Upon This Rock

Marvin McKenzie

Copyright @2010 Marvin McKenzie

All Scriptures are taken from the King James Bible.

Printed in the United States of America

SOMEONE HAS SAID THAT the only thing that justifies the existence of one type of church over another is that thing that makes it distinct. My intention in this book is to set forth those elements that make independent Baptists distinct.

The Baptist faith has passed the tests of time and persecution and has emerged the better for it.  My concern is that many in the Baptist faith today do not know the doctrines for which Baptists are famous, doctrines that give Baptists the right of existence; doctrines that take Baptists back to Jesus Christ. 

It is my prayer that this work may help some gain more understanding and appreciation for those truths.

MARVIN MCKENZIE

Several years ago, I met a man who told me he had attended nearly all the Bible preaching churches in his area but had doctrinal disagreements with them all. He concluded that the doctrinal issues were not all that important, so he chose to attend the church he felt had the best program for his children.

If that logic were carried to its end there would be nothing wrong with attending the Mormon church or another cult if they had the best programs (and they almost always have more money to invest in those programs than do fundamental Baptist churches.)

Never, since Christ found the local church, has the study of doctrine been more important. With the proliferation of new denominations, new para-church programs, and the resultant new doctrines, today's serious Christian must take upon himself the discipline of the study of doctrine and the implications of those doctrines to the Christian life.

May these studies serve as a beginning place for building in our Christian experience, sound doctrine.

Chapter One

A study in Baptist Doctrine

The Bible

2 PETER 1:20-21

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Baptists have always contended that the Bible is the sole rule of faith and practice for the believer.  This being the case, it is imperative we have a firm grasp on the doctrines surrounding the Word of God.

There are two Testaments containing a total of sixty-six books written by approximately forty men, over a period of sixteen hundred years. And yet, one finds a remarkable unity in the Scriptures attesting to the fact that there is only one author.

2 Peter 1:21

.... holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, ...

Men like James, Mark, John, and Paul in the New Testament and David, Daniel, and Jeremiah in the Old Testament were merely the penmen.  The Holy Ghost of God is the author.

Every word of the Bible is exactly what God wanted to be there. We are not like the Jews who believed that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) was more inspired than the Poetical books (like Psalms and Proverbs). Nor are we like some today who attempt to put more weight in the words of the Bible which were actually spoken by Christ than by those that were written by Paul or another human being.

It is my conviction that the King James Version is without error.

Psalm 12:6-7

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. 

›  God could preserve His Word

›  God would preserve His Word

›  God did preserve His Word

When we consider the Bible’s impact upon the human heart, we can see that it reaches into at least three different directions.

An Outward Look

Psalm 8:3-4

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

An Inward Look

Romans 3:10-19

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Destruction and misery are in their ways:

And the way of peace have they not known:

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

I like to call this heaven’s autopsy. God lays us open to show us what we really are.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

An Upward Look

Revelation 5:12-14

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

The Bible motivates us to worship God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

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.

Surely the Word of God teaches us that the entire Bible is profitable to every individual in these particular areas of life;

Doctrine

The word simply means teaching. What we believe is to come from the Bible! I get such a kick out of these people who tell us we should just preach Jesus and stop preaching doctrine! They haven't been reading their Bibles!

Reproof

This word means conviction. God exposes our sins to us and reveals them for what they are through the Scriptures.

Correction

God provides a plan to make things right.

Instruction

God's Word teaches us how to stay right once we have been made right, and it is through this process that a person becomes perfect and equipped to do the good works God created us for!

Chapter Two

A Study in Baptist Doctrine

The One True God

I JOHN 5:7

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The world today is full of apostasy and heresy. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the aberrant doctrines concerning the Godhead. One must therefore become fully grounded in Bible doctrine if he is to withstand the attacks upon this doctrine. It is with that in mind that we enter into the study of the doctrine of the one true God.

The Bible teaches that God is one God who exists in three persons. We call this the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine is both unique and basic to historical Christianity. It is unique in that no other form of religion teaches it. Buddhists, Muslims, Baha’is and others do not believe in a Holy Trinity. It is basic in that there is no other way to reconcile the Bible teaching of one true God with the Bible teaching of Father, Son and Holy Ghost without believing in the Trinity.

While it is possible to be saved and then led astray by false teachers so that one no longer claims to believe in the Trinity. It is not possible to deny the Trinity and get saved based upon that. The only way Jesus can save is if He is God. And the cults today that claim to be Christian but deny the Trinity also deny Christ’s place as the one true God.

Deuteronomy 6:4

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

God demands in the Ten Commandments that nothing be worshipped besides the One God. Here are a couple of other verses that teach only one God

Isaiah 43:10

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isaiah 44:6

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of