1 A Strict And Particular Baptist Church Organized In The Philippines

Jared and Elna Smith arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday, 16 October 2019. With the blessing of their church in London, England, they have followed the leading of the Lord to pioneer a Strict and Particular Baptist witness in the Philippines. Jared is serving as an Evangelist, in the biblical sense of the office— preaching the gospel, organizing churches and training pastors. This work officially began on Sunday, 20 October, when Jared and Elna organized themselves into a church.

On Sunday, 27 October, this church will begin meeting in San Pedro, Laguna, at a property donated by co-laborers in the gospel. However, having not yet visited this head quarters, Jared and Elna met first as a church in Lipa, Batangas. It is here that members of Elna’s extended family live, and it is they who graciously welcomed them to the Philippines and took them into their home. In fact, they agreed to attend the worship service and witness the constitution of the newly formed church.

The Order Of Service

1. Hymn — Keep Silence All Created Things

2. Scripture Reading — Psalm 42

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”

3. Hymn — Join, All Who Love The Savior’s Name

4. Opening Prayer

5. Hymn — Thy Presence, Gracious God, Afford

6. Sermon — “Deep Calleth Unto Deep”

One of the first sermons Jared was required to develop during his training for the Gospel Ministry, was this message taken from Psalm 42:7. As it was preached numerous times during the beginning of his pastoral ministry, so he selected it on this special occasion for the first sermon preached as an Evangelist. The sovereign grace of the TriUne Jehovah was magnified, with particular emphasis on the need for a saving faith grounded in the effectual and experiential work of the Holy Spirit.

7. Hymn — And Can It Be That I Should Gain?

8. The Constitution Of The Church

(1) Hymn — How Firm A Foundation

(2) The Basis For A New Church

The common idea of authority resting in a “mother” church birthing a “daughter” church was pronounced unbiblical. Rather, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, Who is the sole authority for the constituting of a new local congregation. As Christ governs His church by the teachings of Holy Scripture, so the Bible is the legislative document which is the church’s sufficient guide for faith and practice. (Eph 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18; 1 Tim 3:14-4:2)

(3) The Members Of This New Church

The minimum number of members for an “assembly”, or “congregation”, is two or three. In Matthew 18:20, the Lord Jesus Christ promises to be with such a number. The members constituting this church are Jared and Elna Smith. Each of them shared their testimonies of conversation, baptism and walk with Christ. It was also stated that the church of their current membership, Bethesda Baptist Church, London, had given their full blessing that Jared and Elna organize themselves into a new church.

(4) The Teachings Of This New Church

Jared Smith drew up a statement of faith several years ago, which was read to those gathered:

1. We believe God has plenarily and verbally inspired the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

2. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error.

3. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are preserved in the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus.

4. We believe the most reliable translation in English of the Old and New Testaments is the Authorized Version.

5. We believe the one true and only God is Jehovah.

6. We believe Jehovah exists in three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

7. We believe the three Persons of the Godhead are equal in nature, power and glory.

8. We believe God is a Spirit, and that He can only be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

9. We believe the world was brought into existence in six literal days, as recorded in Genesis chapter one.

10. We believe God created man in His own image, meaning that as God is a Spirit, so man is a spirit being.

11. We believe God created an equality between male and female by making them in His image.

12. We believe God has designed male and female to function differently, and their completeness is discovered when complimenting each other (rather than competing against each other).

13. We believe God has entered into relationship with the human race based on the covenant of works.

14. We believe a covenant is an agreement entered by two or more parties, whereupon each person undertakes the responsibility for discharging certain obligations.

15. We believe the covenant of works is an agreement God made with Adam (the first man), and that Adam was appointed the federal head of the human race.

16. We believe God inscribed upon Adam’s heart a twofold law—to love the Lord God supremely, and to love one’s neighbor as himself.

17. We believe God promised eternal life to Adam if he perfectly obeyed the heart law, but that He also promised eternal death if he disobeyed the heart law.

18. We believe the covenant of works is renewed with every son and daughter of Adam, and that the heart law is inscribed upon every soul, from the moment of conception.

19. We believe God requires, under the covenant of works, that every person perfectly obey the heart law.

20. We believe through Adam’s transgression of God’s law, the entire human race has been plunged into sin and condemnation, in consequence of his federal headship.

21. We believe that every son and daughter brought into the world through a male seed, is conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity.

22. We believe that though man is by nature a sinner, yet he is responsible, under the covenant of works, to repent of sin, worship Jehovah and perfectly obey His law.

23. We believe so long as man is under the covenant of works, it is a curse to him in every respect—by it he is under the condemnation of God, and in it there is nothing that enables him to deliver himself from sin, guilt, condemnation and death.

24. We believe the only way for a sinner to be made right with God, is if he is brought under another covenant—the covenant of grace.

25. We believe the covenant of grace is comprised of the great work undertaken by the TriUne Jehovah from eternity, for the complete salvation of sinners.

26. We believe this covenant is designated ‘grace’, because the sinner adds absolutely nothing to the terms and promises of the agreement.

27. We believe God the Father took the initiative in this covenant, by setting His eternal love upon a remnant of the human race, choosing to make them vessels of honour, according to the good pleasure of His will.

28. We believe God the Father devised the plan of redemption by first, giving His elect people into the hands of the Son, and second, by appointing the Son to serve as their Mediator and Redeemer.

29. We believe God the Son received these elect persons unto Himself, setting His eternal love upon them, and agreeing to serve as their Mediator and Redeemer.

30. We believe the TriUne Jehovah is not a respecter of persons, and has henceforth chosen and redeemed a peculiar people out of every kindred, and tongue and nation, irrespective of race, age, gender, moral virtue or sinful corruption.

31. We believe in order for God the Son to become the Mediator and Redeemer of His people, it is required that He assume a human nature, in order that He might be qualified to save them from their sins.

32. We believe when the fulness of the time was come, the Son of God did assume a human nature, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

33. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely God and completely man, and because He had no earthly father, He was not conceived in sin or shaped in iniquity.

34. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ was appointed by God the Father to serve as the federal head for the elect, and therefore He was required to perfectly obey the heart law, and was made subject to the covenant of works.

35. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ has earned for His people eternal life by His perfect obedience to the heart law, and that He has delivered His people from eternal death by the redemption He obtained through the shedding of His precious blood on the cross.

36. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father which sent Him, so that the shedding of His precious blood is intentionally designed for the elect only.

37. We believe the sufficiency of the precious blood of Christ is in proportion to its design—such is its value, that not one drop was wasted on those not given to the Son by the Father; and such is its power, that all for whom Christ’s blood was shed are justified freely by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

38. We believe God the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world, not to give sinners a chance (opportunity) to be saved, but rather, to guarantee the salvation of His elect people.

39. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ was raised again from the dead, being not only “delivered for our offenses”, but also “raised again for our justification”.

40. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for His people.

41. We believe those who are made vessels of honour by the electing love of God the Father, are made vessels of mercy by the redeeming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

42. We believe God the Father and God the Son agreed to give the vessels of honour and mercy into the special care of the Holy Spirit, appointing Him to serve as their Sanctifier.

43. We believe God the Spirit received the vessels honour and mercy unto Himself, setting His eternal love upon them, and agreeing to be their Sanctifier.

44. We believe there is a divinely appointed time when the Spirit of God begins this work of sanctification by regenerating the soul of each elect sinner.

45. We believe regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, identified by Jesus as a new birth, when He unites the soul to the Lord Jesus Christ (even as a branch is united to the vine).

46. We believe this union with Christ imparts to the soul a new nature, created in righteousness and true holiness.

47. We believe saving faith is the fruit of this new nature in Christ, and therefore is the result of regeneration, rather than a condition for it.

48. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells the soul from the time of regeneration, and that He bears witness with the regenerate sinner that he is now the child of God.
49. We believe the regenerate sinner is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and that God has ordained from eternity that His elect people should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.

50. We believe those who are made vessels of honour by the electing love of God the Father, and are made vessels of mercy by the redeeming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, are forthwith made the vessels of gold and silver by the sanctifying power of God the Spirit.

51. We believe that while the regenerate sinner is given a new nature in Christ, yet he also retains his old nature in Adam.

52. We believe the new and old natures are distinct and unmixed, coexisting simultaneously in the child of God, and are in a constant warfare against each other.

53. We believe spiritual growth is the ‘increase’ given by the Holy Spirit to the soul, and that it may be nurtured, first, by making no provision for the old nature, and second, by providing for and exercising the new nature.

54. We believe the regenerate sinner, having been brought experientially under the terms and promises of the gracious covenant, is governed by the gospel law which serves as the perfect rule for his life in Christ.
55. We believe a person is experientially under only one covenant at a time—he is either subject to the covenant of works, or, to the covenant of grace, but never both simultaneously.

56. We believe a person is responsible to God according to the terms and promises of the covenant under which he is subject—if the covenant of works, then the sinner is unregenerate, a child of wrath and duty-bound to perfectly keep the heart law; if the covenant of grace, then the sinner is regenerate, a child of God and liberated to take the yoke of Christ upon him.

57. We believe that since there is no gospel under the terms and promises of the covenant of works, the unregenerate sinner is not duty bound to believe on Christ to the saving of the soul; only those that have been brought under the gracious covenant by a new birth are given the privilege and ability to exercise saving faith on Christ.

58. We believe every person that has been chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son and regenerated by the Holy Spirit shall certainly persevere in grace to glory; he cannot lose his salvation.

59. We believe every regenerate sinner should be baptized and become a member of a church.

60. We believe the church is a body of baptized believers covenanted to follow the commands of Christ.

61. We believe Christ is the head of His church and that it should be congregational in order.

62. We believe the authority for baptizing and organizing new churches resides in Christ, and not in a ‘mother’ church.

63. We believe the church should be overseen by a pastor who is assisted by deacons.

64. We believe the work of an evangelist is to preach the gospel and organize new churches.

65. We believe it is the duty of the church to fully and freely preach the gospel to all sinners, but that it should not be presumptuously and falsely offered.

66. We believe there are two church ordinances—Baptism and the Lord’s Table.

67. We believe only regenerate sinners are qualified to be baptized, and only baptized believers in membership with the church are qualified to sit at the Lord’s Table.

68. We believe the members of the church are responsible to live as becometh saints, and corrective discipline ought to be exercised when the need arises.

69. We believe Christ has given a threefold commission to the church—(1) to preach the gospel to all sinners; (2) to baptize new converts; (3) to build up the people of God in their most holy faith.

70. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust, when the righteous shall enter into life everlasting, and the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment.

Amen.

(5) Hymn — To Comprehend The Great Three-One

(6) Prayer — Covenanting With The Lord And Each Other

Jared led in prayer, acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Head of His church, and regenerated, baptized believers covenanted together to be the members of His church. Praise and thanksgiving was given to the TriUne Jehovah, and blessings for the newly organized church were humbly sought. Petition was made that the Lord would be gracious, unifying His people in sovereign grace, and adding to the church such as should be saved.

9. Hymn — Lord, Help Us On Thy Word To Feed

10. Closing Prayer