I’m having a wonderful time being here. I hope you are having as pleasant and enjoyable a time as I am. I came here a stranger. In fact, other than knowing John, I did not know a soul in Albuquerque. Now, I feel almost like ya’ll are home folks. If ya’ll just come on over to Lawrenceburg and live over there, we could go to church, and have a lot of fun together. But I know…you’re not going to do it, so you’ll just have to stay here, and when the water supply runs out, come on over! We’ve got a creek that periodically overflows, it has got so much water in it. Ya’ll don’t know what a flood is. I know you’ve read about them…there’s one in the Bible. But we’ve had one, and so we have plenty of water over there. And if you run out over here, just come on over. Jeanne [Brother Woodson’s wife] and I’ll but some water in the soup, and we’ll just have a good time together. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being with you. I’m glad to be here tonight. I look forward to tomorrow night and hope that all goes well with you. Thank you for coming.
Tonight, I want to think with you about some Bible Themes on the subject of Fellowship. Let me begin by pointing out that the New Testament teaches very clearly that the church is to be united. We are to be united with Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are to be united with one another in love, in Truth, in the power of our hearts and our lives, so that we become involved in each other’s life in terms of Christian virtue and growth and strength. It is very, very difficult to destroy a body of people who are united in love with God, in love with each other, and in love with the generation that they are seeking to reach for the glory of God. The Bible teaches that very, very clearly.
There is also the question that rises: Are there matters of teaching and conduct which necessitate the breaking of fellowship with an individual involved? That’s a very important question. Are there matters of such a nature that even in the midst of the love of God, the love of each other, and the love of the body of Christ, it becomes necessary that an individual be removed from the fellowship and the unity of the body of Christ? That’s a very serious question to consider. It is not one, therefore, to be answered flippantly, or lightly. Oh, I know there is, in the mind of some, a kind of “shootout at the OK corral,” and whoever has the gun out the quickest and shoots the fastest is going to be standing when the fracas is over. That’s…not…the way of the church. We are not in business to harm each other. We are not trying to hurt each other. We are trying to help each other go to heaven. And all that we are attempting to do is dedicated to that noble and worthy goal.
Now, are there occasions when unity with one individual or more may have to be broken? If so, what are those conditions?
I suggest, then, that we begin by looking at some passages from the Bible:
Number One: John, chapter 17, verses 20 to 21 . Our Lord, in a prayer that was offered to God shortly before He was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, said these Words: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their Word; 21 That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” This becomes a diamond of Truth. Jesus wanted you and me, and all of the children of God, to be one—one in faith; one in practice; one in the kind of life that we live; and to be one in the same way that the Father and Son are One. This is to be done, He said, through the Word—through the Word that the apostles would preach; through the Word that would be written by inspiration. And when this Word is followed in the heart of those who listen to it, and their lives are guided thereby, the result is the unity of the people of God. It is as natural that the people who follow the Word of God be united as it is for the sun to rise in the morning, and set in the evening.
The idea that there can be a lack of unity is almost beyond acceptance, and yet, there are, the Bible teaches, occasions where such is necessary. Notice in this statement, 1 Corinthians 1, verses 9 and 10: “God is faithful, by Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
Notice that we are “called unto the fellowship.” There is a calling of people by the Gospel. That Gospel invites them to follow God’s Son, and in following Him they love God and all that God teaches. Others of like faith are in fellowship with them. When I know that you believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him, and I believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him, there arises between us—or, there should arise between us—a mutual love for one another as we both love God and His Son. God calls us into the fellowship.
And He says, “I want you all to “speak the same thing.”—speak the same thing in the teaching of the Word of God. Don’t have one person teaching that this verse says “Yes,” and another person teaching that this verse says “No.” That’s not right. We all preach the same Truth according to the Word of God“that ye all speak the same thing.”
Further, “…that there be no divisions among you.” When an individual, by word or deed, sets about to create, intentionally or otherwise, trouble in the church, he…has…stepped…onto dangerous ground. God’s Word says there is to be “no divisions among you.”
Further, he says, “You are to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment”—in the same unity of mind brought about by the Truth of God. For example, when you read Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,”I read the same verse. We both understand that faith and baptism are essential to salvation. We have “the same mind.” How did we get that? By listening to the same Truth, and accepting that. And so with other verses. “…in the same judgment” would be the means of carrying out the Will of God to the best of our ability. There are ways and means of carrying out the Will of God, and those ways that are in keeping with the Will of God, that first and foremost advance His cause—that’s what we strive to have.
Now, we can cause problems, or experience problems, when, Number One: We don’t all teach the same thing; or, Number Two: When we are not willing to bring our minds or our judgment under the guidance of the Word of God.
Another passage: 1 John 1, and verse 7: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Notice the expression “in the light.” In the context of 1 John 1, notice that “the light” refers to what had been declared in verse 3 [“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”]. In verse 4, “the light” is compared to what was written [“And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”]. In verse 5, “the light” is the Message which had been heard ] “This then is the Message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”]. In verse 6, “the light” is the Truth [“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the Truth…”]. And in verse 10, “the light” is His Word [“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”]. We are to “walk in the light…in the Truth…in His Word…in what is declared of God.”
Now, when that occurs, said John, “we have fellowship one with another…” Well, suppose someone decides, “I’m not going to follow that light. I’m not going to walk that way. I’m not going to walk in the light by what I teach. I’m not going to walk in that light by how I live”? One who takes such an attitude, or allows such a course of action to occur, is now creating a SERIOUS difficulty for the people of God.
Who is at fault? The person that continues in the light? No! Is it the person who follows the teaching of the Word of God who causes the problem? Indeed not! The person causing the trouble is the one who chose not to walk in the light.
Another passage: 2 John, verses 9 through 11: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” What is it to “transgress”? Literally, it is “to step ACROSS, or step BEYOND.” We know in ball games, for example [in the game of football], that there are boundary lines. If a man has caught a pass and is running down the sideline and steps “out of bounds,” at that moment his forward progress, so far as scoring is concerned, immediately stops. Why? Did he quit running? No. Did anybody tackle him? No. But when he stepped out…of…the…bounds, that is when he removed himself from the possibility of scoring! Now, to step across the Word of God is to mentally determine “I will not REMAIN within what this Book teaches! I’ve decided, for whatever reason, I won’t stay within that boundary.” AND, as a result, he does not abide IN the doctrine.
“Doctrine” here is presented as the surrounding means, or medium, whereby one KNOWS and SERVES God. Doctrine, then, is the Truth that surrounds the person in his BELIEF, in his WORSHIP, in his LIFE, and it does the SAME for the church. Notice, now, the “doctrine of Christ” is that doctrine of which Christ is both the AUTHOR and the CENTER.
Think with me about that for a moment. “Doctrine” in this passage has to do with, first of all, the doctrine that Christ caused to be taught by the inspired apostles. But that same doctrine is centered in the divinity of Jesus Christ. It is not, therefore, necessary—neither is it proper—to conclude that it is either one, or the other. IT IS BOTH! It is both the doctrine that Christ has caused to be taught through His apostles, AND it is the doctrine that centers on Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Now, here’s somebody who says, “I’m not going to center MY thought and MY life and MY service on Jesus Christ. I…will…do…as I please.”
“Well, sir. YOU have sacrificed God. You’ve given up God by that very attitude. The Bible says that you…do…not…have…God.”
“Well, I don’t think that much of doctrine.”
“Well, you don’t think that much of this passage, either. If you think this of passage, as it is said in words, you are aware that to treat lightly the doctrine of Christ is to lose a relationship with God.”
I am tragically aware that there are some who dare to do that. Doesn’t…make me happy. It makes me sad. I know of men and women that I have lived and worked among, that I have loved and still love, for whom I would gladly do anything that is right to bring them back to the way they once served God. But they’re not willing to do that. They’ve stepped BEYOND the doctrine of Jesus Christ, AND they have sacrificed their relationship with God. Oh, I know they don’t think that. I’m quite well aware of that. But I maintain that this passage TELLS what the Truth is. And we are to bring our minds under the guidance of the Word of the living God.
Well, here’s one who comes, and does not bring that doctrine. How do we know that? We check what he teaches. Does he teach what Jesus has caused to be written in the Word of God—about how to become a child of God; about how to worship God; how to live?
Years ago, the late Brother N. B. Hardeman was preparing to ride a train from Jackson, Tennessee, to Nashville. As he was getting on the train, he noticed a man going to each of the wheels of the engine, and he’d hit it with a small hammer. And he watched him for awhile, and he said, “Sir, why do you do that?”
“Well,” he said, “you see, a sound wheel has a certain ring when you hit it. And I hit the wheel and it has the right sound to it. But,” he said, “if there is even a hairline crack in a wheel when you hit it, you will know something is wrong.”
“Well,” Hardeman said, “I’m glad to know that. I believe that’s a great thought for me to consider.”
And here’s what Hardeman said about it. He said, “When I listen to a man preach, there’s going to be a certain RING to it if he’s preaching the Truth. But if he’s not preaching the Truth…won’t have that ring to it. And when I don’t hear the right kind of a ring to the preaching, I know something’s wrong. May not know what it is; may take a while to find out; but it’s supposed to sound like the Truth of God, and when I hear that, I know that the Truth of God is being taught. But when I don’t hear that, I know that something is missing here.”
Well, John continues. This one who comes and does not bring this doctrine; doesn’t teach it; doesn’t uphold it; tries to reduce its demands; tries to fix it so that it will be more appealing to people who don’t want to follow the Bible. Welllll…what am I to do? John said, “…receive him not into your house…” Don’t welcome that person. You are running a risk. The risk is that when…you…bring…him…into…your…house, you may…become…the victim of what he’s trying to teach.
Years ago, to show you how unwise I can be—I know you don’t believe this, that I could ever be unwise. But my wife could tell you numerous occasions… Well, this is one of the better ones:
I had a fella come by my office one day. He was down on his luck. O, he was having a hard time. Well, I just overflowed with sadness for him. He didn’t have a job, and he needed to work, and he needed this and needed that. Why, I talked with this fella, and I said, “I know a man here that hires people, and maybe we can call him and he’ll get you a job.” I called the fella. He said, “Indeed, I need a man, and if he will meet me in the morning at eight o’clock at such and so [place], I’ll have a job for him.”
“Oh,” that man said, “that’s wonderful!”
Well, I, uh, said, “Why don’t you come on home and eat supper with us?” Well, he did. There my wife and two little ole children were, and we had a good meal together, and if felt so good. O, I’d done a good thing!
Wellll, he needed a place to stay. Sooo, I called and arranged for him to have a motel room. I even told him, if he got to Memphis there was a friend of mine over there that would help him. This friend of mine and I both had taken a course in which a man by the name of Norman Snaith had written a text book. And I said, “You go tell him that you talked to me, and I said, ‘Snaith [like a code word to tell his friend that it was all right to help the man].’”
And he said, “What?”
I said, “Just tell him that. He’ll know.”
Wellll, the next morning—eight o’clock—he didn’t show up. Welllll…don’t know about. About ten o’clock, here came two men into my office. They pulled out their wallets, say, “We’re FBI agents.” Now, I don’t meet FBI agents just every day. I’m impressed. And they said, “Have you seen this man?” Had a picture of him.
And I said, “Yeah. I saw him.”
And he said, “He’s an escaped convict.”
Now, you talk about getting my attention! If you think they got my attention, you outta think what kind of attention I got from my wife when I said “escaped convict” to her!! The best I can remember, the opening shot of the battle was, “AND YOU BROUGHT AN ESCAPED CONVICT IN THIS HOUSE WITH OUR KIDS!?! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!? I couldn’t find a good answer. She was asking the question, but I wasn’t answerin’ it!
HE could have harmed us. He could have killed us. That wasn’t a smart thing for me to do. I don’t think that’s the brightest thing that I ever did.
Now, go back to this point. Here comes a fella who…doesn’t…teach…the Truth…of God, and has practiced his routine. He is smooooth as silk in presenting what he believes. The average person—and often, the above average person—will not…be…able…to RECOGNIZE the mistake that the person is making and the doctrine that he is teaching. This fella would not come and say, “Well, Mr. ABC, I have come to lead you to deny God, and His Son, and to burn up the Bible. Now, let’s sit and let me tell you why.” You’d say, “Get outta my house, boy!!” They don’t do that. He won’t have a big sign on his head that says FALSE TEACHER. If he did, you’d catch on about as fast as I did after I had heard about this escaped convict.
What does he do? He comes in the nicest, finest way. As my mother would say, “Sugar would not melt in his mouth.” And, little by little, his way is presented, and before long, you have come to love and respect the man, and you pay less and less and less attention to what is being taught. And now, you have brought him within the circle of your home and your heart. And when you do that, you won’t be very happy if somebody points out the mistake you’ve made. Why not? For the same reason I’m not all that happy about the unwise decision I made about that convict. I didn’t know him. I didn’t know he was a convict, but NOW I can tell you that before I bring somebody home, he is going to have to pass some pretty stiff tests!
Now, John says, “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” Why? When you “bid him God speed,” you’re saying, “I…want…the thing…that you’re advancing to prevail and to win and to bring about whatever it is designed to do.” And if this person is trying to subvert the church, is trying to subvert the worship, is trying to subvert the plan of salvation, what you unknowingly and unwillingly are doing is aiding the destruction of the church, of the plan of salvation and all that God has taught. That’s a frightful thing to think about.
So, John says, “don’t bid him God speed.” Why? You become a “partaker of his evil deeds.” You become an aider and abetter of what he’s doing.
Years later, I saw this brother that was in Memphis. I met him after twenty-something years in Detroit. I asked him, “Did a man ever come over to Memphis and talk to you about “Snaith”?
He said, “Yes, he did. I gave him ‘X’ amount of money.”
Yeah, I knew then what had happened. I had aided that man in bilking a close friend out of money. I tried to pay the man back. He said, “No, I don’t want your money,” but he kinda implied in the way he looked, “I hope you got better sense than to do that again.” [Laughter]
Now, that’s the kind of thing we’re talking about. It is tragic; it is most tragic that this type of thing is happening. I wish it weren’t. I’m not an alarmist, but neither have I stuck my head in the sand, believing that anything and everything that anybody wants to teach is equally right according to God.
I’ve lived to see that some of the men that I have loved and trusted have turned out to be false. And that hurts me. That hurts me deeply. I’ve talked to them; I’ve written to them; I’ve done what I could. I can’t reach them. I would if I could. But it troubles me that they’re doing that. BUT, I must oppose the one that brings the erroneous doctrine because I love the Lord and His church too much to let the cause of Christ be harmed. And that presents for one who loves the person a very…hard…choice. What am I to do? That depends…on what my faith is. If my faith is centered in Christ, and if my love is centered in the church, I…will…stand…firmly with love, with kindness, but with absolute determination that this…will not…be done. It will not be done. AND, that’s not easy to do, if you haven’t tried it.
I wrote an article a few years ago in The Gospel Advocate. I was a teacher at Lipscomb [College / University] at the time. This article came out [in The Gospel Advocate publication] and within twenty-four hours twelve faculty members at the school were in the President’s office demanding that I be fired. He said, “Why?”
“Well,” they said, “this article!”
“Oh,” he said, “that article.”
They said, “Yes.”
“Well,” he said, “I read it before it was printed. I thought it was a good article. What’s wrong?”
“Oh! We didn’t know that.”
Wellll, I wasn’t fired. They went over to where I preached; made the same demand. The elders said, “You picked the wrong man. We’re not firing anybody.”
“Well, we think you ought to.”
“Well, we’re overseers [elders, shepherds] of this church, thank you!”
I stayed on.
Now, that doesn’t make you sleep well at night. That doesn’t make you feel real good. But, at some point, you have to be willing to say, “Whatever it costs me personally, I’m going to do my dead-level best to teach and follow the Truth of God and oppose what is not in harmony with Him.” Yes…Truth in love. Yes…gentleness. Yes…with long-suffering. But it must be done. If it is not, there will be those that do not know better who will be misled.
Fella came into my office some years back. I used to teach Greek, and there are those who said that it was hard. I said, “Of course it is! I teach it! Has nothing to do with the language. The language is easy. I’m just making it hard.” (That wasn’t so.)
This fella came in, “I’m gonna quit this class!”
And I said, “Well, what do want me to do?!”
He said, “I want you to approve…”
“Now, whoa now! You want me to approve. I’ll never approve it! I’ll sign it, but I won’t approve it!”
He said, “What do you mean?”
I said, “You’re asking me to approve you being a quitter!”
“Welllll…I..ah…uh…”
“That’s IT!!! Now,” I said, “what you’re asking me to do is to say I approve of you quitting when what you’re trying to do for the work of God becomes difficult! I’m not going to do it! The day may come when you’re the only man that stands between the church and false doctrine, and you may be a quitter then, and the church will be harmed! Now,” I said, “give me the paper. I’ll sign it! But don’t think I’m going to approve it!!”
“Well,” he said, “maybe I’ll just stay in the class.”
I said, “Suit yourself.”
Before the year was over, he was making good grades, and he appreciated that conversation. Now, I don’t know what that would do in terms of “current politically correct psychology.” But I believe that. I believe it in the very bottom of my BEING that the time comes when a person has got to make a choice of Truth against error and, whatever is involved, will stand for what is right.
Well, I need to move to another area.
There are problems of false doctrine and false practice and false living. What are we to do about it? First, and foremost, we must know the Truth of God. That’s not as easy to learn as it is to say. I’m sorry to admit it, but I know preachers, and I know elders, and I know Christians, who can tell you all about sports activities and all sorts of things, but they couldn’t quote ten verses of the Bible correctly and give the location if their lives depended on it. Now, that’s not something that we ought to rejoice about. A man ought to be able in a lifetime as a Christian to know the Word of God very, very well, because that is the means of nurturing and developing his soul, and the means of his becoming a stronger and more mature and a more useful servant of God. Now, know that Bible, and know it well. Know the great doctrines of the Bible—the doctrine of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of the plan of salvation, of the church, of the worship, of Christian living. KNOW that! Know it so well that if somebody woke you up in the middle of the night, put a shotgun to your head and said, “Quote Acts 2:38,” you’d begin, “Then Peter said…” You’d know the Word of God!
Now, secondly, love the church. Love the church. Jesus loved the church. He loved the church enough to die for it. Question: Do I love the church enough to DIE for it? Do I love the church enough to LIVE for it? Do I love the church enough to BE FAITHFUL to it? Do I love the church enough to DEFEND it against the world? the devil? false doctrine? and all FORMS OF HYPOCRISY? Do I love it that much? So, LOVE the CHURCH!
And then, learn false doctrine that is prevalent in your area. Learn it.
Years ago, the late Brother Gus Nichols was supposed to debate a denominational preacher. It was a bitterly cold night, a large crowd assembled. Evidently the other man had difficulty making it to the building, and the time came to start the debate.
Well, they didn’t know what to do. Well, Brother Nichols said, “Why don’t we have a debate anyway?”
And the said, “How?”
“Well,” he said, “I’ll debate myself.”
They said, “What do you mean?”
He said, “I know his doctrine as well as I know mine. And I’ll just stand up and give his doctrine, and then I’ll reply to it.”
And he did that! And I said, “Who won?”
He said, “I did.”
Wellll…
You say, “I don’t want to take the time to do that.” Do you want to take the time enough to prepare yourself to love the Lord and His church and serve in the cause of Christ? If you do, whatever will hurt the church, you need to know about it.
What if you went to a doctor, and the doctor examines you, and he says, “I don’t have the foggiest idea in the world what’s wrong with you. AND, if I did know, I wouldn’t know what to give you.”
And you’d say, “Well, what kind of a doctor are you?”
He says, “I’m a good ‘un. I just don’t have anything [to treat] against sickness.”
I want me another doctor!
Now, if a person says, “I don’t care about false doctrine. I don’t care what it does. I just want to love everybody and be happy,” you told lots more than you think you did, mister. You have said that the cause of God “doesn’t mean much to me.”
And then, number five: Teach the Truth, and oppose false doctrine with love, with kindness, with regard to the feelings of other people, but with…a…clear…determination that “I will not yield on this point.” Now, that is a very painful thing to go through. Never fun. And yet, if the Truth does not have those who love it, and those who will stand with it, and uphold it, Truth falls to the ground. And it takes a long time to resurrect it.
Some of you older folk (don’t hold up your hands, now; we don’t want a self confession) [Laughter], but some of you older folk remember that in the forties [the 1940’s] Cordell Hull was Secretary of State—not bad for a boy who grew up in the hills of Tennessee. [Cordell Hull: Preeminent Tennesseean, renowned statesman, longest serving Secretary of State of the United States, and Nobel Prize winner, was best known as the “Father of the United Nations.”] His father told him when he left to go to school… He said, “Cordell, you stick with the truth! You stick with the truth in school and in your work.” He said, “You may go down with truth, but truth will always come back, and if you go down with truth, when it comes back, you’ll come back with it.” I believe that’s a pretty good thing to think about. When we, as a body of God’s people, determine that we stand in love with Truth on every topic of God’s Word, and will do so to the very last moment of our lives—if Truth, in a moment, goes down and then comes back, we will be with it.
Our brotherhood underwent, a hundred years ago, a most painful division. Very sad. Families were divided. Brothers and sisters were divided. Churches were divided. The results were devastating. BUT, godly men and women picked up the pieces. They built shanty-type church buildings across the railroad tracks. They met in abandoned buildings, and they huddled together in a small band here or there. And little by little by little they began to grow—and they’ve grown. And over the years, they have become a strong and good brotherhood. And you and I love and appreciate that, and we enjoy the benefit and the blessing of it.
But we have in our midst now some—by no means all, and not even the majority—but we’ve got some among us who would sell out the church, and have done so—AND are still doing so. If those of us who oppose these things in the 1980’s had said that there are churches of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, that will aid and support a Billy Graham campaign as an evangelistic service, we would have been branded as mean, harsh, lying people. What’s happening in Nashville next month [May, 2000]? A Billy Graham Crusade, and there are four or five churches in Nashville, Tennessee—churches of Christ—who have been providing places for the Billy Graham people to do what they call “prepare the counselors,” have been providing encouragement and support, and will be providing people who will serve as counselors to enable folks to learn how to be saved without obedience to God. And there are some people among us who are going to be there. Nobody would’ve believed that. Nobody would have sat for a moment and said that could happen. It IS happening.
In 1993, in Nashville, there was what was called “a post-Easter celebration.” Here’s what happened. The Woodmont Hills church of Christ met with the Disciples of Hillsboro, two Presbyterian churches, two Methodist churches AND they met with the Baptist church. They were going to have a worship period—an after “Easter” celebration. [Break in tape.] And they went on down the way. And the preacher was a man who stood in pulpits of churches of Christ in former years. Nobody would’ve believed that. If ten years before we had said that would happen…[the response would have been] NO! How dare you think such a thing!
I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I also don’t want to be asleep with what’s happening. We are experiencing in our brotherhood tonight in many places the targeting of churches of Christ so that they will be subverted, and when the subversion is over, there will be ingredients of the church of Christ, of the Baptist church, of the Christian church and of Pentecostal church. And this will be a composite thing. And when it is in function, it will create turmoil and division and discord wherever it appears. It’s happened too often. We know that.
Now, we must avoid extreme actions. That won’t do. That’s not right. We do not dare to destroy anybody physically. We don’t want to hurt anybody. What we want to do is to uphold the Truth of God and refuse to have that Truth of God perverted. But if there is one or more who would destroy or corrupt the purity of the Truth and the church, we must refuse to go with it. That may entail, as it did with others in days gone by, a breaking of fellowship with an individual or the individuals involved.
I believe that it is a very…wrong…thing to do—to subvert a church, but if it happens, that doesn’t mean that we quit serving God. That doesn’t mean we quit hoping for the best. That doesn’t mean we give up. That doesn’t mean that we hate anybody. It doesn’t mean that we want to be bitter, or will be bitter. To be bitter will eat you up inside. Sometimes, we have to say, “As hard as it is, we pick up the pieces and we start again. And with God’s help, we will do better. We will build a church that we love. We will serve God therein, and when life is over, we will look to our God in love, in trust and in hope that He will protect His people, and we will enter into His presence forever.”
Ah, but the time is gone. I do enjoy being with you good people. It’s really delightful to be with you. I appreciate it. I hope these thoughts have been helpful to you.
If you’re not a child of God, I would encourage—indeed, I would ask you to think seriously about becoming a Christian. To believe in Christ, to repent of sin, confess faith in Him, and be immersed in water for the remission of sins will mean that you are forgiven of God by His grace, added to the church and walk in newness of life.
If you are a Christian and have not been faithful, have not been what you should be, and have brought a kind of shame or reproach on the people of God, and you need to turn away from a public wrong, you are to repent of that sin, confess it unto God and ask that brethren pray with you and for you that you may be forgiven.
In these terms, we invite you to come as we stand to sing. Will you come?