This is the oldest Baptist confession of faith in the new world

Principles of Faith of the Sandy Creek Association 1816 

1. We believe that there is only one true and living God; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. equal in essence, power and glory; and yet there are not three Gods but one God.

2. That Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God, and only rule of faith and practice.

3. That Adam fell from his original state of purity, and that his sin is imputed to his posterity; that human nature is corrupt, and that man, of his own free will and ability, is impotent to regain the state in which he was primarily placed.

4. We believe in election from eternity, effectual calling by the Holy Spirit, and justification in his sight only by imputation of Christ righteousness. And we believe that they who are thus elected, effectually called, and justified, will perservere through grace to the end, that none of them be lost.

5. We believe that there will be a resurrection from the dead, and a general judgment, and that the happiness of the righteous and punishment of the wicked will be eternal.

6. The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful persons, who have obtained fellowship with each other, and have given themselves up to the Lord and one another; having agreed to keep up a godly discipline, according to the rules of the Gospel.

7. That Jesus Christ is the great head of the church and that the government thereof is with the body.

8. That baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of the Lord, and to be continued by his church until his second coming.

9. That true believers are the only fit subjects of baptism; and that immersion is the only mode.

10. That the church has no right to admit any but regular baptized church members to communion at the Lord's table.

Seventeenth century Puritan Thomas Goodwin............

A man's communion and converse is ... sometimes with the Father, then

with the Son, and then with the Holy Ghost; sometimes his heart is drawn

out to consider the Father's love in choosing, and then the love of Christ

in redeeming, and so the love of the Holy Ghost, that searcheth the deep

things of God, and revealeth them to us, and taketh all the pains with us;

and so a man goes from one witness to another distinctly. [Assurance] is not a knowledge by way of argument or deduction, whereby we infer that if one Ioveth me then the other loveth me, but it is intuitively, as I may so express it,and we should never be satisfied till all three persons lie level in us, and all make their abode with us, and we sit as it were in the midst of them, while they all manifest their love unto us.

The Power Of God

“The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite wisdom may direct, whatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve...As holiness is the beauty of all God’s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the divine nature. How vain would be the eternal counsels, if power did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity, His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a mere scarecrow. God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature (Stephen Charnock).”

“God’s power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the Omnipotent One. He sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting arm. His court is not maintained by His courtiers, not does it borrow its splendor from His creatures. He is Himself the great central source and Originator of all power (C.H. Spurgeon).”

Excerpt From: Arthur W. Pink. “The Attributes of God.”  

 'Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales....... 

In his book "So, You Want To Be Like Christ?" Charles R. Swindoll points out that even when the wind is out of the south, an experienced sailor can sail north, east, west, or even south directly into the wind. By setting his sails and using the rudder in the proper manner he can sail wherever he pleases. When adversity strikes us and tries to hinder our direction, we need to be sure that Christ has set of our sails and we need to allow Him to help us use our rudder correctly to achieve the direction He wants us to go.

"One ship drives east and another drives west by the same winds that blow. 'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales that determines the way they go."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Ark of Salvation

 By David Choate

One of the first Bible stories that I can remember hearing at a young age was the story of Noah’s ark. I can also remember when my boys were young, they had been to Sunday school and in class they had colored a picture of an ark with a rainbow over the ark and in the foreground were Noah and the animals. In recent days, Hollywood has even made a movie about the ark and the flood. I feel that it is important for us as believer’s not to build our understanding of God’s Word upon crayon drawings or Hollywood movies. We need to build our understanding of God’s Word based upon our reading and study of God’s Word. We each need to sit under the authority of a pastor that correctly teaches the Word of God.

The story of Noah and the flood can be found in Genesis chapters 6 ~ 9. I encourage everyone to find time this week to read that scripture. Many sermons have been delivered and books written on this scripture. There is no way that I could do justice to this entire section of scripture in this brief article but there are a few points that I want us to consider.

The first point can be found in verse 1 of chapter 7,                                                                                     “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” 

As I studied the passage the thing that stood out to me was “Come thou ....into the ark.” God was not telling Noah and his family to “Go” but to “Come”. If I wanted to meet you, I would not say, “Go and see me.” I would say, “Come and see me.” I would be asking you to come where I am. When God told Noah and his family to come into the ark. God was in the ark. God was asking Noah to come where He was!

The second point is found in verse 16 of chapter 7, 

“And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” 

Did you catch that? After Noah and his family went into the ark, the Lord closed the door. Noah and his family were safely secured inside of the ark. Although there was destruction all around, the ones inside of the ark were with God Himself and they were safe and secure. I believe that during this journey there were times in which the ones inside of the ark may have slipped and fell down inside of the ark, but praise God they never fell out of the ark! God securely had them in His presence.  How wonderful it must have been to have the safety and security of the ark when all around all life was perishing. Noah’s safety and security was not based on Noah’s strength or intelligence, but upon the strength and power of the one true God. What if when the ark had been completed God told Noah to drill 2 holes into the side of the ark for him and each of his family members? Then take wooden pegs and insert into each of those holes and when the rains come reach up and grab onto those pegs and “IF” they can hold on until the end they would be safe. As the rains begin, Noah kisses his wife and tells her he loves her as they grab onto the wooden pegs just hoping to survive! Of course that is not how it happened. As we have already seen in the text, God brought Noah and his family into the ark and safely secured them for the journey.

There are some in our society that would like for us to believe that scripture concerning creation and the flood is nothing more than a story. We must understand that what scripture is revealing to us in these chapters really happened. Although this is a true historical account, it is also much more than that. This is an example of Old Testament scripture that is pointing to the coming of Christ our Lord. Just as God prepared the ark as a vessel of deliverance for those that were righteous in His sight, God has prepared a source of deliverance for us today. The Bible tells us in the 3rd chapter of John in verse 16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God told Noah that a great flood was coming and that the world would be destroyed. For 120 years Noah built the ark, but the entire time that he was building the ark he was also preaching to all that would hear about the upcoming destruction. Noah and his family trusted in The Lord and they were all spared. But many heard Noah’s message from God and failed to act. When the door of the ark was closed and rains began to come it was too late, they perished. 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and willingly gave His life on Calvary’s cross for you and me. He was buried in a borrowed tomb and on the third day He arose victorious over death, hell, and the grave. Through Jesus Christ a vessel of salvation has been provided for us. In closing, I just want to leave you with a couple of verses, for the Word of God can always say it better than I can.  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

(Romans 10:9)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Sovereign Grace.............

When I consider David’s actions toward Mephibosheth in Second Samuel, I see a study in sovereign grace theology.  We can perhaps use this to better understand God’s gracious hand in our lives.

(1)    David was looking to show mercy to Saul’s family for Jonathan’s sake and for no other reason except it pleased him to do so.  He chose Mephibosheth, and it should be noted that Saul had sons and other relatives who were still alive at this time. 2 Samuel 21:7  This is an example of particular or limited atonement.

(2)   David chose Mephibosheth when even Mephibosheth considered himself to be a “dead dog” of no value.  2 Samuel 9:8  Radical corruption or total depravity best describes this verse.

(3)   David chose Mephibosheth even though Mephibosheth could do nothing for David.  Mephibosheth was on the receiving end of all of David’s blessings. 2 Samuel 4:4  A very good example of sovereign election or unconditional election.

(4)   David sent for Mephibosheth “to bring him out”, not to ask him to come.  2 Samuel 9:5  Effectual grace or irresistible grace can be applied here.

(5)   Even though Mephibosheth sinned against David, he was never cast out.  He was punished but he was allowed to eat at the king’s table.  He was also spared when the Gibeonites required that seven of Saul’s descendants be hanged.  2 Samuel 21:7  Preservation of the saints or perseverance of the saints seems to be the theme here.

I am sure that other important thoughts can be said about this subject but these are the things that seemed to stick out at me. 

Time Travel
A few days ago I was thinking about time travel. What a silly thing to think about, but nonetheless that’s what I was pondering. I thought about all the great events in history that I could go back to see. It really would be interesting to say the least. I’m sure everyone can think of events that they might want to observe. It would be great to go back in time and witness first hand God’s work upon this earth and His people, the parting of the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho, God’s people entering the promised land. There are numerous biblical and spiritual times that one might wish to see. I thought perhaps I would want to be there at our Savior’s crucifixion, but no, I could not stand to see His precious blood spilled for sinful mankind knowing what it means to those of us who are redeemed by that Holy blood, to see our sins imputed to Him, to see the suffering, and to see His death. I am truly thankful for the price He paid for me but I really wouldn’t want to observe it. One of the times that I would truly like to visit is London the 1800’s and hear the voice of Charles Haddon Spurgeon as he delivered one of his marvelous sermons on “The Doctrine of Grace”. It would be wonderful to feel the power of God as the Holy Spirit worked God’s effectual Grace in the lives of the Londoners of that time. It is said that hundreds of people experienced God’s Grace at these meetings. Perhaps I would like to eavesdrop on the learned men who wrote “The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith” which for many years was one of the centerpieces of our Baptist faith. Sadly, no one knows much about it now as our ministers and Southern Baptist leaders have turned to a lesser and ill-conceived confession. None of these times can even come close to what I would really like to be a witness to in the past. What a joy it would be to travel back in time before the foundation of the world and to hear God the Father as He said to the Son “Behold Mike Choate, He is one of Yours because I give him to You”. Then the Son said “Father, I thank you for Mike Choate and I know that he will come to Me because You will draw him, and I will in no wise cast him out”. Joy beyond compare! I can only say “Who am I that Thou art mindful of me”.

Romans 8:28-30 (New King James Version) 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

John 6:37 (New King James Version) 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

John 17:24 (New King James Version) 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world