A Sermon on True Forgiveness and Roman Salvation

I am writing this sermon on true forgiveness in light of the written Word compared to Roman Catholic salvation.  I think I should state my "motive" in doing this.  It is first meant for God's glory alone.  I have discovered through rightly handling the Word that we ought to fear no man's judgment if we truly know Christ Jesus as our Savior.  If we live the Word of God through a demonstrating-faith, we should not be afraid of the opinions of mere men!  I am a mere man and can err like all men, but let my errors be proven by Scripture.   

We now come to the essential subject of true forgiveness. The Bible holds the supernatural key to divine forgiveness.  That is, it shows us what true compassion is.  True compassion from God is free.  True forgiveness from God is free.  Compassionate forgiveness is not bought through any kind of Roman practice.  

How can true forgiveness be obtained?  That is, what is true forgiveness?  Romanism advocates the concept of forgiveness through works of satisfaction.  The self-made and self-focused pursuit of saving your soul is based on works righteousness.  That is, a man-made pursuit of spiritual salvation is contrary to the Bible.   The Bible says there is no one who seeks after God (read Romans chapter 3).  That is, the business of the Christian is to seek after God.  The Christian is spiritually able to seek God because He has God's Spirit and God's Word in his heart of hearts.  That is, true forgiveness is not from baptism made with hands.  The written Word says that true forgiveness is through spiritual confession of sin to the true God alone in progressive sanctification (1 Jn 1:9) where we are legally dead to sin and alive to Christ (Rom. 6:11).  There is no where in the Bible that advocates true forgiveness in availing-salvation between human persons, because only the Triune God can forgive sins.  It does not mean we should not forgive our enemies, but it does mean every person is accountable to come to God for pardon.  Sometimes God comes to people who never asked Him for pardon.  This is what happened to me.   

We called to confess our sins to one another to be healed (see James 5:16).  It does not mean a another human being can pardon sin.  I say this because there is no meaning in the sacred text to understand it this way.   If you go wrong on how true forgiveness is granted, you will never be truly forgiven.  Rather you will have a vain and blind presumption of forgiveness.  The Bible calls us to possess Christ by faith alone.  We only demonstrate our faith through the outworking presence of God's Spirit.   Anything adding to the life and death of Christ alone is contrary to true forgiveness.  The Spirit of God brings the divine gift of the life and death alone to the believing sinner in regeneration.  Regeneration, according to the Bible, does not take place in the sacrament of baptism.  That is known as "baptismal regeneration."  It is an ancient error in early Christian history.  However, some early fathers believed in Reformation view of "faith alone in Christ alone."  It only matters what the infallible Scriptures teach.  There is no early bishop or father that is above Scripture.  Rather Scripture is above everyone and everything.  

How should we understand the biblical view of salvation?  Is salvation earned through prayer?  Salvation cannot be obtained without prayer but it does not earn salvation.  That is, Christ alone earned salvation in His perfect life as a free gift of divine righteousness imputed to the believing ones through the work of the Spirit and the Word.  The Spirit never works apart from the Word and the Word never works apart from the Spirit.  Is salvation earned through belief?  Salvation cannot be earned through belief.  Rather the only way to be saved is to be born again and free of all works (see Titus 3:5).   No one can believe through a sacrament for the alleged means of grace, because it is made with human sins.  Human hands are corrupt hands and only God can save.  He alone makes men to differ.  That is, someone believes and the other does not believe.  It is like Jacob and Esau.  Jacob believed God because He was chosen; Esau never believed God because he was damned for all eternity.  

Is salvation earned through baptism?  Baptism never saved anyone because it is the work of human hands.  The Roman view of baptism differ from clean water because it also has some sort of "holy oil" in the baptismal waters.  That is, it is not purely water as the Bible says it should be.  Natural water or blessed natural water cannot save anyone.  The Bible says we need the work of the Spirit to open our hearts not a alleged blessed sacrament (Acts 16:14).  Titus 3:5 says its not by works, but the sacrament of baptism in Romanism is by works.  The Bible says you cannot mix works and grace as how someone is right before God, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace" (Rom. 11:6 NASB).  That is, God only saves on the basis of grace.  If you desire a good work you need to look only to Christ alone.  I mean that in a certain sense we are saved by good works alone because Jesus provided the work as to be right with God.   You do not need to go through a ritualistic ceremony to obtain to be right with God.  The Roman priests says very clearly that the Roman Eucharist is a "...work of human hands."  No work of human hands can save anyone!  

Is salvation earned through the Roman Eucharist?  The Roman Eucharist is an idol of man-made thinking.  It said that it is a propitiatory sacrifice and can even prevent eternal damnation!  If you read the Book of Hebrews it speaks of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus Christ and that He died once-and-for-all.  We are not to offer Jesus up again because He finished His work and sat down at the right hand of God (see Heb. 1:3).  We ought to understand the Eucharist like the holy bread of Lev. 21:22.  It is a "real presence" because of the holiness of the Word of God, Christ Himself and His divine omnipresence.  It is like the animal sacrifices because it could save no one as the Book of Hebrews tells us.  

I suggest to you without popes and councils that have so offer erred, but the clear testimony of the written Scriptures, that Jesus Christ in His perfect life and death alone is sufficient for how someone is right with God.  That is, salvation is a truly a free gift.  That means God does all the redemptive work and we are passive.  It is because we are dead in sin and transgressions (see Eph. 2).  Can a dead corpse cooperate?  Of course not!  In the same way, we could not spiritually cooperate with God.  It means there is nothing we can do to be right with God because Christ Jesus did all the work for His people.  He has to choose us in Jn 15:16 it says, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." The only thing a sinner outside of Christ can do is sin.  However, there is nothing too hard or difficult with God because He saves His people who are His.  Jesus said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (Jn 15:19).   The process to come to Christ never saved anyone.  The Puritan doctrine of seeking is to do whatever you can do belong to Christ.  However, you ought to know that "whatever you do" is sin because we cannot earn salvation.  It has been said that the greater the sinner the greater the chance for Christ to save.   It is essential to understand that in some sense everyone is a great sinner in light of God's holiness.  We should not treat sin as a small matter.  There are many people in great sin because of wrong doctrine.  Man-made doctrine devoid of divine Scripture will led people to eternal hell.  Do you know what the feeling and thinking is like to understand that you cannot in anyway save yourselves?  It is good to be devoid of all self-righteousness and self-tainted sinfulness of sin.  It is a civil righteousness that cannot merit heaven.  God has committed everyone to disobedience because He holds the wills of all men in His hand.  It will take the COMPLETE intervention of God to really mean,

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress,
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Is salvation earned through purgatory and meritorious sufferings in this life?  The Bible no where speaks about a purging after death.  Some refer to the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus speaks about a "prison."  However, it refers to a "prison" before death not after death.  The Bible clearly says that Jesus paid the debt in full satisfaction for our sins. Colossians 1:24 does not deny that the complete payment of this debt.  Rather it is speaking of a different kind of suffering.  That is, suffering according to persecution is suffering unto affliction is meant for His people (like St. Paul for example), but suffering unto redemptive worth is only what Jesus Christ has done in the place of unmeritorious sinners.  We are unmeritorious because we are completely dead (see Eph. 2).  Dead people cannot cooperate with God.  Are you worried about the consequences of your sins?  The Bible speaks of fatherly chastening and chastisement in the Book of Hebrews.  But does it merit salvation?  It is not to merit salvation.  God forgives are sins when we are born again unto future glorification.  It does not mean we do not confess our particular faults before God.  We are called to confess all unknown and known sin to God alone for remission unto life.  Confession of sin to God does not save us.  Rather God alone saves us entirely!  The Bible says to be anxious for nothing but to pray (Phil. 4:6) and bring everything to the throne of God.  

What do you have to offer God?  I suggest to you that you are a pile of dung before a holy God.  There is nothing you can offer God.   There is no delight He finds in you.  There is no glory in you except that which brings wrath from His perfect justice.  The fact is, the human race is no good (see Rom. 3ff).  We have nothing to offer God.  This is how God teaches us about the nature of man.  Now lets look at what men say about the religion of Jesus Christ.  Let us be careful to understand what is being said.

We have looked at God's free gift of His work alone.  But what does the Roman Catholic Church say to compare it to the divine Word?  Let us examine the Roman documents in the "Catholic Catechism" that pertain to spiritual forgiveness.  I have much documentation from Denzinger's "The Sources of Catholic Dogma" on the Roman practice of indulgences.  We will explore this teaching further in another sermon.

First, forgiveness through the work of baptism: 

1279 The fruit of Baptism, or baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ.

Second, forgiveness is not through Christ alone:

976 The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (Part Two of the catechism will deal explicitly with the forgiveness of sins through Baptism, the sacrament of Penance, and the other sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Here it will suffice to suggest some basic facts briefly.)

Third, forgiveness is through the addition of the Roman priesthood alone:

987 "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).

Fourth, forgiveness after baptism through the work of penance:

1486 The forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism is conferred by a particular sacrament called the sacrament of conversion, confession, penance, or reconciliation.

Fifth, the leaders of the Roman Church make spiritual reconciliation:

1462 Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the Church. Since ancient times the bishop, visible head of a particular Church, has thus rightfully been considered to be the one who principally has the power and ministry of reconciliation: he is the moderator of the penitential discipline. Priests, his collaborators, exercise it to the extent that they have received the commission either from their bishop (or religious superior) or the Pope, according to the law of the Church.

Sixth, it says that baptism is necessary for spiritual salvation:

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

Seventh, the Mass adds to the Cross of Jesus Christ:

1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."

The wrath of God is a real actuality.  Every human being without Christ is under the wrath of God.  Many people will go to hell because they do not have Jesus Christ as God and Savior (1 Thess. 2:16).   You cannot save yourself because all you have to offer God is sin (Rom. 11:32).  You must be clothed in His unified merit alone by faith alone (Rom. 3:21ff)!  There is no hope apart from God in man-made religion.  Tell God you cannot save yourself in anyway and maybe you could start with this so-called "odd" but Scriptural prayer (I also hope to devote time on this particular prayer in one whole sermon because after I said this I gained assurance of salvation, see 1 Jn 5:13):

Dear God, whom I hate with all my being precisely because you hate and threaten me with hell, I hate this punishment perhaps even more than I hate you. Or, maybe I should say that I love my comfort even more than I hate you. For that reason I am asking a favor of you. I want you to make me love you, whom I hate even when I ask this and even more because I have to ask this. I am being frank with you because I know it is no use to be otherwise. You know even better than I how much I hate you and that I love only myself. It is no use for me to pretend to be sincere. I most certainly do not love you and do not want to love you. I hate the thought of loving you but that is what I'm asking because I love myself. If you can answer this 'prayer' I guess the gift of gratitude will come with it and then I will be able to do what I would not think of doing now—thank you for making me love you whom I hate. Amen.  (John H. Gerstner. The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, Volume III, (Virginia: Berea Publications, 1993), p. 81).