A few years ago, following the death of our father,
William H. Farley, Sr., my brother Jim and I were cleaning out
a drawer in an old cabinet in the tool shed at our mother's house.
We found, wrapped in old wax paper, a faded copy of an old paper
entitled GRACE AND TRUTH. It was published September 1946
in Birmingham, Alabama. We found notes written upon one of the
articles that appear to be in our father's handwriting.
When we read the title of this evangelistic paper,
we were immediately interested. We had been hearing and reading,
from some of our liberal brethren, that the old-time preachers
in the churches of Christ did not preach and teach on grace as
they ought to have in the past. This is a false charge. We have
heard faithful gospel preachers stress the importance and necessity
of God's wonderful grace all of our lives as this old paper testifies.
However, our older, faithful preachers did NOT
preach salvation by grace alone. This distinguished them from
the multitudes of Calvinistic, denominational preachers of their
day. Today, sadly, the distinction between denominational preachers
and preachers in the churches of Christ is not as clear as it
once was.
I heard one false preacher on television teach
that we cannot find salvation and happiness in "doing"
what we "ought to do." He sought to free his listeners
from the bondage of what he called "the oughts." He
said, contradictorily, that we could never be saved and happy
until the minute we let Jesus be Lord of our lives and not one
second before! Friends, pray tell me: How can Jesus Christ be
the Lord of our lives if we do not do what He says we ought to
do? This false teacher like all false teachers opposes himself.
Let us listen to the Bible.
John said, "For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:17. We
must not seek to separate grace from truth. We are not saved by
grace only; we are also saved by truth. Jesus said, "If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 8:31-32.
In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked, "And why call
ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" He,
then, immediately gave the illustration of the wise man that built
his house upon a rock. No, friends, Jesus is not our Lord if we
do not do the things that He has commanded. Jesus stated the same
truth in Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Who but
Satan himself would dare to minimize the necessity of doing the
will of God in order to be saved and happy? Do not deceive yourself.
James 1:22.
In Acts 2:37, after the apostle Peter convicted
his Jewish audience of killing the Son of God, the Bible says,
"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart,
and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do?" Note carefully: these people were not
saved; they were not happy. They asked what they should do. If
today's liberal preachers had been there, they would no doubt
have said, "Bless your heart, there is nothing you can do.
You cannot contribute one whit to your salvation!" However,
the apostles did not believe sinners could be saved by grace only.
Peter said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 2:38. Yes, they had
to do something to receive the grace of God. They had to repent,
and they had to be baptized. About 3,000 of them did so that day.
2:41.
What about you? Let the grace of God teach you
the truth. Titus 2:11, 12. Remember: "Blessed (happy) are
they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Revelation 22:14. Editor.