To Save The
ChurchThis month we quote excerpts from 'WHT THE CHURCH MUST DO TO BE SAVED" a sermon by Foy e. Wallace, Jr., that we outlined in last month's paper. It was preached and published 20 years ago; when bro. Wallace spoke plainly on such matters.
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"The strength of the church has ever been in the maintenance of distinctive New Testament principles. It loses its strength and is reduced to utter weakness when it loses sight of these things, raises the white flag to the foe and signs truce with error.
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"Today God demands a separate church-- 'be ye separate, saith the Lord.' A separate family in Abraham; a separate nation in Israel; a separate church in Christ.
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"The nomenclature of the denominations can have no place among Christians -- such as, 'our church,' 'our pastor,' 'Doctor Blank, LL.D.' 'our institutions,' 'our organizations,' 'our Young People,' and 'Lord, may Brother Eloquent bring us a message,' ad infinitum's string of borrowed sectarian Ashdodic language, which is fast becoming the common vernacular of professed Christians.
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"It is not a matter of what 'the church believes and teaches' -- it is wholly and solely a question of what the Bible teaches, the all and only divine creed.
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"Unscriptural innovations are sinful and invalidate the worship. If it is wrong to use instrumental music in worship, it is wrong to worship where it is used. "There has been over-emphasis on missions and missionaries and an under-emphasis on New Testament evangelistic work. Let a gospel preacher announce this week that he sails to Japan, China or Timbuctoo, and he is no longer a preacher - all at once he has become a missionary! The apostles did not establish missions -- they preached the gospel; people obeyed it, and in doing so became Christians, and that is the church. 'Once a mission always a mission'....... Churches need to return to the New Testament basis of direct evangelistic work.
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"The spirit of pacifism is taking the fight out of the church. But the conflict between truth and error is unending. Victory does not come by truce. God's terms are unconditional surrender......
The church grew when the fight was waged and the battles raged. When the let-up came in the fight, the let-down came in the church. It is said that the denominations do not fight any more. That is because the church has quit fighting and they have nothing to fight. If gospel preachers will fight now as gospel preachers fought then, the denominations will fight now as they fought then -- and truth will triumph now as it triumphed then.
Next month, the Lord willing, we shall continue to present excerpts from this classic sermon.