United

United in Belief

The Apostle Paul says that the purpose of good teaching & preaching is “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we come to the unity of the faith & of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).

Believing that sound doctrine unifies, our desire at LBF is to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). At the heart of laboring fervently for the faith is making sure that Jesus Christ & His Cross are central to our declarative ministries. “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ & Him crucified. We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (I Corinthians 2:2; II Corinthians 4:5).

To that end, we stand united in belief in these essentials of a Jesus Christ, Cross-centered gospel:

Salvation Is For God’s Glory – “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of God who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:11).

Salvation Is All Of Sovereign Grace – “Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy & without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).

Jesus Christ, Fully God & Fully Man – “God, who at various times & in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory & the expressed image of His Person & upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Jesus Christ Is Our Substitute For Sin – “The LORD God says, ‘Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. The wages of sin is death. The LORD has laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. It pleased the LORD to bruise Christ; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, Christ shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days & the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul & be satisfied. Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed” (Ezekiel 18; Romans 6:23; Isaiah 53:6, 10-11; I Peter 2:24).

In Jesus Christ We Are Justified By Faith – “To him who does not work but believes on God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Being justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just & the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 4:5; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:24-26).

In Jesus Christ We Are Redeemed & Forgiven – “In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin. Not with the blood of goats of calves, but with His own blood Christ entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. You, being dead in your trespasses & the uncircumcision of your flesh, God has made alive together with Christ, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And God has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:12; Colossians 2:13-14).

In Jesus Christ We Are Reconciled – “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. For it pleased the Father that in Christ all the fullness should dwell & by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Romans 5:10; II Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 1:19-20).

In Jesus Christ God’s Wrath Against Sin Is Fully Satisfied – “Being justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as propitiation by His blood. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us & sent His Son to be the propitiation for out sins” (Romans 3:24-25; Galatians 3:13; I John 4:10).

In Jesus Christ God’s Love Is Manifested To Sinners – “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal live” (Romans 5:8; John 3:16).

Jesus Christ’s Resurrection Is Proof Salvation Has Been Fully Accomplished – “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures & that He was buried & that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. When Christ had purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory & honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. Christ has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an indestructible life. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever & ever. Amen” (I Corinthians 15:3-4; Hebrews 1:3; 2:9; 7:16; 13:20-21).