Bible Belt Ministry

Our church assembles in a rural area on the outskirts of a military base—Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Our community is in the Bible belt, where Christianity is practiced nominally by numerous professing believers. Many have come to church, listened to a sermon, repeated a prayer during an altar call, and have left unchanged. Sadly, there is no understanding of God, sin, the gospel, repentance, or faith. Yet, many are persuaded they are believers because of the altar call prayer, their baptism certificate, or some other reason than Christ alone.

 The Creator and Creation

From the beginning of the Scriptures, we learn that God is the creator (Gen. 1:1). In the beginning, it pleased God to create all things, whether visible or invisible. This implies that the creator has complete dominion over that which he has created. “After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls.” (2LBC 4:2). God created man upright and sinless. Then God offered Adam, the first human, a perfect life if he did not violate God’s single commandment, but God warned that death would follow if he disobeyed that commandment.

The Fall

The Bible teaches that Adam is a federal head, representing all of mankind (Rom. 5:12-21). The single commandment required of man was abstaining from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17). Both Adam and his wife failed to obey God’s commandment (Gen. 3:6). “Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them, whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.” (2LBC 6:2). As the representative of humanity, Adam sinned—therefore, all of humanity has sinned in Adam.

Sin

J.C. Ryle describes sin as “doing, saying, thinking, or imagining, anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.”^[1] Sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 Jn. 3:4). As we learned from our previous heading, all of humanity has sinned in Adam. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Sin is an abominable thing that God hates (Jer. 44:4). The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). The soul who sins shall die (Ezek. 18:4). Sin is punishable by eternal separation from God; Indeed, nothing unclean (sinful) will enter heaven (Rev. 21:27). Additionally, “Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation.” (2LBC 9:3). No one seeks after God (Rom. 3:11). The mind that is in the flesh is hostile to God (Rom. 8:7). Sinners are spiritually dead by nature (Eph. 2:1). Humans are corrupted by the plague of sin and are unable to save themselves.

The Gospel

The Gospel is the good news about what God has done in and through Jesus Christ to reconcile sinners to himself. God the Father sent his Son (Jn. 3:16, Rm. 8:32) into the world to die as a substitute on behalf of sinners (2 Cor. 5:21). Whereas humans have received the corruption of sin from conception (Ps. 51:5), Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took upon human flesh (Phil. 2:7), being conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20) and bypassed the inheritance of sin. Jesus lived a completely sinless and holy life (1 Pt. 2:22, Heb. 4:15, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Jn. 3:5). Whereas the human race transgresses God’s law, Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father (Phil. 2:8, Rm. 5:19). Jesus paid for the penalty of sin on the cross by his death (1 Cor. 15:3, Jn. 1:29, Gal. 1:4, 1 Pt. 2:24), satisfying the demands of divine justice and wrath (Rm. 3:25-26). Through Jesus’ substitutionary death, sinners are reconciled to God by faith (Col. 1:20, 2:13-14, Rm. 5:1-2, Gal. 4:4-7, 1 Pt. 3:18). Jesus’ sacrifice is the one and only way of salvation (Jn. 14:6, Acts. 4:12, Mat. 7:14).

Faith and Repentance

When Jesus arrived in Galilee, he preached that the kingdom of God is at hand and that sinners must repent and believe in the gospel (Mk. 1:15). Repentance is a godly sorrow of one’s sinful acts against God (2 Cor. 7:10), whereby the sinner changes their mind about God and their sin. Instead of hating God and loving sin, the sinner repents and loves God and hates sin. When someone repents, they turn from their sinful life and turns towards God. Sinners are commanded to repent and be converted (Acts 3:19, 17:30, Lk. 13:3). The second part of Jesus’ command in Mark 1:15 is to believe in the gospel. It is by faith in the Gospel that we receive God’s grace (Eph. 2:8). It is by faith in the gospel that we are justified by God (Rm. 5:1). It is by faith in the gospel that we receive the righteousness of God (Phil. 3:9). Benjamin Keach describes faith as “a hand to take hold of, or receive, or apply Christ and his Righteousness.”[2] For someone to become a Christian, they must have saving faith in Jesus. Faith implies repentance, and repentance implies faith. One cannot exist without the other.

Concluding Exhortations

Sadly, Bible belt religion teaches (or practices) that salvation comes by raising your hand during an altar call, by repeating a ritualistic prayer devoid of the gospel, or by being raised in the church. Biblical salvation requires saving faith in Christ and godly repentance. Do you understand the gospel? Have you placed your trust in it? Consider the wages of sin. Consider your inability to save yourself. Consider Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus is the door by which you must come through (Jn. 10:9). He is the only way to the Father (Jn. 14:6). Believe in him and be saved!

^[1]J. C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (London: William Hunt and Company, 1889), 2.

[2] Benjamin Keach, The Marrow of True Justification (London: Dorman Newman, 1692), 6.