Chapter IX: Conclusions

What practical application shall we make? Simply take your Bible and follow out this plan, study it for yourself, see that this is what the Bible teaches, and then identify yourself with the congregation which does the same. You say, “Maybe I cannot find one that follows the Bible plan.” I believe you can in this town, but I’ll admit there are some towns where you can’t. Then what would you do? The answer is very simple—just start one! That’s one of the easiest things in the world to do. Study your Bible, follow its simple pattern, and the result will be a church after the New Testament order. If you can find even one person who is willing to follow this plan and work it with you, then you’ll have a congregation which pleases God. Jesus says, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them.”

And, friends, I believe that the most practical and effective missionary work that we could possibly do would be for all church members who move away from Nashville and other places where the church is strong, to faithfully and persistently follow this Bible program wherever they go, even though they have to meet and worship in their own homes. There are too many who forsake this plan when they go away to a strange city.

If all who move away from places where the church is strong, would simply take Christ and the Bible with them and start a congregation wherever they go, it would be the most far-reaching, the most effective, the most practical, and the most economical missionary work that could possibly be conceived! It would not only be all of that, it would also be scriptural. What more could you expect? That certainly is enough to recommend it to us all. So, friends, simply take this plan, if you know of a congregation that’s following it, then identify yourself with it. If you can’t find one, then start one, with the determination to follow the Bible; and then you’ll be in the right church. You may forget about all these 200 different denominations, except to do whatever you can to lead them out of error into the truth!

I told you I would do no boasting tonight and I shall do none, but I will say this: I sincerely believe it is the earnest determination of the congregation at Chapel Avenue to follow this simple Bible plan, and I believe I speak the truth when I say that if you can point out to the overseers of this congregation that they are failing to follow the Bible on any single item, they will change their practice immediately. That should be the attitude of everyone who loves the truth, and they will not embarrass you or rebuff you if you approach them on the question. If you even _think_ they are failing on some point, they would welcome an interview and pledge themselves to make any sort of alteration or change that is necessary to bring the teaching, the practice, and the name of this congregation into harmony with the Bible plan. If that were not true, I would not continue to preach for this group except long enough to do what I could to get them to reform.

Friends, above everything else, I want to go to heaven when I die and I know that the only way to do that is to follow the Bible; so I still insist that it is entirely proper and appropriate to emphasize that the church which follows the Bible is the one that’s right. This simple test, if faithfully and honestly applied, will eliminate every church in this town which cannot find its name, its doctrine, and its practice in the Bible. Are you willing to live up to the claim that you take that Bible as your one and only guide? If so, just follow this (speaker refers to outline on the board) step by step, believe that Jesus is the Christ, repent of your sins, confess your faith, and then be baptized for remission of sins. Then go on, worshiping God as the Bible directs, behaving yourself as the Bible teaches, supporting the church which wears the right name, which is scripturally organized, and which takes the Bible as its one and only guide.

If, after having been scripturally baptized, you have failed on one or more of these items, the Bible teaches that if you will repent, confess your sins and pray for forgiveness, God will surely forgive you. As we stand and sing the song announced, we entreat you to accept the invitation of our Lord, who says, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”

VI
WHY NOT BE JUST A CHRISTIAN?

Religious people seem to realize more keenly than before the importance and even necessity of Christian unity. But before we can have the unity which the Bible teaches and demands, some practical means of attaining it must be employed. It seems to me that it would be well to begin by emphasizing some points of agreement—in other words, let us see how close together we are, at present, and then we will be in better position to discuss the points of difference. I believe in religious debates, have engaged in such myself and shall be glad to do so again whenever the opportunity presents itself, but in this sermon I want to emphasize the truth upon which most religious people are already agreed.