The Bible and Catholic Salvation, #1a

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in the Truth Pulpit. As we've dealt with this series, I've tried to impress upon you the fact that we can make no mistake that eternal issues are at stake here. The consequences of the truth of which we are speaking from God's Word will reverberate throughout all of eternity. There will be no end to the consequences of the truth of God's Word on these issues.

There will be, for those that believe the Bible and trust Christ according to what is revealed in Scripture, there will be no end to the blessing and the perfection of bliss that we will know forever and ever, amen, throughout all of eternity. That will be the consequence for those who believe. For those who have trusted in the false system of salvation offered by the Catholic system, the consequences will also be eternal, but they will not be consequences of bliss and joy and peace. It will be consequences of judgment for having entrusted themselves to a false gospel.

And so we're mindful that as we teach these things that important things are at stake, and to say that they're important is really to understate the matter. Scripture states it plainly in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27, it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. Hebrews 9 27, it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. There is infinitely more to the significance of your existence than what is happening in the four corners of time in which you live out your 70 years or whatever the case may be.

The reality of eternity bursts in on that whether people are conscious of it or not. There are consequences to life. There are consequences to your response to Scripture. There are consequences to your response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And God has stated it plainly so that no one could miss it.

Judgment is coming. And that means that the most important question of them all, the only question that ultimately matters in life, is how can a sinful man or a sinful woman be right with God? That is the only question that matters because if you were king for 50 years over the most glorious earthly empire and then you died and went to hell, what would it profit your soul to have gained the whole world and yet to have lost your soul? Perhaps in terms that are more pertinent to each one of us here, when we realize that the struggles and the difficulties of this life and the sorrows and the rejection and the pain and the misery that sometimes accompanies our human existence is temporary. When we realize that Christ has saved us for greater purposes that have yet to be unfolded and that will far transcend anything that we knew on this life, then we have a hope. We have a refuge that solidifies our heart, that allows us to go through the trials singing with joy rather than crushed with discouragement.

And so all of these things, all of these things really, really matter. How can a sinful man be right with God? And what we've done in the series, again for those of you that haven't had the opportunity to be with us so far, we have systematically compared Catholic teaching on the pope, on Catholic tradition, on their mass, and on Mary to Scripture. And we have shown conclusively from the Bible that those things are unbiblical, that they are false, and that they are a false ground of hope for everyone who trusts in them. Not only is it false and therefore leading men astray, what I want you to understand is that Catholicism is designed to rob glory from Christ. And that is why it is such an offense and such a stench in the nostrils of God and in those who believe in Christ, it robs Christ of his glory.

Think about it. Think of Christ as the eternal son of God who came to earth, gave his life on a cross, was buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, and the glory of what his work and person accomplished. And Scripture says that he reigns his head over the church, but Catholicism comes and says no, the pope is the head over the church and pushes Christ aside and elevates the pope in his presence. They add Catholic tradition and they will give a head fake to the word of God, but then they'll talk about their Catholic tradition being of equal importance to Scripture. And that word in affirming the Old Testament and preparing the way for the New Testament, they pull down and make it equal to the things that they've made up over the centuries in their mass.

Whereas Scripture talks about Christ and having made a one-time, once-for-all sacrifice that was sufficient to cover the sins of everyone who would ever believe in him throughout all of time. Catholicism comes and says no, and they attach their little figurines of Jesus onto their crucifix and say no, we need a mass to continue that sacrifice. And they rob Christ of glory by elevating their mass in his presence. And whereas the Bible says that there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, Catholics look to Mary and call her the mediatrix, the female mediator.

And that you pray to her and you ask her to rescue you in the hour of death. And for those of you that haven't been with us, I want to say and am careful to say that as we're addressing this and as we're talking about these things, we are aiming the power of God's word against Catholicism as a system. Individual Catholics are not our enemies.

We love them. We would have them share in the same salvation that God has given to us as sinners. And so this is not an attack on individual Catholics, it is an exposing of the system that is going on here and a call and a warning and a plea to those that are in the darkness of it and an offer to them. Come out of that darkness which offers you no hope, which promises you no certainty of salvation. Come out of that darkness, come out of the whole system that you have embraced or perhaps only known from birth, the only thing you've known from birth.

Come out of that because there is one who is far superior to everything that you've ever been taught. And we would have you know the blessing of Christ and the certainty of salvation and that's why we're doing this. It's not simply a historical commemoration of 500 years, it's a living reality that still matters today. We preach this more to our generation than we do to commemorate the past Reformers, but we also realize that we're standing on the shoulders of great men of the past who often laid down their lives for the sake of the things that we discuss here in peace this morning.

These things are of great value no matter how you look at it. And beloved, here's the thing, today and on Tuesday, and it may bleed over a little bit beyond that, we're going to address the topic of the Bible and Catholic salvation. The Bible and Catholic salvation is our topic for today and for Tuesday. If you're able to join us on Tuesday, we'd love to have you.

We have a large group that comes every Tuesday, but there's always room for one more. Beloved, here's the thing, there is only one way of salvation and the Bible says that it's easy to miss. Jesus himself said in Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14, 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 few who find it. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 1 verse 8, addressing a form of perverted Christianity that was trying to add works to faith in order to achieve salvation, and therefore writing under circumstances that were not that much different from dealing with modern-day Catholicism, the Apostle Paul lowered his own boom on the false teaching of his day and said, But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. You see, we do not have the liberty, brothers and sisters, friends that are joining us perhaps for the first time, we do not have the liberty to say, well, they teach a different way of salvation, talking about the Catholics. We don't have the liberty to say, they teach a different way of salvation, but we're still going to regard them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

I don't want to be too judgmental, God is the one who judges, and so therefore I'm not going to be too strict on this. We don't have that option open to us if we have any desire at all to be faithful to God's Word, because Scripture says that a man is justified by faith alone, Romans 3.28, we're going to talk about all of this in the hour ahead. Catholics do not teach the same thing about salvation, and so whatever else we say about this, as Catholics elevate all kinds of different things in opposition to Christ, whatever else we say about it, Scripture says there is one way of salvation, and that means either the Catholics are right and we are wrong, or the Bible is right and Catholics are wrong. There is no middle ground here, there can be no compromise, there can be no going back to Rome, as so many people that would claim the name evangelical would have us to do today. There's no going back, because Scripture says that these two things are mutually exclusive. There is a broad way and a narrow way, and a lot of people miss the narrow way, Jesus said, therefore beware of who teaches you, beware of false prophets, he goes on to say. There is only one gospel, and those who contradict the true gospel, Scripture condemns to damnation.

And so this really matters. When you remember that the consequences are eternal, and that Scripture says there is only one way of salvation, then we realize that the consequences of this are infinite. Now, here's how we're going to approach this. I'm going to do it the exact reverse of how I've done the prior messages on Catholicism. What I've tended to do, my approach has been to lay forth Catholic teaching at the start of the message, and then bring Scripture to bear upon it.

I'm going to flip that. And today, this morning, we're going to look at the biblical way of salvation, and then we will, on Tuesday, we'll look at the Catholic system and see how it compares to what we find from Scripture here today. We want to answer three really basic questions here today, and I'll lay these out for you for those of you that are taking notes. And by the way, that prompts me to remind, I've been encouraged that many people have taken me up on this, that I invite you to ask for my preaching notes, because it's hard to get everything down in a message like this.

It's hard to take everything down. I'm happy to share those. All you have to do is email us through our website, and we'll be delighted to send those to you. Those are free and available so that you have all of the documentation of everything I've said throughout the entire series. I want you to know, I like to say this, I want you to know I'm not making these things up. It's all there in black and white, documented for everybody to see who wants to see.

You do not have to take my word for it. So, for this morning, we ask these three questions. Number one, what is justification? What is justification? Secondly, why do I need it? And three, how do I get it? Simple questions. What is justification? Why do I need it?

And how do I get it? Let's dive into what God's Word has for us here this morning. Point number one, what is justification? Now, I want to acknowledge up front that the word justification can be intimidating.

It can be an intimidating term to come to grips with. I mean, after all, it has five syllables. Justification. Five syllables, that's a lot.

We're not used to using words that are necessarily that big just in general. And certainly the world doesn't discuss justification. And so, if you're not familiar with Scripture, you might be tempted to say, well, how important could it be?

Let's just talk about Jesus. But justification is a crucial term in the realm of salvation. And it is essential to understand this in light of the series that we're doing on Catholicism. To justify, the verb to justify comes from a Greek term known as dikaiō.

I like saying that. I like the aō sound at the end of those words and related Greek terms like it. It's a word group that is used 208 times in the New Testament. So that gives you a sense of its importance to be mentioned over 200 times in the New Testament.

We have the idea there's something important to pay attention to here. And just to give you a couple of definitions. Justification is a legal term as it applies to salvation. It is a legal term which means this, that God declares sinners righteous in the sight of his law. Justification is an act of God, not an accomplishment of man. Justification is something that God does, he does in an instant, and it is a declaration that he makes, it is a legal verdict that is applied to the soul of a man on grounds that we'll discuss in a moment.

Justification means that God's law has been completely satisfied. And if you'll turn to the book of Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4 we want to take a look at a key passage that we'll bounce off of a couple of times this morning, the Lord willing. Here in this section of Scripture the Apostle Paul has talked about the wrath of God, the judgment of God, and the fact that salvation and justification is found by faith alone. Look at Romans chapter 3 verse 28 as we start here.

He says that we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. And having established that principle, he illustrates it with a couple of examples from the Old Testament. He talks about Abraham in chapter 4 and also talks about David later on. Now look at chapter 4 verse 1, Abraham who was in a sense the forefather of the Jews. Paul raises him and uses Abraham to illustrate his point. He says in chapter 4 verse 1, What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about but not before God. And then Paul goes to Genesis 15 6 and says, Where was it that Abraham was declared righteous? Verse 3, what does the scripture say, quote, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham believed the promise of God and God credited him with righteousness.

That was when Abraham became a believer. Now in verse 4, Paul goes on to say, Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor but as what is due. If you work for something, it's not a gift.

It is a wage that is paid to you. Paul says, but salvation is not a wage for something done. It is a gift given apart from merit.

In fact, it is a gift given in the presence of demerit. Look at what he says now in verse 5 and these next four verses are really key for us. Paul says in Romans chapter 4 verse 5, But to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the godly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness, apart from works.

Do you see it? Apart from works, that's essential. Verse 7, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. To look at those four verses in kind of a global perspective and overall view, there are two aspects to justification.

Two aspects to being right with God. First of all, First of all, righteousness is credited to our account before God. And our sins are forgiven. Our sins are pardoned. You must always think about justification in that two-fold way. God forgives all of our sins, past, present, and future. And then he assigns to us, he credits to us, he accounts to our benefit, he imputes to us, all of those being synonyms for what we're saying, he imputes to us righteousness.

And we'll explain this more in a moment. Louis Berkhof defines justification in this way. He says justification is that legal act of God by which he declares the sinner righteous on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Christ.

And notice something very, very important. This goes to the key of everything. Look at Romans chapter 4 verse 5 with me again. Who is it that God justifies? Who is it that God justifies? He justifies the ungodly. He justifies us not after we have lived a life of good works and he says, okay, you've passed the course.

You've done the test. I declare you righteous based on what you have done. The time at which God declares a sinner justified is while that sinner is still ungodly. That's why it is such a gift.

It is a gift that is not earned on the basis of prior performance. He justifies the ungodly when the sinner believes in Christ. And so that is crucial to understand. Justification is a legal verdict in the sinner's favor delivered by God as a gift of grace, not as a reward for something that he has done or rules or rituals that he has kept. Justification is God's legal verdict on the life of a man that says, I hereby declare you righteous in the sight of my law. That's what justification is. It is a legal verdict, not an inward change. There are other aspects of salvation that go to the inner change that a sinner undergoes.

Justification is not about that. It is about a legal declaration by God. I view this sinner now as righteous in my eyes. And because, here you go, bleeding over into things that I'm going to say on Tuesday, because it is God's verdict, it cannot be reversed.

Because God is the judge and he is the final authority, when he declares a sinner righteous, nothing can overturn that verdict. Look over at Romans chapter 8 with me. Romans chapter 8. When God saves a man, what is there left to be said? Romans 8 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

What does it matter what anyone else says? Or, stated differently, who could come and overturn God's verdict? Where is the Supreme Court above God that sits in judgment of his verdicts, of his declarations?

There is none. Verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? If God has justified us, there's no one left to condemn us. There is no one left to overturn the verdict that is in our favor. Justification is God's legal verdict. I declare this sinner righteous in my sight.

Now, that's what it is. Now let's unpack what leads up to it a little bit. Point number two. Why do I need justification? Or, why do you need justification? I'll be honest with you, I have justification.

It's not that I need it now. It's just a rhetorical device to ask the question. You're asking this to yourself. Why do I need justification?

That's the point. Why do you need justification? Here's the thing, beloved. We're talking about things upon which eternity hinge here. I just have to highlight that and emphasize that to you so that you understand how important it is. Because I realize that as you're sitting, it's easy for your mind to drift in and out.

Maybe you're tired or whatever. I get that. But this is a place where you really need to pay attention because the things of which we are speaking here today are the pathway to eternal life and eternal blessing for you. And you must understand these things in order to come truly to Christ, in order for your sins to be forgiven, in order to be rescued from eternal damnation.

And so you must know these things. We're not up here talking about temporal earthly matters about how you can get along better with your coworkers at your job. That, by comparison, doesn't matter. That's not important in comparison to this.

This is what happens to your soul when you die, where you will live forever and ever. That's what really matters. Why do you need justification?

Here's the thing. Justification addresses the pressing matter of your standing before God. How does God view you? What is your relationship to God? What will God do with you when you are in His hands in judgment? Jonathan Edwards, of course, preached perhaps the most famous sermon on American soil, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. You are a sinner. What's going to happen to you when you are in His hands? Now, I understand that a lot of people don't want to talk about the wrath of God, don't want to talk about sin.

It's uncomfortable. They're afraid people will leave if they preach on this, and people say, I'm not here to preach the wrath of God. I'm just here to encourage people.

Well, great. Encourage them all the way until they drop into hell. That's a great ministry to have, Joel. You can't know these things and understand them without feeling some measure of passion in your heart, not just me, you. You see, my friends, the Bible says that God is angry. The Bible says that God is angry. Look at Romans chapter 1.

Why do you need justification? Well, let's start with the fact that God's angry. He's angry about something. In Romans chapter 1 verse 18, it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God takes offense, and rightly so, when men reject His righteousness and practice ungodliness. God is offended by that. It angers Him. It invokes His wrath and anger against those who would commit such cosmic treason against His reign in the universe. Look at it again with me. Let's not pass over this too quickly because this is why we all need justification. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Now, I imagine someone saying, hey, wait, wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying that about me? I have an objection to make. I've never killed anybody. I've been faithful to my wife. I've never told any major lies.

I'm a pretty good guy. Well, why are you talking to me about the wrath of God? Here's the problem, beloved, is that when a man talks that way, he's comparing himself to the wrong standard. He hasn't looked at the holy law of God and seen that he falls miserably short. He hasn't seen clearly that Jesus said that your angry, unforgiving spirit is as bad as murder. He hasn't seen that Jesus says that your lustful thoughts toward others are as bad as actually committing the physical act of adultery, Matthew 5. But he hasn't considered and taken into account that God looks on the heart and that God sees the inner man and evaluates a man based on what he finds there. You see, sinners are so deluded. The population in general just views God so lightly and with such indifference and says, look, I compare pretty good to my fellow man.

I'm going to be okay. Well, that's just the wrong standard. The standard is the high holiness of God and what he declares in his word. And so if you think you're a pretty good person, I can tell you that you've never understood the first thing about the Bible or about the biblical way of salvation. Look at what God finds offensive in verse 21. He says, even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. You know why God is angry?

You know why God is wrathful toward men? It's because they do not give him the honor he deserves as God, even though he's revealed himself in the heavens and in his word, and they do not give thanks to him. They live ungrateful vis-a-vis God. They don't even think about him, let alone to give thanks to him and say, God, everything that I have is a gift from you.

James says that every perfect gift comes from the Father, down from heaven from the Father of lights. See, men are indifferent to, and perhaps some of you, don't really care about, don't even think about the fact that you don't consciously honor God for his glory. You don't consciously thank God for all of the gifts that he has given and the way that he has revealed himself and the kindness and the mercies that he shows to you, which are new every morning. You don't even thank him for it.

You may not think that's a big deal. God does. Scripture does. It says, God is who he is, and he has been great and glorious and gracious to you. You should honor him and give thanks to him.

Do you do that? The sinner who's thinking rightly is humbled before the proper standard and says, you know what, I don't. No wonder God's angry with me. Can you imagine being in the presence of an earthly king and all of his royal majesty being a subject to an earthly king and he's right there in the room with you and you look at him and you turn away from him, you dishonor his sovereignty, you dishonor the earthly majesty of it, you don't give honor to the one to whom rules over your realm. What's a king going to do with something like that?

That's a great offense against the crown. Well, multiply that by infinity and you start to see something of the magnitude of the treason that every man, woman, and child is guilty of against God. And the guilt of that is universal.

It extends to every man, woman, and child. Look at chapter 3 verse 19. We've so often referred to verses 10 through 12 that we'll just assume them. There's none righteous, none who understands, none who does good, not even one. We'll add verses 19 and 20 to the mix.

Again, remember, we're answering the question, why do you need justification? Chapter 3 verse 19 says this, Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Your works cannot save you and the Word of God, the law of God, reveals that plainly. All the law of God does is reveal your guilt, your failure to obey and glorify God in the way that you should. Jesus said, you know, if you want to go by the words of Jesus, what did Jesus say the greatest commandment is?

What did he say? You know, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind and your neighbor as yourself. Love God with everything that you are and none of us have done that. And God finds that offensive. God assigns guilt on the basis of that. Why do you need justification, my friend? You need justification because it is all about guilt under the law. God has declared you guilty due to your sin. Now, guilt is universal. That's why you need justification. Let's take it a step further. The fact that you are guilty is no small matter.

This is not an incidental thing like the color of car that you decide to buy. Romans chapter 6 verse 23 says that the wages of sin is death. Ezekiel 18 four says the soul that sins must die. And so all of a sudden we are face to face with a bursting thundercloud of judgment hanging over our heads ready to burst loose at any moment and we realize that we are defenseless against the righteous lightning bolts of the judgment of God, speaking metaphorically. The Bible explains what the consequences of death and judgment are. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, I'm just going to read it.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 7 through 9 says this. The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. That's the sad tragic destiny of everyone who is not justified by God. There is this eternal destruction that awaits and look, those of you that are pre-teen in your teens, maybe your early twenties and you think all of life is ahead, I don't need to worry about this for 50 years, look, you better worry about it now. You better take this to heart and pay attention now and not presume, not presume upon the fact that God will necessarily give you another opportunity to respond to the gospel when it's presented to you. You know something, my friends, my unsaved friends that are in the room over live stream, subsequent media, those of you that say, I'm going to deal with this later.

I like life the way it is right now. I don't want Christ messing it up. I don't want to repent.

I'll do it later. You're making a fatal assumption in that. You're assuming that there will be another time. You're assuming that later down the road, your heart will be softer then than it is now.

What makes you think that would ever happen? The longer the clay is baked under the sun, the harder it gets. Well, if the sun is softening the clay of your heart to respond, you need to respond now and not assume that if you walk away and harden your heart against it, that you'll have another opportunity in the future or that you'll be more concerned about your soul later on than you are right now. That's foolishness. No one should think that way. No one should assume anything about that they'll be more inclined toward God later on. The more you harden your heart now, the harder your heart will be and more difficult to penetrate later on, humanly speaking.

So don't make that mistake. I'm speaking for the good of your eternal soul as I say these things. That's Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit. And here's Don again with some closing thoughts. Well, my friend, before we go after today's broadcast, I just want to invite you to look me up on Facebook, Don Green on Facebook.

I often make original posts. I make comments about ministry and other matters of biblical importance there that do not make their way into this broadcast. And so if you are on Facebook, I invite you to join me. Look for Don Green and join us on Facebook for another way to connect with our ministry. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's word.