We have been dealing with the subject of the Roman Catholic Church in history.
We started to deal with confession, the mass, purgatory, and penance.
And last time, those of you who are keeping notes on this and have a tape,
we discussed the subject of penance in conjunction with confession.
We pointed out that the word penance itself doesn't appear in New Testament
theology.
The Roman Catholic Douay Bible translates the word metanoia, which means repent,
change your mind, change your direction, as due penance.
That is not Biblical theology.
In the new American translation, published by the Roman Catholic Church,
from the Greek text instead of the Latin Vulgate, they changed that to the correct
word.
And they do now translate it, repent, and turn away from your sins.
So, thank God that they made the correction.
But for many centuries, Roman Catholics were doing penance on the basis of the
verses they were quoting in the New Testament, which had nothing to do with
penance at all.
However, the doctrine of penance is still part of Catholic theology.
I have here Roman Catholic catechism.
And you find in the Roman Catholic catechism that penance involves the
individual being truly sorry.
You must resolve not to repeat your sin.
You must agree to make restitution to the person whom you have injured.
You must be willing to accept penance imposed by the priest.
That's when you make a confession.
The penance imposed by the priest may be prayers.
It may be the contributions that the priest specifies you ought to make to the
church.
It can be indulgences for those souls in purgatory.
It can be any number of things which they assign to you.
But it is still part of Roman Catholic theology, even though the Greek text
itself and their own translation now contradicts this idea.
So, we studied how the Roman Catholic Church, by emphasizing confession to a
priest, puts an intercessor between you and God.
And they quote the 20th chapter of John's Gospel, which we went into last time,
pointing out, whose sins you remit, they are remitted.
Whose sins you retain, they are retained.
That's their key text.
However, we also noted, this passage in context is not referring to auricular
confession to a priest on a weekly basis.
It's talking about proclaiming the Gospel.
As my Father sent me, I send you.
Go into all the world, preach the Gospel to all nations, make disciples.
Jesus said, whose sins you remit, they are remitted.
So when you preach the Gospel to people, and they believe it, you may assure them
in Jesus' name that their sins are forgiven.
And if they refuse to accept the Gospel, you may assure them in Jesus' name that
their sins remain with them, are retained.
That is all the passage is intended to convey.
There is nothing in there about the doctrine of confession at all.
They cite other passages for this.
Confess your sins one to another, and pray that you may be healed.
James chapter 5.
That's right.
The epistle of James is written to the church, talking about how we are to deal
with each other.
It's not written as a manual for a priest to forgive our sins.
Only God can absolve from sin.
So, New Testament theology knows nothing of auricular confession.
Nothing of penance assigned to a person to make up for their evil deeds.
I will add a very important note here, which I think we should underline.
They are right when they say, you must agree to make restitution to the person
you have injured.
That is solid biblical theology.
They are right.
In other words, it doesn't do any good to confess your sins to the Lord,
and to turn away from your sins.
If you have injured people, wounded people, robbed people, or done death to
people, morally, ethically, whatever it may be, and you have it in your power to
do something about it, and you won't do it.
That is sin.
I gave you the illustration of the guy in Time Magazine, who went back to all of the
girls that he had seduced over the years, and did what?
Told them what a rotter he was, and how sinful he was, and how Jesus had
saved him, and begged them to forgive him.
He had a revival going at Time Magazine, among some of the people, because he
repented.
That is, he turned around.
And then, he believed the gospel.
And then, he did what he should have done.
He tried to make right in his life the things that he had done wrong.
That is a good biblical principle.
It doesn't do much good to say, I'm sorry, Lord, if you have the power to
right the wrong, and you won't do it.
Now, there's no merit for your soul to save it by righting the wrong.
The merit is in repenting of your sin, trusting Christ.
What follows from that are works which testify that you really have repented.
That's why Ephesians 2 says, By grace you have been saved, that's the Catholic
translation, through faith.
Not by yourselves, but the gift of God.
Not by works, as any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
God has already ordained we should perform this.
So, Catholic theology is correct in stating that after one repents and
confesses sin, there should be restitution, insofar as the individual is
capable of doing it.
Now, we cannot talk of confession and penance independent of the biblical
doctrine of justification by faith.
That's why I began last time to emphasize that in Romans chapter 5, the scripture
says, Therefore, having been justified by faith.
That's a past action.
It's a legal term.
The term justify means exonerate, acquit.
The Apostle Paul says, We have been exonerated or acquitted before the court
of God's justice by faith in Jesus Christ.
That absolves us of our sin and makes it possible for us to continue a relationship
with God of walking in the light one with another.
Having fellowship so that the blood of Jesus Christ will keep on, the Greek text
says, cleansing us from all sin.
We have been saved, as one theologian pointed out, from the penalty of sin by
Christ's death on the cross.
We are right now being saved daily from the power of sin which attempts to
dominate our lives.
We will finally be saved from the very presence of sin when we see him and are
like him, for we shall see him as he is.
That is in the resurrection and when we are immortal as Christ is immortal.
But that's future.
Right now there's a war going on.
We have been justified by faith.
Now, the problem in Roman Catholicism is that although they say you are justified
by faith, one must continuously perform works in order to sustain that
relationship.
So in the end you are saved by grace and kept by works, which is the absolute
antithesis of biblical theology.
Let me show you what I mean.
Romans chapter 8 reminds us,
Those people, says Paul a little later in the chapter, who are walking not after the
flesh, but after the spirit.
So what is the mark of a Christian?
If you are truly a believer, if you have truly been justified by faith,
you will walk in the spirit.
Your appetites will be spiritual, not carnal.
And if you fall into sin, you will instantaneously become aware of it because
the Holy Spirit bears witness and brings us face to face with our sin and to
repentance.
So the true Christian is one who walks in the spirit, who pursues the things of the
spirit, but it doesn't say that the true Christian doesn't fall into sin.
He does.
And because he or she does fall into sin, God has made provision.
We have been justified legally by faith.
Now we have constant cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of
our Lord.
In Roman Catholic theology, penance is connected inextricably with justification.
Because the moment you talk about being justified by faith, and then you introduce
into that idea the concept that you must work in order to maintain that
relationship, then you have mixed faith and works, and you have entered into the
error of the Galatians, which Paul warned them against, the mixture of law and
grace.
And so there is no doubt in our minds about this.
Let's understand what justification really means.
To be justified by faith in a legal context means that God has put you on
trial because of your sins in Adam.
God judges you guilty because of your sins.
God condemns you because of your sins.
And God sentences you to eternal separation from Him.
Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, enters the world as the last Adam and dies to save us
from our sins.
We place our confidence and trust in Him as the Savior, and then God accepts His
sacrifice on the cross as the full payment for all our sins.
He is the satisfaction for all our sins, 1 John 2.2.
Not for ours only, but for the sin of the whole world.
So it's crystal clear what it means to be justified.
God acquits you of your sin.
The confessional and penance puts you in an untenable position because it's like
being acquitted of a crime in Los Angeles that you were accused of.
And you are exonerated and set free.
And so two weeks later you are not feeling too good about it.
So you go back down to the court and ask for an audience with the judge in his
chambers.
When you get in there, you say to the judge, Your honor, I was on trial a couple
of weeks back and I was acquitted.
The judge says, yes, yes, I remember the case.
What's the problem?
Well, I don't feel acquitted.
Oh?
No, I somehow feel it's something I have to do.
The judge would say, look, the law says you are acquitted of the crime.
Over.
It's done with.
Go home.
You say, oh, that makes me feel so much better.
Back home.
A month passes.
Oh, but this terrible feeling.
I'm going to see the judge again.
And back you go again.
You know, after the second or third trip, the judge is going to be considering
seriously putting you in a place where they can help you.
Because any rational person recognizes that if you have been acquitted,
you are justified.
Under the law.
You don't have to keep going back to get justified.
That's what Christ did.
He justified us once for all.
Having been justified, therefore, by faith, let us have peace with God
through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, since time is rushing out on us, let me quote the Roman Catholic Bible
here, which is very, very forceful at this particular point.
Amen, amen, I say to you.
He who hears my word, the Lord Jesus, and believes him who sent me, the Father,
has, notice the present tense, has life everlasting.
And does not come to judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Now, that couldn't be clearer in their own translation.
We have believed Christ.
We have trusted the testimony of the Father.
We have passed out of death into life, and we have life everlasting.
That is the gift of God.
Luther discovered this, and it's what caused the Protestant Reformation.
He realized that they had added and added and added and added and added doctrinal
accretions and dogmas and human opinions to the place where the average person
wasn't trusting Christ anymore for his salvation.
The average person was trusting the church to provide the salvation through the
sacraments.
And Luther said, no, it can't be true, because if we have been justified by
faith, and we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, why are we buying
indulgences to get people out of purgatory?
Why are we doing penance?
Why are we doing rosaries?
Why are we constantly sacrificing the Mass?
By all this, if already we have passed out of death into life.
And Luther seized upon the great truth of Habakkuk, the just, perhaps I can put it
in legal terms again, the acquitted, the exonerated, shall live by faith.
Now I want to close with an illustration of that in the New Testament, which is
utterly devastating to Catholic theology at this point.
It's in the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, so just turn to that for
one minute.
We have two minutes for this rapid exegesis.
Romans chapter 4.
The Apostle Paul uses Abraham as a classic illustration, and David, to show us
exactly what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
Paul says, What shall we say then concerning our father Abraham,
pertaining to the flesh, as found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he had nothing to glory about.
He had something to glory about, but not before God.
For what says the Scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Abraham trusted God, it was charged up to Abraham's account as righteousness.
Now, to him that works for it, the reward is not counted by grace,
but by debt.
You work for something, you collect it.
They owe you, says Paul.
But to him that does not work for it, but believes on him who justifies,
who acquits, who exonerates the ungodly, that's us, his faith is counted as
righteousness.
Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God
imputes righteousness without works.
The word impute there means charges up.
God charges to your account righteousness, apart from your works.
Quoting David, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not charge sin.
That is what justification means.
That's why the confessional is meaningless.
That's why penance is meaningless.
That's why Roman Catholic theology involving works as an adjunct means to
salvation is meaningless.
Because Paul's argument, the great authority on the law is, Do you not
understand, Abraham, our father after the flesh, was acquitted before God on the
basis of his faith.
Well if the father of our faith was acquitted that way, so must we be.
And then he quotes David.
To him that does not work for us, says Paul, but believes, his faith is
counted by God as righteousness.
So salvation is by grace alone.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, who exonerates, equips, justifies us.
Through that faith, charges the righteousness of God to our account and
considers us acceptable in Christ.
Fills us with his spirit and enables us to detect sin in our lives so that we may
confess it and walk in the light with him.
That is why the Christian stands upon the foundation of grace.
Not I'm saved and I can do whatever I want, but I'm saved.
Now I can do what God wants me to do.
That's the core of justification by faith.
That is not the core of Catholic theology.
Our father, bless thy word.
Move our hearts and our minds that we may hear thy voice and rejoice in what thou
hast done for us.
Bless us and use us for the advancement of thy kingdom and the glory of thy son
Jesus, in whose name we pray, with thanksgiving.
Amen.
Today, we're going to concentrate on the doctrine of purgatory.
And to do that, we have to use Roman Catholic Catechism, which I happen to have
a copy of since I attended and graduated from Catholic school.
It is instantly fallacious that I was a Roman Catholic.
I had a number of years of Catholic education.
I almost became a Roman Catholic because the system was so logical, but
theologically fallacious.
And so the Lord saved me and brought me into the absolute truth of the Southern
Baptist Convention.
I thought you Pentecostals would laugh at that.
What is purgatory?
Page 213.
Purgatory is the state in which those suffer for a time who die guilty of venial
sins, or without having satisfied for the punishment due to their sins.
How do we know there is a purgatory?
We know there is a purgatory from the constant teaching of the Church.
Just want that to sink in.
And from Scripture.
The Scripture is cited.
I want you to open your Bibles, too, and look at it.
Matthew 16, verse 27.
Roman Catholic Catechism says we know there is a purgatory from Scripture.
So we will go to the Scripture, which they cite, to see if indeed the
Scripture does state this.
27th verse reads, For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of the Father with his
angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
If there is any connection between this and the Catholic doctrine of purgatory,
it certainly escaped every Christian theologian up until the 6th century of the
Christian age.
It was not until the 6th century that Gregory I pronounced on purgatory.
It was not until the year 1439 that purgatory was proclaimed as a dogma by the
Council of Florence of the Roman Catholic Church.
So, the doctrine or dogma, as it is more properly called, had its origin not in
Matthew 16, verse 27, which in context is referring to the second coming of Jesus
Christ.
Nothing to do with purgatory whatsoever, since purgatory, by definition,
is a place of temporal punishment for those who have committed venial sins.
And when those sins are expunged, removed from the person, by masses said
for them, prayers said for them, penance done, and all forms of works,
then the person is released from purgatory and is permitted to go into heaven.
If you die with a mortal sin on your soul, unconfessed, you go directly to hell,
which is a biblical doctrine.
Luke chapter 16 and many other passages.
But purgatory itself does not appear either by name or by support in Matthew
chapter 16, verse 27.
Roman Catholics argue, well, the Trinity doesn't appear by name either in the New
Testament.
So don't harp on the fact that purgatory doesn't appear there.
Quite so.
The Trinity, Trinitas, does not appear there in the Greek text.
But the doctrine of the Trinity does.
Matthew chapter 28, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
The Father is called God, 2 Peter chapter 2.
The Son is called God, excuse me, chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1.
The Son is called God, John 1, 1.
The Holy Spirit is called God, Acts 5, 3 and 4.
And the Bible says, 1 Timothy 2, there is only one God.
So the doctrine is there empirically and inductively.
There is a person called the Father, God.
There is a person called the Son, God.
There is a person called the Holy Spirit, God.
There is one God.
Conclusion, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the one God.
You say, I don't understand that.
No, you don't understand that.
And you will not understand that because unless you are God, you cannot understand
how God is God.
Understand that?
That you should get right away.
And since you are not God, you will not understand how God is God.
You have enough difficulty with yourself.
Understanding who you are, what you are doing, and what is going on in the zoo you
live in.
Without saying, I can't understand how God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Cheer up, there will be a time when you will understand that.
But that will be when we are like Him and we shall see Him as He is.
Then we'll understand how God is God.
Because He will tell us.
But until then, God says, believe me, I'm the Father, I'm the Son, I'm the Holy
Spirit.
Does it make any difference if you understand it or not?
That's me.
And that's what Scripture says, so we believe it.
So, that's a far cry from Purgatory.
Which has no support in Matthew 16 at all, as you just saw.
Alright, let's check the other text.
Revelation chapter 21, verse 27.
They call it Apocalypse, but you can turn to it.
21, Revelation 21, again verse 27.
I do not think they will have any more success with verse 27 here than they did
in verse 27 in Matthew 16.
There shall no wise enter in anything that defiles, either works abomination or makes
a lie, but they that are written in the Lamb's book of life.
This is a description of the New Jerusalem, of the Holy City.
And has no reference to any purgation for sin, whatever.
As Matthew 16, 27 does not.
So, this passage cited in the Catholic Catechism is not accurate either.
Finally, they cite 1 Corinthians 3, 15.
1 Corinthians 3, 15.
This is the one most commonly quoted to prove Purgatory.
So, let's look at that one.
Notice the Apostle Paul's emphasis here and the context of the passage itself.
He is telling us that other foundation no man can lay, verse 11, than that which is
laid, Jesus Christ.
Now, if a man builds upon Christ gold, silver, precious stones, wood,
hay, or stubble, every man's work will be made manifest.
For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a
reward.
See the context?
Judgment, reward, punishment, not purgation.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
That is, his works will burn up.
But he himself shall be saved, so as by fire, or as a result of,
or through fire.
So, this isn't talking about a place where you go and are burned in fire to get rid
of your sins.
It's talking about God's judgment of your works before the judgment seat of Christ.
For we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive reward
or punishment for the deeds done in the body.
So it's pretty clear in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 15.
It's talking about, what do you build on the foundation of God?
Do you build on Jesus Christ, gold, silver, and precious stones, which are the
works of a believer?
Or do you build wood, hay, and stubble, which is worldliness?
At the day of judgment, God will test your works.
And using the symbolism of fire, wood, hay, and stubble are burned.
Gold, silver, and precious stones remain.
What is he saying?
Your works of the flesh will be consumed.
And the works of the spirit, gold, silver, and precious stones will remain.
There's your context.
There's nothing whatever to do with a purgation after the death of the body.
Now those are the three passages cited by the Catholic catechism.
The doctrine of purgatory in Roman Catholic teaching has been the best
business investment the church has ever made.
It has no overhead, not even the need of air conditioning.
It is a doctrine spawned from this theological speculation.
Ready?
There are some people not good enough to go to heaven, and some people not bad
enough to go to hell.
Conclusion.
In between the horns of the dilemma, we will create a place for people to go.
Those who are not good enough will be purged of what's not good in them,
and they will go to heaven.
Those that are not bad enough will have the bad purged out of them, and the good
will emerge, and then they will go to heaven.
Biblical citation?
None.
Chief theologian?
None.
Exegesis of any passages of scripture?
None.
How does it come about?
It comes about specifically by dogma.
The pronouncement of a papal council of Florence, 1439.
At that point, the faithful were enjoined to believe this, under pain of spiritual
punishment.
And in front of the Roman Catholic Bible, you will find a statement.
Which says that if you read the Bible 15 minutes a day, you receive an indulgence
of 300 days off your time in purgatory.
I didn't make that up, it's right there, you go read it for yourself.
Now that means that, theoretically, if you are a constant Bible reader,
you will never ever go to purgatory.
And that's exactly the type of reasoning which was used in the day of Martin
Luther.
They were building St. Peter's in Rome, and they had to raise money.
They'd have radio and television and crusades and all kinds of things where
people come together and they could take offerings.
So, they sent out representatives.
The representatives went around selling indulgences.
An indulgence was to get your time off in purgatory, so that you would be saved.
So, Dr. Tetzel went throughout Germany and carried a large casket with him,
a chest.
And they opened it before the altar, and then they gave, in the name of the
Pope, necessary absolution based upon the indulgences for your sins.
As you dropped the money into the casket, then you were absolved.
I didn't make this up, this is history.
Luther didn't like this, and the Germans didn't like it either, and they had a wise
sense of humor.
So, they made up a little song about Tetzel.
This was the song.
As the groschen in the casket rings, the soul from purgatory sings.
So, when they dropped the money in, the soul popped out of purgatory.
That was not appreciated by the Roman Catholic Church at that time at all.
Not appreciated today either.
But, nevertheless, that is part of their doctrine.
And this is an unbiblical doctrine.
Because biblical theology clearly teaches that we are saved by grace through faith
in Jesus Christ.
We are justified by faith.
Romans chapter 4 says, To him that does not work for it, but believes in the one
who justifies the ungodly, Christ.
His faith is charged up as righteousness.
So, God charges to our account the righteousness of Christ.
It stamped, paid in full, Jesus Christ.
He did it all on the cross.
You are going to be judged when you appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
on the basis of how you lived your life for Christ.
The judgment of the great white throne is not for believers.
It is for unbelievers.
For those who have turned aside and become the abominable, and the liars,
and the whoremongers, and the adulterers, and all liars who find their part in the
lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
So, purgatory does not have a biblical basis.
The heart of the doctrine of purgatory is mirrored in a statement by Saint Gertrude,
who wrote a great deal on the subject.
Quote, Even if Christ were to grant me in this state a free entrance into heaven,
I would not accept it, for all resplendent as I look in your eyes, I know I am not
yet a fit spouse for my Lord.
Close quote.
Page 11.
Great humility, Saint Gertrude had.
She wasn't a fit spouse for Christ.
None of us are in ourselves.
It is the righteousness of God by faith that makes us acceptable in the Beloved.
They had mistaken human humility for justification.
You can't get justification for your sins through human exercise of humility.
It has to be by the recognition that none of us are worthy, and that in Christ alone
have we our peace with God.
Finally, and I will deal with this later on also, the scripture specifically tells
us that we are to come to Christ and he will give us rest.
The scripture says, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, When the believer is absent from the
body, 2 Corinthians 5, The believer is at home with the Lord.
It does not say the believer is in purgatory until one is purged of sin and
goes to be with the Lord.
It says, absent from the body, at home with the Lord.
Philippians chapter 1 mirrors the Apostle Paul's interest.
He is getting ready to die.
What does this great Apostle look forward to?
He says he is the least of the Apostles.
He persecuted the church.
He doesn't deserve anything.
What does he say?
Philippians 1.21, For to me to live is Christ.
To die is prophet.
I am torn between two things, whether to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better, or to stay here, which is more necessary for you.
What was he looking forward to when he died?
To depart and be with Christ.
This is far better.
You and I are accounted righteous on the basis of the sacrifice of our Lord.
We have peace with God through the death of the cross.
And by the glory of the resurrection, we become the sons of God, following our
Redeemer, who is declared to be the Son of God with power by resurrection from among
the dead.
Purgatory is a human invention to solve a philosophical human dilemma.
It is not a biblical truth.
Biblical truth is very simple.
Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice for sin forever and sat down at the right hand of
God.
He has forever sanctified by that offering those that believe, the writer of Hebrews
tells us.
I close with a great passage in Hebrews chapter 4, reminding us that there is no
need to invent doctrines of purgatory, for in Hebrews chapter 1 we are told,
Jesus Christ, who is the image of God, the very character and nature of God in
human flesh, verse 3, purged us of our sins, all by himself, and sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high.
Hebrews 4 says, Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold on tight to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but he was at all points tested, like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come with confidence to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and
grace to help us in our time of need.
There is no purgatory, not because I say so, but because Scripture says so.
There is no purgatory because Christ's sacrifice alone is sufficient for all sin.
Should we ever doubt it, 1 John puts that doubt to rest forever.
Jesus Christ is the satisfaction for all our sins.
1 John 2.2 And not for ours only, but for the sin of the whole world.
You don't need purgatory, you don't need penance, you don't need masses,
you don't need contributions, you don't need indulgences, and you don't need human
dogmas.
All you need now is what you have always needed.
Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, forever.
He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says.
And as Protestants, rejoice, because when the Son sets you free, you are free
indeed.
Amen.
Our Father, bless Thy word.
Touch our hearts with it, that we may go forth from this place to apply it in our
lives, and touch the lives of others.
Cleanse us of our sins.
Make us good vessels for the service of the Lord Jesus.
In His name.
Amen.
It should be a very interesting point of observation that Catholic theology is
built around the Mass as the core of its system of exegesis.
Everything is related to the Mass.
For at the sacrifice of the Mass, the priest offers, according to Catholic
theology, an unbloody sacrifice.
At the moment that he raises the chalice at the altar, the consecration takes
place.
And the bread and the wine become, and I quote, the body, soul, blood,
and divinity of Jesus Christ upon the altar as an unbloody sacrifice.
The repetition, if you will, mystically, of Calvary.
It's therefore no surprise that since this is the core of Catholic theology,
the Catholic Church writes a great deal on the subject of the Mass, quotes a great
deal of materials on the Mass, and requires attendance at the Mass under
penalty of mortal sin.
Which means if you die, and you have not attended Mass, and not been to confession
as a result of that, you immediately go to hell.
There is no such thing as purgatory.
So the Mass is mandatory under penalty of mortal sin.
Because of this great emphasis upon the Mass, it behooves us as Christians,
Protestant Christians, to analyze the doctrine of the Mass in the light of
biblical theology.
Now, Lorraine Bettner, the great Reformation theologian, has pointed out
that the sacrifice of the Mass did not actually attain any real status,
that is, mandatory status and attention in Roman Catholicism until the twelfth
century of the Christian era.
Which means that up until that time, there were different views concerning
what, quote, the Mass was, close quote.
For instance, Pope Gregory I in 590 A.D., whose theology in many areas was very
reminiscent of modern Christian theology, that is, classic Christian theology as we
understand it.
Gregory lashed out against the people who said that it was unnecessary to take both
the bread and the wine at the Lord's Supper.
And Gregory said, we, the holy Catholic Church, do anathematize, that means curse,
and excommunicate all those who say it is not necessary to take both the bread and
the cup at the communion.
Well, that's pretty strong language.
We curse you and we excommunicate you.
And, of course, you have a later Pope dealing with the doctrine of the Mass and
he says, I believe it was innocent III, quote, We, the holy Catholic Church,
do anathematize and excommunicate all those who say it is necessary to take both
the bread and the cup at the communion.
Sacrifice of the Mass.
Well, now, you're damned coming and going.
You're damned by Gregory I if you don't do it, and you're damned by innocent III if
you say you have to.
So, you see, there have been differences of opinion throughout the years on the
subject of the Mass.
But it has been crystallized pretty much in our day so that you take the bread and
the wafer, the wafer being dipped in the bread, or they will let you drink the cup
now in the Roman Catholic Church.
So, the sacrifice of the Mass has evolved in Catholic theology as the center of the
entire system.
Now, if we're going to deal with it, we have to know what verses the Catholic
Church uses to push the doctrine of the Mass.
And I think that this can be pretty easily explained by pointing out that the Lord
Jesus Christ, when he gave the Lord's Supper in the Gospel of Matthew,
said, this is my body which is broken for you.
And then he gave the cup and said, drink it, because this is the,
what, new covenant in my blood which is given for many for the remission of sins.
And then he went on to say it was necessary in John chapter 6 to eat my
flesh and drink my blood, or else you have no life in you.
So, Catholic theology relies heavily on the Last Supper.
It relies heavily on 1 Corinthians 11, where the Apostle Paul repeats the Last
Supper language.
And it relies heavily on John chapter 6.
Those are the three major areas of Catholic concentration.
How, then, do we respond to this?
Well, if you open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, Gospel of John chapter 6,
there is a very clear-cut statement made concerning the Lord's Supper.
Jesus described himself as the bread of life that came down from heaven to give
life to the world.
That's verses 48, 50, and 51, John 6.
Jesus Christ described himself as the bread of life that came down from heaven
to give life to the world.
Now, the Lord further identifies his flesh with living bread.
Verse 51.
And states that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you.
Verse 53.
These are great Catholic texts.
And they use them repeatedly.
Now, that the Lord Jesus Christ was using highly figurative language at this point
is rather clear from the fact that both the Jews and his disciples were
interpreting his words literally.
Verses 52, verses 60, and verse 61.
Jesus goes out of his way deliberately to contradict a literal interpretation of his
words.
They were saying, how can you eat his flesh?
How can you drink his blood?
That was a violation of Moses' law.
That was cannibalism.
You couldn't do that.
How could he be talking about eating flesh and drinking blood?
And many of his disciples were upset by what he said.
Christ was using figurative language.
And he makes that very clear in verse 63.
The words that I am speaking to you, they are spirit and they are life.
The flesh profits nothing.
The Lord Jesus Christ clearly taught that belief in him was the equivalent of eating
his flesh and drinking his blood.
Verses 35 and 36.
So, once you understand figurative language, you don't have any difficulty
understanding John chapter 6, the Last Supper, or Paul's remarks in 1 Corinthians
chapter 11.
Jesus often used figurative language.
I am the door, which you expect him to be made of wood and have hinges.
I am the good shepherd, that he literally have a flock of sheep and a shepherd's
prod.
I am the vine.
Was he a vegetable?
I am the light of the world.
Was he a sun shining on our planet?
I am the way.
Was he something that you walked upon?
All of these, quite obviously, are figurative usages.
In John chapter 6, he said, He that comes to me shall never be hungry.
He that believes in me will never be thirsty.
Do you notice the emphasis there?
Hunger, thirst, eat, drink, flesh, blood.
See the parallel?
To come to Jesus Christ is never to hunger again.
And to believe in Jesus Christ is to eat the bread that came down from heaven and
to live forevermore.
Of course, in the communion, there is a mystical element.
I believe it is far more than symbolism.
I believe when we go to the Lord's table, we should go there reverently and properly
understand the Lord's sacrifice on the cross.
It was for us.
Upon the cross of Jesus, mine eyes at times can see the very dying form of one
who suffered there, to me.
In other words, when we take communion, we are reliving ourselves what Calvary
means to us.
We are participating in his life given for us on the cross.
We have come to him.
We will never be hungry.
We are believing in him.
We will never be thirsty.
We are eating of the bread from heaven.
We are drinking of the life of God.
And this figurative language, Jesus said, is meant to communicate the words I am
speaking are spirit and they are life.
The flesh means nothing.
In other words, Jesus was saying, why are you interpreting what I say
literally?
You know as a rabbi, I cannot contradict Moses' law.
I cannot teach cannibalism.
So why are you upset?
Why are you scandalized by this?
You shouldn't be.
Because what I am telling you is spirit and life.
The flesh will profit you nothing.
Come to me and you will never be hungry.
Believe in me and you will never be thirsty.
Because in doing that you eat my flesh and drink my blood.
You have eternal life.
This is very clear in John chapter 6.
In both Greek and in English.
But the moment you take it literally, at that particular moment, you are
adopting the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.
That is that it changes from bread and wine to actual blood and flesh.
And that though it appears to be wine and bread, you are actually eating the flesh
and the blood of Jesus Christ at that moment.
That simply cannot be.
For the Lord Jesus Christ has entered once into the holiest of all with his own
blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Look at what the scripture says on this subject.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14 and verse 10.
For by one offering, one sacrifice, Christ has perfected forever those who are
sanctified or set apart.
We have been sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Or the Greek says just once.
So if this is true, there is not a continuous sacrifice.
And of course this is true.
There is no unbloody mass or unbloody sacrifice.
Because we have been sanctified already through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
and this was written before the close of the first century.
God took care of it all then, you do not have to repeat it afterwards.
And of course we have been sanctified by that sacrifice once for all.
When the Catholic Church uses John 6, Matthew 26, 1 Corinthians 11, remember
that their interpretation violates the context, violates the grammar and the use
of language.
We are talking about figurative language.
Also in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross, at the time of his resurrection, entered into the holiest of all.
Hebrews 9, verse 12.
He entered into heaven itself with his own blood.
Greek is explicit here.
Past tense.
Having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Listen to the Catholic dictionary.
Quote.
Every day in the sacrifice of the mass he remains that sacrifice.
The mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the cross.
No it isn't.
Because Hebrews 9, verse 12 says that is over with.
He has already obtained eternal redemption.
No it isn't.
Hebrews 10, 12 and 14 says one sacrifice for sin forever.
Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3 says by himself he purged our sins and sat down at the
right hand of God.
So we learn that in John 6 we are dealing with figurative language.
Matthew 26, 1 Corinthians 11, figurative language.
Not literal.
It is emblematic, symbolic of spiritual truth.
The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.
The flesh will profit you nothing.
When we come to the Lord's table, we come as Protestants rejoicing that we
are celebrating the fact that almost 2,000 years ago on the cross, Jesus Christ paid
the penalty for all our sins.
He entered into heaven itself with his own blood, first century, and obtained eternal
redemption for us.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, let us have peace with God.
No, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we are redeemed by his blood.
His life was exchanged for our lives.
And because of him, we have peace with God.
The sacrifice of the mass is believed by Roman Catholics because the church says it
is to be believed on penalty of mortal sin.
They hold the people in a grip of fear on the sacrifice of the mass.
To that, we stand upon the scriptures with Luther and Calvin and all the great
theologians of the Reformation and we shout back in the direction of Rome these
words, not defiantly, but triumphantly.
If the Son will make you free, you are free indeed.
You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.
God has set us free from the doctrine of the mass by teaching us that Jesus Christ
once for all paid the penalty for sin.
Our Father, sanctify us through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
Speak to our hearts and minds and help us to rejoice that the Son of God has set us
free.
We are free indeed.
Send us forth from this place to glorify thy Son Jesus, to rejoice in thy salvation
and to know that thou hast loved us before time began and has redeemed us once for
all in the cross of Jesus Christ.
Set us apart, sanctify us forever.
We worship you and praise you for that salvation by grace alone, through faith in
Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen.