Why are we Protestants Part 1

Announcements

Restart of all events.

Call To Worship

Say: Let us now begin to worship the Father the Son, the Holy Spirit, Our Call to worship Comes to us from Reading

Psalm 100:1–4 ESV

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Introduction

As we wrap up the month of October we head towards reformation Sunday. The reformation was an act of God to restore the gospel that had so been currupted by the Papacy to return that only truth to Primacy. Throughout the Christian West, you would see that Christianity in the leadership was losing it’s way. Sure different regions had held to thw gospel tighter then others, further different priests, pastors, bishops were more faithful then others. As a whole the leadership was growing corrupt. As education returned to Europe many were noticing that what the early church believed was not what the current church was doing. This wasn’t the first time that their were calls to reform, this had happened many times throughout Christian history in the 500s, 1000s, 1300s, and so on, and those to various degrees did some good.

For Example:

At this point the church had grown wealthy and powerful, the church of Rome was able to bring whole nations to their knees. As they did with the British monarchy in 1207-1213 against king John. They shut down all the churches for 6 years, they released all the nobility from their obligations to the king, which meant civil war with the king was allowed by the church, and threatened a Crusade against the kingdom by the other Christian kings of Europe! In 1213 the king surrendered England to the Pope! Who propently leveraged a new tax on the land, appointed all new bishops, re-opened the churches, and allowed him to stay on the thrown, but only quietly. At the time, the English thrown was the most stable and successful thrown of Europe, and they could do nothing against the church.

The church over 1500s of time had forgotten her first love, she had let the power of kings, and greed distract her. Ceremony and tradition had trumpet scripture, bad actors had taken over. Doctrine had been muddied as illiteracy grew in the priesthood, and God’s people suffered.

Definitions

I’m going to try my best to hold these two points.

I’m going to call the Roman Church, which I mean the Roman Catholic church, the Roman Church throughout to the best of my ability. This is the church with the Pope as it’s head.

I’m going to use protestant and Evangelical interchangeably to speak of us who have Christ as our head as instructed by the scriptures.

Why I’m doing it that way is because the Roman church doesn’t own catholic. The papacy has strayed from the catholic faith is what I am going to teach today.

Catholic means universal in Latin, the magistirum has abandoned what is truly catholic centuries ago. We are in a real sense “reformed catholic.” We are because we hold to the same truths that were their from the beginning.

So don’t be afraid of that word. (Tell story about Catholic ladies)

Text

Observations/Background

Application note:

Point 1 Whose authority Bible vs Pope

The 1689 Baptist confession says this about the authority and leadership of the church:

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century XXVI. The Church

26:4 The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. By the Father’s appointment, all authority is conferred on Him in a supreme and sovereign manner to call, institute, order and govern the church.7 The Pope of Roman Catholicism cannot in any sense be head of the church; rather, he is the antichrist, the man of lawlessness, and the son of destruction, who exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God. The Lord will destroy him with the brightness of His coming.8

Some Texts to support the above statement.

Colossians 1:18 ESV

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Jesus, not the pope is the HEad of his church

The authority issues between Catholics and Protestants has been the major issue from the get-go. We Evangelicals claim the scripture is our final authority, and the Romans claim the church is the final authority as directed by the successor of Peter who is the Pope.

Without the Peter being the pope there is no Papacy, with no papacy the authority of the Roman church is shown as invalid. This is the chief text.

Chief text

Matthew 16:13–20 ESV

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

No the Roman will interpret it this way. Jesus pointing at Peter. There are 2 protestant positions The first is that Jesus was pointing to himself, this is a valid postion, but I believe that the correct understanding is that Jesus was speaking of Peter’s confession.

You are not a Christian if you can’t confess Jesus as Lord. Only God can reveal this to you.

This is the confession of Christians

Paul would write Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

This is the difference. We believe that these confession is the basis of the church. The Roman believes it is Peter.

The issue of the word Rock and Peter.

Many will point out that the Peter and Rock in the Greek are related words. This is a bit more technical, but the long story short is that Peter is a masculine word in greek and rock is feminie. Peter isn’t a women. The Word for rock is older Greek then Peter, so it also makes no sense that the rock would be derivative of Peter.

The use of the feminine word I believe relates to thew nature of the church being the bride of Christ.

Paul Never mentions Peter

At the end of his life Paul is imprisoned in Rome, but in none of his letters does he mention Peter. You would think that Paul would. That is because PEter never assumed the office in the sense that the Romans hold.

What about the keys?

The Roman puts the authority on Peter. So the question is what position does Peter have?

The Keys are important. Peter would receive the office of Apostle from Jesus, but that office is not an inheritable office.

When you look at the text we don’t see a monarchical element to the keys.

He was to write letters, as Paul did, instruct the church, but that office would end after his death.

As a note: A person may call themselves “apostle so and so” but they don’t have the power or authority to as the 12 and Paul did.

we all are to go and share, but not have the ability to receive revelation from God in the way those men did.

This is where the idea of Peter before the pearly gates comess from. It while kind of funny is not Biblical.

Today the keys?

In a sense we still have some access, but that is with church discipline

The church, does have the keys, but that has to do with church discipline. If a man or women is removed from the church for sin, the church has that authority. The church has the authority to admonish and correct sin as defined by the scriptures.

No one has the gift of apostleship as they did then.

What happens if the Papacy is invlaid?

The claims of Rome and the interpretations she has on scripture are false. The Roman church in the counsel of Trent declared Prot. beliefs as Anethma, and so because they claim the keys they declare they have the power to prevent those of us who reject her authority as hell-bound.

Looking at scripture we can plainly see that, authority isn’t present.

Whose Authority?

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The head of the church is Jesus (v18) That means we must do as he commanded us.

His command is (v19)

What is our rule and measure? (v20)

What has he given us to do it? the holy Spirit (v20)

Sola Scriptora

The bible is written by God for us (Doctrine of Inspiration)

Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics and Philosophy of Religion Sola Scriptura

sola Scriptura. Latin for “Scripture alone.” This phrase refers to the Reformation conviction that only the Bible can serve as an ultimate authority for the church. Strictly speaking, the Reformers did not rule out church tradition as having any value, but they insisted that it be subordinate to the teachings of Scripture.

The 1689 says this

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century I. The Holy Scriptures

1:1 The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.1 The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation.2 Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal Himself and to declare His will to His church.3 To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased.4

It is infallible, to has all you need

What Paul Said

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Romans 15:4 (ESV)

4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

What Jesus says

Matthew 24:35 (ESV)

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Matthew 5:18 (ESV)

18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

The Bible is the best way to live ( a place of great obedience)

Use ten commandments

Exodus 20:2–17 (ESV)

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image

7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother,

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet

Great commission

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Bible is our the Final authority

The 1689 says

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century I. The Holy Scriptures

1:10 The supreme judge for deciding all religious controversies and for evaluating all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, human teachings, and individual interpretationsc, and in whose judgment we are to rest, is nothing but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit. In this Scripture our faith finds its final word.21

You can see this as Jesus contends with the the pharisees

Higher then tradition Matthew 15:1-9

Matthew 15:1–9 (ESV) Traditions and Commandments

15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

This does not mean that it is exhaustive of all knowledge, you won't find a how to change your oil, how gravity works, an exhaustive treaties on the US constitution

The Bible what Is needed for salvation

Point 4 How to Reach out to Romans

The current state of the Roman church is bad. Pope Francis has made the old joke “is the pope Catholic?” an actual real question. Many of those catholics you may know are very upset by what he is doing to the church and just like in days past the leadership is doing nothing. I spoke with a local priest a few months ago and he told me most of the older guys are very liberal and locally they’re looking to retire as opposed to actually deal with the problems of the day.

I have heard it said “authority flows to those who take responsibility” we Evangelical Protestants have a real chance to reach out to our Roman neighbors to help them find safety in the arms of the God of the Bible.

So what can you do?

Know what you believe

Most RC don’t know what they believe

Benediction

Say: As we close our service of worship dear brother and sister please stand for our benediction and receive by faith this blessing from God

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.