We believe that our responsibility at Berean Community Church is the exaltation of Jesus Christ, the evangelism of the lost, and the edification of the believer. This takes place through the proclamation and application of the gospel, the “good news” of the redemption that can be found in Christ Jesus. The gospel involves four key elements:

God is the Triune Creator and Ruler of the universe (Gen 1:1). As such, He made all things for the purpose of displaying His glory (Rom 11:36). In His character, He is perfectly holy (Isa 6:3), meaning that He alone is the standard of what is right. God is all-powerful, doing according to all His holy will (Eph 1:11), and He is all-knowing (Heb 4:13; Ps 139:7-12). God is also perfectly just, meaning that He cannot ignore any violation of His holy law (Hab 1:13; Rev 21:8). 

Man was created by God to serve as His image-bearer; the one created being who best displayed what God is like (Gen 1:27). Sadly, man disobeyed God’s command, as Adam ate the forbidden fruit, became a sinner, and plunged humanity into sin, death, and separation from God (Gen 3:1-19). Rather than displaying God, man became consumed with self-exaltation, choosing to live life to the glory of self rather than displaying the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Instead of worshiping God, man chose to worship the creation, resulting in the expression of every form of sin and rebellion against God (Rom 1:18-32).

In Adam, all humanity was corrupted, such that all are sinners by nature (Eph 2:1-3) and stand deserving of the eternal, righteous wrath of God. Nothing that man could do would deliver him from condemnation from God. We had no hope (Eph 2:1-3).

In man’s hopeless state, Jesus Christ brought reconciliation with God. Jesus is the fullness of God in bodily form (Col 2:9), both fully God and fully man. In obedience to the Father, the eternal Son of God took upon Himself humanity and was made as a man in the incarnation (Phil 2:6-7), being born of the virgin Mary (Matt 1:21-25). 

In this state, Jesus Christ did what we could not. He lived an absolutely sinless life that was perfectly pleasing to the Father (John 8:29; Heb 4:15), and then He voluntarily died on a cross, being made a curse for us (Gal 3:13), and taking upon Himself the punishment for every sin on behalf of all who put their trust in Him (I Peter 2:24). In doing this, Christ took the wrath of the Father that was rightly due to us, even as He had done no wrong. 

After His death, Jesus was buried in a tomb. But because His sacrifice was perfectly made, on the third day Jesus rose from the grave, triumphant over sin, death, and the devil (Rom 4:25; I Cor 15:3-4). He then ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father, preparing a place for His people (John 14:1-3). 

Because of man’s sin, all are commanded to repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus as their only hope for salvation (John 14:6; Acts 3:19). Those who do will find their sins forgiven, their guilt removed, and their hearts made new by His grace, rather than their own works (Eph 2:4-9; Acts 2:38). 

If they do not, they will, in the end, be judged by God and will spend eternity separated from His goodness in the Lake of Fire (Rev 21:8). Thus every person must turn to Christ in faith and repentance if he is to be saved. But to all who come to Christ, they will find His forgiveness and pardon (John 6:37-40).

If a person is genuinely converted and united to Christ as a believer in Him, that person will be marked by a newness of life that will persist and develop throughout his life (II Peter 1:3-11). This will involve the following for every believer (even though imperfectly):

The genuine believer will have a genuine desire for righteousness. Even as he continues to battle sin in his own life, the believer cannot be comfortable continuing in sin (I John 1:6), driving him to repentance, change, and greater Christlikeness (I John 1:9). Righteousness, even when difficult, is what the believer desires to display, because he hates sin because of the Holy Spirit who indwells him.

The genuine believer will have a love for truth, as objectively revealed in the pages of Scripture (I John 4:1-3). The believer must submit himself to the clear teaching of Scripture, testing all ideas against God’s Word, and discarding those which are not consistent with God’s definition of reality (II Cor 10:3-6). 

In essence, the one who receives the gospel and is truly regenerate has the Holy Spirit of God indwelling him (Rom 8:9), compelling him to increase in his conformity to Christ in his behavior, thoughts, and desires (Rom 12:1-2). As he beholds Christ’s glory in Scripture, he is transformed by that glory into the same image (II Cor 3:18). The person who professes to believe the gospel, but who has no transformation in his heart and life, has no expectation of eternal life (Matt 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49).