“Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:9
The formal principle of the Protestant Reformation was the belief that Scriptures alone are the final authority for all faith and practice. The Bible tells us what we are to believe about God and what duty he requires of us. It is God’s complete and final revelation to us; therefore, we must not add to it or subtract from it. We believe that the Bible is sufficient to “thoroughly equip” us for every good work.
However, we live in a day of doctrinal vagueness and confusion, so we need to be clear about what we believe the Bible teaches. Therefore, we are a confessional church, i.e., we have a written confession of faith that clearly states what we believe the Scriptures teach. We fully subscribe to the historic Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. We do not hold our Confession as equal to or above the Scriptures but as an accurate expression of the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures. As such, it is a great help in our faith, both as assistance in controversy and as an instrument of edification and instruction.
One particular doctrine we believe is that God is absolutely sovereign over all things. “He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?"” (Daniel 4:35). We believe that He is also sovereign in the salvation of men. The Bible teaches that man, because of sin, stands guilty and condemned before God’s Law; he has a corrupt heart and is alienated from God; and, worst of all, he can do nothing to save himself from God’s wrath or to reconcile him with God.
The good news of the Gospel is that God alone has undertaken to do all that is necessary to deliver man from his awful condition. The Triune God plans, accomplishes and applies redemption. God the Father unconditionally elects, Jesus Christ, the Son God, redeems by his atoning death, and the Holy Spirit effectually calls and enables sinners to come to Christ. Salvation, from beginning to end, is “of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9), therefore God receives all of the glory. Man receives none.