Lexington Baptist Church

Church Covenant

We, the members of Lexington Baptist Church, do in the name of Jesus Christ voluntarily give ourselves to the Lord and to each other according to the word of God, to be one body. Under one head jointly to exist and act by the rules of the gospel and so do promise and engage to do all things by divine instructions in our different capacities and relations that the Lord has commanded and required of us, namely-deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Christ, keep the faith, assembly ourselves together for prayer, fill our seats at church meetings, attend the appointments for preaching and we further covenant that we will avoid everything that tends to cool love and make disagreeable impressions, namely-talking, backbiting, evil speaking, whisperings and surmisings, and that we will not indulge in evil and suspicious thoughts one towards another and not speak hurtfully of one another but in every case of grievance we will immediately approach one another in the spirit of brotherly love in accordance with the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and make known our grievance and thus seek a reconciliation one with another, bear with one another in love and meekness and strive to promote love and harmony, to advance one another in spiritual knowledge and edification, watch over for good and admonish one another when circumstances require it, but in love and tenderness, exhort and stir up one another to a diligent attendance on the means of Grace and Zeal in holy living and in supporting the Gospel, and finally to honor our Pastor called to preside over us in the Lord and to give what each one may be able to his support, that he may devote his time and talent to his calling, this is the covenant unto which we solemnly enter in the fear of the Lord, humbly imploring his assistance and blessings that we may be built up in the fear of God and the advancement of the Redeemer’s interest and the edification and comfort of ourselves.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the present of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Jude 24, 25

Articles of Faith

The Bible
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God breathed.

The Godhead
We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Co-eternal in being, Co-identical in being, Co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.

The Person and Work of Christ
1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men.
2. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical bodily resurrection from the dead.
3. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven bodily, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor and our Advocate.
4. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth again, visibly, bodily, and literally, as the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS: that His return is imminent; that at the time of His appearing in the clouds the saints, both dead and living, will be caught up to meet Him in the air, and that at a subsequent time He will return to this earth to establish His Kingdom and will rule and reign over the earth.

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
1. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.
2. We believe that He is the divine person who guides believers into all truth and life; and that it is the privilege and duty of all saved people to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that through a
Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved, and of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.

Salvation
1. We believe that salvation is the free gift of God brought to man through grace and received by man through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and that it can in no wise be merited, or earned in part or whole, by human effort; that it was earned for us by the shed blood of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice and payment for our sins.
2. We believe that only those who truly repent of their sins can and will have true saving faith in Christ. That this repentance is a sacred duty brought about in the heart by the Holy Spirit as He shows man his sinful and helpless condition, that it involves a genuine sorrow for sin and a determination to forsake sin; and that it is a change of mind about God, sin and self in which the individual truly turns to Christ from his sins and believes savingly in Him.

The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
We believe that all of the redeemed, once having been saved, are kept saved by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever; and that they are assured of such by the teachings of the Bible that salvation is eternal.

The Believer’s Two Natures
We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural and therefore false.

Separation
We believe that all of the save should and will live a life in which there is manifested a measure of holiness which brings glory and honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that separation unto the Lord from all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations and from all religious apostasy is commanded of God.

Satan
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man; and that he is the open and declared enemy of God and of the soul of man, and that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire.

The Eternal State
1. We believe that in the bodily resurrection from the dead of all men; the saved to life eternal and
happiness with God; and unsaved to judgment and eternal punishment.
2. We believe that the souls of the redeemed are at death, “absent from the body and present with the
Lord,” where in conscious bliss they await the resurrection of the just, where soul, spirit and body
will be reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord.
3. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the
resurrection of the unjust, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White
Throne of Judgment, and shall be case into the lake of fire, to suffer everlasting conscious
punishment.

The Church
1. We believe that the Church is the body of Christ and is composed of all those who have true saving faith in Christ; and that when this body is complete and finally assembled it will be a visible body.
2. We believe that the presently visible manifestation of His body called the Church or assembly, is a group of true believers who have been immersed on a credible profession of faith, having New Testament officers, perpetuating the ordinances, independent in policy, voluntarily banded together for worship, work and the world wide propagation of the gospel.

The Baptists
We believe that Baptists originated, no in the reformation, not in the dark ages, nor in any century after the Apostles; that no personality this side of Jesus Christ is a satisfactory explanation for their origin; and that Baptist principles are as old as Christianity; and that the likeness in doctrine and practice of Baptist Churches to the Churches in the days of the Apostles constitute them Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.