Transcription
We have been dealing with the subject, the Roman Catholic Church in history. You started to deal with confession, the Mass, purgatory, and penance. Last time, those of you who were keeping notes on this, and have a tape, discussed the subject of penance in conjunction with confession. You pointed out that the word "penance" itself doesn't appear in New Testament theology. Roman Catholic Douay Bible translates the word, translates the word *metanoia*, which means repent, change your mind, change your direction, as "do penance." That is not biblical theology.
In the New American Translation, published by the Roman Catholic Church from the Greek texts that are the Latin Vulgate, they change that to the correct word, and they do now translate it, "repent and turn away from your sin." 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, *dokla* penance is still part of Catholic theology. I have here a Roman Catholic catechism, and you find it in a 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've injured. Is he 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 of the Roman Catholic Church by emphasizing confession to a priest, put an intercessor between you and God. And they quote the 20th chapter of John's Gospel, which we went to last time, pointing out, "Whose sins you remit, they are remitted. Whose sins you retain, they are retained." As their key text. However, he also noted this passage, in context, is not referring to auricular confession to a priest on a weekly basis. It is 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's 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 is 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 a regular 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're 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 despot 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 that saved him, begged them to forgive him. Yet, a revival going in 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 writing 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 the Catholic translation, "through faith, not by yourselves, it's the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast." For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, God has already ordained we should perform us. So, how's the theology is correct in stating that after one repents and confesses sin, there should be restitution in so far 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." As the 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. 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 attends to dominate our lives. We will finally be saved from the very presence of sin when we see Him and I 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, "There is therefore now no judgment" (Greek word is *krima*), "that ends in death for those who are in Christ Jesus." Those people, says Paul later in the chapter, "who are walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 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've been justified legally by faith. Now we have constant cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of our Lord.
The 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. So, there's no doubt in our minds about this. Let's understand what justification really means. To be justified by faith, the legal context means that God has put you on trial because of your sins in Adam. God judges you guilty because of your sin. God condemns you because of your sentence. 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 sin. 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 sin. First 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're exonerated and set free. And so, two weeks later, you're not feeling too good about it. You go back down to the court and ask for an audience with the judge. And when you get in there, you say to the judge, "Uh, 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, I somehow feel as something I have to do." The judge would say, "Look, the law says you were acquitted of the crime. It's over with. Go home." "Oh, that makes me feel so much better." Back home, a month passes. Huh. If there's a terrible feeling, I'm going to see the judge again. And back you go again. You know, after the second, the 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, then, 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, Lord Jesus, and believes Him who sent me, the Father, has now, in the present tense, has life everlasting and does not come to judgment, but has passed from death into life." 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 that *in July* 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 *a packet* not just that's I can put it in legal terms again, be acquitted, be exonerated, shall live by faith.
Now, I wanna 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 a 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? Has Abraham been justified by works? He has nothing to glory about, something to worry 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. Work for something you collect. They all, 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. Where them to their means? Charges up. God charges to your account righteousness apart from your works. Holding 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 full arguments, 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 it," 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, acquits, 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 has done for us. Bless us, then 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 used Roman Catholic catechism, which I happened to have a copy of. And by 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. And I thought you *Panna Cottas* 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." This one, I want that to sink in. "And from Scripture." The Scriptures cited. I want you to open your Bibles to and look at Matthew 16:27. Matthew chapter 16, verse 27. Roman Catholic catechism says, "We know there's a purgatory from Scripture." So we will go to the Scripture which they cite, see if indeed the Scripture does state this.
The 27th verse reads, "Where the Son of Man shall come in the glory of the Father, his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works." If there's any connection between this and the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, it certainly escaped every Christian theologian up until the 6th century of the Christian era. It was not until the 6th century that Gregory the First 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 more properly called, at its origin, not in Matthew 16:27, 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 mass 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, Trinity 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. Second Peter chapter 2, the Son is called God. Jude chapter 1, Second Peter chapter 1, the Son is called God. John 1:1, the Holy Spirit is called God. Acts 5:2-3 and 4. And the Bible says 472, there is only one God. So the doctrine is there. Empirically and inductively, there is a person called the Father, God. There's the 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. 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, and we'll understand how God is God because He will tell us. But until then, God said, "Believe me. I'm the Father. I'm the Son. I'm the Holy Spirit." Does it make any difference if you understand or not? 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. All right, 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. Water has Matthew 16:27 does not. So this passage cited in the Catholic catechism is not accurate either.
Finally, they cite 1st Corinthians 3:15. 1st 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's telling us, "Now other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ." Now, "if any man build upon this foundation with 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. In the context, judgment, reward, punishment, not purgation. "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; 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 is 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. That's pretty clear.
The 1st Corinthians 3:15 is something about what do you build on the foundation of God? 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. I've earned 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 probation 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 formed 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, 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 virtual punishment.
In front of the Roman Catholic Bible, you will find a statement which says that if you read the Bible fifteen minutes a day, you receive an indulgence of 300 days, or your time in purgatory. I, I didn't make that up. That'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. Didn't have radio and television and crusades and all kinds of things where people come together and they can take offerings. So they sent out representatives. Representatives went around selling indulgences. An indulgence was to get your time off in purgatory, so that you would be safe. 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, the assent. As you drop 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 wry sense of humor, so they made up a little song about it. "The Grolsch in the casket ring, the soul from purgatory sting." So when they drop the money in, the soul popped out of purgatory. That was not appreciated by the Roman Catholic churches at that time. 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's stamped "Paid in Full." Jesus Christ, He did it all on the cross. You got 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 adulterers and all liars who find their part of 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 I think Gertrude, who wrote a great deal on the subject, "Oh, 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'm not yet a fifth spouse for my Lord." Close quote, page 11. Great humility. Then Gertrude had. She wasn't a fifth 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 bacon human humility for justification. You can't get justification for your sin 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 Scriptures specifically tells us that we are to come to Christ, and He will give us rest. The scripture says, first, give me, second Corinthians chapter 5, "When the believer is absent from the body," second Corinthians 5, "the believer is at home with the Lord." Does that 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's getting ready to die. What does this great apostle look forward to? He says, "He's the least of the apostles. He persecuted the church. Doesn't deserve anything." What did he say? Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ, to die is power." I'm 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're 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 sin 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. But we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but he was in all points tempted 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? First John puts that doubt to rest forever. Jesus Christ is the satisfaction for all our sin. 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 *matin*. 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 part of them, 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 sin. Make us fit 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 a system of exegesis. Everything is related to the Mass. For as 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 greatly on the subject of the Mass, go to great deal of materials on the Mass, and requires attendance at the Mass under penalty of mortal sin, which means if you die, you have not attended Mass, and not sin the 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, the Christian Protestant Christians, to analyze the doctrine of the Mass in the light of biblical theology. Now, Loraine Boettner, 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, quotes, "the Mass was," close quote. For instance, Pope Gregory the First, in 590 AD, 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, first, an effect, communicate 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 leader, Pope, dealing with the doctrine of the Mass, and he says, I believe it was Innocent the Third, 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, the Mass." Well, now you're damned coming and going. You're damned by Gregory the First if you don't do it, and you're damned by Innocent the Third if you say you have to. So you see, there have been differences of opinion through this 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 versus 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, says, "This is my body which is broken for you." And then He gave the cup and said, "Drink it, because this is the 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, 'Ye must eat my flesh and drink my blood, or else you have no life in you.'" Verse 53. Is a great Catholic text, 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 word literally. Verses 52, verses 60, and verse 61. Jesus goes out of His way deliberately to contradict a literal interpretation of His word. They were saying, "How can we eat His flesh? How do 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 set 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 word. 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 1st Corinthians chapter 11. Jesus offered us figurative language. "I am the door." Would 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 prop? "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." You notice the emphasis there. Hunger, thirst, eat, during flesh, blood. See the parallel? To come to Jesus Christ is there was a 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's far more than symbolism. I believe if we go to the Lord's table, we should go there reverently and properly understand the Lord's sacrifice on the cross, which for us upon the cross of Jesus, my eyes at time can see the very dying form of one who suffered there. To me, in other words, 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. In this figurative language, Jesus said, is meant to communicate the words, "I am seeking our 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'm telling you is spirit and life. The flesh will profit you nothing. Come to me, and you'll never be hungry. Believe in me, you'll 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.
At the moment you take it literally, at that particular moment, you are adopting the 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 one 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 one." So if this is true, there is not a continuous sacrifice. And of course, this is true. There is no one bloody Mass and bloody 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, one for all.
When the Catholic Church uses John 6, Matthew 26, 1st 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, *reca's captain*, 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." Notice, because Hebrews 9:12 says that's over with. He has already obtained eternal redemption. No, it is it. Hebrews 10:12 and 14 says, "One sacrifice for sin forever." Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3 says, "By Himself, He purged our sin and sat down at the right hand of God." So we learn that in John 6, we're dealing with figurative language. Matthew 26, 1st 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 2000 years ago, on the cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all our sins. He entered into heaven itself with His own blood for centuries 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 life. 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. So that we stand upon 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, one for all, paid the penalty for sin.
Our Father, sanctify us to 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 on the cross of Jesus Christ. Set us apart, sanctified 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.