0:04

Today we talk about some of

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the deadliest errors of present-day Roman

0:08

Catholicism, and over the next month

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we look at Rome historically. This

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October we're celebrating the Reformation together,

0:14

which is Martin Luther's great stand

0:16

against the Pope and against Rome's

0:18

spiritual abuses and theological errors. But

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Luther didn't stand alone. Other

0:24

men stood for this same cause before

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and after Luther, people like John Wycliffe,

0:29

William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, John

0:31

Knox, and John Calvin, and

0:34

many other lesser-known names paid the

0:36

ultimate price in the Reformation, men

0:38

and women and even teenagers who

0:41

stood against Rome and who were

0:43

bled and burned and

0:46

drowned for it. of

0:49

sacrifice are our focus in the month ahead

0:51

in a 31-day tour that you can complete

0:53

in just 5-7 minutes each day. It's

0:57

titled, Here We Stand. You

1:00

can subscribe to the email

1:02

journey today by going to

1:04

desiringgod.org/stand or just go to

1:06

desiringgod.org and click on the link on the top of

1:08

the website. I hope you'll join

1:10

us in remembering the price paid for the

1:12

spiritual blessings and the religious liberties that we

1:15

enjoy today. Those

1:18

core beliefs enshrined by the Pope and

1:20

in the practices of Rome that deeply

1:22

concerned the Reformers 500 years

1:24

ago are some of the very same

1:26

concerns for Protestants today, leading

1:29

to this question about whether someone in a

1:31

Roman Catholic Church today could be genuinely saved.

1:34

The question comes from a listener named Jimmy

1:36

who writes this, Hello Pastor John, a close

1:39

friend of mine passed away recently. He

1:41

was a great man, a good friend, a mentor to

1:43

many young men like myself, and he was

1:46

a devout Roman Catholic. My

1:48

questions for you are these. Will

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I see my friend in heaven? Or do

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his theological views make this impossible? Can

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I rightfully experience Paul's sorrowful yet

1:58

always rejoicing mantra? position

4:00

in practice where she

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mediates between the people of God and

4:04

the Son of God in a way

4:07

that undermines the direct priestly

4:10

ministry of Christ between his

4:12

people and God. This

4:15

elevation of Mary

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beyond anything in the Scriptures based

4:20

solely on church tradition distances

4:23

the people of God from the

4:25

enjoyment of personal fellowship

4:27

with Jesus and

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the kind of relationship and assurance they

4:32

might otherwise enjoy with him. Third,

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we should be concerned about the

4:38

teaching of baptismal

4:40

regeneration, the

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idea that an appropriate

4:45

pudding of water on the

4:47

baby's head by

4:50

the very work of the water,

4:53

ex uppere aperato by the very

4:55

operating of the thing itself by

4:58

the very work of the water in the

5:00

priestly act causes a

5:02

change in the nature

5:05

of the baby from lost

5:07

in original sin to saved

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through regeneration. This notion

5:12

has produced, I would

5:14

say, untold, ill-founded

5:16

confidence in the

5:18

people of God who have

5:21

little or no personal faith or

5:23

relationship with Christ or love to

5:25

Jesus and yet because of their

5:27

baptism believe they are

5:29

heaven bound. Fourth,

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we should be concerned about the offering

5:35

of so-called indulgences, which

5:38

the very pope himself, not

5:41

in some distant 16th century

5:43

past, it involves certain

5:45

kinds of pilgrimages or

5:47

special buildings or special

5:49

payments which one

5:52

can perform or attend so that an indulgence

5:55

is granted by the pope which

5:58

provides forgiveness of sins. This

6:00

is an appalling detraction from

6:04

the absolute uniqueness of

6:06

the death of Christ as the provision for

6:08

sins and personal faith

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as the means by which that

6:13

provision becomes ours. Fifth,

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we should be concerned about the

6:19

confusion over the doctrine of

6:21

justification by grace alone on the

6:23

basis of Christ alone, through faith

6:25

alone, to the glory of God

6:27

alone. The Roman Catholic

6:30

insistence that justification

6:32

consists in the infusion

6:35

of righteousness, which

6:37

as our own

6:39

virtue qualifies us

6:42

to be accepted by God,

6:44

is not the

6:46

same as the biblical doctrine of

6:49

God becoming 100% for

6:53

us in the moment when

6:55

by faith we are united

6:57

with Christ so that His

6:59

blood and righteousness alone become

7:02

the ground of that acceptance. Sixth,

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we should be concerned about the centrality

7:09

of the Mass in the Roman Catholic

7:11

practice in

7:13

which the bread and wine

7:15

are actually

7:17

transubstantiated. They become

7:20

the physical

7:23

body and physical

7:25

blood of Jesus so that the

7:27

Lord's Supper takes on a power

7:30

of salvation by the entering of

7:32

the blood and the body of

7:34

Jesus into us, which it never

7:36

was intended to have in the

7:38

Bible. It misleads millions

7:41

of what's happening there. And

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finally, we should be concerned about

7:46

the doctrine of purgatory in

7:48

which a person after death may

7:51

be given another chance of

7:53

bearing some punishment so that finally

7:55

they can make their way to

7:58

heaven after doing so.

8:00

inappropriate penance there.

8:03

The Bible holds out no such

8:05

hope for those who die

8:08

in unbelief. It is not

8:10

found in the Scriptures. Now,

8:13

having waved a flag of

8:15

concern for those seven

8:18

matters of Catholic belief, my

8:20

answer to the question, nevertheless,

8:23

is yes. I

8:26

think there are genuine Christians who

8:28

are devout and

8:31

inconsistent Roman Catholics.

8:34

Devout in the sense that they

8:36

are earnest and serious, sincere,

8:40

and inconsistent in

8:42

the sense that their true heart and

8:44

brace of Jesus is

8:46

better than their mental ideas or

8:49

doctrines. If a person

8:51

has a genuine encounter with the living

8:53

Christ and recognizes

8:55

the depth of human sinfulness and

8:58

the hopelessness that we are in

9:00

without grace and without Christ, and

9:03

sees in Jesus the substitute that

9:05

God provided to bear our punishment

9:07

and provide all we need for

9:09

acceptance with God, and

9:11

that person throws himself on the mercy

9:13

of Christ, despairing of

9:16

all self-reliance, and

9:18

cherishes Christ as His supreme

9:20

treasure and hope for

9:22

eternal life, that person will be saved,

9:26

even if many doctrinal ideas

9:28

are confused or

9:30

erroneous. In other words, it

9:32

is possible for a person's heart and

9:35

his essential grasp of Christ

9:39

to be far better than the

9:41

structures of his doctrinal framework, and

9:45

we may all be very, very thankful for

9:48

this. Here

9:58

we stand. journey

10:00

right now at

10:02

desiringgod.org/stand or just go to

10:05

desiringgod.org and click on the link at the top of

10:07

the website. We'd love for you to join us on

10:09

the journey in just five to seven minutes each day.

10:12

I am Tony Renke. How

10:14

do we overcome half-heartedness? That's

10:17

on Monday. I'll see you then.