James White: Purgatory Is Fiction

if you'll turn your Bibles please to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 1 Corinthians chapter 3 we will start here and then I do not want to spend an extensive amount of time uh discussing Roman Catholic theology I need to do enough it to be able to substantiate the title of the sermon anyways uh but I very much want to uh have our time uh especially focused on why Purgatory is a fiction and how it is that we can have peace with God and how we can know that um and so that's our our plan for today now as uh brother Jeff mentioned on the trip that I just did one of the debates one of the five debates that I did was with Trent Horn of Catholic answers on the subject of purgatory and what's fascinating is I've done a few debates on Purgatory did one in 2001 uh with Father Peter stravinskas and it would be very educational I think if you are working in reaching out to Roman Catholics to compare those two debates because um I was taken aback by the fact that Trent horn not only uh was willing to say things like well you know Purgatory might be instantaneous at the point of death there might not be any time uh that is involved with the subject of purgatory uh but the uh interpretation of 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that he offered he admitted he he took from a minority Protestant interpretation that included the necessity of having to say that the Apostle Paul was wrong about the day of the Lord in this text now I don't know about you um I'm old enough to remember my parents my mom especially coming back from having gone to a Roman Catholic funeral when I was a kid and I remember her just talking about the the complete lack of of peace and assurance that she had just experienced in the words that she had heard spoken at this funeral the fear of purgatory and many people in this room I think could testify in regards to your parents or your grandparents uh that were part of the Roman Catholic system a similar uh experience and it's not just that Vatican 2 changed everything Vatican 2 really didn't change anything anything in regards to the doctrine of purgatory but Rome is changing Francis is changing Roman Catholicism and when Rome's Defenders who are normally as conservative as a day is long are starting to use this kind of argumentation that's when you really start seeing it so let me start off by just reminding you or telling you for the first time what the doctrine of purgatory was up through about 1950 okay so pretty much all Roman Catholics around the world would have agreed and there's still many who do the catechism hasn't been changed but the the breadth of belief that is now acceptable within Roman Catholicism has become so much wider than it was for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years especially since the Council of Trent The Counter Reformation Council of Trent that responded to the Reformation and so things are changing and so you have to find out from the individual you're talking to what they believe you can't just assume that they hold to a historically Orthodox Roman Catholic understanding of the subject of purgatory they may they may not they may be confused about it you have to find out it has to be something that you specifically inquire about but the historic doctrine of purgatory developed Ved over literally uh 1,400 years you can find especially starting in people like origin and Clement of Alexandria um mentions of the the need of of a cleansing before entering into the presence of God not a doctrine of purgatory but a concept of cleansing and Augustine has some of this but they're depending on who you're looking at John christom and Augustine and uh the capian fathers whatever uh you get all sorts of different perspectives about the afterlife and you'll get that today amongst Protestants Roman Catholics um Eastern Orthodox you you'll get General ideas but all sorts of differences as to how how things work out even amongst Protestants you'll have a you know I I hear people saying all the time that the enemies of God when they die go directly into the Lake of Fire I I don't believe that I believe they're under punishment but the Book of Revelation says that death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire at the great judgment and so uh you've got Luke chapter 16 you've got the discussion there of the fact that you've got the rich man uh and uh the poor man who had laid at his at his gate and there's a gulf fix between them one is comforted one is under punishment uh this is Hades that's not gehenna there's all sorts of things we could talk about biblically speaking in regards to the afterlife but what happened in church history is the doctrine of purgatory was finally dogmatically defined in the 15th century in the 1400s and so up until that time you have development taking place and and it happens evenly it doesn't happen as uh you know there's certain parts of the Roman Empire where it's farther than in other parts and that's how church history works and the farther the church got away from solar scriptura and the farther it got into tradition the less there was an understanding of the substitutionary uh atonement of Christ and the imputation of his his uh righteousness to us as our own standing before God and so so you end up over time with this concept that when you die the only way that you'll ever go to heaven is if you are perfect in the sight of God there's two different kinds of sin according to Roman Catholicism there's mortal sin and there's venial sin mortal sin destroys the grace of justification and makes you an enemy of God you have to be rejuso if you commit a mortal sin if you die in the state of mortal sin you go to hell you don't go to Purgatory Purgatory is not a second chance place it's not where everybody goes and you're given second shot uh postmortem doesn't work that way the idea is if you die Justified which in Roman Catholic idea is you have been infused with Grace so that you are objectively pleasing to God you will eventually go to heaven but but when you commit mortal sin there are what are called temporal punishments temporal punishments that you must undergo that's why the priest gives you certain penances you have to do a certain number of hail mares you can go to Rome and literally climb up stairways that allegedly are the stairs that Jesus went up to stand before Pilate how they got to Rome we don't know um but there's lots of stuff like that Roman Catholicism but you can climb up those stairs and you can work off some of the penalties that you have accured by your commission of mortal sins that you've been rej Justified for and your commission of venial sins venial sins do not destroy the grace of justification but you acrew these temporal punishments and so you can't enter into the presence of God with any of those temporal punishments still on your soul so what are you going to do well you go to Purgatory you go to a place of cleansing and so in purgatory you undergo something called satis pasio satus pasio the suffering of atonement your suffering in purgatory cleanses you of the punishments that were not cleansed in your life on Earth so that you eventually are are pure and then can enter into the presence of God now you can die as a saint and a saint is an individual who has more Merit than they have temporal punishments and so when you die you don't have to go to purgatory and your excess Merit is collected and the theology developed around the same time of what's called this tharus meritum the treasure of Merit and so the treasury of Merit the one of the popes taught that Jesus only needed to shed a single drop of blood to atone for the whole world and so since he shed a great deal of blood this is all excess Merit and so that excess Merit is placed into the treasury of Merit and then you've got Mary and Mary never sins and Mary does all sorts of wonderful things and so Mary has all sorts of excess Merit it's put in the treasury of Merit and every saint that dies that has more Merit than they need their excess Merit is put into the treasury of Merit now if you're looking in your concordance treasury of Merit you're not going to find it okay it's not Apostolic it's not something your early church believed um it's something that develops much later on on the authority of tradition that's why we spent five weeks or so on solo scriptura so what ended up happening and most of you who know uh the um most of you who know the uh the story of Martin Luther and the reformation and everything that goes along with that understand that the doctrine of indulgences developed and an Indulgence is basically a withdrawal from the treasury of Merit so if you buy an Indulgence you can't buy them anymore you have to do things to get them if you get an Indulgence a certain amount of Merit is withdrawn from the treasury of Merit and given to your account so you can get it in this life or you can get indulgences for people who have died and that's what was going on uh that helped spark the Reformation Rome was getting it Rome built St Peter's Basilica with the money that it took from people who were buying indulgences for their dead relatives because they didn't want them suffering uh in purgatory uh and it was literally a buying and selling of God's grace and that's what made Luther and a lot of other people go that's just can't be right and that's where the 95 thesis came from so on and so forth so the idea was very plainly you would not get people you would not get poor people who are barely able to eat to give money to buy indulgences if they did not believe that their loved ones were suffering in purgatory in time it was plainly and inarguably the belief of everybody Pope and Bishops and everybody else that people spent time in purgatory and we're not talking about a small amount of time you can buy a book called Purgatory by FX shup it's published by tan books and it is just filled with the visions that people had of the sufferings of purgatory I was reading some of it prior to the debate that we did and and I happened to just open it up and uh it was discussing this one particular very Pious nun who suddenly died and a few weeks just two weeks later one of her fellow nuns in the convent heard moaning and smelled smoke and she comes into the chapel and she sees a vision of this sister who has died a very Godly woman and she is suffering in flames and she says this is a uh gift of Grace from God and she reaches up and she puts her hand on the door frame and burns her hand print into the door frame because she's bathed in Fire and you can Google I forgotten the name off top of my head but you can Google this I Googled the name and you can find multiple pictures on the internet today of the chapel and a handprint allegedly burned there hundreds of years ago by someone suffering in purgatory the universal belief was that and in fact Thomas aquinus had a discussion where is Purgatory and most of the people believed that it was in the depths of the Earth right next to hell so it's the same fire that burns in hell is the fire that cleanses in purgatory and there were Saints who had visions of popes some of the greatest most powerful popes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church saw visions of them in purgatory centuries after they died centuries after they died in the days of Martin Luther you could go to Rome and if you visited all the shrines and you paid all the Fe and you climbed the stairs on your knees and did all the pilgrimages you could get hundreds of years of indulgences why would you need hundreds of years of indulgences if Purgatory might be done instantly or in a day no one believed that but if you go listen to my debate with Tran horn you'll discover they've really really sanitized the doctrine of purgatory it might be done instantaneously now and it's like that's not what was defined that's not what indulgences meant that that makes no sense at all but there you are there's the situation we're in now what's interesting is when you ask them for biblical foundations you will get some amazing statements you'll have you know Jesus said uh he's giving a parable and and he's saying if you're not uh forgiving to others uh you know you can end up in a situation where you'll be put in debtor's prison and and you won't get out until you've paid the last Farthing and that's Purgatory has nothing to do with Purgatory but when you when you're making stuff up you can grab anything in the Bible and try to make it fit into your situation now we don't have time to discuss this but one of the key texts that they use is from the Apocrypha and in fact they like to say that Martin Luther removed the apocryphal books from the Canon of scripture because he rejected the doctrine of uh Purgatory the reality is the story uh recorded in mccabes is about Jewish soldiers who were idolators and they had Idols hidden under their clothing when they died in battle and it says that the that they said prayers for them and the temple in Roman Catholicism idolatry is a mortal sin saying prayer sin wouldn't make any difference because they couldn't go to Purgatory they're idolators this doesn't make any sense and it's it's not it's not canon scripture um and it's really the only thing in the Apocrypha that they care about to be perfectly honest with you uh as far as having any doctrinal content to it at all the main text they use is 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and so I want to walk walk through this with you and help you to understand what it specifically is referring to and then I want to provide briefly uh a Biblical response to why it is that you should desire to have the opportunity to speak to a Roman Catholic on the subject of purgatory you should want to be able to say to them I have a message of hope for you I have a message of Peace for you and we should be the people ready to give them that message so 1 Corinthians chapter 3 beginning in verse 10 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and really all of 1 Corinthians is dealing with a troubled church and part of the reason it's a troubled church is there are divisions amongst them there are some super Apostles that are questioning Paul's Authority and questioning Paul's teaching and and all the rest of that kind of stuff and so some of that's going on but there's also some some real immaturity uh taking place and some some questions that really need to be dealt with and in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 Paul is talking about the various leaders Apollos Paul uh the people who have been important in laying the foundation and the church in Corinth and he says in verse 10 according to the grace of God given to me as a wise architect that's it's that's the actual Greek term is we we just borrow the term straight from Greek an architect as a wise master builder and architect I have laid a foundation but o but but others are are now building upon that Foundation Let each one look to how he builds on that foundation in other words Paul's saying look I'm the one that came and brought the message to you I'm the one that taught you about how the church should be formed and and how it should be uh understood and how we should practice the faith but now as other people have to come and build on that Foundation they need to look carefully about how they build upon the one foundation for no other Foundation there can be no other Foundation laid except one there's only one true foundation if someone comes along give something else be very very careful no other Foundation can be laid that had that other than had that one that has been laid which is Jesus Christ he is the foundation of the church he says now if anyone if a certain one he does he's not naming a particular individual but if a certain one builds upon the foundation and notice the six things gold with gold with silver precious stones which would be diamonds rubies pearls sapphires whatever you Happ to like precious stones and then you have three others wood hay and straw now just think immediately what is he doing here he's talking about very very different substances Gold Silver and precious stones have great value and they're also tremendously lasting they can survive the heat of trial and tribulation but would hay straw you bring the match nearby and they go up in Flames very transient very shortterm and they don't it doesn't it doesn't take much work to get hold of those types of things it takes a lot of work to get hold of gold and silver and precious stones so there's different ways you can build upon the found foundation and he's saying to those individuals who would take leadership in the church there's different ways there's different motivations there's different qualities and we can't always tell in this life we can't always tell in this life so many of those who will have the greatest rewards in heaven we never heard their names never saw them and so many who we knew the names so well were building with wood hay and straw how will we know the day will demonstrate it that's what it says it says each one's work will become manifest clear known for the day will show it because it will be revealed by fire the fire will reveal it now what is this day well the vast majority of interpreters have understood the day to be the day of the Lord the day of judgment when not only are the books opened but the one who knows the hearts and the motivations of everyone will be the judge on that day there will be nothing hidden from his sight and so that day will demonstrate the nature of the work is it gold is it silver precious stones wood hay or straw and it will be tested by fire there's the one connection if you're looking for it the funny thing today is Rome's apologists will say we we' never defined that there's actual fire involved in purgatory it doesn't matter how many Saints have had visions that have been accepted as valid visions of people suffering in Fire and it doesn't matter how many handprints have been burned into door uh jams by people visiting from purgatory we've never actually dogmatically defined that fire is involved this is a major change if you had talked to any Roman Catholic in 1950 almost anywhere they all would have said the exact same thing we're being purged by the same fire that is found in Hell itself but I've literally now had Roman Catholics say to me Purgatory is where God hugs the hell out of you that's what he said that's where God hugs the hell out of you in other words he's getting rid of all the bad stuff by loving you that's not quite the same thing as what had been taught for hundreds and hundreds of years but here's the connection but what is Paul talking about is he literally talking about people going into the fire well what's being tested people or the work it's the work it's the work that they done it's the nature of that work that is being revealed by fire that's how you test something you know you can you can make fake jewelry and you can sell it to somebody and say this is 14 karat gold well there is one at least in the ancient world now I suppose we could use an electron microscope or something like that to determine exactly what's uh inside that thing but in the ancient world the only way to really know is put it in the fire you'll find out soon enough if it's some cheap material it's just going to go up in Flames the gold May melt but it ain't going anywhere it's still going to be there so Paul says the fire is going to reveal document what something is if a certain one's work what they have done remains which they've built They will receive a reward a a reward but if a certain one's work is destroyed they shall suffer loss yet they will be saved yet so as Through Fire and so what the Roman Catholic well Roman Catholics used to say is well see everybody goes to Purgatory will be saved but those who go into purgatory and get out of purgatory will be saved you yet so as by fire they have to go through the fire to be perfected now just point out a couple things here nowhere does here talk about punishment to suffer loss they'll say well there's places where Zia oh that's the term that's used there refers to being punished that's true but you'll notice if you compare versus 14 and 15 one receives the reward the other suffers loss because their work is burned up in neither case is the individual himself going through the fire it's his work that is being tested now I'll just mention very quickly what uh Trent horn said again this is not a Roman Catholic um interpretation but he's adopted it it's a Protestant who interprets the work as converts so you get certain converts and it's the converts it's the quality of the converts that are being tested and so if your converts are shown not to be good converts then he does take Zia uh suffer loss as to suffer as a result what this has to do with a place called purgatory temporal punishments of sins treasuries of Merit I don't have a clue and neither there anybody else but this is the text they've looked at this is the text they've talked about and the reality is that what Paul is saying is there will be a day of judgment and I am very thankful that there will be I'm very thankful there will be when I see the Benny hins and the Kenneth Copeland of our day bragging about bringing in not hundreds of millions but billions of dollars from people and flying around in their fancy Jets I am glad there's going to be a day of judgment now I'll be perfectly honest with you I don't think there'll be at this judgment I don't believe for a second Kenneth cand is actually believer in Jesus Christ he's a charlatan it's a false teacher these aren't false teachers these are people in the church and their motivations will be demonstrated and I'm glad that that that testing is going to take place and it should be for anyone who considers involvement in Ministry a sobering thing to recognize that the work that we do will be tested it will be tested and everything that is of wood hay and straw will be burned up as it properly should be as it properly should be but this text has nothing to do with a place called purgatory and what's the best reason for believing that it has absolutely nothing to do the place called Purgatory well it's Paul's own teaching turn with me to Second Corinthians the second letter that Paul writes chapter 5 chapter 5 you know the text you know 2 Corinthians 5:17 now if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old thing have passed away behold new things have come what does it mean to be a Christian Roman Catholicism and this came out very very plainly in the debate so and it come it came out interestingly enough in both debates the one in 2001 which was right before I finally gave up on the hair should have done it before then but 2001 Roman Catholic priests two phds 2024 Trent horn lead apologist for Catholic answers gave very different arguments but what came out so clearly in both was the reality that Roman Catholicism does not believe in the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us as our standing before God you see look down at verse 21 in chapter 5 he made him who knew no sin to be sin who pair hon in our place substitution in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in him this is called The Great Exchange The Great Exchange the one who knew no sin is treated as if he is guilty of all the sin of his people so that we might be made the righteousness of God as we are in him our sins imputed to Christ his righteousness imputed to us the Great Exchange Rome does not believe it they don't have it they don't they you can ask listen to the debate they do not have a concept of non-imputation of sin and the result is that they cannot understand the text such as the one that we're memorizing in our catechism question Romans 51 therefore having been justified by faith what we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ peace I remember asking father Mitchell Paca a wonderful man a nice man the five debates I've done with him over the years on Roman Catholicism I think are the best we've done because he's he doesn't do cheap debating tricks he answers honestly and in one of our first two debates I forget which one was first whether it's a mass or justification but in one of our first two Dees I had this back and forth with him about what peace means because he's a smart guy he has studied 12 languages and so he knows that the word peace the Greek term IR represents the Hebrew term and we all know the Hebrew term for peace right shalom shalom which in Arabic is Salam so you you hear the uh Islamic greeting Salam alaykum Shalom the Hebrew and so he knows that for example right now there is no peace in Israel there's no peace in Israel there may not have been any missiles fired today Israel may not have been going into the tunnels or using artillery maybe it was a day without any Warfare that wouldn't matter that's not shalom shalom does not take place as long as the iron missile Iron Dome missile defense system is activated Shalom is a wellness of relationship Shalom is having peace with your neighbors not constantly on a war footing and So within Roman Catholicism you can commit a mortal sin any day and lose your relationship to God become the enemy of God you can commit a venial sin and now you're going to have to spend longer time in purgatory how is that Shalom how is that peace it's not and when you say that to most Roman Catholics that's the sin of presumption you're presuming something keep in mind the Great Exchange from 2 Corinthians chap 5 5 and turn with me to Romans chapter 4 and I know that we've talked about this before in various contexts but and again sort of neat you can go right now well not right now you can go when you get home to YouTube and listen to a debate that took place barely a month ago with one of the leading representatives of Catholic answers in the United States today in fact uh before we did the debate in Houston few days before that he and I spent two hours and 15 minutes on the alib Beth Stucky show and it came up in both contexts now I haven't heard anybody saying anything whether that show those shows have aired yet or not I don't know but we did they they'll air eventually and here's here's the issue Romans chapter 4 verse 4 to the one working the reward or the wage misas is the Greek term and it's it's the standard term used in ancient Greek for when you get your paycheck your salary is your misas that's what you receive to the one working the mistas is not credited or imputed as a gift literally according to Grace but according to debt as what is owed as what is owed now notice verse five is meant to be the is meant to be put in parallel with verse four but to the not working one so verse four the one working to receive something from God what you receive is what you're simply owed just like in a work situation verse 5 says but to thee not working one to thee not working one but what but believing upon the one justifying the ungodly his faith is reckoned as righteousness if you're doing something to get something you're fulfilling certain commands and sacraments and ceremonies and worthiness or whatever else it might be if you're the working one you don't get Grace you get what you're owed but to the not working but believing one the one believing upon what the one who justifies the ungodly so you're looking away from yourself you are looking to the one who justifies the ungodly you know you're the ungodly you know you're the one in need you're not bringing anything to God and saying hey I did this I did this I did this to the one not working but believing upon the one justifying the ungodly his faith is imputed reckoned to him as righteousness that's not moral righteousness that's the judge who takes the the gavel and goes not guilty not guilty that's how you can have peace with God such a radical message like that you know we're talking about the Easter pageant right check out the Joseph Smith translation sometime the Joseph Smith translation changes this verse now there's not a single Greek manuscript in the world or a single Greek scholar in the world that would say Joseph Smith had a clue what he was doing here he had no idea but he couldn't understand it so you know what he did he couldn't understand the idea of God justifying the ungodly so he says does not justify the ungodly which of course destroys Paul's entire argument which he clearly didn't understand and like I said there's not a manuscript in the world that substantiates that that's what he had to do because he did not believe in the Biblical teaching of what justification is and then he gives us a Biblical example verse 6 just as David speaks the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from Works how do you get righteousness oh I work and I work and I work and I work and I show my willingness and and faithfulness and and Merit no well I go through the sacraments no just as David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness not guilty apart from Works want to know how it works well look at Psalm 31 the Greek setion Psalm 32 in your English translation blessed are those whose Lawless Deeds have been forgiven whose sins have been covered over verse 8 blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin now if you're following carefully and I hope you all still are because I'm barely through most of Jeff's introductions right now and I'm actually trying to wrap up I don't know where Jeff went but he didn't hear that he'll catch it later I guess if you're following carefully you're sitting here going wait a minute verse six Paul say speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works but then verse 8 says blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin how can they be the same thing one is an imputation of righteousness apart from works the other is a non-imputation of sin you need to understand this if you want to understand the gospel and be able to explain it to others but more importantly so that you will understand how you have peace with God the only people that can explain the peace of God to others are those who are experiencing themselves Paul's not contradicting himself how can God impute righteousness apart from Works he can only do so because we have the perfect sin Bearer so you see how could God be righteous to not impute my sin to me isn't that just a legal fiction and that's exactly what Rome says Rome says that what we believe about this is a legal [Music] fiction no it is biblical Revelation and in this biblical Revelation there is a man man who is blessed because the Lord does not impute his sin to him because he has imputed it to another but that's not all because his sin has been imputed to another that one's righteousness is imputed to the believer that's how we have peace with God the Great exchange he who knew no sin was made sin in our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him I don't stand before God in my own righteousness in Roman Catholicism when you eventually stand before God having gone through Purgatory maybe received indulgences you stand before God clothed in a righteousness made up of the righteousness that you've gotten from the treasury of Merit which is a mixed righteousness from Jesus Mary and the Saints and your own SAS pasio and Purgatory it's a patchwork quilt it's not perfect in the Bible the only righteousness that will ever Avail between before the Thrice holy God is the righteousness of Jesus Christ not only only in his sacrificial death which cleanses you from all of your sin but remember Jesus lived for 33 years every day loving the father perfectly what's the greatest commandment love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength anybody done that perfectly yes Jesus but I need that righteousness to stand before God and so the righteousness that is imputed to the believer is the perfect righteousness of Christ his fulfillment of the law in my place that is how you have peace with God but Rome doesn't believe it and so you can ask any Roman Catholic and you can you can go watch the Trent horn debate it came up you can see this happen ask any Roman Catholic if you commit a mortal sin is the sin imputed to you yes you lose the state of justification you have to be rej justified and you also receive the temporal punishments that need to be worked off as well if you commit a venial sin is it imputed to you yep and you then receive the temporal punishments that have to be worked off either in this life or in purgatory thereafter there is no non reputation of sin so who's the blessed man of Romans 4:8 well Trent Horton's a sharp guy and I've been around a while I've been doing this for 40 years now and some people before they debate me don't listen to anything I said about the subject and they get their heads handed to them on a platter and then the smart people actually take advantage of the fact that all this stuff has been recorded and I've written lots of books and they can go look and they're prepared and so Trent's prepared he knows I'm going to ask him this question and so what does he say are you the blessed man he says yes I am the blessed man right after I have received forgiveness of my sins so in other words I'm the blessed man right after being baptized say baptism is a infant baptism in Roman Catholicism cleanses from original sin as soon as you're baptized you are pure there's the blessed man up until the point where he commits his first sin then it's imputed to him and he's no longer the blessed man and so when Trent horn goes into the confessional and confesses his sins and receives Absolution from a PR priest and there is no priesthood in the New Testament there is the priesthood of Christ you have all Christians as a holy priesthood but there is no such thing as a celibate sacramental priesthood as you have in Roman Catholicism and there certainly isn't anything like the ironical melchisedec priesthoods in the New Testament Church look it up for yourself a melchisedec priest can save anyone to the uttermost keep that in mind there is only one melkisedek priest and it's Jesus Jesus look at Hebrews chapter 7 but he can say I confessed my sins to the priest I received my Absolution for my sins and therefore I am now the blessed man right up to the point where I commit my next sin the thing about it he can be coming out of the confessional cleansed and trip over a bag that the next person is left in the way get unrighteously anger angered and he's no longer the blessed man that's not what Romans 48 is talking about that's not what Romans 4 is talking about read the rest of the chapter because Romans 4 leads you directly into the statement of 51 therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ that's the only way of peace with God there is no other way none now I'm fairly certain that Jeff mentioned after the passing of his mother that one of the subjects that had given him the opportunity to present the gospel gospel to her before her death was her saying to Jeff I am so afraid of purgatory and so he had that blessed opportunity to explain to her there is no purgatory and there is no reason to fear it if you understand how a person is made right before God which is by faith in Jesus Christ and in him alone and receiving and resting upon his righteousness not mine that's where peace comes from and that's the message that you and I first of all must understand for ourselves if there is anyone here today I'm about to wrap up and we're going to partake of the supper and down here we have little cups of wine and little pieces of unleavened bread and this table is for believers only for those who are trusting in Jesus Christ and his finished work upon the cross alone it's not that I'm trusting in that 90% And my Works 10% no no it's his sacrifice or nothing if Christ will not save me I will not be saved everyone coming down this aisle to partake of these elements is saying his broken body and his shed blood is my soul peace with God and we're saying it to everyone watching that's what's so beautiful about the supper that's what's so beautiful about the gospel if there's anyone in this room if you are trusting in anything that you have done if you're trusting in religious works if you're trusting in Traditions of men and religions that claim to be able to stand between you and God this isn't for you this should say to you this is the only way of Peace on the authority of God's word I say to you faith in God and what he has done in Jesus Christ is the only way to have eternal life get anything else in the way remember what Romans 4:4 and 5 said to the one working you get what you deserve for your work but if you want the righteousness of God it comes only by faith if you're putting something in your hand I'll take my I'll use my ring here if you're coming to God and saying I I know I can't do it all but I'm going to I'm going to give you a little something can can I give you a little something you see the only hand that can grasp the hand of Grace is an empty hand that brings nothing in it says I have nothing I have nothing that will Avail before a holy God I need his righteousness mine will never Avail that's the Christian message that's the message of the Bible we need to understand it each one of us in this room needs to understand it young people kids I remember yeah hi I remember as a young person at the age of nine sneaking away from my mom had taken me to her work she was a secretary at a printing place I did printing at and I had wandered back into where the presses were CU sitting next to my mom's desk was really boring and I don't know how I got into this but I remember it clearly and my mom remembered coming back and finding me I was talking with the men running the presses about the existence of God at age nine and I remember having conversations I was sent to the principal's office for passing out tracks on the playground I was you want to know the real irony they were Jack Chick tracks you may not know what Jack Chick tracks are they're the cartoon tracks they were real popular when I was a kid the irony is I loved those tracks and about 35 years later Jack Chick who published those tracks identified me as the Antichrist that's that's getting ahead in the world let me tell you and you're sitting here going why would he say that because I wrote the book The King James only controversy and he was King James only all the way and since my book had a major impact on that movement then there you go there is an irony okay the point is even as a young person kids I had opportunities to explain to others how they could have peace with God you need to know how you can have peace with God and once you have made that commitment to Jesus Christ and know it for yourself then you can explain it to others as well and that's true of all of us but it has to be real to us first people can tell when you are saying something to them because you've been trained to do it or because you really believe it and when you really believe it you will keep repeating that truth throughout your life throughout all the opposition and God will bless that God will bless that that's what we're going to be doing out the Easter pageant the whole reason to be there who is God who is Christ what is salvation when my wife and I first went to the Easter pageant in 19 883 1983 on the back of a Kawasaki 440 the Superstition didn't even go to Country Club that's how long ago that was I had one reason for going out there to tell Mormon people about how they can have peace with the one true God their creator not one God amongst many gods the one true God through Jesus Christ who's not the spirit brother of Lucifer but how they can have peace with God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has not changed in all those years since then in those wow 40 years plus since then that's the message we will have next week that's the message we have all the time that's the message that apologia is known for presenting and by God's grace and mercy we will never ever compromise on that message let's pray together our gracious Heavenly Father we love your gospel we love your word you've placed a love in our hearts for those around us to speak the truth to them to use us merely as instruments in your hand to bring your truth to Bear to glorify yourself in the salvation of your people but father in this hour may we rejoice in the beauty of the Gospel that's summarized in these passages summarized in the words of scripture he made him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him we're undeserving it's all of Grace it's all only to your glory and we thank you for it pray these things in Jesus name amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 17,670

Keywords: Jeff Durbin, Apologia Studios, Apologia Church

Id: LMXNT7CLra0

Length: 61min 47sec (3707 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2024