Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week we talked about the religion Islam.

Now Islam is noticeably different from Christianity.

It’s not hard to spot the differences.

But for the next two weeks we will look at two religions that are a little tougher to spot the differences.

Roman Catholicism and Mormonism.

This week we will talk about the Catholic Church and the title of this week’s lesson is the “False Church in Rome.”

Now before we get too far into the Catholic Religion, I want to make something crystal clear.

I am not saying that there are no Christians in the Catholic Church.

There most certainly are.

But what I am saying that the Catholic Church is not a Christian church.

I would go further to say that Christians, true Christians, who are in the Catholic Church need to get out and go to a Bible Believing church as fast as they possibly can.

Now there are things that we share with the Catholic Church.

We share a history.

We claim the same starting point.

We mostly share the same Scriptures, though Rome adds books to the Bible.

Does anyone know what those added books are called?

We believe Jesus to be the Son of God, we believe Jesus is God.

We believe the creation accounts, we believe the miracles, we believe the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

So if there are so many similarities between us and Roman Catholicism, why do I say that Rome is a false church?

Why do I say Christians should flee from it?

Where do we differ?

Now, just like with Islam, we could spend a whole school semester talking about Roman Catholicism, but we only have thirty minutes.

So I will not be going into a lot of the history of the church tonight, but if you like history, it is a worthwhile and interesting subject.

Tonight we are going to focus on six areas where we differ greatly with Rome.

Those areas are:

Scripture

Justification

The Church

The Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper)

The Papacy

Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Scripture

So let’s talk about Scripture for a few minutes.

As I alluded to earlier, the Roman Catholic Church follows all of the books of the Bible that we do, but then they also add to the inspired list the Apocryphal books.

But is that the only difference in our view of Scripture?

No, it is not.

The Catholic Church does not view the Bible as the final authority.

The church, in their view, is the final authority.

The church has the sole capability of rightly interpreting Scripture and you are not allowed to hold a view outside of the view of the church, no matter what.

This was clearly on display during the Reformation of the 16th Century.

Martin Luther had been opposing the church on the issue of indulgences, which we will discuss, as well as other doctrines of the church.

In 1521 he was brought before the Diet of Worms and the Emperor to answer charges of heresy and to recant his writings against the church.

But Luther took a stand and said:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against p 35 conscience.

Here I stand.

I cannot do otherwise.

May God help me.

Amen.

Luther recognized that Scripture and Scripture alone is our authority and conviction.

The church in Rome denied this.

Now, since the time of the Reformation, the church in Rome has backtracked this a bit and has affirmed the inerrancy of Scripture and its divine inspiration.

However, the Catholic Catechism, which is the official doctrine of the church, makes clear what they believe is the relationship between Scripture and tradition:

80 “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other.

For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move towards the same goal.”

Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own “always, to the close of the age.”41

That is to say, church tradition is on the same level of divine inspiration as Scripture.

This is clearly not a good position which we will see as we move on.

Justification

The next area of difference is Justification.

What is Justification?

Justification is to be declared righteous.

We believe this to be by faith alone.

We are declared righteous by way of placing our trust in Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

But is that what Catholics believe?

No the church in Rome believes in a works-based justification, starting with baptism.

Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith.

It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy

There are more examples in the catechism that show baptism is primary for salvation but this is the clearest example.

The church also believes in the idea of penance, rather than repentance, for the forgiveness of sins and we will talk about that more when we get to the sacraments of the church.

The Church

But for now let’s talk about the church itself.

What does Rome believe about the church?

The church in Rome believes itself to be the one and only true church of Christ.

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church.

He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door.

Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

In other words, if you are not Roman Catholic, you cannot be saved.

This is a clear contrast between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

I may hold to the Baptist tradition but I do not believe you have to be a Baptist to be saved.

My Presbyterian brothers likewise do not believe I have to be Presbyterian to be saved.

But Rome teaches that you must be Roman Catholic to experience salvation.

The Sacraments

Now let’s move on to Sacraments.

What are sacraments?

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Sacrament)

SACRAMENT Religious rite or ceremony regarded as an outward sign of an inward, spiritual grace.

As protestants, we believe in two sacraments, or ordinances.

Those are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The Catholic Church includes these in their list as well, though they view them differently then we do.

The Catholic Church has seven sacraments but we will only cover a few of these seven tonight.

Baptism

Confirmation

Marriage

Extreme Unction

Holy Orders

Penance