s imputing and reckoning;169 sanctification is an act of God‘s imparting and transforming.170

Thus the function of faith in regard to each is different.

In regard to justification, faith is not the channel through which power or transformation flows to the soul of the believer, but rather faith is the occasion of God‘s forgiving, acquitting, and reckoning as righteous.171

But in regard to sanctification, faith is indeed the channel through which divine power and transformation flow to the soul;172 and the sanctifying work of God through faith does indeed touch the soul and change it into the likeness of Christ.

10.2 We believe that the reason justifying faith necessarily sanctifies in this way is fourfold:

First, justifying faith is a persevering, that is, continuing, kind of faith.173

Even though we are justified at the first instant of saving faith,174 yet this faith justifies only because it is the kind of faith that will surely persevere.

The extension of this faith into the future is, as it were, contained in the first seed of faith, as the oak in the acorn.

Thus the moral effects175 of persevering faith may be rightly described as the effects of justifying faith.

Second, we believe that justifying faith trusts in Christ not only for the gift of imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of sins,176 but also for the fulfillment of all His promises to us based on that reconciliation.

177 Justifying faith magnifies the finished work of Christ’s atonement, by resting securely in all the promises of God obtained and guaranteed by that all-sufficient work.178

Third, we believe that justifying faith embraces Christ in all His roles:179 Creator,180 Sustainer,181 Savior,182 Teacher,183 Guide,184 Comforter,185 Helper,186 Friend,187 Advocate,188 Protector,189 and Lord.190

Justifying faith does not divide Christ, accepting part of Him and rejecting the rest.

All of Christ is embraced by justifying faith, even before we are fully aware of, or fully understand, all that He will be for us.

As more of Christ is truly revealed to us in His Word, genuine faith recognizes Christ and embraces Him more fully.191

Fourth, we believe that this embracing of all of Christ is not a mere intellectual assent, or a mere decision of the will, but is also a heartfelt, Spirit-given (yet imperfect) satisfaction in all that God is for us in Jesus.192

Therefore, the change of mind and heart that turns from the moral ugliness and danger of sin, and is sometimes called “repentance,”193 is included in the very nature of saving faith.

10.3 We believe that this preserving, future-oriented, Christ-embracing, heart-satisfying faith is life-transforming, 194 and therefore renders intelligible the teaching of the Scripture that final salvation in the age to come depends on the transformation of life,195 and yet does not contradict justification by faith alone.

The faith which alone justifies, cannot remain alone, but works through love.196

10.4 We believe that this simple, powerful reality of justifying faith is God’s gift197 which He gives unconditionally in accord with God’s electing love,198 so that no one can boast in himself,199 but only give all glory to God for every part of salvation.200

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the decisive agent in this life-transformation, but that He is supplied to us and works holiness in us though our daily faith in the Son of God201 whose trustworthiness He loves to glorify.202

10.5 We believe that the sanctification, which comes by the Spirit through faith,203 is imperfect and incomplete in this life.204

Although slavery to sin is broken,205 and sinful desires are progressively206 weakened by the power of a superior satisfaction in the glory of Christ, yet there remain remnants of corruption in every heart that give rise to irreconcilable war,207 and call for vigilance in the lifelong fight of faith.208

10.6 We believe that all who are justified will win this fight.

They will persevere in faith and never surrender to the enemy of their souls.209

This perseverance is the promise of the New Covenant,210 obtained by the blood of Christ,211 and worked in us by God Himself,212 yet not so as to diminish, but only to empower and encourage, our vigilance;213 so that we may say in the end, I have fought the good fight,214 but it was not I, but the grace of God which was with me.215

11.

Living God’s Word by Meditation and Prayer

11.1 We believe that faith is awakened and sustained by God’s Spirit216 through His Word217 and prayer.218