Here at Ballymena Gospel Hall we believe that God has made Himself known in the Bible. All our beliefs are solidly based on the Word of God. The Bible tells us about the creation of the universe and the origin of life. The world, as it came from the hand of God, was a good and perfect world. Today, because of Adam’s sin, we live in a fallen world. God sent His Son down from heaven into the world to die for our sins and rise again the third day. The gospel is a free offer of pardon and salvation to all men everywhere, offered purely on the ground of grace and received on the principle of faith alone. Gospel witness is one of the key activities of our assembly. Those who put their faith in Christ for salvation, along with every other saved person, become members of the church which is His body. We await the coming of the Lord Jesus to the air to rapture His church out of the world.
Set out below are some of our core truths, with brief explanations and scripture references from the Bible.
The Bible consists of 66 books, written by about forty different authors over a period of about 1500 years. It is the inspired, authoritative and inerrant word of God. The Bible traces the great themes of creation, redemption and glorification. We base all our doctrine and practice on the Bible alone. The central theme of the Bible is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works"
2 Tim 3:16-17
The Bible teaches us that God is personal, infinite and triune; one God in three persons, viz. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He exists from eternity to eternity, with no beginning and no end. He is the Creator of all things including space, time, energy, and life. His character is described as loving, righteous, holy, good, faithful, longsuffering, merciful and gracious. God controls history and has committed all judgement to the Son.
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God"
Psalm 90:2
God is the Creator of all things, including space, time, energy and life. The Bible does not teach about a Big Bang billions of years ago followed by slow gradual evolution of life. The Bible teaches a special creation which took place over six days. We learn from the New Testament that the Son was the agency in creation.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"
Genesis 1:1
Adam was created on the sixth day of the creation week. God created man in His own image and man became a conscious, thinking being whom God could bless and with whom He could fellowship. Human life began when God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them"
Genesis 1:26-27
The world as it originally came from the hand of God was a perfect world. Today, however, we observe a dysfunctional world full of suffering and evil. What went wrong? God gave Adam the stewardship over the Garden of Eden, but he rebelled and ate of the forbidden tree. At that moment Adam became a sinner and died to God spiritually. This sin affected all of his descendants down to the present day. Today we live in a ruined and fallen world. Man’s greatest need is the forgiveness of sins.
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"
Genesis 2:17
The Father sent the Son down from heaven to become the Saviour of the world. The babe born in Bethlehem was Jesus, the Son of God. He was God manifest in flesh. The incarnation is a foundational truth of Christianity. The Son of God is again in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, but with a difference. He has returned to heaven as a man.
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law"
Galatians 4:4
It was on Calvary’s cross where the whole problem of sin was dealt with once and for all. The Lord Jesus died on the cross and made provision for all men. Because of the finished work of Calvary, God is dealing with the whole world in grace. The work of Christ can be appropriated personally. I, as a sinner, can look to the Saviour and rest in the great truth that He died for me.
"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left"
Luke 23:23
The body of the Lord Jesus lay in a sealed tomb for three days and three nights. On the third day God raised Him from the dead. The risen Lord appeared to many of His disciples during the next forty days. In the gospel we proclaim to the world a risen, exalted Saviour at God’s right hand who is mighty to save. The resurrection of Christ is the defining truth of Christianity, proving that God is satisfied with what was accomplished on the cross. The resurrection proves to the world that the gospel is a real, living and powerful message, unlike any other. “Now is Christ risen” 1 Cor 15:20
"And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay"
Matthew 28:5-6
Salvation from the penalty and power of sin is freely offered to all in the gospel. The person who puts their faith in Christ as Saviour receives the forgiveness of sins and becomes a child in the family of God. Their name is written in heaven and they have eternal life.
"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"
John 3:16
Every person ever born shall spend eternity in one of two places, heaven or hell. It is a matter of the utmost urgency to make sure that we will be in heaven at the end of life. For the Christian, eternity will be the ever deepening and joyful experience of knowing, loving, serving and praising God. For the Christ-rejecter, eternity will be a never ending experience of remorse, torment and eternal regret.
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him"
John 3:36
A Reliable, Reassuring and Relevant Message
The Gospel is a reliable, reassuring and relevant message for you in 2022!
The Bible says… ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief’. This is the Gospel in a nutshell!
1 Timothy 1 v 15
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven
To possess salvation is the greatest of blessings - words could never express how wonderful it is to know Christ. Watch this short video to find out more of how you too can come to know Christ as your saviour.
The Bible says… ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.’
Psalm 32v1
Why are we here?
Does human life have any purpose? The atheist will tell us that life has evolved by random processes, without purpose or design. According to this view, there is no ultimate meaning, judgement or reward. Pleasure becomes the goal of life for people who don’t know why they’re here.
When we turn to the Bible, we discover that God has created all things for Himself and that there is indeed purpose, design and meaning in creation. The first verse in Genesis tells us: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Man has not been created to live a self-centred life, but to enjoy the goodness and kindness of God. More than that, man has been created for fellowship with God, to enjoy Him, to serve Him and to love Him. To miss this fellowship with God our Creator is to miss the meaning of life.
What has gone wrong?
If a good and holy God created the world, why do we experience so much suffering and evil? What has gone wrong with the world? This is an important question and there is a Bible answer to the problem. When God created the world, He did not create a suffering world, but a perfect world. God’s own evaluation of His original creation is recorded in Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
Suffering and evil came into the world because of man’s rebellion against God. The Bible word for man’s rebellion is sin. When Adam disobeyed God, he became a sinner under sentence of death. At that moment he died to God and became alienated from Him. So the world as we know it today is not the perfect world that came from the hand of God, but is a fallen world. Paul explains: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12).
Sadly, every descendant of Adam has been affected by Adam’s sin. In legal terms, the whole world has been declared guilty. This raises a most important question: If I am a guilty sinner, can I be forgiven? How can I be reconciled to God? How can I be saved from perishing in my sins?
To whom shall we turn?
The wonderful answer to these questions is that God has provided deliverance in His Son. The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross was not an accident, but was God’s own answer to the problem of sin. More specifically, the cross of Christ was God’s provision for you! The Bible says: “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” (John 3:16).
When Christ died on the cross, He died for our sins so that we might be forgiven. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ is God’s means of salvation for the sinner. It is a finished and completed work to which we can add absolutely nothing. The moment we turn to Christ in faith, our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God. We are born into God’s family to enjoy Him, to serve Him and to love Him. More than that, we will never perish but will have eternal life. Have you trusted Christ as your Saviour? It is only then that we discover why we are here!
