Confessions of a True

Disciple of Jesus Christ

  

Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save

both yourself and those who hear you.  I Timothy 4:16   

    

The Bible clearly defines the experiential and doctrinal characteristics of a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ.  The following confession is the pure Bible truth concerning the actual experience and doctrine of all true followers of Jesus Christ.  

 

  CONFESSION OF FOUNDATIONAL EXPERIENCE

TESTIFIED TO IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

  

I.  I have experienced the new birth in Christ through Faith   

 

a.  I have been made a new creation in Christ, all things being made new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

b.  The Spirit of God witnesses with my spirit that I am a child of His. (Romans 8:16)

c.  I have become a partaker of the Divine nature of God. (2 Peter 1:4)

d.  I have been adopted by God and accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:5-6)

e.  Christ has become my righteousness, sanctification and redemption. (I Corinthians 1:30-31)

 

II.  I am completely surrendered to God

  

a.  I am crucified with Christ yet I live, yet not I but it is Christ living through me.  (Galatians 2:20)

b.  I have lost my life for the sake of Christ and have thereby found it. (Mathew 16:25)

c.  I deny myself and take up my cross daily to follow Christ (Luke 9:23)

d.  In following Christ I am content with food, raiment and godliness.  (Luke 9:58, I Timothy 6:8)

e.  I no longer live for myself but for Christ who gave Himself for me. (II Corinthians 5:15)

  

III.  I am not continuing in any willful sin

  

a.  I walk after the Spirit of God and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  (Galatians 5:16)

b.  I will not cling to nor will I set any wicked thing before my eyes.  (Psalms 101:3)

c.  I abide in the Lord Jesus Christ and am not committing sin.  (I John 3:6,9)

d.  I have crucified and no longer follow my flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)   

 

IV.  I am separate from the world

  

a.  I have broken the yoke and have come out from among sinners.  (II Corinthians 6:17)

b.  My family is now those who hear the Word of God and obey it. (Luke 8:21)

c.  The only people I accept as friends are those who obey God. (John 15:14, James 4:4)

d.  I do not love nor do I follow the ways of this ungodly world (I John 2:15)

  

V.  I am fervently devoted to the work of God

  

a.  I am not slothful in business but I am fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. (Romans 12:11)

b.  Whatever I do in life I do knowing that it will bring God the most glory. (I Corinthians 10:31)

c.  I delight in the word of God and meditate on it day and night.  (Psalms 1:2)

d.  I pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit for God's work. (Ephesians 6:18)

e.  My satisfaction and joy in life comes from doing the will of the Father. (John 4:34)

  

VI.  I accept all of God's true children on God's terms

  

a.  I receive all true brethren just as Jesus Christ has received me. (Romans 15:7)

b.  I do not receive weak brethren in order to dispute with them but to help them.  (Romans 14:1)

c.  I do not identify with any man made sect but only as the Lord Jesus Christ's.  ( I Corinthians 1:12)

d.  I receive all brethren regardless of their stance on non-foundational issues. (Romans Ch. 14)

  

VII.  I am committed to remaining in this state of righteousness

  

a.  I labor that whether present or absent I may be found accepted of Him. (II Corinthians 5:9)

c.  I work out my salvation at all times with fear and trembling.  (Philippians 2:12)

c.  I labor diligently to be found of Him in peace without spot and blameless.  (2 Peter 3:14)  

d.  I beat my body and keep it under subjection lest I become a shame to Christ.  (I Corinthians 9:27)

e.  If, God forbid, I ever sin, I will confess and forsake it immediately.  (I John 2:1, 1:9, Proverbs 28:13)

 

  

CONFESSION OF ADHERENCE TO FOUNDATIONAL

DOCTRINES OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

    

I.  I believe in the true nature of sin

  

a.  I believe that all mankind has chosen, of their own free will, to worship and serve the creature rather than God the creator and thereby sinned against Him.  (Genesis 6:12, Romans 1:20-21,25)

b.  I believe that sin is transgression of know laws, omittance of known commands, and a choosing of the things that do not please the Lord.  (I John 3:4, James 4:17, Isaiah 56:4)

c. I believe that all sin results in spiritual death and that being found in a state of willful sin at death or at the coming of Christ will result in condemnation.  (Ezekiel 18:24, I Corinthians 11:32, 1 John 3:6, 2:28)

d.  I believe that sin is not imputed to us unless we knowingly willfully commit it. (Romans 4:15, 5:13, John 9:41)

  

II.  I believe in true practical righteousness

  

a.  I believe that a righteous state before God in regard to my past sins cannot be obtained through works but only through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ.  (Titus 3:3-5)

b.  I believe that godly sorrow, genuine repentance, confessing, and forsaking all known sin are mandatory conditions one must meet 'before' they can find mercy and justification by faith in Christ. (Isaiah 55:7, James 1:21, Proverbs 28:13)

c.  I believe that righteousness is not merely a list of do's and don'ts but is abiding in a state where everything one does is done in the name of Jesus and to the glory of God.  (I Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17)

d.  I believe this righteousness is of God, that it is He who has drawn us to Himself, it is His 'Grace' that teaches us to say no to ungodliness, and it is through faith in Christ that we die to sin. (John 6:44, Titus 2:11-12, Romans 6:6)

  

III.  I believe in the Judgment of all men

  

a.  I believe in the future judgment of all men.  That all men will be judged in the last day by both their words and works.  What they have and have not done. (2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelations 22:12, Mathew 12:36) 

b.  I believe all who die sinners, shall be destroyed with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and shall never rise again.  This punishment is everlasting and irreversible.  (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, Mathew 25:41)

c.  I believe that all who 'by faith' rely on Jesus Christ for the remission of past sins, repent, turn from all willful sin, and make covenant with God through baptism shall be saved.  (Rom 3:25, Proverbs 28:13, Mark 16:16)

d.  I believe all who endure steadfast in this state of righteousness by faith shall be given right to eat of the tree of life and dwell forever with God and Jesus Christ. (James 1:12, Matthew 10:22, Revelation 2:7, 22:14)

 

IV.  I believe in God, Jesus, Atonement, & Regeneration

  

a.  I believe in God the creator of the heavens and the earth and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  (Hebrews 11:6)

b.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary.  (Mathew 16:15-16, Mathew 1:20, Isaiah 7:14)

c.  I believe that Jesus Christ was put to death by crucifixion and then rose from the dead.  That this death was provided for us by the Father as an atonement for our past sins. (I Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 3:25)

d.  I believe in the new birth or regeneration by the Spirit of God.  That through faith in Christ we receive a Divine nature by which we escape all the corruption that is in the world.  (Titus 3:5-6, I Peter 1:4)