Hesed is a conservative, baptistic fellowship that is Reformed in its views of salvation and sanctification.
We believe that God alone is God, but God is not alone. By this, we mean that we believe that God is the Holy Trinity–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each are distinct persons, yet they are of the same essence. It is diversity in perfect union. Each member of the Trinity is fully God, and each are fulfilling their perfect roles in eternal communion.
We believe that God the Son became man by being born of the virgin Mary and lived a life of perfect union with His heavenly Father–thus, fulfilling the law. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He came to dwell among us to save us from our sin, death, and the devil. Jesus delivered us from the wrath of God by living the life we could not live and bearing the punishment we could not endure.
Christ on the cross is the crux of creation; it is the place where the glory of God is made most manifest. There, we see the justice of God in punishing sin. It is there that we perceive how God feels about fallen man. Still, it is at the cross that we behold the grace of God to forgive.
We embrace the truth that Christ Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice for sins, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. He alone is the means of reconciliation between God and man. It is by simple faith in who Jesus is and what He has accomplished that men may have peace with God.
Now, while Jesus died on the cross and was buried for our trespasses, the Son of God rose physically from the dead on the third day for our justification (Rom. 4:25). This procured the total victory over sin, death, the devil, and fully satisfied the wrath of God which the sons of Adam have so richly deserved. We fully agree with the apostle Paul: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17).
We believe that after Christ’s work of redemption which God the Father sent Him to accomplish, Jesus ascended to the right hand of the throne of God where He now reigns (Heb. 8:1). As the true High Priest, Jesus now intercedes for all those whom He has purchased from every tribe, language, and nation. Christ shall also return one day soon to judge both the quick and the dead and restore the creation from the futility it was subjected to. He will place it all at His Father’s feet as all the saints and holy angels erupt with praise to the glory of God’s grace.
We fully accept the teaching that all men are totally depraved. By this, we do not mean that every man is as evil as he could be but that all men are more than sufficiently evil. Because all have sinned, all men have warranted eternal damnation and complete exile from God. We believe that no man is able to compel God into accepting him by his own righteousness. Without the miracle of regeneration, man is totally unwilling to repent of his unbelief and receive the mercy that God offers in Christ Jesus. Also, God does not grant salvation to men because of anything they have done to merit it. He gives salvation of His own free will to whomever he chooses regardless of personality, race, position, status, etc.
We believe that the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the entire world, but only efficient for them that by faith have repented and laid hold of the grace of God in Christ. We believe that Christ’s atonement is completely effectual for His elect, and nothing can be added to or taken away from it.
We believe that God calls His elect from death to life by the proclamation of the gospel. The invitation is open to all who will and no one who comes will be turned away from the forgiveness and reconciliation that is offered. While man chooses to believe the gospel, it is ultimately God Himself who effectually draws lost men to His Son in the great mystery of His sovereignty. He who God effectually calls–comes, always. Just as Lazarus could not refuse being raised from the dead when Jesus called out, the spiritually dead rise when Christ, by His Spirit, cries “Come forth!” We completely reject the notion that salvation is merely a natural decision or a one-time prayer made by man’s intellect, but that it is truly a new birth–the beginning of a new life brought about by the Holy Spirit.
Further good news is that Jesus will never lose any of those the Father has given Him. Consequently, we believe that all of God’s chosen children will persevere to the end, not by might or power of will, but by the Spirit whom He has given as a guarantee of our future state (Eph. 1:14). In light of this, we completely reject the teaching that those who are truly saved can lose their salvation. We view this idea as a slight against the promise and power of God to keep and preserve His adopted children.
We believe that true faith produces works and the fruits of repentance, but works cannot produce faith. Faith without works is indeed a dead thing (Jam. 2:17). We reject the notion that an individual can confess to walk with Christ yet live a consistently unrepentant, faithless life and be called a true Christian. Indeed, it is spiritual violence to give such people a false assurance that they are safe from God’s judgment when there has been no evidence that they are a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Furthermore, we consider that the very same faith which justifies is the same faith that brings about sanctification in the believers life. People live the life of God’s children in holiness–by faith.
As it goes for the gifts of the Spirit, we believe that they are still in operation in this age. We also believe that the spiritual gifts are misused and counterfeited by false prophets and well-meaning brethren both within and without the church. In short, we are not cessationists, but nor are we charismatic as it is understood in our culture to this day. We are simply careful stewards of God’s gifts, seeking to use them rightly for His glory. We have set our minds to test all things by the Scriptures as we have been told is honorable to do.
