Ex-Catholic Exposes the TWISTED Teachings of the Catholic Church | Mike Gendron

well it is my joy and my privilege to be here especially to see so many of you out on a beautiful Saturday morning to be equipped and encouraged in this huge Mission field and I must explain before we begin the definition of an evangelist it's one who's called in from out of town to deliver a message that the church would normally fire their Pastor for preaching if company here because very few churches today will even address the issue of Roman Catholicism so I praise God for this church because it has no fear of man it wants to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by not only lifting him up as the all-sufficient Savior but also to protect the Purity and the exclusivity of the gospel and I if you haven't met my wife Jane she's the second greatest blessing in my life and if you like the slides this morning and tomorrow it's all because of her so she is a blessed help mate indeed well up until 60 years ago the difference between Catholics and evangelicals was very Stark this morning we're going to look at the differences between Catholics and evangelicals because what was once paid at black and white is now painted gray by many Evangelical Leaders The ecumenical movement started in the Vatican in 1965 and ever since then there's been a push to unite all of Christianity under the power and the influence of the papacy and unfortunately we have many willing Evangelical leaders that are jumping on The ecumenical bandwagon the most most recent Unity Accord was The Manhattan Declaration and that was established in 2009 many of well-known Evangelical leaders have signed on to the point where people are following personalities rather than the word of God and today 640 000 evangelicals have signed the Accord that says we share a common Faith with Roman Catholics in the Gospel of Jesus Christ I think this morning you're going to see that is utterly false the Catholic church is definitely a counterfeit form of Christianity it's an apostate form of Christianity and needless to say there are many evangelicals that are confused because of our leadership they don't know if the Catholic Church represents a huge Mission field or if there are Brothers and Sisters in Christ so from a pastoral perspective we also need to make a distinction between the Roman Catholic people and the the institution that deceives them I love Roman Catholics I've given my life to reach them but I hate the institution that keeps them on the wide road to destruction with a false and fatal gospel so please let's make that distinction we love the people but we hate what is false so this morning we want to look through the lens of scripture which is our supreme authority for Discerning Truth For Mayor and to see why the Roman Catholic Church represents a huge Mission field so I would like to begin by asking you how you would Define the Roman Catholic Church Catholics believe it is the one true Apostolic Church founded by Christ do you believe it is a Christian denomination made up of Brothers and Sisters in Christ or do you believe it is in an apostate Church whose members need to be evangelized and I want you to be the jury this morning I want you to look at the evidence and then if you haven't already decided I'm hoping it will be clear in the end ever since the Lord Jesus founded his church 2000 years ago there have been two streams of Christianity running side by side you have the Apostolic Church this is the church the Lord Jesus founded he is the only builder in its only head the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against his church the words of Jesus in Matthew 16. his church is made up of born-again Christians who are in Christ and Sanctified by the truth they've been called out of the world Sanctified by the truth of people for God's Own possession but then you also have the apostate Church it too has been operating for two thousand years it's made up of churches denominations and individuals who departed from the true church were departed from the faith of the Apostles how do we know it's been operating for 2000 years in first John chapter 2 verse 19 John said they went out from us because they were never part of us had they been part of us they would have remained with us another way we can look at that they went out from us because they were never born again had they been born again they would have remained with us but they departed from the faith of the Apostles and Paul told us that this would happen in first Timothy 4 in latter times some will depart from the faith and follow doctrines of demons the fingerprints are on the Roman Catholic church because Paul defines one of the doctrines of demons they will follow forbidding their priests to marry so when you look at the history of the church you can see the first 600 years we refer to it as the ancient church this is where scripture was boldly proclaimed and then you have the medieval church over the next 900 years where scripture was hidden from the people and then God raised up the reformers we have the Reformation Church in the 1500s where scripture was restored to the people put in the common vernacular so people could read the word of God and be set free from religious deception and then we have the modern church or even now it's probably more like the postmodern Church where scripture is being ignored the medieval church was dominated dominated by the Roman Catholic church and it continues its slide into apostasy when you look at the Roman Catholic Church it does have a thin veneer of Truth that hides a false and fatal gospel you see two circles on the screen and the reason they overlap is because we share common truth with Roman Catholics we believe in the fundamentals of the faith if you will the Roman Catholics believe and teach that there is a Triune God Jesus is the second person he was born of a virgin he lived a sinless life obeying the law perfectly then he went to calvary's cross he died there for the sins of the world and then three days later he was raised from the dead and he will come back to judge the living and the dead those are the common truths that we share with Roman Catholics that is why you see an overlap of the two circles but what happens outside of the Bible is Roman Catholic traditions we know that the gospel is fully contained in Scripture Paul tells us that in First Corinthians 15 verses 1 to 4 where he defines the gospel it is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus according to what scripture in other words we need we need no other book no other authority if you want to know how to be saved it's fully contained in the Bible but the Roman Catholic church has many ungodly Traditions that are outside the Bible and many of these Traditions nullify and oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ this is why many evangelicals believe Catholicism is a valid form of Christianity because of that thinned denier of truth that hides a false and fatal gospel so when you look at catholicism's departure from the apostolic faith it really began in 431 where they declared baptism is what regenerates the soul and today you probably know that many Roman Catholics are baptized at seven days old that is said to be the Regeneration they were made alive in Christ then you had the sacrifice of the mass and 500 A.D that's where the Roman Catholic Church continues the work of Redemption on an altar that Jesus finished on the cross then you have indulgences the definition of an Indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment for sin then you have transubstantiation that's where the priest is said to have the power to call Jesus down from heaven and be transubstantiated into the inner substance of a wafer such that that wafer becomes the physical body and blood soul and Divinity of Christ and then you have Purgatory it was first announced as a Doctrine in 596 by the way 596 was the first pope of the Catholic Church Pope Gregory the first and he's the one that began teaching Purgatory but I need to make a distinction between a teaching Doctrine and an infallible Dogma teaching doctrines can be changed such as limbo Catholics taught that for a long time now they no longer teach that that was only be a Doctrine but once it is raised to an infallible Dogma it's pronounced by infallible Bishops and so they can never change a Dogma the whole system would collapse on itself if one infallible Dogma was changed so Purgatory became that in 1545 at the counter-reformation the Catholic Church elevated its tradition to be equal in authority to God's word then you had the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854 Catholics are taught that Mary Not only was conceived without sin but lived a sinless life 1870 at Vatican Council one papal infallibility was pronounced and they made it retroactive to all the previous popes and then in 1950 Catholics began asking questions wait a minute if Mary never sinned and sin is what causes death where is Mary so they had to come up with another infallible Dogma Mary was miraculously assumed into heaven these are Roman Catholic Traditions that departed from the faith of the Apostles so let's look at the differences between Roman Catholics and Evangelical Christians there are seven that I'd like you to look at by the way I just wish I could make this presentation to the 640 000 evangelicals that believe Catholics and Christians share a common faith we have a different Church we submit to a different Authority we worship and trust a different Jesus we believe a different gospel we have a different view of Mary and please don't miss this we have a different view of sin and ultimately this leads to a different path to Eternity so let's look at each one of these with a little bit more detail the Christian church has only one head we know that to be the Lord Jesus Christ but the Catholic church has two heads they believe the papacy is the head of not only the Catholic church but they believe he's the head of the Christian church at Large how do you join the Church of Jesus Christ only by water only by infant baptism excuse me I'm getting that confused only by the baptism of the Holy Spirit I got ahead of myself we are made members of the Church of Jesus Christ when the spirit of God makes us alive in Christ but the Roman Catholic Church says it's by water baptism that's how you join the Catholic Church every member of the Lord's church is Sanctified by the truth members of the Catholic Church are inclusive and tolerant of all other religions you may have just seen last week the Pope signed a Unity Accord with Muslims you know his goal is to unite the whole world together and it's very interesting when you look at biblical prophecy we know there's going to be one Church that comes together to worship the Antichrist and the pope has got a very aggressive agenda to unite the world under the papacy the Christian Church's Spirit led the Catholic churches man-centered every member of God's church is has their name enrolled in heaven this disqualifies the Roman Catholic church because they say their members can go to hell if they die in mortal sin but we know we can never go to hell once we've been born of the spirit of God because of that great promise in Romans 8 1 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus the Christian church has two ordinances the Catholic church has seven sacraments the Christian Church contends earnestly for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the Saints the Catholic Church departed from the faith of the Apostles the Christian Church proclaims the Glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church distorts the gospel of Christ major differences between the two churches the foundation of the Christian church was laid and completed two thousand years ago and we see in First Corinthians 3 11 no man can by any means lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ Jesus is the one head he is the one builder of his church members are baptized by the spirit and their names are enrolled in heaven the church is the only institution our Lord promised to build to bless and protect he builds it as Sinners respond to the gospel with repentance and faith Peter is not the Rock and we'll look at that in a little more detail we also have a different Authority that we submit to Christians submit to the supreme authority of scripture in all matters of faith and practice Roman Catholics have three different authorities scripture is one but they also have their sacred tradition and they have their infallible Bishops so the issue of authority continues to be the biggest practical divide between Protestants and Catholics Catholics say both scripture and tradition must be accepted and honored with equal Sentiments of devotion and reverence last night we had an opportunity to witness to our server at the restaurant he said he was a Roman Catholic and I asked him what Authority do you submit to to know whether or not you believe the truth and he deflected the question because he had no Authority his authority was subjective I feel good and the Roman Catholic religion when you look at Catholic Authority when you see their three authorities scripture and tradition along with the the Bishops of the church they are said to be all equal but yet an actual practice it is the Bishops of the church called the magisterian that sits above tradition in Scripture and they do an amazing job of twisting and distorting scripture so that it conforms to their ungodly tradition if only they'd look to their first pope that they believe Peter Peter warned about those who twist and distort scripture he said it would be to their own destruction well God is our supreme authority and we submit to his word as our supreme authority over tradition and over all of men's teaching we have a perfect example of that don't we in Acts 17 11 when the Apostle Paul is teaching in the synagogues of Berea and as he is teaching he notices that his listeners are searching the Scriptures Daily to test the veracity of an Apostles teaching isn't that a good principle for all of us Paul didn't get upset he commended them this is a good principle test every man's teaching with the authority of scripture now I tell Catholics here's an apostle who wrote half the New Testament and yet when he's preaching they're testing him to find out if he's teaching the truth shouldn't your pope condom come under the same scrutiny shouldn't your priest shouldn't anyone who opens the Bible be tested with scripture well scripture is the supreme authority over men and tradition it exposes the error and the bondage of religious tradition you know I just love the word of God because it is a offensive and defensive weapon that we can use as a sword of the spirit to slay Every Lie of the devil and we look at the Lord Jesus in Mark chapter 7 the apostate Jewish leaders were elevating their tradition to the point that it was nullifying the word of God and so it is today with Roman Catholics they too nullify the word of God for the sake of their tradition scripture proved that Peter was not infallible we see that in Matthew 16 23 we also see it in Galatians 2 11-14 Paul had to confront Peter to his face for what reason he wasn't acting in line with the truth of the gospel and what was Paul's response did he did he submit to Paul or did he submit the scripture scripture was his authority and he stood corrected not too long ago Jane and I had the opportunity to witness to Rose lipsky she was the wife of a very famous golfer some of you probably played golf and know of Bruce lipsky but her two children were in a Christian School in Dallas and they came home one day I think they were about 11 and 13 years old and they said Mom all the cat all the kids at school are saying that we're not going to go to heaven because we're Catholic and of course they were very troubled by this and Rose found out about our ministry through a mutual friend and she asked if we would come over and explain why the Christians at Trinity Christian Academy were saying that and so we opened the Bible and for three hours we laid out the one and only way to the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation and all during this time she was asking questions and we'd always refer back to the Bible and let God answer it for her now remember after three hours she said how is it that you and your wife has such such peace and joy and I said it's because we know that we have the Assurance of eternal life and she said I want that assurance how do I get that assurance so I took her to Mark 1 1 15. Jesus said repent and believe the gospel that was his first command as it began his Earthly Ministry and then I took her to Romans 10 verses 9 and 10. I said read this if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you shall be saved she cried out to the Lord to save her then she said what am I going to do now I was just named fundraiser at All Saints Catholic Church she said I know I can't go back there anymore my son is an altar boy I need to go tell the priest that we're going to leave the church would you come with me I said absolutely because if you're familiar with the parable of the soils the seed had been sown I didn't want to have the devil an opportunity to snatch away the seed that was sown and so I didn't want her one-on-one with a Catholic priest so we set up an appointment we went into his office I got right to the point I said can you explain to Rose how she has any hope of going to heaven and he articulated the Catholic Plan of Salvation Point by point I said how are you going and I I saw a Bible on his desk I said can you open to the Book of Romans I'd like you to read a couple of scriptures and so as he read those scriptures I said how are you going to reconcile what God has just said with what you told Rose as her only hope of salvation well now he knew why I was there he said this meeting is over I said no it's not there's nothing more important than settling This Woman's Eternal destiny and so for the next 15 minutes he tried to reconcile what the book of Romans said was what he had shared with rose and each time he did I responded with a scripture that opposed and nullified what he just said he was getting so agitated so frustrated steam started coming up from his collar just saying and then he threw up his hands and he said look I don't have the authority to interpret the word of God on my own we rely on the Bishops of the church they're the only ones that can interpret the scripture this meeting is over so we got up and we walked out and I opened my Bible to Second Corinthians 4 2. I said rose look Paul presents the truth plainly to Every Man's conscience and the sight of God we don't need Bishops to interpret the word of God for us it's a love letter to all those who want to know Jesus Christ and then I showed her where Paul wrote his Epistles to the Saints at individual churches so why is the Bible the supreme authority for truth second Timothy 3 16 all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and training and righteousness the authors claim they spoke for God thus saith the Lord occurs nearly 500 times in scriptures what does it mean the scripture is profitable for reproof well to reprove is to expose air and we see that the scriptures are also useful for correcting error so once you expose it with the word of God then you use the word of God to correct it so it is our supreme authority for all matters of faith and practice so who is The Rock in Matthew 16 18. this is the most important verse in Roman Catholicism the whole church stands and falls on this verse you know what's happened here Jesus has just asked the question who do men say that I am and Peter said you were the Christ the son of the Living God and Jesus said this wasn't revealed to my revealed to you by man but by my Father in heaven and Peter Upon This Rock I will build my church what did Peter just do he made a profession of Faith divinely inspired by God as to who Jesus is and everyone who makes that same profession of faith is part of Christ Church it is upon the profession of Peter that Jesus would build his church but Roman Catholics declare that Jesus was pointing to Peter as The Rock what does the Bible say well Peter knew that Jesus was the rock all we have to do is look at his first epistle chapter 2 verses 7 and 8. Paul said The Rock was Christ First Corinthians 10 4 God was their Rock Psalm 78 verse 35 and so the Bible has an answer for Roman Catholics Jesus is The Rock he is the foundation by the way right after Peter made that profession of Faith you know what happened Jesus said before I build my church I must first go and die for my church and Peter said Lord may it never be he calls Jesus Lord and then he rebuke some was Peter infallible at that moment where Jesus had to correct him not at all and so right there were Catholics pointed Peter being their first pope in an infallible Pope we see that we can show them that The Rock was Christ does the bible give any warnings about trusting men absolutely the Apostle Paul stood before the Ephesian Elders right at the end of his ministry and he wrote these words or actually spoke these words I know that after my departure Savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and from your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them in other words even from your Elder board men are going to rise up therefore be on the alert remembering for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one of you with tears we are not to trust the words of men in fact if you leave with anything this morning encourage Roman Catholics to put their trust in the inspired word of God not in the uninspired words of men we must test every man's teaching with scripture warning after warning about trusting men the third difference between evangelicals and Catholics as we worship and trust a different Jesus the biblical Jesus provides eternal life Roman Catholics don't have that because their Jesus only provides conditional life that's why when you witness to Catholics one of the great verses to open up with is first John 5 13 where John writes to those who believe in the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life you can know right now that you have in your possession Eternal everlasting life that's good news to someone who never knows where they're going to spend eternity the biblical Jesus provides the complete forgiveness of sin the Roman Catholic Jesus only a partial forgiveness there's always residual sin that remains some of you may remember when John Paul II died they flew eight different Roman Catholic Cardinals into the Vatican to offer the sacrifice of a mass to get a Holy Father out of purgatory the mass is said to be a propitiatory sacrifice that reduces time in purgatory the biblical Jesus provides a permanent right standing with God Hebrews 10 14 by one offering he is made perfect forever those who are being sanctified Catholic Jesus provides a continuous striving to gain God's acceptance some of you grew up Roman Catholic you know what I'm talking about here it's like being on a treadmill always doing the best you can to try and gain God's approval but going nowhere the biblical Jesus provides peace and assurance the Catholic Jesus uncertainty fear doubt and a false hope when I worked for Ross Perot I got on an airplane every Monday morning to go sell computers every Monday morning I had this great gripping fear what if the plane goes down will I end up in Hell or purgatory now I get on a plane to come to California I know if that plane goes down instantly I'm in the presence of my Lord There's No Greater Joy No Greater peace if you've ever been into a Catholic Church you know that their Jesus is depicted in one of three ways he's either a dead man still hanging on a cross a helpless babe in the arms of his mother or lifeless inanimate piece of bread called the Eucharist in all three of these depictions he is unable to do anything for Roman Catholics you and I worship and trust a resurrected ascended savior who sits at the right hand of the father as our Good Shepherd as our Advocate when the Devil Comes accusing he stands up and says paid for 2000 years ago what a contrast well in the Roman Catholic Mass I want to share a quote with you that is really heart troubling but this is what every Roman Catholic priest believes they have the power to do when the priest announces the words of consecration he reaches up into the heavens and brings Christ down from his throne and places him Upon Our altar to be offered up again as the victim for the sins of man was Jesus a victim or did he lay down his life voluntarily it is a power greater than that of saints and angels the priest speaks and lo Christ the Eternal and omnipotent God bows his head in Humble obedience to the priest's command this is the quote unquote Miracle of transubstantiation they continue on an altar what Jesus finished on the cross calling the omnipotent God back down from heaven denying the bloodstain words of our savior it is finished well the Catholic Church says the sacrifice of the mass and the sacrifice of Calvary are the same sacrifice but are they really Calvary was offered by the sinless son of Son of God the mass is offered by a sinful man Calvary was only for the living the mass is offered for the living and the dead to get people out of purgatory Calvary was one perfect finish and all-sufficient sacrifice the masses offered thousands of times every day and they are insufficient Calvary was for all sin he died once for all sin for all time the Mast is only for past sins this is why Catholics are mandated under the penalty of mortal sin to come to the sacrifice of the mass every Sunday because the sins they committed in the previous week must be paid for during the propitiatory offering of the mass Calvary was a bloody sacrifice the mass bloodless don't you find this just amazing the one element that is efficacious and purifying sin is taken out of the mass the Bible clearly says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness Calvary was unrepeatable but the mass must be continued every day so Catholicism clearly has another Jesus he did not satisfy Divine Justice he did not provide direct access to God you know one of the Miracles that took place at Calvary when Jesus gave up his spirit the veil separating the holy of holies from sinful man was torn open from top to bottom showing that now through faith in the shed blood of Jesus we have direct access to the father we no longer need sasseredotal priest offering sacrifices that can never take away sin because Jesus Christ the perfect high priest offered himself the perfect sacrifice to a perfect God who demands Perfection and then he cried out it is finished we have direct access to the father through the one mediator our Lord Jesus Christ he is God's perfect man and man's perfect God no one else is qualified to mediate between God and man he did not make Believers perfect forever the Catholic Jesus the Catholic Jesus did not secure salvation Catholics have no assurance and the Catholic Jesus did not finish the work of redemption can you see how they worship a counterfeit Christ can you see how the Jesus of Rome is a false Christ that's why he's still on the cross by the way if you ever see someone wearing a crucifix which is Jesus hanging on the cross I encourage you to go up and ask who is that man on your cross and they're going to tell you Jesus and you can start a gospel presentation by by saying it can't be Jesus because Jesus has ascended into heaven he's now at the right hand of the Father the cross is empty and then you have an opportunity to share the gospel so the tree Jesus died once for all sin for all time there are no more offerings for sin Hebrews 10 verse 10 12 and 18. oh if only Catholics would read Hebrews chapter 10 it totally destroys the Roman Catholic Mass he was immersed in the wrath of God so that Divine Justice could be satisfied he bore the sins of his people so that eternal life could be offered as a gift my favorite verse in all of scripture is second Corinthians 5 21 Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him I call that the greatest Exchange in human history jesus takes all of my sin all of my guilt all of my punishment and what does he give me in return his perfect righteousness you see there's two things that keep people out of heaven number one they have an eternal sin debt that finite man can never pay off that's why hell is eternal but Jesus Christ the Eternal God man came and canceled the infinite debt but that only gets us out of hell doesn't get us into heaven what's necessary for entrance into heaven we need perfect righteousness how are we doing on that no one's perfectly righteous but Jesus gives us the gift of his righteousness for all those who trust in him that's our passport into heaven well the Apostle Paul warned that some will preach another Jesus and that of course leads to another gospel Catholics believe they receive their Jesus physically frequently in the stomach the catechism declares the body and blood soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is truly really and substantially contained in the Eucharist they don't want you to miss it truly really and substantial Christians received Jesus once spiritually in the heart Paul wrote in Ephesians 3 that Christ May dwell in your hearts by faith well another Jesus always produces another gospel the Catholic Jesus only made salvation possible therefore Catholics have another gospel to instruct them what they must do in order to be saved the Catholic Jesus merely opened the Gates of Heaven now Catholics must do their part the true Jesus has done everything necessary to save Sinners completely and forever thus the gospel proclaims salvation by grace I just produced a new gospel track several months ago it's entitled you can never do what Christ has done and it deals with not only Roman Catholics who trust a Works righteousness salvation but Mormons and many Christian denominations teach a Works righteousness salvation so it's a very effective track showing the sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ so Catholics have a different gospel and it really is a burden for them biblical salvation we know is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ you know we're on a missions trip down to Acapulco Mexico and we went into the cathedral there and I saw that there was a Bible opened on a kneeler in front of a statue of Mary so I knelt down and I turn in the Bible to Ephesians 2 8-9 and I highlighted it with my yellow highlighter I wanted when Catholics knelt there to see these verses for all you probably know what Ephesians 2 8 9 is it's two verses that have set so many Roman Catholics free for by Grace you have been saved through faith it's not of yourselves it's the gift of Christ the gift of Grace not at work so that no man May boast well Catholic salvation is by faith plus the sacraments by the way these numbers are paragraph numbers of the catechism of the Catholic Church so this is official teaching they have to participate in the mass they have to believe Purgatory will Purge away their sin they have to do Penance for their sins to be forgiven indulgences are required for the remission of temporal punishment they have to be baptized in order to be saved they have to keep the law now this is really amazing because we know in James 2 10 if you were able to keep the whole law perfectly and stumble at one part you're guilty of breaking the entire law and they also have to do good works those who believe anything else Paul said have believed in vain and curse Paul said are those who preach another gospel if you have your Bible open to Galatians chapter 1 in verse 9 Paul repeats what he's already warned he said as we have said before so I say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received he is to be accursed a Note 3 observations here there is only one gospel therefore if there is even the slightest deviation Distortion or perversion of it it is no longer the gospel that is because only the pure gospel of grace is good news if anyone's trusting what they must do it's not good news because we can never do enough the gospel is the greatest news anyone could ever hear because it speaks of the greatest Gift Anyone could ever receive look at the second observation the judaizers were promoting promoting a distorted version of the true gospel which does not save anyone and it condemns those who teach it by adding The Works of the law to the gospel of grace the judaizers had nullified the only means by which God saved Sinners Paul said in Romans 6 if it is by Grace it is not of Works otherwise Grace is not Grace that's why Paul drove a stake in the ground in Galatians 1. he wanted to protect the Purity and the exclusivity of the Gospel and he brought down a Divine curse on those who would distort it but really all they did was add One requirement now keep in mind that judaizers believed in the Lord Jesus Christ they believed in his perfect life his death on the cross as Resurrection from the dead but they said if you're a gentile you not only need to believe that but you need to be circumcised what did Paul say let's have Unity with these professors of Christ they're our brothers he said no let them be condemned let them be accursed which means let them be turned over to God for Destruction Paul was emphasizing the utter importance of maintaining the purity of the gospel of grace by calling down a Divine curse on anyone who would distort it now I share all that with you to make this point the judaizers only wanted to add One requirement look at what the Catholic church has added to the Gospel of Jesus Christ every Roman Catholic priest Bishop monsignor and Pope is under a Divine curse for distorting the gospel of Christ we need to rescue the precious Souls out from a church that is under Divine condemnation this is black and white why are evangelicals tiptoeing around Roman Catholicism it is Satan's greatest counterfeit they preach a distorted gospel that keeps people on the wide road to destruction [Music] when you look at Catholic salvation they are utterly dependent upon their priest the priest has to baptize them for regeneration and justification the priest then hears the confession and absolves their sin it is the priest who offers the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist it is the priest who imparts the holy spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation at 13 years old I never I knelt before a Roman Catholic bishop he slapped me on the cheek and at that very moment I was said to receive the Holy Spirit it's the priest who gives last rights some of you are old enough to remember when JFK was assassinated on the streets of Dallas they would not pronounce him dead until the priest had a chance to come in and give him last rights preparing him for eternity and then it's the priest who offers the sacrifice of the mass for those suffering and Purgatory can you see how this religion holds people captive even after they die they still are utterly dependent on a priest to get them out of purgatory by offering the sacrifice of the mass well what a difference between the Christian Gospel we are saved by God's grace and not of Works we're saved through faith in Christ alone by the way everybody has faith the object of our faith is what's so important faith is a transferal of trusting in self to trusting in Christ alone Roman Catholics are trusting in Christ plus everything else that's why they can never have assurance the Christian Gospel saves us from sins punishment and Power saves us because of God's love and mercy God demonstrated his love towards us and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us we're saved on the basis of Christ's death and Resurrection alone we're saved at the very moment of Faith oh how I love Ephesians 1 13 when you heard the message of Salvation having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit guaranteeing your Eternal inheritance this eliminates any Works any sacraments you heard the message you believed it and you were sealed with the Holy Spirit we're safe throughout all eternity listen to Martin Lloyd Jones the Roman Catholic Church not only does not teach the doctrine of assurance of Salvation it preaches and teaches against it why the explanation is quite simple as long as you are uncertain you are dependent upon the church you are dependent upon the priest if you have Assurance of Salvation you do not need a priest you do not need the help of the Virgin Mary or the works of super irrigation of the Saints you go directly to God through Christ and if you look at all the religions of the world they all teach the works righteousness salvation because they want people to be dependent and controlled by their religion Christianity is the only faith that says you're saved by grace because of the all-sufficient work of Jesus Christ and you are free in Christ every other religion teaches you must do things to appease your God well the five Solas of the Reformation were response to the vatican's teaching on salvation they said you must be saved by grace plus Merit Faith plus Works Christ plus other mediators scripture plus tradition and Glory was going to God as well as Mary and the Saints the five Solas of the Reformation were saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to scripture alone all for the glory of God alone please don't forget that as you're witnessing to Catholics because they will tell you that they are saved by grace through faith in Jesus it's the alone that they will not say and that makes all the difference in the world doesn't it well we have opposing views of justification the Roman Catholics teach justification is by Grace plus Merit the Bible says it's grace alone Roman Catholics say it's a process whereby righteousness is infused you get a little bit more of your righteousness every time you receive a sacrament the Bible says it's instantaneous that's why you see a gavel on the screen the judge in heaven brings the gavel down instantly you're Justified because you have received the righteousness of Christ imputed to your account Roman Catholics say the duration of justification is temporal it's lost by sin the Bible teaches the duration is eternal it is never undone by sin remember Hebrews 10 14 by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified Roman Catholics say justification is when God justifies those who are good the Bible says God justifies the ungodly Romans 4 5. what a contrast so Rome's doctrine of justification is antithetical to the biblical Doctrine one is revealed by God the other is invented by men one is by Grace the other is by Merit one offers Divine Assurance the other offers only a false hope so when the antithesis is compromised the very meaning and purpose of the Gospel is lost when you get justification wrong you get the gospel wrong we're going to look more in depth at that in the next hour Martin Luther said the doctrine of justification [Music] is the doctrine that opens and closes the Gates of Heaven if you get justification wrong your gospel is wrong so the fifth difference we have a different Mary paragraph 494 the catechism says without a single send a restrainer she became get this the cause of salvation for herself on the whole human race can you see how the Catholic Mary robs Christ at his honor and His glory and his praise paragraph 969 as mediatrics she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of salvation many Catholic women would prefer to go through Mary than Jesus because she is said to be more understanding for women well John McArthur always a Clarion voice when it comes to fighting the good fight of faith the quote I'm going to share with you is a quote he gave on KCBI radio a Baptist radio station in Dallas there was an opportunity for him to answer questions from the audience one of our dear friends was there to ask John a question and he said John what do you think of a Christian radio station that promotes the Roman Catholic Church during Lent this was John's response Catholicism is a false system it is not the Church of Christ it is the Church of antichrist if you follow Catholic theology you'll go to hell I'm not saying that to be unkind but to be truthful being truthful is the only way to be kind people need to come out of that system it is a system that exalts Mary and it's a system of paganism mingled with pseudo-christianity we need more people like John MacArthur that are bold and courageous he spoke the truth so that Catholics would know the truth you know it's not love when we allow people to March proudly toward Hell's Gate without sharing the truth with them the very nature of deception is that people do not know they're deceived unless they're confronted with the truth and you and I are truth bearers that's what we're called to do the only way people are going to know they're deceived is that when we confront them with the truth you know how God confronted me with the truth I open the Bible for the first time at age 35. and as I read God's word I was confronted with the truth and I had a crisis of faith it came down to should I believe Christ in his word or the teachings and traditions of my religion it was impossible to believe both so keep that in mind the sixth difference between Catholics and evangelicals and this is so important we have a different view of sin Catholicism declares venial sins do not cause death only temporal punishment does that sound familiar it's Satan's first lie in the garden Satan told Eve you surely shall not die if you break God's command so what is the Roman Catholic Church do it perpetuates the LIE of the devil in the garden with its doctrine of venial sin remember what Paul said some will depart from the faith and follow doctrines of demons this is clear evidence that the Catholic Church follows the doctrine of the devil all sins bring Divine condemnation God's Wrath is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men the wages of sin is death how could Paul make it any more clearer the soul whose sins shall surely die Ezekiel 18 4. the second death is the Eternal Lake of Fire John MacArthur calls venial sins and Purgatory the safety net for Roman Catholics most Catholics will rationalize and say that their sins are venial they don't cause death they don't have to worry about going to hell well I call this the trilogy of deception it all started with the doctrine of venial sins it doesn't cause death so if it doesn't cause death you need a place where people go instead of hell so they create the LIE of purgatory where sins are purged by fire and then you've got venial sins causing temporal punishment in a place called Purgatory so how can people get out well that lie led to another lie indulgences the time of punishment is reduced this is Roman Catholicism the trilogy of deception Catholics are clinging to this as a means of salvation draw the last point of difference a different path to Eternity my uncle was a Roman Catholic priest and every time he would come to Dallas we would open up the Bible and I remember one particular evening he was so frustrated he had no answer for God's word he threw up his hands and said Mike how can one billion Catholics be wrong I said can I let Jesus answer that for you and I turned to Matthew 7. and asked him to read Jesus said enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are a few who find it beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly or ravenous wolves can you see the the picture here there's two gates a narrow way and a broad way and there are false teachers standing in front of the narrow way saying it's not here it's there and so gullible people rather than testing what the false teacher is saying they believe them and they go to the false way and so it is today in Christianity people are more willing to follow personalities rather than the word of God everybody has their favorite preacher rather than testing their preacher with the word of God they just are gullible and they follow them and so this is what took place when you look at the narrow way few find it or even look for it because they are happy they're comfortable the waiter last night I feel good in the Catholic Church many will strive to enter but will be unable now wait a minute what did Jesus mean here you must strive to enter are we saved by grace well the context is if you really want to know the true way you're going to have to diligently search the scriptures in the narrow way people must be stripped of their own righteousness and receive the righteousness of Christ they must exchange their religion for a relationship they must confess repent and seek forgiveness they must trust solely in God's grace and what Christ has done remember that's what faith is it's the transferal of trust from what you're doing to what Christ has done what are the attractions of the Broadway it seems right to man but in the end it leads to death Proverbs 14 12. there's no opposition because they're walking with the God of this world who has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the Gospel or the glory of Christ Supernatural blindness it is the easy way because they're following others who love darkness and are blind to the truth and they are deceived and don't know it because they have a high view of self and a low view of God and his Justice those are the attractions of the Broadway well my last semester at Dallas Seminary I put together these two paths to Eternity and every time I have shown this to a Roman Catholic they say yes that's the path I'm on by the way these two paths are available in Our Gospel track the red one entitled Roman Catholicism scripture versus tradition Catholics believe that they're born destined for hell but water baptism puts them on the road to heaven when they commit those venial sins they lose some of their right standing when they commit a mortal sin they're on their way to hell again they need to be re-justified by doing good works and receiving the sacrament and producing enough Merit to qualify them for heaven you see the treasury there it's invisible and the Vatican but it's said to contain the merits of Mary and all the saints that died with more than enough Merit to get them to heaven these merits are transferred to those suffering in purgatory by the pope he refuses to do do so unless indulgences are purchased well Roman Catholics go through this cycle hundreds of times in their life never knowing where they stand before a holy and righteous God and at the end of a catholic's life if he's never heard the gospel or if he's heard it and rejected it he will stand before Jesus and hear the most terrifying words anyone could ever hear when Jesus says depart for me I never knew you and they're cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire it's for this reason I've dedicated my life to reaching these precious Souls we need to point them to the biblical path to Eternity it's it's not water baptism but it's faith in Christ and at that very moment we are Justified with the promise of no condemnation we begin the process of sanctification through the power of the Holy Spirit putting to death the evil Deeds of the flesh conforming our life to the image of Christ and at the end of a believer's life will stand before the Lord Jesus and hopefully hear the words well done my good and faithful servant and then we'll sing his Praises throughout all eternity amen two different paths well I hope you can see the Catholics and Christians are divided on the purity of the Gospel on how one is Born Again on how one is Justified on how one is purified of sin we're divided on who mediates between God and man they have another sinless mediator called Mary we're divided on the efficacy the sufficiency and the necessity of Jesus Christ so what must we do remain Sanctified by the truth do not capitulate to the enemies of the gospel for ecumenical Unity test every man's teaching with the word of God enlist in the Lord's army to fight the good fight of faith my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ there is a fierce battle going on for The Souls of men it's ultimately a battle between God's truth and Satan's lies the fact that you're here I know that you're enlisted in the Lord's army we need to encourage those that are not those that are AWOL report back to the commander-in-chief we need to stand firm contend for the faith and never ever let a lie of the devil go unabated if you're in a conversation with people someone spews a lie of the devil you have every right to stand up and defend the glory and honor of our our great God and savior and we need to evangelize those who are perishing amen well we're going to take a break here I just want to share with you some resources preparing for eternity is a book that I wrote that has set so many Roman Catholics free from the bondage of religious deception it is Rich with God's word and ultimately that's the truth that's going to set them free contending for the gospel I wrote this book Because Of The ecumenical Unity that's going on in the evangelical church today we also have DVDs with all the keynote presentation and each DVD contains two different messages we really believe in literature evangelism I know many of you do if not all of you as well when we verbalize the gospel it's so good to leave the gospel and written form behind so that people can take it and study it and open their Bible and verify the truth that's in it we also have a newsletter that goes out once a month it's free just give us your email the next one that's going out on October 1st I'm going to deal with the trilogy of deception Purgatory indulgences and venial sin so let me close in prayer and then we'll turn it over to Jake father we do thank you for the Lord Jesus we thank you that he is our all-sufficient savior father we also thank you for your word that has given us the authority to test every man's teaching Every Man's tradition father thank you for these dear Saints here this morning I pray that this has been beneficial in equipping them to work in this field that is so white for Harvest we want to do this for the glory of our great God and savior and in the power of His name amen

Channel: Revolve Bible Church

Views: 1,645,337

Keywords:

Id: jdlczbO5Csc

Length: 64min 45sec (3885 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 08 2022