I regret that there is such a teaching abroad as this – for instance, that a man does not have to become a member of the church in order to be saved; that there are just as good people outside of the church as there are in it. Now, I do not believe either one of those statements, and I am sure there would be controversy on the part of someone just there. Your standard of goodness when thus speaking is different from the standard of goodness that I have in mind. A person may be a good man with reference to his first duty toward himself; he may be a good man with reference to his fellow men – his treatment and kindness toward them; but in God’s eyes, no one is accounted as a good man who has not done his duty to God as well as to himself and others. When I talk about a good man from God’s point of view, I mean a man that is not only good to himself, good to his neighbor, but is good to God Almighty, in that he has bowed in submission to His will; and when he so does, he thereby becomes a member of the church of the Bible and is saved by virtue of that relationship with the God of his being. Let us, therefore, be exceedingly thoughtful and careful and not make the impression upon our children and those around about that the church is a nonessential, unimportant, and worthless institution.<\/p>\n
If one man can be saved on the outside as well as on the inside, then, of course, two men could also be saved; and if two men could also be saved independent of the church, of course, two thousand could; and if two thousand, why not two million; and if two million, why not the entire human family, and thus render the church absolutely useless? Why should Christ establish it, fill it with his Spirit and become the head of it, if the human family can be saved without it as well as with it? I am sure, ladies and gentlemen, that just such casual, thoughtless remarks as are frequently made are responsible at this hour for the unconcernedness and the indifference on the part of the great masses of the people of their failure to appreciate the value as they should this institution so prominent upon the pages of New Testament story…<\/p>\n
Now, I do not say, and do not mean, that the church does the saving; but I do suggest and positively state that Christ Jesus our Lord, is the Savior, but that the place of salvation is in the church of God and in the family of high heaven; and outside of that family, God’s church, or the fold, he has no children.<\/p>\n
There are just two departments in life, two governments, to which I bow in obedience and yield myself. Either I am a servant tonight of His Satanic Majesty, I am under the dominion of the devil himself, or I am a child of God and a member of His family. I do not occupy the middle ground. I am on one side or the other; and if I am saved, I am a Christian, if I can read my title clear to mansions over there, it is evidence prima facia that I am a member of the body of Christ, the church of God, the family of the firstborn. If, on the other hand, I stand tonight with sins unforgiven, and consigned to the regions of infernal abode, it is evident that I am a member of the devil’s family.<\/p>\n
So, then, every person ought to recognize just what the church of the Bible is and who compose it. In it are all the redeemed, all the saved, all those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The thing that I now want to emphasize is the fact of its unity and oneness. That very statement itself denies and opposes the idea of its being a denomination. I know it is as common as can be that whenever you talk with men and meet with people they speak about different denominations all over the city, all over this land and country of ours. But put it down friends, for further study and for earnest consideration, that when you are reading in the Bible about the church, never get it into your minds that you are reading about some denomination; for no man ever did or ever can read from the book of God a single, solitary statement or even a hint at anything that smacks of denominationalism. That thing is modern, recent, and unknown to the book of God as certain as in your midst I stand, and there lives not a man in the city of Nashville who can take God’s book and turn to a single, solitary passage therein and find anything that even looks like a distant relation of modern denominationalism.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by N. B. Hardeman Excerpts from “The Church- Its Unity,” Hardeman’s Tabernacle Sermons, Volume 2 I regret that there is such a teaching abroad as this – for instance, that a man does not have to become a member of the church in order to be saved; that there are just as good people outside…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,1281,544,47],"class_list":["post-60057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-good","tag-membership","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/basically-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":60057,"position":0},"title":"Basically Good","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garry Floyd I used Ecclesiastes 7:29 to make the point that mankind is not basically good. The \u201cBasically Good\u201d title denotes the idea that mankind\u2019s standard of good, outside of God\u2019s standard, makes it not good, not even \u2018basically good\u2019 as most people think they are. My concern is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9026,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-no-salvation-outside-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":60057,"position":1},"title":"Is there no salvation outside the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is there no salvation outside the church? Will those who never heard of Jesus and his gospel be damned because they have not obeyed it? Will people with brain defects like Downs Syndrome be damned because they do not obey the gospel being incapable of doing so? Answer: \"Let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/giving-some-things-god-says\/","url_meta":{"origin":60057,"position":2},"title":"Giving: Some Things God Says","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Harry Pickup, Sr. via\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 11, Sept. 1952. Many Christians are still squirmish about sermons on giving, even though the New Testament has more to say about this subject -- with warnings against violations of the divine instructions concerning it -- than the subject of baptism.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-purpose-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":60057,"position":3},"title":"The Purpose of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Nehemiah 8:1-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the past, we have talked about various positions or duties in the church (elders, teachers) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today, I would like to address the purpose of preaching. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There seems to be much confusion about what a preacher\u2019s duty is \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many denominations refer to their ministers as pastor,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8351,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-repeated-adulterer-be-dismissed-from-the-ministry\/","url_meta":{"origin":60057,"position":4},"title":"Should a repeated adulterer be dismissed from the ministry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know what God's view is on this matter. A pastor in our town who is over a church is committing adultery over and over again. The church keeps taking him from the pulpit but after awhile lets him come back to the pulpit. My opinion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/individual-duty-or-local-church-duty\/","url_meta":{"origin":60057,"position":5},"title":"Individual Duty or Local Church Duty?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Howard Justice During the past half-century, there has been a serious amount of confusion as to how a member of God's family relates to his role in the family of God and how this service involves the local unit known as the local church. It has presented problems in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}