the Word of God once again. It is such a joy for me to come and learn from my other brothers that are on the front line, proclaiming the glorious Gospel of Grace. And it's really a special time of fellowship too, to be with like-minded believers that have a compassion for the lost, a passion for the truth, and a desire to glorify our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning's message is the exclusivity and sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as I train people on effective ways to reach Roman Catholics, I say the two most important things that we can do as we engage Catholics is to establish the Word of God as the supreme authority in all matters of faith. As a Roman Catholic, I had three different authorities. I had the traditions of the Catholic Church. Infallible teachings of the Magisterium and the Pope, and also the Word of God. In Roman Catholic theology they say all three are equal, but in actual practice it is the bishops of the church called the Magisterium that sit above scripture and tradition, and they do a marvelous job of twisting and distorting the scripture so that it always matches their unholy traditions. and the Apostle Peter had much to say about those who twist and distort Scripture, it is to their own destruction. So number one, we need to establish the Word of God as a supreme authority because if you don't do that up front, then they're always going to fall back on their traditions and their infallible teachings. The second most important thing we can do is the message I'm going to share with you this morning, and that is to establish the sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see in Roman Catholic salvation they have many requirements in order to be saved. They have to do good works and receive the sacraments and obey the law. They have to earn indulgences. They have to merit the graces necessary for salvation. And so they are unwilling to let go of all those requirements until they know that Jesus Christ is the all sufficient Savior. So this morning I want to do that, I want to share with you the Jesus that I worshipped for 35 years in contrast to the Jesus that is so gloriously revealed in the scripture. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my Lord for opening my eyes to see the glory and the sufficiency and the exclusivity of our Lord Jesus Christ. My life has never been the same since he opened my eyes. He literally turned my life upside down and I quickly realized that everything I had accomplished so far in this world was all going to get burned up in the end. And the only thing that lasts will be the souls of men and the Word of God. And that's where I wanted to invest the rest of my life. And so it is a joy to open the Word of God with you this morning and to share the exclusivity and sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. What we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed life's most important issue. And that's because Jesus said, unless you believe I am, you will die in your sins. Well, the Gospels are all about who Jesus is. He is the eternal God, the all-sufficient Savior. And if you don't believe that, Jesus said, you will die in your sins. In 2 Corinthians 11.4, the apostle Paul warned us. If someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it. Another translation may be, you bear this beautifully. In other words, rather than contending for the glory and honor of the Christ that is gloriously revealed in Scripture, someone comes and preaches another Jesus and you put up with it. You don't stand up for the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you'll notice that Paul says that when Jesus is not preached according to scripture, if another Jesus is preached, what does it lead to? Another gospel. Because you see, if you're not declaring Christ in all of his sufficiency, such that salvation is by grace alone, then you need another set of regulations or requirements in order to show what you must do that the all-sufficient Savior did not do. So an insufficient Christ leads to another gospel. An all-sufficient Christ leads to a gospel of grace. An insufficient Christ leads to a gospel of works righteousness. And that's why every religion in the world preaches what you must do in order to appease a holy and righteous God. And we know that if you have another Jesus that leads to another gospel, it's because there is another spirit that is influencing you. The spirit of truth will lead people into all truth and Jesus as he is gloriously revealed in scripture. Another Jesus always leads to another gospel. Well, when we look at the imposter that is represented by the Jesus of the Roman Catholic Church, we know that the definition of an imposter is one that assumes a false identity for the purpose of deception. A counterfeit, we know that the Jesus of Rome is a counterfeit Christ, is an imitation created with the intent to deceive. Deception is a that which is false. We know that the devil is the father of lies and so he has created many different Jesuses, some of which we will look at this morning, but we have to be able to identify a fake from the genuine. Jesus warned that many will come in my name. Mormons believe that Jesus is a God, but they deny that he is the one and only eternal God. Jehovah Witnesses believe He is a Savior but not the Eternal God. Some Christians believe Jesus is Savior but not Lord. I was often called in to teach the chapels of Dallas Theological Seminary until I started preaching the need for repentance unto salvation. And if you know anything about Dallas Theological Seminary, they don't believe that repentance is necessary in order to be saved. And so I think you'll recognize that repentance and the Lordship of Christ go hand in hand. You need to not only take Jesus as Savior, but also as Lord. One of the chapels that I gave seven years ago, it was followed by a brown bag lunch. And that's when the faculty and students got a chance to question the speaker of the chapel. And so the very first question that came up after I delivered my message on the sufficiency of Christ A student raised his hand and said, I know for a fact that I took Jesus as my Savior and it wasn't until three years later that I took him as my Lord. Then he followed up with, we know you love John MacArthur. We know he believes in Lordship salvation. Where do you stand? I said, well, I do love John MacArthur. But it doesn't matter what John says. The only thing that matters is what the Word of God teaches. And the Apostle Paul, when the Philippian jailer asked him, what must I do to be saved? He said, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in Romans 10, 9, and 10, Paul writes, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. I said, it doesn't sound like you can Take the Lordship of Christ as an option. You must believe He is the Lord in order to be saved. So then I addressed the student and I said, let me ask you a question. When you think God saved you, did you reject Jesus as Lord or just not know He was Lord? He said, well that's a good question. I haven't thought about that. I guess I didn't know He was Lord. Well, there's a difference between not knowing His Lord and rejecting His Lord. No one can be saved if they reject that Jesus is Lord. So we also see that Catholics and Orthodox believe that Jesus is God, but not the all-sufficient Savior. So you can see that many come in the name of Jesus Christ, but there's a lot of imposters, there's a lot of counterfeit price, We need to be able to point people to the true Christ as he is gloriously revealed in scripture. It's really interesting and I know many of you who have witnessed, you always hear different comments about what the world believes Jesus actually is. Some say he is a God of love that would never send anyone to hell. I'm sure you've heard that before. My Jesus would never send anyone to hell. He is a loving God. Well, the real question is not how a loving God can send anyone to hell. The real question is how can a holy God allow sinners into heaven? So we need to make sure we're proclaiming all the attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've already talked about this. My Jesus came to bring peace, not division. My Jesus doesn't require repentance or obedience. His commandments are only suggestions. He calls everyone his children. That's what Pope Francis really recently said, that all people are children of God. He doesn't realize the Lord Jesus rebuked the religious leaders in John chapter eight, telling them that their father was the devil. Some say he wants you to have health, wealth, and prosperity, so the world embraces many counterfeit Christ. So let's look at the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. He alone was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin so that he could be both God and man to atone for man's sin. He had to become a man in order to become man's kinsman redeemer. He alone lived a sinless life so he could be a perfect sacrifice for the sins of others. You see, Jesus Christ is God's perfect man and man's perfect God. He had to be a perfect man in order to be the perfect sacrifice. because God's righteousness requires perfection. He alone died a penal, substitutionary death to pay the wages of sin for his people. And he alone rose from the dead, showing that divine justice was satisfied and the power of sin and death had been defeated. One of the favorite questions I love to ask people as I am witnessing of the Lord Jesus Christ is why did Jesus have to die? I encourage you to ask that question. Even among professing Christians, you will be amazed at how many people do not know why Jesus had to die. The most common response is because he loved us. Well, no, that was his motivation for dying. But why did he have to die? He had to satisfy divine justice. because a holy and righteous God must punish sin. And I explain to people that He punishes sin eternally in one of two places. Either at the cross of Christ, you can come with empty hands of faith, trusting Christ as your substitute, and trusting Him that He bore the penalty for your sins, or you can say, no thank you, Jesus, but one day you will meet Him at the great white throne. And there you will have to pay the punishment for your sin. Because a holy and righteous God must punish every sin that has ever been committed by everyone who has ever lived. One of two places. Your choice. But divine justice must be satisfied. And it will be satisfied in one of two places. When you look at the Jesus... Sorry about that. Normally I have my laptop in front of me, but we'll make the best of this today. When we look at the exclusivity of Jesus, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. When we share this verse, I encourage you to ask people, why do you think Jesus is the way? Well, you need to know the way whenever you're lost. Why is Jesus the truth? It's because the world has been deceived by the father of lies. And why is Jesus the life? It's because every unrepentant sinner is dead in their sin. So he is the way for those who are lost, he is the truth for those who are deceived, and he is the life for those who are dead in their sin. And no one, absolutely no one comes to the father except through me. Peter said there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name. under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And Paul said, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We have an exclusive Christ. No other religion offers a savior. And as you're witnessing to Muslims, that is one of the questions I love to ask. Do you have a savior? Do you have a substitute that went and paid the divine justice that a holy God requires. Christianity is the only faith that offers a savior. When you look at the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, you know we look at the gospel and so often we live in this microwave society and you hear people giving a three minute gospel presentation and then they go for the close and ask people to repeat a sinner's prayer. Well, the gospel is so deep that theologians spend a lifetime exploring the depths of God's glory and grace. And oftentimes I think we forget everything the gospel includes and what Jesus had to do to save sinners. Righteousness had to be perfected. We see in Romans 10 that the righteousness of God requires perfect righteousness for entrance into heaven. Anyone that's trusting in their own righteousness has no hope of entering into heaven because our only passport is the perfect righteousness of Christ. Divine justice had to be satisfied. Blood had to be shed because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Redemption had to be paid. What was the price of our redemption? The precious blood of Jesus. Sins had to be forgiven. Reconciliation had to be achieved. Sin is what separated us from a holy God. Jesus Christ provided the reconciliation that we needed in order to be at one with God. We also know that death had to be conquered and salvation had to be secure. We have a salvation secured, backed up by the power and promises of Almighty God. Will Catholics worship and trust another Jesus? You can see the Jesus that Catholics worship right here. It's called a monstrance. It's a sunburst. and the Eucharist is placed and the monstrance and Catholics will bow down and worship this as the true Jesus. It will save them from their sins, but not through his sufficiency, but the Jesus of the Catholic Church merely makes salvation possible. Okay, we're not able to advance this. Jane, do you want to? By the authority of God's Word, we can show that the Jesus of Rome is the counterfeit Christ that must be exposed. When we always fall back to the authority of God's Word, that is our supreme authority for truth. The Jesus of Rome versus the Jesus of the Bible is which Jesus are Roman Catholics trusting? The Catholic Jesus provides only conditional life. You see, a Catholic has no assurance of eternal life. This may surprise you, but Roman Catholics believe that if you say you have the assurance of eternal life, you are committing the sin of presumption. So if you believe the promise of God, and Roman Catholicism, you are committing a sin. The biblical Jesus provides eternal life, everlasting life, backed up by the power of God. Earlier we heard 1 John 5.13, that is a wonderful verse to introduce Roman Catholics to. John writes to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know, right here and now, that you have in your possession eternal, everlasting life with the Savior. You see, once again, if you're trusting the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, that He did everything necessary to save sinners completely and forever, then you can have that assurance. But as long as you're trusting Christ plus what you're doing, you can never have that assurance. The Catholic Jesus provides only a partial forgiveness. There is always residual sin that remains. You may remember when John Paul II died. Eight days after his death, they had a different Roman Catholic Cardinal come into the Vatican to offer the sacrifice of the Mass to get the Holy Father out of Purgatory. Because Roman Catholics believe even though they called the Pope Holy Father, he had residual sin that had to be purged by the fires of Purgatory. The Biblical Jesus provides complete forgiveness of sin. All of our sins, past and future, were nailed to the cross. He completely tamed the eternal sin death. The Catholic Jesus provides a continuous striving to gain God's acceptance. And as a Roman Catholic, I can tell you that it was like being on a treadmill, always doing everything I could to appease the holy and righteous God, but going absolutely nowhere. The biblical Jesus provides a permanent right standing before God. Oh, how I love to share Hebrews 10.14 with Catholics. By one offering, which was 2,000 years ago, he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified. Can you improve on a perfection of Christ? No. How long do you have that perfection? Forever. The Catholic Jesus provides uncertainty, fear, and doubt. Before the Lord saved me, I worked for Ross Perot. Every Monday morning, I got on an airplane flying somewhere in America to sell computers. And every Monday morning, I had this great fear. What if the plane goes down? Will I end up in hell or purgatory? You see, heaven was never an option as a Catholic. Now I get on a plane to come to Oregon and I have a wonderful peace and assurance, a peace that surpasses all understanding. I know if the plane goes down, instantly I'm in the presence of my Savior. Not because of anything I've done, but because of everything Christ did for me. There is no greater peace, no greater assurance than trusting Christ alone. Let me share with you nine major contrasts between the Jesus I worship for 35 years and the Jesus I worship today. The first one, the Catholic Jesus does not save completely. You see a graphic of a treasury. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is a treasury, albeit invisible, but in the treasury are the prayers and good works of all the saints, and this way they attain their own salvation. and at the same time cooperating and saving their others. I don't want you to miss this. Catholics believe they must attain their own salvation and then if they die with more than enough merit to get them to heaven, it goes into a treasury such that those merits can be transferred to those who are suffering in purgatory to get them out more expeditiously. But the Pope refuses to transfer these merits unless indulgences are purchased. My dear old dad, when he died as a devout Catholic, I couldn't believe after going through his mail weeks later, hundreds of mass cards were purchased from the priest to get my dad out of a place that doesn't even exist. It is the greatest moneymaker in the history of mankind, the selling of indulgences. Praise God, 500 years ago, that was one of the sparks that ignited the Reformation. Martin Luther could not tolerate it anymore, the selling of God's forgiveness. By the way, these numbers that you see in parenthesis, those are numbers out of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That is the supreme authority for Roman Catholics as far as the traditions of their church. In paragraph 2027, Catholics are taught that they can merit for themselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life. How do you merit the unmerited favor of Jesus Christ? It's an oxymoron. But this is what Catholics are told they must do. Merit the graces needed for salvation. But what does God's Word say? Psalm 49, 7 and 8. No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of his soul is costly and he should cease crying forever. For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no man may boast. The word of God destroys every lie of the devil. and we need to use it as an offensive and defensive weapon. That's the only way that the Word of God can penetrate people's hearts, is when you expose the error of their religion and call them to repent and believe the supreme authority that God has revealed to them. The second point of contrast, the Catholic Jesus does not provide eternal life. immediately after the death of the souls of those who were once justified by the sacrament of baptism, who die in the state of mortal sin, descended to hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell's eternal fire. So the Roman Catholic Church teaches that infant baptism is the sacrament of regeneration and justification. The efficacious waters of baptism make a person justified before God. And so the question then is, when a Catholic grows up and commits a mortal sin, we know that all sins are mortal, but the Catholic Church puts them into two different categories, mortal and venial. Venial's don't cause death, only mortal sins. But when a Catholic commits a mortal sin, they're now destined for hell. They need to be re-justified. I was teaching on a cruise to Israel, and a Roman Catholic priest was on board. And I asked him, I said, based on Romans 828, those God justifies, he glorifies. Do you believe that? He said, yes. I said, well, how do you explain then, paragraph 1035 of your catechism, those who die in mortal sin go directly to hell, having been justified by monobaptism? He scratched his head and said, you know, I just don't have an answer for that. But that's what we must do. word of God, and then pray that they will not have peace until they repent of the false way they're trusting and put their trust in Christ and His word. God's word says He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7.25. Listen to the promises of Jesus. They will never perish, John 10, 28. Jesus promises that He will lose not one, and He will never cast them out. Our eternal life is based on the power and promises of our great God and Savior. The third point of contrast. The Catholic Jesus did not cancel the eternal sin debt. The sinner must make satisfaction for doing penance. Remember, the Roman Catholic Church mistranslated the word metanoia. Instead of repentance, they call it penance. And so Catholics must do penance and make satisfaction for their own sin. They do that through the form of indulgences that remit temporal punishment for sins, both for the living and the dead. Well, I'm always looking for unique ways to be a witness and ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I was equipping a church up in Emporia, Kansas, how to be effective witnesses to Roman Catholics in their community. And so after equipping them, we went out to the Roman Catholic Church Saturday afternoon, knowing that there was a Roman Catholic mass that was about to take place. And oftentimes, when I go into a different part of the country, try and schedule a meeting with the priest in that area. Well, the priest in Emporia was too busy to see me. And so we walked into the church there, and I noticed the red light over the confessional was on. And that signified that the priest was in the confessional hearing the confessions of people. So I went to the elder and my wife. I said, pray for me. I'm going to go to confession. So I walked into the confessional. there's no more screen. He was just sitting there in a chair waiting for me. And so I sat down and I said, I don't even know where to begin. It's been 30 years since my last confession. He said, well, don't worry. When you leave here, I promise I'll forgive you of all your sins. And then he said, well, why has it been 30 years since your last confession? I said, well, I've been reading the Bible. He said, well, how has that kept you from the confessional? I said, well, what I've been reading in the Bible goes against what I've been taught as a Catholic. He said, give me an example. I said, well, in 1 John 1-7, it says the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sins, so why do we need purgatory? He said, give me another example. I said, well, in John 19-30, Jesus cried out in victory, it is finished. So why do you continue on an altar when Jesus finished on the cross? He said, I can see this is going to take longer than I first thought. Why don't you call me on Monday, and we'll continue the conversation. And so I flew back to Dallas, and I called him on Monday. And by then, he knew why we were in the church. And many of the Catholics had reported us to the priest, saying that we were engaging them, trying to get them saved. And the priest said, why are you doing that? Don't you know that we are Christians too? And then I tried to explain the gospel to him. He said, you know what? I was born a Catholic, and I'm going to die a Catholic. And then he hung up on me. But you know what? I was successful. Because what are we called to do as evangelists? We're called to proclaim the complete gospel with clarity. And then we leave the results to God. You see, our responsibility is to take the words of Scripture from the pages of the Bible to the person's ear. But it's God's responsibility to take it from the ears of the heart. And so every time you've done that, you've been successful. Don't be discouraged when people reject the gospel. They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting the Lord of Glory. We need to continue to pray through open hearts. Well, Scripture says, He made your life together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the The fourth point of contrast, Jesus did not purify all sin. Paragraph 1030 and 1031 of the Catechism reads, All who die in God's grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification through a purifying fire so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. You can see a picture there depicting the souls in purgatory, suffering, having their sins purged away because they did not believe in the sufficiency of Christ. So the Catholic Jesus, this is another picture of a mass card. We went to a funeral in a Catholic church and this card was passed out to all who entered and on the back of the card it had these words. Jesus have mercy on the soul of thy departed servant. Let some drops of thy precious blood fall upon the devouring flames and send thy angels to conduct thy departed servant. to a place of refreshment, light, and peace. Is this why Jesus shed his precious blood to put out flames of a fire? Absolutely not. But yet this is how the Roman Catholic Church has distorted and corrupted the gospel of Jesus Christ. But what does God's word say in Hebrews 1.3 when He, that is Jesus Christ, had made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. When a priest sits down, his work is finished. Titus 2.14, he gave himself for us that he might purify for himself a people for his own possession. The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. Can you see how the whole concept of purgatory robs Jesus Christ of his glory and honor? He's the one that purified his people by his precious blood. How dare the Roman Catholic Church deny that, reject the blood of Christ, and offer a place rather than a person. For the fifth point of contrast, the Catholic Jesus returns every day to be sacrificed and eaten. In the Eucharist, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus and therefore the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. They do not want you to miss this. The Eucharist has become the physical body and blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how do they justify this? Well, Roman Catholic priest John O'Brien in his book, The Faith of Millions, describes what takes place 200,000 times a day throughout the world. When the priest announces the words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens to bring Christ down from His throne and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of saints and angels. The priest speaks and lo, Christ, the Eternal and Omnipotent God, bows His head in humble I hope this grieves you as much as it grieves me. And yet this is what Roman Catholics believe. The sinful priest has the power to call the omnipotent God down from heaven to continue what he finished 2,000 years ago. A popular Catholic periodical called Envoy has a picture of the Eucharist on its cover. He says, this looks like bread, tastes like bread, and feels like bread. Is this God? And then the magazine article tries to convince you that the priest has that power to miraculously transubstantiate the inner substance into the physical presence of Christ. Oftentimes we're asked, if a Roman Catholic is born again, can he remain in the Catholic Church? How would you respond to that? Why would you continue in idolatry? Because to worship the Eucharist as the physical Christ is no different from the Israelites worshiping the golden calf as the true God that delivered them out of Egypt. To worship Jesus as a lifeless piece of bread may be the most serious sin of idolatry. We take them back to Exodus 32, 4. When Moses went up the Mount to receive the Ten Commandments, you know what the Israelites did? They gathered all of their gold to form a molten calf and to worship the true God that delivered them out of Egypt. What was the fate of the Israelites that worshipped God in the form of a golden calf? Three thousand were put to death. God hates idolatry. Is worshipping the Golden Calf as the true God any different from worshipping the Eucharist as the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus said, if anyone says to you, here is the Christ, do not believe them. And yet every time the Mass is offered, the priest lifts up the Eucharist and says, the body of Christ, and Catholics say, Amen. We believe you, priests. Well, the sin of idolatry is indeed a serious sin. Exodus 20 verse 4, you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made by corruptible man. the sin of idolatry, we must call Roman Catholics out of their false religion to worship God in spirit and in truth. J.C. Wilde in the 1900s called the cause of all idolatry is the natural corruption of man's heart, a craving after something he can see, feel, and touch, to bring his God-hand to his own crawling level, a thing of sense and sight. essential carnal worship by devising visible helps and to give these intentions the honor that is due only to God. Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said? You must first believe and then you will see? The Catholic Church says no, you must first see and then you will believe. And that's why the Roman Catholic Church has so much What you see in this form of statues need to be venerated. All of their attention and pure devotion is diverted away from Christ through all of these idolatrous statues and relics. It's indeed a wicked and corrupt religion and I'm so thankful the Lord opened my eyes and delivered me out of spiritual darkness. And it's for that reason I have such compassion for those who still remain. That's why Jane and I have dedicated the rest of our lives to reaching back into the Catholic Church and sharing the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you go through these different slides and you see how the Catholic Church has corrupted the person and work of Jesus Christ, I hope you understand that there can be no unity with the Catholic Church. I hope you see the need to instruct evangelical leaders that we cannot call for unity. We cannot attempt to reverse the Reformation. They indeed worship a different Christ. What does God's Word say about the Lord Jesus Christ and His return? Does He return 200,000 times a day to be offered on an altar as a sin offering? Again, the Word of God destroys every lie of the devil. In Acts 3.21, Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything. He will return a second time, not every day, and when he returns the second time, it will not be in relation to sin. Hebrews 9.28. The Bible tells us how he will return, when he will return, where He will return, there should be no doubt when Jesus comes that He has returned to the earth. He will return to the Mount of Olives, the same place He left. When will He return? Immediately after the tribulation with power and great glory. It will be the most spectacular day the world has ever known. There will be every eye seeing the Lord Jesus returning. He will return the same way he went to heaven and we know this is not the way he went to heaven. Once again, if we could only point Roman Catholics to the scriptures and show them that what they are doing is committing the serious sin of idolatry, worshiping a false Christ. The sixth point of contrast, Rome's Jesus did not finish the work of redemption. The victim is one and the same. In this divine sacrifice, 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. Please don't miss this. They say the sacrifice of Calvary 2,000 years ago and the sacrifice of the mass today is the same sacrifice with one exception. It's an unbloody offering. The one element, the precious blood of Jesus that is efficacious in purifying sin has been removed from the sacrifice of the Mass. Well isn't the same sacrifice? Calvary was offered by the sinless Son of God. The Mass is offered by a sinful man. Calvary was for the living. The Mass is for the living and the dead. The Mass is offered thousands of times and it is insufficient. Calvary was for all sin. The Mass is only for past sins. I hope you realize that. The reason Catholics have no assurance of salvation is because every week when they commit sins, they must come back to the Mass to have the Mass offered for the sins they committed in the previous week. Calvary was bloody. The Mass is said to be bloodless. The Mass must continue. Calvary is unrepeatable. Does this look like the same sacrifice? Well, the Catholic Church says redemption is not finished. You see a picture of an altar here every time this mystery is celebrated. the work of our redemption is carried on. If anyone says the sacrifice of the Mass is not a provisionary one, let it be anathema. In other words, if you believe that the sacrifice of the Mass does not satisfy divine justice, then you are condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. What does Spurgeon have to say about the Mass? It's an abomination. A Mass of hell's own concocting. a crying insult against the Lord of Glory. It is not to be spoken of in any terms but those of horror and detestation. Whenever I think of another sacrifice for sin being offered, I can only regard it as an infamous insult to the perfection of the Savior's will." This was 160 years ago. Now we have evangelicals calling for unity with this wicked religion. And I say it's wicked under the authority of God's word. I hope you all realize the most wicked thing anybody could ever do to another person is to give them a false gospel. To tell them that they're destined for heaven when in reality they're destined for hell. Is there anything more wicked than that? It's the greatest lie of deception. And yet the Roman Catholic Church perpetuates this lie and the only hope Catholics have is for you and I who have been trusted with the truth to share the gospel with them. Otherwise, I have no hope. And I'm always looking for ways to do this. Sometimes I used to embarrass my wife, but now she's used to me. I was equipping a church in Munster, Texas. It's a German town. 95% Roman Catholic. There's only one light in the whole town, an old Baptist church. They called me up to equip the congregation. So all day Saturday I equipped the church, and then Sunday morning I was getting ready to go and preach the Sunday morning message. And we got together at a cafe there to have breakfast. There was about 50 people, and I figured if this town is 96% Catholic, probably everybody in here is a Roman Catholic. So after breakfast, we started to walk out of the restaurant. And I just was overcome by it. conviction by the Holy Spirit. So I turned around, I picked up a spoon and I started banging on a glass. And the whole restaurant became quiet. All the way from Dallas this morning to show you how you can have your sins completely forgiven and be returned to God. And I'm going to be giving that message across the street in a few minutes. And I invite all of you to come. because there's nothing more important than selling your eternal destiny this morning. So we walk out of the restaurant and my wife looks at me and says, okay, you can do that in Munster, but if you ever do that in Dallas, I will kill you. Well, a couple of nuns scurried out right after that. They went and got in the car and rolled up the windows and I tapped on the window and I said, please come and hear the message this morning. And I handed them a couple of gospel tracts. But we need to make the most of every opportunity. There's people dying in a state of sin, and immediately upon their death, they will be in hell, suffering the torments of the eternal fire, where there's no escape. Only agony, only torment, no hope. More than ever, I just And I know all of you have a compassion for the lost, that's why you're here, but I really believe that the reason more Christians are not more faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ is they don't sense the reality of what awaits those the moment they die without Christ. If only they had a sense of reality, they would do everything they could to stand in front of people that are marching proudly toward Hell's gates. We must confront them in love with the truth of the gospel. How can it be? The genuine death of Jesus on the cross and the shedding of His real blood cannot prevent the complete punishment for sin, yet a bloodless representation in the form of a wafer on an altar can? It doesn't make any sense at all. God's Word says that Jesus appeared once to do away with sin, then He entered the holy once for all having obtained eternal redemption. Do you see the verb tense there? Redemption has already been obtained destroys the Roman Catholic Mass that says the work of redemption continues on an altar. The body of Christ was offered once as one sacrifice for all sins for all time. His offering made perfect forever those who are being sanctified There are no more offerings for sin. Sometimes as I read Hebrews 7, 9, and 10, I believe the Spirit of God placed it there to destroy the Roman Catholic Mass. How can any Catholic read these verses and still go and worship a wafer in the form of the true God? But you know what? The answer is? Prince of this world has blinded the eyes of much unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel or the glory of Christ. It's a supernatural blindness, which is why we need to pray for open hearts, that when we give the gospel, people will hear it and be converted with repentance and faith. God's word says, When Jesus cried out, it is finished. The curtain of the temple was torn open, giving believers access to God. I hope you realize what a great miracle this was. The six-inch veil that separated sinful man from the Holy God. At the moment of Christ's death, it was torn open from top to bottom, showing that now, through faith in the shed blood of Jesus, we have direct access to God. The Roman Catholic priesthood is superfluous, it is unnecessary, and it denies the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. No need for priests offering the same sacrifices for sin anymore. The seventh point of contrast. Romans Jesus did not redeem Catholics from the law's curse. Paragraph 2068, you see, one of the requirements for Catholic salvation, all men may attain salvation through faith, baptism, and the observance of the commandments. But yet God's word says, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and he has become a curse for us. You know a great verse to share with Roman Catholics who believe they must obey the law as a requirement for salvation? James 2.10. Tell them if you were able to keep the law perfectly and yet stumble at one small part, you're guilty of breaking the entire law. That's why Jesus became a curse for us because there's no way we can obey the law perfectly. Trust in him. The eighth point of contrast, Jesus is not the only sinless mediator. Not only do Catholics have another Jesus and another gospel led by another spirit, but they have another Mary. Without a single sin to restrain her, she became the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race. Paragraph 494. As mediatrix, she did not lay aside the saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. The Catholic Mary robs the Lord Jesus Christ of His glory and honor. God's Word makes it real clear, God is one and one also is the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Do you know why Jesus is the only mediator between God and man? It's because he is God's perfect man and man's perfect God. He's the only one qualified to come between sinful man and a holy God. You see, before we were born again, our relationship with God was one of hostility and enmity. But through the mediation of Jesus Christ, he's changed that relationship to one of peace and harmony. Mary's not qualified. No one else is qualified. The last point of difference, the Roman Catholic Jesus is not the only way. The plan of salvation includes those who acknowledge the creator and the first place among whom are the Muslims. This may shock you, but the Roman Catholic Church has more in common with Islam than it does with Christianity. You see, both religions, Islam and Catholicism, believe in a works righteousness salvation. They deny that Jesus is the only way. Both religions populate their religion by births as their primary means of growth. Both religions are anti-Semitic. You probably know the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther was anti-Semitic because he believed what the Roman Catholic Church taught. In fact, when Israel was renamed a sovereign nation, it took the Vatican over 50 years to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation. They kept hoping it would go away. You know why? Because the Catholic Church teaches that the Catholic Church has replaced Israel as God's children. And so they're both anti-Semitic. They both have prayer beads. The Catholics have their rosary, where 53 prayers are prayed to Mary. The Muslims have their prayer beads, where they have 99 names given to Allah, none of which by his personal name, Father. Most importantly, I think, and this is where I think prophetically we'll see Islam and Roman Catholicism coming together, They both esteem Mary as the most revered woman who has ever lived. Did you know that the Quran only mentions one woman's name? Mary's the only woman mentioned in the Quran. She's mentioned 37 times. Muslims revere her. And they acknowledge her as a woman of submission, which is what Islam is all about. Do you know that Muslims now are going to apparition sites? Do you know that the city of Fatima in Portugal was named after Muhammad's first daughter? Muslims are going there now for a message from Mary. And I believe that, as the Bible tells us, the end times will be marked by blind signs and wonders. I think it's quite conceivable that an apparition of Mary will come. and bring unity between Islam and Roman Catholicism because both religions look to her with high reverence. Already we're hearing messages of apparitions where this false Mary's coming for all of her children. So we can only wait and see but I really believe this will be what brings the two religions The Pope has a very inclusive gospel. He dares to say that atheists and non-believers can go to heaven as long as they are sincere and follow their conscience. So this false prophet says you can get to heaven apart from Christ, denying the words of our bloodstained Savior. And yet Catholics still look to this man as infallible, that he cannot hear whatever he teaches, faith and morals. Does this have anything to do with faith? How to get to heaven? Clearly, he's a fallible man. Well, God's word reveals there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved. Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. Last year, we took people to Rome and the Vatican. You may have heard that the Pope was offering an indulgence, a plenary indulgence for anybody to walk through the wooden door in the Vatican. So Roman Catholics were flying into St. Peter's from all over the world, walking through a wooden door to get a plenary indulgence instead of looking to Christ as the only door in the eternal life. This man is a false prophet, and yet we have evangelicals calling him Holy Father and Brother in Christ. The Savior is indeed all-sufficient. He saves completely and forever. He obtained eternal redemption. He cancelled the eternal sin debt. He purifies all sin. He redeems us from the curse of the law. And Roman Catholicism rejects all these truths about Jesus and tragically leads people on the wide road to destruction. The Roman Catholic Jesus is an imposter. He's a counterfeit Christ. The Roman Catholic Jesus leads people to heaven, not to heaven. And we must warn Roman Catholics and evangelicals. of the false Christ that is presented in Roman Catholic theology. So what's the application for you and I? Well, let's turn to the words in Scripture. Jesus sent Paul to turn people from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith Now the Lord Jesus is sending all of us. Remember in Luke's gospel, chapter 19, verse 10, we read the theme of Luke's gospel, that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he passed the baton to the church. Now you and I have been commissioned to go and seek after those who are lost. We are to seek after those who will not seek after the true God. We need to make the most of every opportunity. Oh, how I hope we're all praying for divine appointments. We serve a sovereign Lord. He opens doors of opportunity. He opens hearts. How do you know if you have a divine appointment that you prayed for? Wherever you go, ask people questions. We often ask people if we only have a few moments with them. You believe in heaven, don't you? Sure. It's that simple. I've come to a point now since, you know, in America, Christianity is the default mode. If you're not a Muslim or a Jew, then you must be a Christian. Most every American professes to be Christian now. So we have to ask, what do you trust in? How do you hope to get to heaven? Is Jesus your all-sufficient savior? Are you trusting what he has done? or what you are doing. It's that easy. And then, if you only have a few moments, give them the seed that will bring forth life. Give them a gospel tract that contains scripture. Let's make sure we're giving them good gospel tracts that are in harmony with the word of God. There are so many gospel tracts out there that after reading the passage, you want to see a sinner's prayer. You know, I think the sinner's prayer is very similar to Roman Catholic baptism. All it does is produce false conflicts. Our churches are filled with people who think they're Christian because they repeated a prayer. I'm not suggesting that anybody that's repeated a prayer is not saved, as long as the prayer was coupled with repentance and faith. But if we're asking people to do anything other than repent and believe the gospel, we're giving them a false hope. That's the only saving response once we give people the gospel of Jesus Christ. So once again, let's be faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus. Let's make the most of every opportunity, engaging people wherever we go. And I look forward to our time at the abortion mill because, you know, there's really two lives we're trying to save. physical life of a baby in the womb, which happens to be the most dangerous place for a baby in the womb, right? It's mother's womb. But we're also wanting to plant the seeds that will bring forth spiritual life. Many Roman Catholics will be happy aborting that. We need to make sure that we're reaching out to them for the gospel of Jesus Christ, because eternal life It's something that we need to focus on, not only the temporal life of the baby in the womb, but the eternal life of those we're trying to save, the baby in the womb. So let's make sure that we're focused on two things as we go out. Amen? Let's close in prayer. Our Father, we do thank you for the true Christ. God, he is gloriously revealed in Scripture. Father, we're so aware of the countenance of Christ And we know, Father, that every lie of the devil can be exposed and defeated by the inerrant, inspired, infallible, objective truth of Your Word. Father, help us to use it as an offensive and defensive weapon. And Father, I pray even now to You, our Sovereign Lord, that as we go out in the next couple of days, Father, we're so aware that whenever your Word goes out, it never returns void. It brings salvation to those who repent and believe, but it brings further condemnation for those who reject it. Father, we ask that you would give us courage, boldness, sensitivity, and we would speak the truth of love. Father, give us a growing compassion for those who are perishing. We ask this for the glory of our great God and Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.