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Well, welcome, howdy. It's good to be with you here tonight. Tonight, we are doing kind of a second part of a two-part series about Catholicism. So you may be asking yourself, self, why are we talking about Catholicism all of a sudden? And the reason I chose to do a mini-series on Catholicism, for one, is that the world is talking about Catholicism right now.

You may have noticed, a new pope was elected recently. He's in the news, and so people are asking the questions, what is the pope? What is Catholicism? Where does the Pope get his authority? These are all questions that are circulating right now. But I also made the point last week that Catholicism is pretty much always relevant.

Just because there are so many Catholic people, they're in our communities. They are in our neighborhoods. They're in our schools. And I don't mean that to be fear-mongering. Ah, look out for the Catholics. That's not why I say this. I say this because this is our community. This is our backyard.

And I don't believe for a second that we are called as a church to confine ourselves within these walls and just set ourselves an echo chamber where we all agree on the same doctrine. I think we should get out there. I think we should talk to these people.

We should ask them questions. What do you believe? Why do you believe it? And so in part, this series is intended to give you the tools to ask those questions, to be able to talk knowledgeably. about Catholicism to your coworkers, your roommates, friends, family, anyone who you may encounter.

And last week we talked about the history of Catholicism and I know it's brief, it's hard to cover 2,000 years of history in an hour, but we tried. And one of the main points from that is a central claim of Roman Catholicism that it is the true church.

You know, they'll say that this, the Roman Catholic Church is the church that has spanned back all the way to the time of Christ, specifically in Matthew 16, 18, when Jesus hands the keys to the kingdom over to Peter. And we talked about that in detail. But then we went forward through history.

And I want you to see that when we look at the history of the Roman Catholic Church, we see something that is not consistent through the ages. We see something that is always changing and adapting and developing with the times. And the result is today we have a very large and a very powerful organization that bears very little resemblance to the church we read about in the book of Acts.

I want to put it another way. If we let's say that the Roman Catholic Church was not a big old organization, let's say that it was a new idea and that the Pope and the Catholic Church was just a few people living on a compound. I would like to say that we would immediately recognize it as a deviation from Scripture.

But the thing about the Roman Catholic Church that's a little bit hard is that it's so big and it's so old and it's very powerful. And because of that, many people don't question its authority. It has history on its side, right? Well, in my opinion, I think the Vatican knows that it is theologically vulnerable because history is not consensus, which is why for centuries they have forbidden the laity from reading Scripture.

They even burn people at the stake for translating the Bible into the common language. And this has now changed. The official position of the Pope now is to encourage people to read their Bibles, and this is great. We love this. However, it has remained consistent in its position that Scripture is incomplete.

Scripture is incomplete without these traditions that they are saying are on equal footing with the Word of God. And this is the pillar of the Roman Catholic Church that we are going to talk about tonight. We have to understand this worldview before we can even start a conversation about evangelism.

And this is the worldview. Catholic tradition, coming chiefly out of the papacy, which is decrees from the Pope, has just as much authority as Scripture. In fact, Catholicism claims that Catholic tradition is necessary to interpret Scripture. And I'll dig in in a minute where they get that from.

But first, let me just give you my first exposure to this subject. Long, long time ago. I was in a Boy Scout troop, about 13 years old, and the first theological conversation I ever remember myself getting into was with another boy who was Catholic, and we were just chatting around a campfire, and he made the statement, well, you know what, John, you know, you Protestants, you're trying to get to heaven on a skateboard.

That was the analogy that he used. Well, us Catholics, you know, we've got a limousine. You know, we've got someone to open the door, show us in, and drive us straight to heaven. And I thought about that analogy, and I know he's not representing the entire Roman Catholic Church, but I thought about the way that I've had other conversations and how people represent the Roman Catholic Church.

It very much feels that way, that if we're just sitting here with our Bible, we've, oh, that's hard work to try and interpret it. Who do we think we are? But if a priest or a pope can open the door and drive us straight to heaven, man, wouldn't that be better?

Wouldn't I want to take that ticket? Well, the problem with that is this claim. It's this claim that reading the Bible by yourself is not enough for you to come to salvation. In fact, you need someone else. You need something else in order to get you, as my friend would say, to heaven.

It just doesn't work by yourself. This is the claim. And this is not just a claim. This is the carrying beam. It's the support on which every other theology in the Catholic Church is based off of. And so, So as we talk about Catholicism, let's recognize this, and we can chip away at this supporting beam.

If you can convince your Catholic friends that the Pope does not have this kind of monopoly, not according to Scripture. And so we can go to the Bible, we can do the thing that the Catholic Church has so long forbid people to do and search Scripture for ourselves.

And I believe that if we are attentive and faithful to that, then perhaps the house that has been standing for so long can come crumbling down. The last thing, by way of recap, I want to emphasize that there is a difference between Catholicism and Catholics. Catholicism is an ism.

It's a systematized, codified belief system, and it's written down. We can go to the catechisms, we can look it up, we can say exactly what they believe because they've published it in their own words. On the other hand, Catholics are people. They're people with complex belief systems, and they are people who Jesus loves and for whom he died, and who by large numbers do not align point for point with the official doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Just as we don't align point for point with Luther or Calvin or all the Reformers. The census data reports that 30% of our local population here in College Station is Catholic, which means I know there's a high probability that there are people in this room who once were Catholic, who have family and friends that are Catholic, or maybe you're visiting and maybe you are Catholic currently.

Which is why I think it's even more important that we make this critical distinction. As a belief system, Catholicism is incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is wrong, and Bible-loving Christians ought to speak out against it. However, if you are listening to this tonight, and you are Catholic, you are not inherently less intelligent, less moral, or less righteous than anyone else in this room, including me.

We have nothing to boast in save in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. And that's why we're having this discussion tonight. That's why it's so crucial to talk about this subject. Not because I have a vendetta against Catholics, but it's important to identify error when we see it and to refute it with Scripture, whether it's coming from the Roman Catholic Church or a Protestant denomination.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, I could care less if someone is a quote-unquote Catholic. I care that they Know Christ, that they know the true Christ, the Christ that's recorded in Scripture. How do we know Christ? Not by believing my word, but by following His Word.

And 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 says, Test everything and hold fast to what is good. And that is what we are going to do this morning. We're going to hold up various aspects of Roman Catholic theology to the test of Scripture. It is my prayer that we hold fast to what is good, whether it's in the Catholic Church or the Baptist Church or any other teaching that bears the name Christian.

And as we do this, I would like you to consider your Catholic friend, your Catholic family members, co-workers, and seriously consider how you might engage them in a conversation about these things. And because of the sensitivity of the subject, let me pray before we get into it. Father, I ask for our time tonight, Lord, that you would be here.

Lord, that truth would reign supreme. And God, your word is truth. So, Father, I pray that this would be edifying to the body of believers, Lord, that you would be with me and guard my lips from anything false. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Well, as we begin, I believe it's important that we talk about what Catholicism gets right theologically.

And I believe that. There's actually a lot there. There's much we can stand shoulder to shoulder with, with the position of the Roman Catholic Church. And we'll start out with the Trinity. The Trinity. Catholicism teaches in one God and three persons with distinct roles according to Scripture. And to this, I can say, Amen.

Amen. In fact, I think a lot of evangelicals actually get this wrong or get this slightly more off base than the Catholic Church does. The Catholic Church has historically been a great defender of the doctrine of the Trinity, defending it from heresy. And this is to their credit.

Secondly, you help me out back there. I think we're frozen. That's all right. You'll just have to listen. Secondly, I think they get right the person of Jesus Christ. You can trace this all the way back to the Nicene Creed in 325 AD. You know, this is the statement that kind of identifies the incarnation, you know, fully God, fully man.

And I think Catholics and Protestants both can point to the Nicene Creed and say, this is a firm foundation on which to base our doctrine of Christ. Thirdly, I think we are aligned on many social issues. Historically, the official position of the Catholic Church has been on the side of life, on the side of family, on the side of justice.

The best example of that is the official position on abortion. Catholics have been warriors in the fight for life, and I have no problem whatsoever standing shoulder to shoulder with a Catholic person in the march for life. I think that's a great thing. However, interestingly, according to a recent Pew survey, 59% of individual Catholics are pro-choice.

However, the official position of the church today and of the new Pope is undoubtedly pro-life. And we can celebrate that. We can really celebrate that. Another social issue I think Catholics do well is the caring for the sick. Mother Teresa is an excellent example of that. And I've seen this in my own work in the hospital.

I've worked with many Catholic chaplains, and they are wonderful, wonderful ministers. Wonderful ministers. And they're there for the same reason that I am. Because Jesus entered into suffering, so should we. And lastly, I would say that we agree on a desire to please God. And many Catholics genuinely want to love God with all of their heart and soul.

They genuinely want to love their neighbor as themselves. And many of them do so at great personal sacrifice. And I could tell you stories and stories of wonderful encounters with Catholic men and women who are charitable, who are devoted, who are sincere, and who set Christ As their example, and we could learn a lot.

We could learn a lot from people like that. So, why raise a fuss? Right? If we can agree on all of these things, why can't we just agree to disagree on the rest? Does what unites us outweigh what separates us? If not, then we should speak out. If so, I should just stop talking.

But I do believe that there is enough that separates us. When I look at the differences, particularly over the question, how is man reconciled to God? I cannot in good conscience that we believe in the same gospel. The same gospel. We have many similarities, but the differences are vast.

And we're going to cover four of those differences tonight, where we disagree. Starting with the Scripture. Now, I want to be fair. I want to start by saying I think that there is a false accusation against Catholicism that they don't believe in the authority of Scripture. And this isn't entirely true.

Catholics care a lot about Scripture, and Catholics affirm the authority of Scripture, else they wouldn't go through so much trouble using Scripture to defend their claims. The issue at stake is not the authority of Scripture, it's the sufficiency of Scripture. It's the claim that Scripture isn't enough. Catholic Church teaches that there are two other sources of authority, in addition to Scripture, on equal footing with Scripture, and they are necessary for someone to be saved.

Now, this is quoted from the official Catechism of the Catholic Church that's published by the Vatican. It says, It is clear, therefore, that in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred tradition, sacred scripture, and the magisterium of the church are so connected and associated that no one of them can stand without the others.

Working together, each in its own way, under the action of one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls. Now, notice a few things with me. First, that there are three things, according to this, that are given by God to have authority over the Christian: the sacred tradition, which is the church, doctrine, life, worship.

Sacred Scripture, which we would call the Bible, and the magisterium. The magisterium, defined by the catechism, is the popes and the bishops in communion with him. And it says that all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls. In other words, salvation is not effective unless you have all three of these things working together in the life of the believer.

Well, here's the problem: two out of three of these things require the apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church. Anytime a Protestant appeals to the Word of God. Now we would mean the Bible. That's what we mean when we say Word of God. But when a Catholic person hears Word of God, they hear Bible plus sacred tradition.

That is the decrees of the Catholic Church. And Vatican II says that sacred tradition and sacred scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God. And then there's the magisterium. Here's the catechism once again. The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the magisterium of the church.

That is to the Pope and to the bishops who are in communion with him. So the average Joe Christian faces a couple problems. One, the Bible is insufficient for salvation without the Roman Catholic Church, because we don't have Roman tradition. Number two, even if it was sufficient, he wouldn't even be able to know what the Bible says without the Pope and the clergy interpreting it for him.

Well, why is that a big deal? Or what's the problem with tradition? Why can't we all just go to the Catholic Church? Well, I'd say there's nothing inherently problem with traditions. I mean, we have traditions here at Emmanuel. And Jesus practiced traditions. He went to Jerusalem for Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is a tradition. It's not in the Old Testament. The problem with tradition, however, is that it is a lousy place to find ultimate authority. Why? Because it's historically inconsistent and theologically unpredictable. It's historically inconsistent, simply put, because traditions change. They change over time. And you can trace these changes through the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

How can something be infallible if it is constantly under development? Secondly, it's theologically unpredictable, which is to say, what do you do if the Pope says something that you don't like? This happened, actually, when Pope Francis recently said that atheists could enter heaven, and then immediately a bunch of bishops came back and said, oh, no, no, no, no, he didn't really mean that.

What he really said was this. But they didn't come out and condemn him. Why couldn't they do that? Well, because it would mean falling out of communion with the Pope and therefore losing their status as the magisterium. That's the problem with tradition. It leaves you open to error, open to change.

But it's hard to argue against tradition. I'll grant them that. So how do we counter this? Well, I think we need to think seriously about the question of authority. Where do we get authority for our claims? I know the kind of the good Baptist answer is the Bible, right?

You know, we go to the Word of God, and we could launch from here into an entire discussion, a multi-night series about the Bible and canonicity, but we're just going to hit the highest. Points for this evening. I do think we need to push back on this idea that the Roman Catholic Church gave us the Bible.

And that's something that I've heard often from the Catholic position. I think we can push back on that in a couple ways. One, that there was no Roman Catholic Church when the Bible was canonized. And we talked about that last week. The first time we ever hear of the 66 books of the Bible altogether, you know, at the latest, is 400 AD, the Council of Carthage.

However, most scholars date the beginnings of the Roman Catholic Church around 550, 540 A.D. Now, that's 150 years later. But there's an even bigger problem, and that is the 66 books of the Bible didn't become Scripture at the Council of Carthage. The books of the Bible were accepted immediately as scripture as soon as they were written, as soon as they were written, the first century.

That's why Peter can tell his Jewish audience in 2 Peter 3:15 not to distort Paul's writings like they distort other scripture. They knew it was scripture. The Catholic tradition did not give birth to scripture. Rather, it has always been the practice of the church to hold traditions up to scripture to figure out if the traditions should be followed.

And we see an example of this in Acts 17, excuse me, 10 through 11. And the brothers immediately sent. Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now, these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

So, the Bereans are not practicing good Roman Catholic theology here because they wouldn't even be able to interpret it anyway, right? But by testing Paul's words with the scripture, the Old Testament that they had in front of them, they are able to believe and are saved. Jesus, he has some words about tradition.

He gets on to the Pharisees about their tradition. He says to them in Mark 7, verses 6 through 7, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

So here's the thing: Jesus was not anti-tradition, he was anti-tradition, masquerading as the Word of God. This is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church is doing. This is why Jesus is constantly refuting the Pharisees' tradition with the Word of God. He's constantly telling them, Have you not read?

Have you not read? Have you not read? Whenever a Pharisee challenges, Him on a theological subject, Jesus goes to Scripture. He's appealing to Scripture. Why? Because the Word of God has authority over tradition. You might hear, what about 2 Thessalonians 2.15? This is another passage often quoted by Catholics to defend the use of tradition, and I'll read it out.

It says, So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. So is Paul advocating for the infallibility of tradition here? And I would say, no. Read the context. He does not make that claim.

Rather, Paul is exhorting the church to pay attention to what he says and to what he does and to imitate him as he imitates Christ. But should he ever stop imitating Christ? This is what Paul says that they should do. Galatians 1:8 says, But even if we, even if he himself comes back, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.

Last one for you. In 1 Timothy 3.16. It's a common verse. A lot of us know it. Paul writes to Timothy, Scripture, which he had just called in verse 15, the sacred writing, scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction. For training and righteousness.

And I think Catholics and Protestants could stop right there and say, amen. We agree. 100%. But Paul goes on. Verse 17. So the man of God may be complete, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work. Every good work. You don't need anything else. Authority comes from God, and God has given us his word.

Thy word is truth. says Jesus. We don't need a magisterium to interpret it for us. We have the Holy Spirit, which has been granted to every believer in Jesus Christ. And I could go on and on, but we need to move on. Let's talk about salvation. Salvation. R.C.

Sproll says, most Protestants don't know what they are protesting. Well, let me just tell you, the Protestant Reformation was about this. This doctrine right here, the doctrine of justification. And the doctrine of justification is essentially the question, what must I do to be saved? It's a pretty significant question, would you say?

It's important enough for the Reformers to risk their lives, and they did. And again, I want to represent the Catholic side fairly here and avoid mischaracterization. And I think it is an oversimplified statement to say that Catholics don't believe in grace or that Catholics don't believe in grace.

In grace through faith. I honestly have yet to meet a Catholic that doesn't believe in grace through faith. I do, however, meet Catholics, and I read in Catholic literature that you cannot access grace through faith alone. And that was a big point of the Reformation. The Council of Trent, which we read last week, this is currently the official position of the Roman Catholic Church, says, if anyone states that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.

Which is to say in plain language that if anyone says that I am a sinner justified by faith alone, then I'm not a Christian. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, The Church affirms that for believers, the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. Now, what are the sacraments of the New Covenant?

Now, there are seven of them that are listed in the Catholic Catechism. We're going to talk about them a little bit later. But they say here that they are the means by which grace is distributed through the Roman Catholic Church, through these seven sacraments. Council of Trent mentions two of them.

The sacrament of penance, which we know as confession, is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after baptism. Baptism is, again, necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been born. So, suffice it to say, according to Catholicism, salvation is not a one-time occurrence, it is a process that begins at the moment of baptism into the Catholic Church, and then it must be maintained and renewed by a person's continued participation in the Roman Catholic Church.

And this is why I don't believe it's a mischaracterization to say that the Catholic gospel is a gospel that's based on works. And they probably won't use the term works, but they'll probably use the term sacraments. But make no mistake, these sacraments are what Paul would call works of the law.

In Galatians 2:16, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So, we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Because by the works of the law, no one will be justified.

And what is a work of the law? Two things: it's something that can only be done by human hands, and something that is intended to earn favor with God. But grace is the very opposite of that. Romans 4:4 says, Now to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due.

And here, Paul is saying that works. Are transaction-based. I give you this, so you give me that. On the other hand, grace is not transaction-based. It is free by definition. Romans 11:6 says, if it is by grace, it is no longer of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

So the Catholic position might say, I believe in grace, but only through these sacraments. They may even say that the sacraments are a means of grace. You'll hear that phrase often. But that's not grace. It fails to meet the biblical definition of grace. But they might say, what about Philippians 2:12?

Philippians 2.12 says, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And again, I would say, just keep reading. Go to the very next verse, verse 13. For it is God who works in you for his goodwill and his good pleasure. See, we can't take any credit for these works.

Now, the works do have a place in the Christian life. You can read the book of Titus, which is all about the Christian's responsibility to produce good deeds in keeping with salvation. But works do not save you. That is the key. That's the point. What does save you?

Romans 1, 15 through 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes, first for the Jew, also to the Greek, for in it the The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

Philippians 3:9, and be found in him, not having a righteousness which is of my own, not from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith. Romans 5:1 through 2, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have a peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into the grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 3 says, For we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? No, he's not the God of, is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also. Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Romans 4, 16, it is by faith in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the seed of Abraham, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is Father of us all.

Can the Bible be more clear? Salvation is accredited to us through faith. We did not earn it, Christ did. When we believe that, when we believe that the blood of Christ is the only thing sufficient to reconcile us to a holy God, then Christ's righteousness is accredited to our account.

What a beautiful gospel. What a beautiful gospel. So, can a Catholic person be saved? I've heard this question a lot. I've thought about this question a lot. And my answer is yes. Yes, they can. They can be saved. For the same reason that I would say an evangelical person can be unsaved.

Because that's the point. Salvation is not about what church you go to or what family you're from or whether you've been baptized in water or not. Salvation is about faith in the sufficiency of Christ's free gift of grace. So yes, if a Catholic person believes in Christ and has submitted themselves to the rule of Christ, not the man in the Vatican, then I truly believe that they are saved.

However, I think that they are saved in spite of the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, not because of it. And this is largely because of this sacramental system, this economy of grace, and this teaching on justification that has been created by the Catholic Church. And it is still in practice today.

So let's talk a little bit more about the sacraments. Here's where we get into some terminology that's unique to Catholicism, but I'll do my best to represent it fairly. What are the sacraments? Well, there are seven of them. I've already mentioned one of them is baptism into the Catholic Church.

And the rest are Eucharist, which is what we might call communion, penance, confirmation, matrimony, marriage, holy orders, the anointing of the sick. So you might hear, even in those terms, that, hey, we have things like that, we just call them by different names. Well, what's the difference here?

Well, the key difference is that in the Roman Catholic Church, these things are a means of grace. And we already talked about that. A phrase you can remember is: in Roman Catholicism, grace is a brokered transaction. It is dispensed by the clergy through the sacraments, and it's dispensed piece by piece by piece.

Let's talk about the Eucharist just briefly for a minute. The Eucharist refers to the body and blood of Christ that is taken during Mass, which is the Catholic equivalent to our weekly church service. But it's a little bit different than how we celebrate the Lord's Supper, which we celebrate as a memorial in obedience to Jesus' command to remember and proclaim his death until he comes.

In the Catholic Catechism, it says, Eucharist is the sum and summary of the Catholic faith. In other words, it's not just something that Catholics do. It's the very essence of being Catholic. And they would say of being Christian, being the follower of Christ. The Roman Catholic Church believes in something called transubstantiation, which is to say that the bread and the wine will literally transform into the body and blood of Jesus.

The Council of Trent says this: Under the consecrated species of bread and wine, Christ Himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner, His body and His blood, with His soul and His divinity. So, why is the teaching of transubstantiation so important to Catholicism?

Well, for starters, it disqualifies what we do for our communion, right? It disqualifies everyone outside of the Roman Catholic Church, because unless the elements have been blessed by a priest, then it's not legit. It's not the true body and blood of Jesus Christ. Secondly, it keeps people coming back for more and more and more.

According to the Catechism, Catholics are obligated, obligated to take Eucharist at least once a year, or they will fall out of a state of grace and can lose their salvation. And this is because the Eucharist According to Catholic tradition, it is actually what makes the sacrifice of Jesus effectual for the believer.

And here it is in their own words. In the Eucharist, Christ gives up the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it represents or makes present the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit.

So this catechism stops short of saying that the Eucharist is re-sacrificing the body and blood of Jesus. That certainly seems to be the gist of what they're saying. And this is why, if you're Catholic, going to Mass is very, very important because if you miss the Eucharist, you are missing the effects, or they'll say, the fruit of Christ's sacrifice.

We can see how the Eucharist is a means of grace in the Catholic tradition. This is not what the Bible teaches. First of all, do we really think that in the upper room, Jesus' disciples really believed that they were eating the body of Jesus and drinking the blood of Jesus?

Do you really think Jesus would command them to break the Torah in this way? Also, do we really think that in John 6, 53, when Jesus says, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you? Think that Jesus is advocating for cannibalism?

Is that really how the disciples took it? I doubt it. I really doubt it. But beside all that, we know from the book of Hebrews that there is no need to reapply the sacrifice of Christ over and over and over again. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14 says, For by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

One offering forever cleansed. We'll move on to another sacrament, the sacrament of penance, which I've mentioned before. Penance is what you are to do after you have committed a sin. In Roman Catholic theology, there are two categories of sin: there are mortal sins and venial sins. And if you committed a mortal sin, then you have fallen out of grace.

Whatever grace you had built up so far, it's gone. So you've got to go through penance, and that would be the equivalent of a re-entry process into the Catholic Church. And this is why penance is so important for Catholics. Because without penance, you could die. You could die without grace, and your soul could perish.

Penance has three parts to it: contrition, which is sorrow, confession, and reparation. And confession is the one that gets depicted most often in the media. This is the confession. Booth with the priest and the confessor. Catholic confession is not the same as what we might think of as biblical counseling.

Again, it's a means of grace. The priest is dispensing grace in that confessional booth. This is also not the same as James 5, the paradigm of confessing your sins to one another. Now, that's done in the context of the whole church with elders and deacons and everyone, any believer.

However, this confession can only be done by a bona fide Catholic priest acting on behalf of Jesus. Now, think for a second, is this not suspicious? Should we be skeptical? Again, the book of Hebrews argues strongly against this position, specifically Hebrews 4 and 5. And we don't have time to read it all tonight, so please go check it out for yourself.

Verify that what I'm saying is true. But if I were to give it a brief summary, I would say this: Christ is our high priest. We have eternal access to the Father through Him, and anyone who stands in between is an imposter. And then you get to the final stage of penance, which is reparation.

This is interesting to me. Reparation is the idea that you can pay back your sins through some means decided by the priest. Sometimes this is praying a certain number of Our Fathers or Hail Marys, or sometimes this is going on a certain pilgrimage to visit a certain holy site.

And sometimes this is through indulgences. And yes, I said indulgences. You might be thinking, but John, I thought indulgences were done away with during the Reformation. Well, not according to Vatican II. Vatican II says, an indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.

The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead. This is going on now. It's going on in the Roman Catholic Church and is directly linked to the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to have authority over sin. Here's the Council of Trent once again.

An indulgence is obtained through the Church, who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Jesus Christ, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sin.

I know that's a mouthful, but you hear that phrase, treasury of merits. It's up to the church to open up that treasury of merits, to take out grace and apply it to the people in the Catholic Church. Remember that according to Catholicism, grace is a brokered transaction. And they even use economic language here, the treasury of merits.

I've even seen written several times the sacramental economy, what they call it. Think of it like a bank vault of grace, but the priest has the key. You need to go through the priest. Again, let me re-emphasize: this is not grace. It's not grace, according to the Bible, and it's vulnerable to corruption.

Did you know that on the Vatican's official gift shop online, there's an option to add a blessing to any purchase? You can click a box, and the Vatican priest will bless your purchase, and it'll be delivered to you. But you have to buy it through that website. Do you know that you can buy holy water online?

A real ad I found, Father Farley's triple-blessed holy water is the ultimate holy water that you can obtain. And I know I'm characterizing here. I'm not saying that all Catholic priests are corrupt in this way, but I think it's fair for us to be skeptical. Skeptical of a system that gives man that amount of authority and says you can't even read your Bible to check it out.

Do you really want to put this kind of trust in somebody for your eternal soul? I don't. Well, we've covered Eucharist and penance in detail because it is said by the catechism that they are required for salvation in the Catholic Church. Now, the rest of the seven sacraments are not.

These are optional. However, they are highly encouraged. Why? Again, because grace is a brokered transaction. The more you have, the more grace you have, the better off you'll be, the better chance you have when you die. But to get any of these things, you've got to keep coming back.

You've got to come back for more and more and more. Or else you won't have enough. Or you might not have enough. I want to say a quick note about anointing of the sick. As a hospital chaplain, I would get requests to perform anointing of the sick for hospital patients.

Our policy was to refer these requests to their local church or to another Catholic priest in the area. However, there was one weekend when all the Catholic churches in town went on a retreat, a spiritual getaway. And I remember getting the call. Hey, Chaplain John, will you perform anointing of the sick?

And I had to go into that room and tell the family, I'm sorry, but everyone's gone. Everyone's gone. There's no one to do it. And the family was stunned. They were stunned. They were terrified. He picked a bad weekend to die. You see, this is unnecessary fear. Unnecessary fear that comes through the sacramental economy that's practiced by the Catholic Church.

It doesn't have to be that way. Time when the peace of free acceptance in Christ Jesus should be most clear. At the end of the day, the sacraments do not dispense grace, they dispense fear, and fear keeps people in bondage. Galatians 4:9 says, But now that you have come to know God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more?

I think you and I can alleviate much anxiety from our Catholic friends by showing them that grace is not transactional. Grace is free, and it's free forever, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. The last one, saints, and we don't have a whole lot of time to do a thorough treatment on this subject, but let me just clarify that saint, the word saint in Catholicism is not the same as the word saint in the biblical sense, which refers to all believers across all time.

In Catholicism, sainthood is directly tied to the afterlife. These are the people that we are, or that they are very, very sure are no longer in purgatory, but they are in heaven. That's what it means to be a saint. And most Christians, according to Catholic theology, don't go to heaven when they die, they go to this place called purgatory, which is also called the final purification.

All of this is in the catechism. And it is habitual for Catholics to make prayers on behalf of their loved ones who have died. If you've been to a Catholic funeral, you've likely heard this. You've heard an appeal to make prayers on behalf of the one who's passed away.

Why do they do this? Well, again, there's this thing called the treasury of merits, which I've mentioned already. If someone you love does not have enough grace for heaven, then you can ask Jesus or Mary or the saints to dip into their grace accounts and send a little grace their way.

Oversimplifying, but that's the gist. Well, this is why Mary and the saints are held in such high esteem because they are constantly being asked to intercede for Catholics on their behalf to God the Father. I wish I had more time to get into this, but just let me give you what the Bible says.

Philippians 4:6, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. 1 Timothy 2:5, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. Matthew 6, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, and he taught them to pray directly to the Father, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

There is not a single prayer in the Bible that is addressed to anyone other than God, not one. And I think I know how a Catholic might respond to this. They might say, well, we don't really worship Mary or the saints. We venerate them. We give them respect.

And I agree that Mary was a remarkable woman, remarkable woman. She deserves respect. Many of the saints are remarkable men and women. They deserve respect. But they are flawed. They are flawed. Just like anyone else, Mary herself said that she needed a Savior. Luke 1, 47. And do you really think that Peter, the man who said to Cornelius, stand up, I too am a man, don't bow to me.

Do you think he would approve of how he is being venerated by the Catholic Church today? My point is that idolatry by any other name is still idolatry. So please don't get caught up in the hysteria. Hebrews 4, 16 says, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

So I'd like to conclude tonight with a little bit of practical advice for evangelism. I'm going to give a shout out to Trey Lovett, who helped me on this and just kind of think through how to evangelize to a Catholic person. He gave me some really good Advice.

First piece of advice I would say is: ask questions. Ask questions and listen. Apologist Greg Kukul recommends asking two questions for non-confrontational discussion, and those two questions are: what did you mean by that? And how did you come to that conclusion? Great questions. Remember that there is great diversity within Catholicism.

Just because someone goes to Mass doesn't mean that they worship Mary. Just because someone got baptized into the Catholic Church doesn't mean that they know or believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches. John Houston was just saying that most of them probably don't. You may even be evangelizing to a believer without knowing it.

Well, how do you know? Be slow to speak. Be quick to listen. And genuinely listen. And don't interrupt them to make your point. Number two, acknowledge the common ground. I think this is a very effective tactic, and it's practiced by the Apostle Paul. In Acts 17, you may remember, he goes to the Athenians, and he says, Men of Athens, I see that you're very religious.

He talks about their statue and their reverence. And his point is, I am too. I'm a religious person, too. We have that in common. And I'll tell you what, we have a lot of things in common with our Catholic friends and family. Social issues, family values. Definition of marriage, but we do not align on the gospel.

We don't. So I recommend that you work hard to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, like Mr. McGee was saying this morning. Hold on to that wheat, hold on to it as precious, but expose the chaff. And remember that you were no better. I mean, talk about finding common ground, right?

We are all partakers in the same gospel because we're all sinners. We all need this. Number three, show them what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. A lot of Catholics are very well educated and well-informed, but others have no idea. No idea what the Vatican teaches, much less what the Bible teaches.

So it may take some time and some hard work, but educate yourself. Educate yourself before entering these conversations with your Catholic family. Be ready to show them that the Catholic gospel is not the gospel of the Bible. Many who leave the Catholic Church abandon Christianity altogether, and we don't want that.

We want them to know that there is an alternative, that the Bible does not teach this. Lastly, speak the truth in love. Love them. Love them. When Christ saw the rich young ruler, Mark 10:20, it says that he looked upon him and loved him. And then he proceeded to tell him something very, very difficult.

That the gospel of wealth that he was pursuing was not the true gospel. And yet Christ loved him. So how can we love our Catholic neighbors? Well, a few ways. I think we can be sensitive to the complexity of it, to their past. Catholicism is very culturally ingrained.

And it's been a challenge for many Catholics to break away because, in many parts, it's rejecting their family, their heritage. There's a lot of complexity in there, a lot of emotions in there. I think it's good to be sensitive to that. Strive for peace. This principle comes from Romans 12:18.

As much as it depends on you. And lastly, I would say pray. Enter these conversations in prayer. It's really hard to be arrogant or self-righteous when you're on your knees. And that's all I have on the subject. And I hope that it was helpful. I hope that you can use this information for effective ministry.

But more than that, I hope you pray that you test. Sorry, excuse me. I pray that you test what I say. I hope that it's not my words that get to you this evening, that it's the words of truth. That maybe even you can take this conversation from here and go investigate further.

Go and search Scripture. Search what the Catholic Church is saying and compare and use that principle of testing everything and holding fast to what is good. And may the Holy Spirit lead you into all truth. And I believe he will. I believe he will. And with that, let's pray.

Father, we do ask for your grace, Lord. Grace over our souls unto salvation, Lord, but grace even just to understand your word, to be able to apply your word to our context. And I know a lot of people here have a person in mind or a situation in mind.

I pray, God, that you would give them confidence, confidence in your word. Lord, that you've equipped them, that you love them. Father, that you love people in the Roman Catholic Church. God, I pray for their salvation. I pray that they find Jesus if they haven't already. And God, that you would be glorified.

In Jesus' name, amen. And with that, I have one announcement. There is a reception this evening for high school graduates. That will be immediately following in the fellowship hall. So please grab yourself some dessert and refreshment and congratulations.