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I hope you've all had your legs
stretched and so on. Well, not literally. It sounds
as if you've been on the rack. But good to have you back again.
Now, our second speaker tonight, you've already heard an accent
from the northern part of Ireland. I hope you were able to cope
with it. Because you might have difficulty with the next one. He talks with a rogue. It's a
great joy to invite Stephen in a moment or two to come and talk
on the subject of Mary. Just a couple of items on the
bookstall which might be of interest to you just in relation to this
subject. There was a video issued just
before Christmas called Messages from Heaven. It analyzes many
of the Marian apparitions that have appeared over the last centuries
and the messages that have been emanating from these apparitions.
And various evangelical Christians from around the world were interviewed
for their thoughts and so on. And you might recognize one of
the people who was interviewed. He's got a Northern Irish accent
and he's got grey hair. But I do believe it is a very
good and timely video. What encouraged me was I showed
a good portion of it in January at a public showing in Northern
Ireland. And quite a number of folks who
were formerly Roman Catholics and are now converted, they took
copies of the video because they felt that it would be a suitable
witnessing tool to people within their own family circle. So that
video is available. And then there's a little booklet.
I obviously promoted it very well last Saturday, because I
think I only have about half a dozen copies left, but it is
The Blessed Virgin and an Irish Family, written by a man called
Dick Cughe, or Cughe, as they say, I think, in the south of
Ireland. Again, Dick is a former Roman Catholic, but it's fascinating
to read of him growing up in a family which was very much
devoted to Mary, and then when he converted his analysis of
the seen, and so on. So those are just a couple of
items that might be of particular interest if this topic is of
particular interest to you. But I'm going to hand over to
Stephen now. And you probably have to about
half nine, I would say, or thereabouts. But keep going if you feel you
have to. OK, Stephen, thanks very much
indeed. Well, can I echo what has been
said already and the sentiment behind what has been said already?
We appreciate being here. We appreciate the opportunity
that the Church has afforded us to come and speak on these
issues. We're speaking on them because
we feel that they are timely and necessary, and it's a duty
that God has given us to speak on these issues as the need arises. I want to introduce what I have
to say this evening by reading some very familiar verses from
the Gospel of John and chapter 7. John chapter 7. Beginning to read at verse 37
and reading to verse 39. On the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts,
let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the
scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living
water. But this he spoke concerning
the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the
Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." You know, in those short verses,
we find the heart, don't we, of what the Lord Jesus came to
do. He came to do such a work that those who would believe
in Him would be brought through Him directly to God. And God directly to them. God
directly in them. through him. It's the very heart
of the glory of real Christianity. And that's the issue I want to
talk about, because that's the very issue that is challenged
by the Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary. Nothing less than a direct challenge to what
the Lord Jesus, he alone, has accomplished. The title that
I've been given to speak on is an assessment of the Roman Catholic
Church's teaching on Mary, the mother of Jesus, with particular
reference to Catholic Catechism, paragraph 969, which states,
the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles
of Advocate helper, benefactress, and mediatrix. Where would we
start to try and put together to understand what the Catholic
Church is saying? The material is virtually endless. In the Catholic Catechism, which
Cecil showed you earlier, there are no less than 50 sections
on different aspects of the Catholic Church's teaching on the person
and role of Mary. Now, that's just the Catholic
Catechism alone. As well as the Catechism, there
are what's known as papal encyclicals, or teaching letters which come
from the Pope. There's conciliar documents,
documents produced down through the centuries by the various
councils, references in the church fathers. The material goes on
and on and on. What I propose to do this evening
is something very simple. We're taking one of those documents,
produced not 400 years ago, but 14 years ago by the present pope
called Redemptoris Mater, on the Blessed Virgin Mary and the
life of the Pilgrim Church. We're going to take some very
important sections from that. By the way, you can freely get
this. If you got connected to the internet, you can download
it for the price of a local phone call. That's important, because
what I want to get across to you tonight is that we're not
giving you a false view of what the Catholic Church says. Insofar
as we can, in the time allotted to us, we're wanting to let that
particular institution speak for itself. And then, very importantly,
we're wanting to bring what God says from his word and hold the
two up to you together and say, here's the comparisons, here's
the contradictions, here's the choices that have to be made. Well, even the subtitle of the
pope's encyclical, Redemptoris Mater, subtitled The Role of
Mary in the life of the pilgrim church presupposes, doesn't it,
that Mary has a role, a continuing role, in the life of the church. So where I propose to start is
not with what he says, but with what the Bible says. How would
we summarise the Bible's teaching on Mary? What does the Bible
actually tell us? The Old Testament, there are
three statements made which don't mention Mary obviously by name,
but the obvious implication refers to her. The first, of course,
in Genesis chapter 3, where the seed of the woman, the seed being
the Lord Jesus, the woman obviously Mary, the seed of the woman,
the Lord Jesus, will crush the serpent, Satan, the serpent's
head. Secondly, in Isaiah 7, 14, probably
the best known reference in the Old Testament, behold, the virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. And another more obscure one,
again by implication in Micah 5, she talks about until the
time that she who is in labour has given birth. Speaking of
the coming of the Messiah. When we come to the New Testament,
of course, Mary is mentioned by name, mostly, in Matthew and
Luke, chapters 1 and 2 in Matthew, chapter 1 in Luke, the birth
of the Lord Jesus. In Luke chapter 2, that incident
where Mary and Joseph bring the Lord Jesus as a young man to
Jerusalem, he gets lost there in Jerusalem. They go back to
find him. Crucially, John chapter 2. The Catholic church makes
a lot of play with this. There's a lot of emphasis put
on the wedding at Cana. And that held up to us as a supposed
pattern of how Mary continues to have a role in the church.
More about that later on. Another key group of verses,
Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 8, and Luke 11, where various people
make statements about Mary in the presence of Jesus, and he
comments on those statements. Again, we'll develop that more
as we go on. Again, of course, Mary appears
at John 19 at the crucifixion scene. Again, the Catholic Church
goes to John 19 to find a supposed continuing role for Mary on the
basis of that passage of Scripture. In Acts 1.14, we see her with
the rest of the disciples awaiting the Spirit at Pentecost. Two
final references, she's not mentioned by name, but again by implication
in Romans 1, 3, as the one through whom Jesus is the literal descendant
of David. And then the famous statement
in Galatians 4, 4, the one through whom, when the time had fully
come, God sent forth his son to be born under the law that
he might redeem those who are under the law. And that is what
the Bible says about Mary from first to last. The reason it doesn't say more
is because she's not the theme of the Bible. The theme of the
Bible is the glorious work of our God from Genesis to Revelation. But what the Bible does say about
her and those occasions where it does refer to her, we do need
to look at in something of more detail so that we can deal with
the claims that are made, not by her it might be added, but
by the Roman church. supposedly on her behalf. So, what does the Bible say about
Mary? Well, it gives us the response
that she made to the angel when he comes with that amazing message
from God. She describes herself, you can
read it in Luke 1, 46 through 55, as magnifying the Lord. She says furthermore that she
rejoices in God her Saviour. She says that she rejoices that
such a God as he would regard the lowliness of his handmaiden. She says interestingly that God
has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. In short, it's the type of response
we would expect to get from somebody who is a disciple and has encountered
the Lord and is amazed by his graciousness to somebody who
is so unworthy. It's a response that each one
who's a disciple here would say amen to. But by and large, throughout
the ministry of the Lord Jesus, we look long and hard to find
Mary saying very much indeed. It's mostly silence with regard
to herself. Anything that is said is usually
said about her rather than by her. And then it's only in the
context of helping us to understand what is happening through the
birth, the life, and the ministry of the Lord Jesus, who is the
theme of Scripture. At times, Mary definitely seems
confused about what's happening in the life of her son. The classic
case in Luke 2, When Jesus is missing, they discover he's missing,
they go back, and he says, why do you seek me? Did you not know
that I must be about my father's business? Do you ever think about that?
When the angel had come over 12 years before this to Mary,
he had explained to her that she was going to miraculously
conceive a son. He would be miraculously conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph had been told not to hesitate
to take her as wife, because that which was conceived was
holy and would be called the Son of God. But she'd forgotten. It's so human, isn't it? Even
somebody who's a disciple can sometimes forget what the Lord
has said. Far from the scripture exalting
Mary above ordinary believers, she's painted for us very much
on the same level as every other believer, with all the faults
and failings that we have. Certainly not sinless, certainly
not perfect, which is why she needed a saviour. In John 2, at the wedding feast
at Cana, she's only recorded as making two statements. First
of all, the obvious one, they have no wine. Notice it's not
a command. It's not even a request. It's
simply a statement. And when Jesus turns to her and
says, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has
not yet come. She doesn't repeat the request.
She doesn't assert any maternal rights, so-called. In fact, she
turns not to Jesus, but she turns to the servants and says, whatever he says to
you, do it. Now, I think if we were to learn
anything from Mary as a model, surely that would be the text
to go to. Whatever he says to you, do it. Again, mostly silent,
but on the rare occasions that she did speak, pointing away
from herself to God and to God's Son who was graciously in the
flesh allowed to be her son. Now, we've already said that
that's the picture that the Bible gives us of Mary. When we turn to the document
that the Pope has produced, it's a whole different world. I'm
sure many of you, when you were younger, maybe not so much younger,
read the famous classic by Lewis Carroll called Alice in Wonderland.
And he also wrote another piece called Through the Looking Glass.
You remember in that story, when Alice went through the looking
glass, everything was reversed. Nothing meant what it meant before.
And to be honest, that's the impression you get as you read
this document. because the plain meaning of
scripture suddenly no longer means what it means. Here's what he says about that
passage we've just looked at very briefly in John 2. He says,
from the text, it appears that Jesus and his disciples were
invited together with Mary as if by reason of her presence
the son seems to have been invited because of his mother. I missed that when I read it,
did you? I think the reason I missed it was because it didn't say
it, which is a very good reason to miss it. From then on, he builds a case
based on finding what's not there and then elaborating on it. He says, Mary is present at Cana
in Galilee as the mother of Jesus, and in a significant way, she
contributes to that beginning of the signs, he's quoting there
from the text, just that phrase, which reveal the messianic power
of her son. Now can you see where he's taking
us? Jesus is there because Mary's there. Therefore, now the scripture
doesn't say that, We have to remind ourselves of that. But
he has said it. Now he begins building on what he has said
rather than what the scripture has said to take us to the next
conclusion that therefore Jesus now, because he's there because
Mary's there, Mary has made a vital contribution to him revealing
himself as the Messiah. Now he will go on, as we'll see,
to base on this, which has no basis, the fact that Mary continues
to be vital to reveal Jesus as the Messiah. As you might think, he would
need to justify doing this. And here's how he justifies it. This event already quite clearly
outlines the new dimension, the new meaning of Mary's motherhood. Now, there is no new meaning,
but he's presupposed that there is. And now he's building on
that. Her motherhood has a significance
which is not exclusively contained in the words of Jesus. In other
words, Jesus missed it, but he's seen it. and the various episodes reported
by the synoptics, they missed it too. What he's saying is we need to
go outside of the Scripture, including the very words spoken
by Jesus, to find what God's saying to us. And he's going
to tell us what God is saying to us. Here, we're faced with a very,
very important issue, that the Roman Catholic Church's teaching
on Mary is linked in with her teachings on all other vital
issues. And in this case, in a very particular
way, her understanding of scripture. Now, the very brief. The glimpse I've given you on
how the Pope handles that portion of scripture, it's horrendous,
isn't it? I mean, I'm sure if we went to this church and asked
the youngest person in the Sunday school, they'd make a better
job of it, but they certainly couldn't make a worse one. And this is the person who holds
himself above the scripture. What is the scripture actually
telling us about the role of Mary? We don't want to lose sight
of this. It's telling us that she was graciously used by God
to have the privilege of being the mother of our Saviour. She was conscious that it was
a privilege and basically there her role ended. That's the scriptural
picture. But if you don't want to settle
for the scriptural picture in any one area of doctrine, then
by definition you must go beyond the scripture. And that's what's happening here
in this teaching on Mary. We're going to look in more detail
later on about some of the dangers that's involved in that. I'm
sure you're beginning to think of some of them already, but
we'll look at them in more detail as we go on. The second set of scriptures
which are really crucial for us to look at are those four
that I mentioned together. In Matthew 12, you can look up
these references later on, 46 to 50, the parallel passages
in Mark 3 and Luke 8, and a further passage in Luke 11, 27 to 28. Well, very briefly, all of these
scriptures deal with situations where Mary, the mother of Jesus,
is there. Jesus himself is there. The disciples
are there and usually a group of others as well. In Matthew 12. The word comes
to Jesus from somebody, look your mother and your brothers
are standing outside seeking to speak with you. Now that's
a simple statement of what's happening. I think as well as
the statement, there may be an expectation. Notice I'm saying
maybe, I'm not reading into it. There may be an expectation there
that they're so important that Jesus is going to stop everything
and go to be with them or meet with them or hear what they have
to say. Just maybe. And I'm saying if, if that was
the expectation, Jesus killed it there and then. But remember
the buts in the Bible. But he answered and said to the
one who told him. Who is my mother? And who are
my brothers? He answered one question with
another, didn't he? To get people's attention. But he immediately
then answers the question he asks. He stretched out his hand
towards his disciples and said, here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of
my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. In that statement alone, if that's
all we had, the words of the Lord Jesus devastates the whole
Roman doctrine of Mary. Because the Lord Jesus there
draws a totally level foundation. There is no room whatsoever for
earthly, physical relationship to him to have any spiritual
significance whatsoever. In fact, furthermore, John 7
tells us, we didn't get to read it earlier, that at the time
Jesus made that wonderful statement we looked at, his own brothers
were not yet believers. So not only did physical relationship
with Jesus not guarantee spiritual privilege, it didn't even guarantee
spiritual life. Yet the whole Roman doctrine
of Mary is based on exactly the opposite assumption. that physical
relationship with Jesus guarantees spiritual privilege and spiritual
exaltation effectively on a par with Jesus himself and practically
above him. Well, you might think that that
was a hard text to handle. Well, let's go through the looking
glass again. Listen to how the Pope exegetes these verses. He poses the question, is Jesus
thereby distancing himself from his mother according to the flesh?
But before you get a chance to say yes, does he perhaps wish
to leave her in the hidden obscurity which she herself has chosen?
If this seems to be the case, we're going through the looking
glass now. From the tone of those words, one must nevertheless
note that the new and different motherhood which Jesus speaks
of to his disciples refers precisely to Mary in a very special way. That's clear, isn't it? You see, what he's saying effectively
is that although the scripture seems
to be saying one thing, No, we don't say it seems to be saying
it, we're saying it is saying it. He's saying you don't really
understand or you are not capable of understanding what it's really
saying. And the particular doctrine that
he's denying here is what we call the perspicuity of Scripture.
Which put in very simple terms means God meant to say what he
said. He said what he meant to say. and we can understand what he
meant to say by reading what he did say. That's the Irish
way of explaining it. Therefore, to understand what
God's saying is, go read it. You see, that's the issue, isn't
it? Can you and I understand what
our God is saying to us by reading the Bible? Yes, we say. effectively no,
the Pope says. And this doctrine of Mary is
one of the cases in point, as it were, of this. What Rome is saying is this,
even though you suppose that's what the scripture says, no matter
how much scriptural evidence you bring, no matter how carefully
exegeted, no matter how scripturally consistent your argument may
be, Scripture must only mean what Scripture says it means.
You remember what the first article of the Christian faith is according
to Cardinal Bellarmine? The Roman pontiff is supreme. Supreme over your conscience,
my conscience, and the word of God itself. You see, really what we've got
here is a case in point of what Cecil was saying earlier with
regard to the papacy. so that the Roman doctrine of
Mary is an expression on the one hand of their view of scripture
and also their view of the papacy. It's interesting that all the
key anti-evangelical Marian doctrines
have been defined by who? The popes. The two last ones
that we had over the past century the Immaculate Conception, and
of course, the Assumption. We've looked at a number of scriptures
here. On the one hand, what the scripture
is clearly saying, and on the other hand, how Rome interprets
what the scripture is saying to effectively negate what the
scripture is saying As they do so, there's five, if you like, aspects of the teaching
that emerge, which I want us to look at in the time that's
remaining. We'll reply to them as we go
through them, and then I want to summarize what we need to
be doing as Christians in the light of this situation. What Rome is saying, first of
all, is that there exists in the person of Mary something
that they call a spiritual motherhood of mediation. That Mary, because
of these alleged special privileges arising from her natural relationship
with the Lord Jesus, by definition has a mediation role. That's what the Pope says in
the document I've quoted. He says, in these texts, Jesus
means above all to contrast the motherhood resulting from birth
with this motherhood in the dimension of the kingdom of God. Now listen
very carefully to the next phrase that he uses. This is a new kind
of motherhood according to the spirit, not just according to
the flesh. That is to say, Mary's solicitude
for human beings, her coming to them in the wide variety of
their wants and needs. Friends, what the Pope is asserting
there for Mary is exactly what the Bible asserts for Jesus,
isn't it? By the way, how could Mary come
to human beings in the wide variety of their wants and needs unless
she were an infinite being? There is only one infinite being,
the triune God. That statement alone is blasphemous
to the very godhood of God himself. That's the level of the issue
we're dealing with. Many people today say, well,
these are only side issues. These are matters of indifference.
They're not matters which we should be divided over. These
are not matters which divide Christian from Christian. These
are matters which divide Christianity from every and any other religion.
If we can't settle on the Godhood of God, what can we settle on? So secondly, the Roman Church
does not hesitate to describe Mary, by this supposed spiritual
motherhood, as a real mediator. Again the Pope says, I'm just
continuing the sentence I quoted earlier. She brings these needs
within the radius of Christ's messianic mission and saving
power. She brings them within the radius
of his messianic mission and saving power. Thus, there is
a mediation. I'm still quoting. Mary places
herself between her Son and mankind. in the reality of their wants,
needs, and suffering. She puts herself in the middle. That is to say, she acts as a
mediatrix, not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. Now friends, this is not something
we're imposing on the Catholic Church. It's not something we're
misrepresenting them as saying. This is the words of the Pope
himself quoted from the encyclical. But what does God say? What does the scripture say?
It says of Jesus in Hebrews 9.15, And for this reason he is the
mediator of the new covenant by means of death. Mary died a natural death many
years after Jesus died. It was the death that, unless
the Lord comes, you and I will die. She died because she was
a sinner, a saved sinner, but a sinner nonetheless. She died. But there is only one who, by
virtue of his death, is the mediator of the new covenant. Jesus Christ. It's to Him the writer to the
Hebrews would go on to say that we come. To Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks
better things than that of Abel. It's the blood. That crowning
sacrifice at the end of a life perfectly lived in obedience
to the law of God, He offers Himself as a sacrifice for the
lawbreakers. He alone is qualified to do it.
He alone did it, and to him alone we look for the virtue of it. But thirdly, the Church of Rome
asserts that Jesus depends upon Mary's mediation to exercise
his mediation. Again, quoting from the Pope,
she knows that as such, as the mediator, she can point out to
her son the needs of mankind. And in fact, she has the right
to do so. Her mediation is thus in the nature of intercession.
Mary intercedes for mankind. Do you realize the implication
of what he's saying here? that Jesus needs Mary to tell
him our needs. But what does the Bible say?
It says that because Jesus was not simply a perfect man but
the Son of God become a perfect man he had within him an inherent
omniscience John 2, 24 and 25. He knew all men, and had no need
that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in
man. Now if the Scripture does not
hesitate to say that of the Lord Jesus at the low point of His
humiliation, does He know any less at the
high point of His glorification? It would be absurd, wouldn't
it? Fourthly, the Roman Church asserts
that we depend upon Mary to know Jesus well. Now you can see what's
happening here. They've put her in every aspect
of Christ's mediatorial role between us and Him. Quoting from the Pope again,
It's not my favourite person to quote from but it just has
to be done for. Another essential element of
Mary's maternal task is found in her words to the servants.
He's bringing us back here to John 2. Do whatever he tells
you. The mother of Christ, he says,
presents herself as the spokeswoman of her son's will. We don't know what her son's
will at that time was. She didn't know. Pointing out those things
which must be done so that the saving power of the Messiah may
be manifested. But the Bible tells us that when
she was on earth as a saved sinner like the rest of us, she wasn't
always aware of what God's will was. She sometimes forgot what
she already knew. And God forbid that we were dependent
on anyone like us to reveal God's will to us. It's the unique role of the Holy
Spirit, and Cecil has touched on this point already, to be the representative of Christ
on earth today. Not just in the ruling role,
which the Pope robs him of, but in the revelatory role. which
Mary, or the Mary of Roman Catholicism, robs him of. Here again, the
attack is on the doctrine of Scripture, as we alluded to earlier. I want to develop, as I said
I would, why that is so crucial. Why do we fight to the death
for the doctrine of Scripture, for sola Scriptura, for Scripture
alone, as God's will revealed to us. Well, it's for this, and
here the sad departure from the truth of the Roman Church is
a case in point. If any church, not just the Roman
Church, if any church, once lets go of sola Scriptura, the Scripture
alone, for the sake of any doctrine that they want to bring in, then
not only will they go wrong in that area, but they are leaving
themselves open to the inevitability of going wrong in every other
area as well. If you leave the door open, it's only a matter
of time before the burglar comes in. And so the scripture is a door
nailed shut in the face of the deceiver. At least it's meant
to be when we hold it in place. It's the immune system of the spiritual body, isn't
it, of the church. It's the immune system which
recognizes error and destroys it. And a church that lets go of
sola scriptura will be like those sad cases we see, those AIDS
patients whose immune system is gone and they're torn apart by every
disease possible. Fifthly, the Roman doctrine of
Mary is a case in point of their false doctrine of human nature. The doctrine of Mary betrays
the fact that Rome has put a radical limitation on the fallenness
of man. That, I believe, is one of the
reasons why they have instinctively developed that doctrine. and
so much of what they believe is built upon that doctrine. Now, if you read many of the
Roman pronouncements in the Catechism and so on, you will find that
they officially teach a doctrine of the Fall. They contend that
God's grace is essential for salvation. Yet, what they really believe
is betrayed in their view of how man is saved. And specifically
in this case that we're looking at, on the role of Mary as co-mediatrix
and co-redemptrix. Mary is just the high point,
maybe we should say the low point, of their doctrine of what man
can do. It's based on a grossly inflated
view of what was happening when Mary submitted herself to the
Lord's will as revealed to her through the angel as we looked
at in Luke 1. Here's what the Pope says was
happening in that incident. Here's the doctrine he builds
on it of what of what Mary's vital role was, the vital role
of human nature. He says that it marked Mary's
acceptance of God's will, marks the moment when the Holy Spirit,
who had already infused fullness of grace into her, formed in
her womb the human nature of Christ. This fullness marks the
moment when, with the entrance of the eternal into time, time
itself is redeemed, being filled with the mystery of Christ." He goes on to say this, the church
salutes Mary as the church's own beginning. In the event of the Immaculate
Conception, the Church sees projected and anticipated in her most noble
member, the saving grace of Easter. And above all, in the Incarnation,
she encounters Christ and Mary in the solubi joint. What he says basically here is
that When the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,
became man, since Mary was the physical vehicle through which
this happened, there was established an indissoluble spiritual link. So that he says, he who is the
church's Lord and head, and she who, uttering the first fiat
of the new covenant, prefigures the church's condition as spouse
and mother. What he's saying is this, and
if we had time to go through the document, he develops it
in many, many places. He's saying that the salvation
of God's people is contingent upon Mary. that what we call
the plan of salvation hinged upon Mary's acceptance of God's
will. Not as we would understand it,
that Mary's acceptance of God's will was only possible because
God himself willed it. There is a dividing line, isn't
it? He's attributing to human nature in the person of Mary
the hinge upon which salvation turns. And what he's saying is this, that because Mary was supposedly
indispensable in her own way to the coming of the Lord Jesus,
she continues to be indispensable to his continuing ministry. that because she was the human
contact point of his entrance into the world, she continues
to be the human contact point for humans. That's what he's saying, nothing
less than that. And that's why if you read through
Roman Catholic devotional material, Mary is described for example
as the refuge of sinners. She's described as the mother
of mercy, our life, our sweetness, our hope. And any of you who are here from
a Roman Catholic background would know that I could spend the next
two hours quoting other titles that are given to her. The bottom line is summed up
in the statement the pope has in the following words. This
motherhood in the order of grace flows from her divine motherhood. Because she was, by the design
of divine providence, the mother who nourished the divine Redeemer,
Mary became an associate of unique nobility. the Lord's humble handmaid
who cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity
in the Saviour's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. You see there's a logic, albeit
a perverse logic, in all these doctrines. Human nature, the Catholic Church
says, must of itself. And it has within itself the
ability to cooperate with the grace of God. After all, look
at Mary as the prime example. This is how he concludes this
particular section. This maternity, this motherhood
of Mary in the order of grace will last without interruption
until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Now it's been difficult to go
through that because I would much rather use this pulpit for
expounding the text that I began with. But what we've been reading here
flies in the face of the text we began with and we must deal
with it. So as Bible believers, how do
we respond to all of this? Firstly, I believe there's an
obligation on us to be honest and to say that we believe that
Rome means what Rome says, not what our ecumenical evangelical
brethren would tell us Rome says. I mean, the one thing I can say
about the Pope is he tells me what he says. I don't have to
go to Charles Colson or Billy Graham and ask them what the
Pope says. The Pope tells me what the Pope says. I don't like
it, but at least it's clear. That has to be our starting point,
doesn't it? If we're going to engage in argument and debate
for love's sake, With those who are lost, we must come to terms
with the manifestation of their lostness. And that's nothing
less than what we're dealing with here. It's the manifestation
of spiritual blindness. You cannot be wrong about the
Godhood of God, the mediation of Christ, and the way of salvation,
and be spiritually enlightened. You see, the issue in facing
up to what Rome actually teaches is our own integrity as evangelicals
and the spiritual welfare of Catholic people. How are we going to be sacrificial,
as our forefathers were, even to the point of death, to bring
the truth to those who are lost if we don't believe they're lost
in the first place? It just won't happen, will it? And by and large,
it's not happening today. That's one of the reasons it's
not happening, is we, not just has Rome gone through the looking
glass, we've gone through our own looking glass. They have gone through the looking
glass with regard to scripture. And they've made it say something
other than it does. But we've gone through the looking glass
with regard to what Rome says. And we wish that they had believed
something else. But they haven't. We start by saying, sadly, but
the truth is they believe what they say they believe. That's
what we've got to deal with. Secondly, what they teach is
unbiblical. It's unbiblical because we can
clearly understand what the Bible says, and in the short time we've
had here this evening, On some of these vital issues, we've
been able to compare what the Church of Rome says with what
the Bible says. Thirdly, we have to remember
that it's unbiblical teaching on biblically vital issues. Now,
all of what I don't know what background everybody, or anybody
for that matter, is here tonight. But if we had folk here from,
say, a Methodist background, or Baptist, or Presbyterian,
there's things we disagree on. But hopefully, there's certain
things we would agree on, which would be the very center and
heart of the gospel. But the difference with Rome
is in the areas which are the heart of the gospel. Who is Jesus
Christ? Is he the unique mediator? And the issue of Mary brings
that difference into its sharpest focus. That our difference with
Rome is because their teaching is unbiblical, and it's unbiblical
on the issues of vital importance, the person and work of Christ. We mentioned earlier the importance
of the scripture alone, the doctrine of sola scriptura. Sola scriptura
leads us to sola Christus, that Christ alone is the mediator. And sola Christus focuses us
on sola fide, faith in him alone. There's an unbreakable chain
of heavenly logic that links all of these together. You see, man is saved if he is
to be saved by turning to Christ alone, by placing all his faith
in Him alone. Where do we discover that truth?
In the Scripture alone. What is attacked by Rome's doctrine
of Mary? All of those solas in one way
or another. So what is at issue? Fourthly,
by implication of what we've said already, is the very doctrine
of salvation itself. The issue of Mary as supposed
mediator, mother of the church, etc., etc., is not some mere
academic ivory tower argument. It's not theologians seeking
to work themselves into a job. It has vital pastoral and eternal
significance. Because the issue tonight that
we're really tackling when we ask who is Mary is who is Jesus. Is He not manifestly revealed
to us by the Scripture as the One who by His very nature is alone qualified to be our
mediator? If He is true God and true man,
then he is the only one qualified to be our mediator. How do we invite sinners to respond
to Jesus? Is it personally, person to person,
or at one remove through an institution, be it the church, be it the papacy,
or Mary? It's one or the other. It can't
be both. One excludes the other. but that
Jesus himself not say, come unto me. All you who labour and are
heavy laden, I will give you rest. It's as personal, as awesome,
as wonderful as that. Jesus said, come to me. Isn't that how the early church
understood what he said? The writer to the Hebrews said,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. What do we look
to Jesus for? He's saying we look to Jesus
for everything. We come to him directly and we receive from
him completely. I am, Jesus said in the last
book of the Bible, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and
the last. You know, I much prefer to finish
with his words than his words. But these other words are still
there, aren't they? They carry powerful influence in the world
today. None of our communities are totally
immune from them. What are we as Christians expected,
therefore, to do? Well, the Bible tells us, Jude
1 and verse 3, Beloved, while I was diligent to write to you
concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write
to you. exhorting you to contend earnestly
for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Brothers, sisters, we have a
faith worth contending for because our faith isn't just some list
of propositions. Our faith is a faith in the person
of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. whoever
lives to make intercession for us, who is coming again to receive
us unto himself, that where he is we may be also. That's a faith
worth contending for. Ought not our hearts to burn
with indignation that any institution or any person would say, you
can't come to him, when he says, yes, you can. I'm putting it
in very simple language, but that is the issue. But finally, let's be careful
how we contend. This may sound a little bit Irish,
but I'll say it anyway. We need to contend without being
contentious. The servant of the Lord must
not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient."
You know, our hearts must go out to those who are still blinded
by what we read earlier. I mean, I was once there. All
the people in my church back in Dundalk were once there, but
they're not there now. because the scripture was brought
to me and was brought to them and they're being taught and
we're being taught and we're continuing to be taught. That's
how falsehood is demolished. By the argument of the scripture
of truth. Patiently, lovingly applied. In humility, Paul said, correcting
those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them
repentance. We believe it's in the grant
of our God to grant repentance. To the hardest of sinners, in
the most hopeless of conditions, no matter how long they've been
blinded by error. That should be our goal. So that they may
know the truth, and they come to their senses and escape the
snare of the devil. That's our real enemy. Having been taken captive by
him to do his will. Our enemy is not the people of
the Roman system. It's the system and particularly
the one behind it. But greater is he that is in
us than he that is in the world. And I'm not depressed. when I
look at these issues. Because when you compare error
with truth, it just makes truth shine all the more brightly.
Cecil told us earlier that that whole system that seems so powerful
now will be destroyed not by might or by power, but by the
breath of his mouth. by the Word of the Living God. May it be so, and may the Lord
use even us in doing so. Amen.
Mary
Series Bible Truth & R. Catholicism
Who is Mary, who is Jesus? Stephen Murphy considers the integrity of evangelical believers and the spiritual welfare of Roman Catholics in the light of the Bible's teaching concerning Mary. The message addresses many of our differences with Rome on matters that are at the heart of the Gospel. We are strongly urged to "contend without being contentious".
| Sermon ID | 531035317 |
| Duration | 1:05:41 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Bible Text | John 7:37-39 |
| Language | English |
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